[Wheelwright]

I've actually looked though lots of the lighting threads, and I can't find an answer to this.
How much H4 bulb will the stock headlight reflectors handle before they begin to melt?

I've been through all the +this and hyper-that on my motorcyle. Tried an HID conversion and hated it. Euro
silverstar came back out in a week. I haven't tried the current osram +50's, because the lumen increase doesn't
justify the $$.

I've been running the Narva 100/130 rally bulbs in my bike for the last 100k miles (sorry officer, I didn't know). The bike has a
glass reflector, and carrying a spare has proven to be a really good idea. Worth it. Relay harness and direct wiring are firmly in place.

What I'm trying to find out is how close to that 100/130 output can I get before the plastic housings in my '96 begin to melt.
Assume that all conections are clean and healthy, and the lenses are kept polished and clear.

Wheelwright

 

[nipper]

Its not so much what it will handle, it is how much you will be bliinding the oncoming car or pedestrian that stumbles out in front of you. Optics are very complicated, not only does wattage come into it, but the color spectrum (and temperitures of that spectrum) along with the lense design matted to that bulb.

Your not going to melt the lense as temp starts to drop off dramatically the farther away from the bulb you get.

 

[jogosub]

I have 100 W and 130 W low and high beam bulbs with properly adjusted headlight assembly so that it does not blind the oncoming traffic. I also have 100W yellow bulbs in my fog lights. If anything melts, it would be the bulb sockets (on my 05 Forester one of them did). Since then I use heavy duty wire harness with ceramic bulb socket adapters and all is fine. If I read your post correctly, so do you! However, I don't use any additional relays. Nothing melted on my 3 Subarus, VW, Saab and Honda so far, with above bulbs since 2005!

 

[nipper]

SUbaru pigtails melt just because. Weakest part of the entire system in the 96-99 years

 

[mxmikie]

I have 100 W and 130 W low and high beam bulbs with properly adjusted headlight assembly so that it does not blind the oncoming traffic. I also have 100W yellow bulbs in my fog lights. If anything melts, it would be the bulb sockets (on my 05 Forester one of them did). Since then I use heavy duty wire harness with ceramic bulb socket adapters and all is fine. If I read your post correctly, so do you! However, I don't use any additional relays. Nothing melted on my 3 Subarus, VW, Saab and Honda so far, with above bulbs since 2005!

running what alternator ????

 

[jogosub]

OEM stock....now and always on all my previous models....