Yep.  Putting hi wattage bulbs in the standard boutique vanagon lenses is
like pouring coffee into a drunk.  Previously you just had a drunk.  Now
you have a fully caffeinated, wide awake, but still drunk, adversary.
Upgrade the optics first, Bosch, Hella, Carello Cibie Marchal.  All make
good lenses.

Pensionerd.

On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@gmail.com>wrote:

> For decades I have run Euro H4 headlights in practically every VW (and a 72
> Toyota PU) I have owned using 60/55 bulbs and they have always been Hella
> units with either Hella or Philips Bulbs.  Except for my Westy with the
> South African Grill Headlight setup, I've never had the need to run these
> high wattage bulbs people talk about, ergo no relays either.  With the
> Westy, I do run the 100/80 watt H4s, as well as the standard 55 watt
> Driving Lamps.  But even out on the Interstate in the Mojave Desert at 1am
> or in the number of cross country trips since 1999 have I ever had to run
> the High Beams/Driving Lights for an extended period of time because of
> traffic ahead of me (remember, I'm in a slow loaded down Westy with a small
> trailer,) or constant on-coming traffic, so out of courtesy, I'm certainly
> not going to blind them.  I still have the ORIGINAL Light Switch and with
> reports of people melting theirs I have periodically checked to see if it's
> even warm.  Having clean contacts at all points, switch, fuses, bulbs and
> grounds are key to efficient lights and that should be always paramount (I
> check and clean these every fall).  Oh yeah, I carry a spare light switch
> but have never had to use it yet in 13 years.
>
> I learned in the late 70s from a Brit friend of mine that wattage isn't the
> total key to good headlights/driving lights.  It's the quality of the
> reflector of the light along with the glass fluting/beam pattern that makes
> the bigger difference.  Quality units like Bosch, Hella, Cibie, Marschal
> (sp?) have the best reflectors.  The Chinese/Taiwan/Far Eastern units have
> poor reflectors and beam patterns rendering them as pure junk.  At the
> time, I was amazed at how well the brightness and beam patterns were
> practically equal using 100, 80, 60 and even 55 watt H4 bulbs in a quality
> made unit with an excellent reflector and properly fluted lens.  Most of my
> driving is on the pavement with a lot of city driving in traffic, so I make
> sure my low beams are angled as such not to blind someone in their rear
> view mirror.  If I were to do more off-road camping/driving, I would
> consider adding appropriate lighting separate from the regular lighting
> circuits and would of course consider additional fusing and relays.
>
> With all above said, I think relays are a good idea though, especially if
> you're constantly running high wattage units on a sustained basis. I've
> just never had the need for it.
>
> Cheers :)
>
> Jim Thompson
> 84 GL 1.9 "Gloria"
> 84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
> 72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
> 75 914 1.8 "Nancy"
> Full Timing From March 1999 To January 2012
> oldvolkshome@gmail.com
> http://www.oldvolkshome.com
> Find me on Facebook:
> http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Thompson/100000710343835
> ***********************************
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 8:28 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > I just drove Fun Bus from NY to Florida. I drove through the Carolinas
> and
> > Georgia at night. In all I think I was "able" to use the high beams 4
> > times.
> > Even with y original lights, messed up lenses and all I had no problem.
> > There was always something in front of me to follow or in my way (Ha Ha).
> > Anyway, as weak as the original headlight switch may be adding relays
> does
> > also just add another point of failure. As for more powerful  lamps there
> > is
> > just something wrong with using almost 1.2 your alternators capacity just
> > for the head lamps. As lighting is a continuous load you have to look at
> > the
> > full power distribution of the vehicle for upgrades like this. The big
> weak
> > ling is the harness from the alternator. And this one can fail near the
> > alternator connection and yes this can catch fire. Replace it with the
> fuel
> > lines. At least inspect the terminal where it connects to the alternator.
> >
> > Buy the way, if you simply re-feed the headlight switch from a circuit
> not
> > connected to the ignition switch you will get the same lighting increase
> as
> > the relays, (using original wattage bulbs).
> >
> > I get a bit of a kick out of folks that need super lighting and auxiliary
> > stuff as they sit in traffic with the car if front of them no more than 4
> > feet away. I do find it annoying when these folks are behind me.
> Especially
> > in the motor home, lights like this shining into the mirrors can be a
> real
> > nuisance. Just because oncoming traffic is not flashing their lights out
> > does not mean you are not annoying drivers in front of you. Those big
> bulbs
> > with bad housings and lenses can really be distracting.
> >
> > Dennis
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of
> > Frank Condelli
> > Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2013 5:51 AM
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Subject: Re: High beams not working
> >
> >         Not really.  It all depends on the relays and wires.  You need
> > properly rated relays and wires to keep the 400 watts from burning
> > something.  The only problem I have seen is that damn 9004 bulb socket
> > cannot take the power, the contacts are too small and eventually the heat
> > melts the plastic of the socket and will kill it.  I've replace them with
> > ones from NAPA and they seem to hold up better.  On my van I do not have
> > that problem as years ago I installed the Euro H4 headlamps with the H4
> > bulbs, their bulb holders have BIG fat contacts in the bulb sockets !
>  The
> > relay kits I sell
> > <
> >
> http://www.frankcondelli.com/staging1/store/index.php?route=product/product
> > &product_id=1090> are made to handle 400 watts.  I know it works as my
> > personal Westy has had this set for many, many years and we do a lot of
> > milage, you all know that of course, with the 400 watts a glowing for
> hours
> > on end and never have we had any  problems.
> >
> > On Nov 16, 2013, at 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor
> > <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> wrote:
> >
> > > 400 watts is asking a lot of it for sustained use.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Frank Condelli
> > Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> > '87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel
> > Trains (Collection for sale) Frank Condelli & Associates -
> Vanagon/Vanagon
> > Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley BusFusion a VW Camper camping
> event,
> > Almonte, ON, June 05 ~ 08, 2014
> >
>