Relayance of thy headlights & HID Conversion

[8v-of-fury]

I have noticed that after having used a good guide found on the web for how to relay my headlights, that I burn out drivers low beams in rather short order. Its not so much that they burn out as in do not work.. but they get a condensation inside the bulbs. This is in a Sealed Halogen system.

I was conversing with Vince about the issue. It would appear that because of the literally 8-10" run between battery and drivers low beam instead of having to go in through the fuse box and the head light switch, the headlights are now seeing closer to the 13.5 volts the alternator is supplying the battery with, instead of the 11 volts after traveling through 18ft of wire..

I was wondering, is there a way that this could be solved? I was thinking of upgrading to Hella and their H1 H4 combo. I think this is only an issue because the sealed beams are simply getting to much power..

anyone else have any input?  

[rabbitman]

The more voltage to the headlights the better (to a point ), I have one of these http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Headlights.shtml#OnLineOrdering , except mines a probably not as good.

If your alternator is putting out 13.5V AND all that juice is getting to the bulbs then consider yourself lucky!!

The local napa guy says bad grounds is a major cause of burned out bulbs, that might be something to check.

The whole reason for relaying the headlights is to go easy on the switch and have less voltage loss to the bulbs.

Check all the connections and see what happens.

[8v-of-fury]

well yeah its not that their burning out though, its that it is condensing on the inside of the sealed beam. Showing me it is getting way hotter than designed?

I understand that it is to save the switch, and draw less load  through the fuse panel. However I still think too much is getting to the bulb, mainly only the drivers low beam.. as they get used quite a bit, do a fair bit of night driving. the drivers high beam hasn't shown any wear yet as i do not do much out of town night driving anymore.

If there were bad grounds would it not cause less actual voltage to through each light bulb?

I can't see a reason why the bulbs on the driver side aren't seeing close to 13.5v they are literally a 10" 12g wire from the battery terminal, and the battery shows 13.5.. I've never actually checked voltage to the bulb, so I'm not a hundo on it..

[Turbinepowered]

Not sure why you're making the connection between liquid getting inside your bulb and the bulb getting too much power?

I had to replace a low beam that had condensation in it. On closer examination I had a crack  in the housing where one of the leads came in.

[8v-of-fury]

i just assumed that it was getting to hot (too much power) and then was condensing inside.. no?

[Vincent Waldon]

.... I'd say... no !!!

The filament of a bulb  will get hotter at 13.5V, but I can't see that causing condensation that wasn't already going to be an issue eventually at 12V... in fact, you could argue the hotter bulb should actually burn the condensation off faster??

From your condensation perspective... I wonder if there isn't already something else going on here... small crack in the lens or sidecase, missing bulb gasket, something like that?  There's no real reason for there to be moisture inside the lamp assembly normally.

In terms of the bulbs burning out faster... this is typically the experience had by folks with DRLs since the low beams are running at 100% power all the time rather than 80% during the day, 95% at night (due to cable losses )   Folks without DRLs probably experience slightly shorter bulb lifespans in general, but it shouldn't be really obvious.  Vibration due to poor engine mounts or worn suspension is likely at least as big a contributor to bulb life.

The other thing to keep in mind imho is that the purpose of relaying the bulbs is to increase the bulb's brilliance by minimizing voltage losses.  This applies to the supply (+12V) side but also the ground side... all the heavy duty wire and relays supplying 12V are in vain if the ground is not just as robust... since the entire thing is a series circuit from battery/alternator to light back to battery/alternator.

[lovinthedeez]

relaying the headlights also increases the simplicity in the system and reduces the amount of current that has to go through the headlight switch as well.  instead of powering headlights through everything, it simply has to fire the relay.  much easier on the wiring as well.  my point is that once you relay the lights. it comes down to only a couple of things
1.  getting power to the original low/high beam socket when you turn them on(aka did they work before?).
2.  the relay itself
3.  the wire from the battery to the light

All of these are easily checkable in minutes

[rabbitman]

Yeah your sealed beam probably has a crack/water inside it and the hotter bulb is boiling the water up into steam..........a wild guess .

But yeah there's no way more voltage is making water inside it, swap the passenger side ones over to the drivers side and see what happens

[mystery3]

The hella h4/h1 setup is definitely worth the money. It was one of the first things I did when I got the truck. Picked up a set from rallylights.com nice people.

[8v-of-fury]

I'm retarded, forgive my ignorance.

thank-you guys, Has anyone found a good setup for HID's on an mk1 jetta?

[Vincent Waldon]

I'm retarded, forgive my ignorance.

Not at all... your theories were valid as well.

[Rabbit on Roids]

just go ahead and relay your lights. i just used the factory wiring to power my relays. they are right in front of my battery. it made my lights twice as bright, people hate my low beams, and they really hate my high beams. definitely worth the effort!

[8v-of-fury]

oh I have them relayed supa dupa bright.

[Rabbit on Roids]

just remember to carry a spare relay and a piece of jumper wire with you now, for if a relay ever burns out.

[8v-of-fury]

just remember to carry a spare relay and a piece of jumper wire with you now, for if a relay ever burns out.

Fer shizzle KEvo. I carry tools to do every job on the car. Even the triple square cv thinger lol

How about HID's boys? any one got any recommendations?