What kind of headlights will I have?

Moses · 03-29-2002, 07:55 AM

As my car is being reassembled after a paint job, I mentioned that I was unhappy with the illumination from my stock lamps on my "83 SC. I wanted to keep the original look, so I told him to put in the Hella H4s.

He is going to put in the new Hella's, but he wants to replace the bulb with a PIAA Extreme White bulb. The package states the bulb draws 55/60 watts which gives equivalent illumination of 125/135 watts. He says no new relays need be installed because of the low wattage.

1) Is he right about the relay?

2) Am I going to blind oncoming traffic?

3) Any different bulb recommendations, or are these OK?

JDaniel · JDaniel's Garage

I though those lights only "looked" brighter. Kind of like putting a flashlight up to one eye at night, "Hey, everything looks so bright"!

steve911 · steve911's Garage

Moses--
if the wattage on the PIAAs is the same, then he is correct. the electrical system is fine as is with the 55/60. I'd question him on the PIAAs though - not sure that they're appreciably brighter than the H4s that come with the Hellas. I replaced the stock headlamps on my '85 Targa with the Hella H4s and like them a lot. Clearly (no pun intended) a better lamp than the original sealed beams.

Make sure they are properly aimed - any light will blind oncoming traffic if pointed that way. Check the archives - I think there was a thread on PIAAs not too long ago.

Early_S_Man · 03-29-2002, 08:52 AM

Sorry, Steve, but ALL 911's need to be fitted with headlamp relays, REGARDLESS of the Wattage of the bulbs!

Maybe you haven't read the threads about various horror stories about control stalk problems even with 100% stock cars ... but, if you use the 'Search' button, it will take a while to catch up on your reading!

steve911 · steve911's Garage

Warren-
I stand corrected - thank you. I was under the impression (mistaken) that since he was not going to 100W bulbs a relay was not necessary.

I've read a number of the posts. Unfortunately, it appears your very early threads are not available anymore (I get the dreaded PP Page not Found! screen).

Electrical work scares the bejezus out of me, so I'll have to tread slowly here and try to figure out how to install these. Since I'm running 55/60s, how many relays do you think I need. I know you've installed 4, but it seems overkill to me (particularly given my limited electrical skills).

If anyone has a picture of their relay installation, I would be MOST appreciative - I can follow pictures a whole lot more easily than "connect to terminal X and fuse block Y". Exactly what type of relay(s) are necessary and do they need to be Bosch/Porsche or will any appropriate type work?

thanks all
Steve

dtw · 03-29-2002, 10:42 AM

Allow me to hold a beer in my hand and say "Yep.." to what Warren just said. Getting the smell of the torched switch aired out takes a while...

Oldporsche · 03-29-2002, 11:55 AM

Porsche really pulled one here. They run full current through the switch. It's just really a matter of time when those really small contact points burn out.

Warren is correct. The relay needs to be in there. It will cut down on the current in the primary circuit. In the secondary circuit you can run some really big wires and lots of watts.

Good luck,
David Duffield

Early_S_Man · 03-29-2002, 03:57 PM

Steve,

Actually, two relays rated at 30 Amps and two circuit breakers rated at 25 Amps or 30 Amps would be adequate even for my 130 Watt H1 bulbs ... as I did four 40 Amp relays and four 20 Amp circuit breakers breakers for redundancy reasons ... I don't care much for single point failures taking out your entire hi-beam OR lo-beam circuits.

Driving late at night in the middle of nowhere on lo-beams isn't much fun, and I had to do that one time in my old Datsun 620 truck ...

One of these days I will have to publish my info on a central fuse alarm panel and redundant switch/circuit breakers for 911s that simplifies troubleshooting and repairs ...

RoninLB · 03-29-2002, 07:52 PM

I like the optics on the Cibie much better than Hella. I use 2 75 amp relays, 2 40 amp CB, 130/100 Narva bulbs. Marine 12ga/10ga wires......My bright idea for running both filiments in each bulb on at the same time for brights didn't work out. I blew the bulb ground in about a total time of 1 hr. of "high" The fun was each bulb failed within 10 sec of each other. Also, IMO, PIAA sucks. They hussle the platnum bulb by playing with the filiment windings to give high test results on a primitive test machine. That leaves little for the road. Lens optics and filiment windings are important, IMO. 100w low is no problem on a low car such as a stock ride height 911.