Topic: Replacing 55w headlight bulb with 65w: Issues?

[Trainman]

So the low beam headlights on the Forester are not that great.  They also use a fairly new and hard to find bulb, the 55w H11.

A solution that Daniel Stern ( http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html ) recommends is to replace the H11 with the 65w H9.  It is a quick and easy modification to the lightbulb itself and with the rather extreme cut-off of the beam pattern, should not cause any issues for on-coming drivers.  But I was wondering what potential issues there might be with using a higher wattage bulb?  Will it damage the housing?  Cause more current to be drawn through the circuit (ie headlight switch and wiring) that may cause problems?  Any potential for fire?

Thanks for any thoughts or real life experiences with this sort of modification.

Tman

[The Mighty Duck]

I seem to recall from my time working the Parts counter that some people had problems with the harness warping and melting when installing brighter bulbs. But IIRC that was with regard to replacing 55W driving lights with 100W bulbs...

In any event, the solution in that case was simply to replace the entire harness, which was still a relatively inexpensive and easy fix.

Not sure if that will be necessary going from 55W to 65W, though.

[DrJay]

Did that accidentaly on my jetta (put the wrong size in) figured it out when I kept blowing the fuse from then on I learned to let the pros handle it.

[rrocket]

I have had no issues when running bulbs that are 10W more than recommended.

[jamie1]

Daniel Stern knows his stuff. He would sell you something that would damage your car. He would also not sell you some BS gimmick lights. I've used him a couple of times with good results.

[Trainman]

Thanks everyone, I did not think there would be any issues.  No one who has done it on the Forester Forum has noted any, just much better light.

[dr_spock]

Test it and see.  I guess it depends on how much "safety" margin the engineers put into the housing and wiring design and materials. 

[Trainman]

So while doing the H11/H9 conversion (on the Subaru Forester, not a Toyota  ) on the low beams, I could see that something was happening on the high beam bulbs:






These are 9005 GE Nighthawks, with about 40,000 kms on them (not all on high beam of course  ).  They still work but I wonder for how long, so I replaced them with new ones.

Any idea of what might cause this?  The drivers side is the worst of the two but both show signs of this weird burning.  The burnt part faces up btw, if that matters.  And I know not to touch the glass part of the bulbs; I have been using these types of bulbs since the early 80's and have never seen this before.

[airbalancer]

Time for another Toyota recall     

[vdk]

The VW's left side headlight went out last night. But you know, it's a VW at 58k.

[Trainman]

Time for another Toyota recall     

Hmm, I guess maybe if Toyota made Subaru's.  Hasn't happened yet!  (these are from the Forester, sorry for not being clear)

[airbalancer]

Time for another Toyota recall     

Hmm, I guess maybe if Toyota made Subaru's.  Hasn't happened yet!  (these are from the Forester, sorry for not being clear)

Does not Toyota own 17% of Subaru

[airbalancer]

Have you tried cleaning the bulb socket ?

[dr_spock]

Rising heated vapour or they think they were installed in a VW. 

[initial_D]

Time to get a new car. 

[roundupready]

I've been using the Osram Rally 65w for almost a year.

http://store.candlepower.com/osraulhiouh7.html


No problems so far.  Was using the Nighthawks before and they lasted almost exactly 1 year.

[CD_Brian]

Trainman,

I've noticed this to a lesser degree with headlight bulbs plenty of times. I suspect that the bulbs in question are being used as DRL's on that vehicle, and it's the continuous use that overheats them. Typically they just go cloudy, but I have seen that before. Normally it's third brake light bulbs that melt that badly. Replacing them wasn't a bad idea in any case.

I wouldn't be concerned about the bulb swap idea either, provided that the bulb is not only physically interchangeable, but that the filament's position and orientation will be the same. Otherwise, optically, all bets are off. From a power perspective, the greater wattage shouldn't be a problem. At 14.0 volts, the extra 10 Watts only increases the current required by 0.7 Amps per bulb.