Actually, if you want bulbs to last longer, DROP the voltage to them more
that the IR ddrop you found in your wiring.  And the effect is not linear,
in other words, you can drop the voltage in a linear fassion, and get an
exponential increase in the life of the bulb.  At the same time, the light
level drops of linearly.

That's the so called 95 watt bulbs say they last forever, with no admitted
drop in output.

Ch
'89 SyncroBeast Vanagon

'87 16V GTI
'87 16V GTI w/ hale damage
'89 16V GTI w/ toasted motor
'86 Scirocco (8 valve w/ auto)

'80 850 Yamaha Special

Prior Lake, MinneSnowta
well, ok, it's summer
Land of Sky Blue Waters

<<SNIP>> Original message below

The other day I took the time to check why the headlights seem so lousy. I
hooked up two digital voltmeters, one on the battery and one on a bulb,
switched the lights on and noted a voltage drop of about 2.3 volts over the
wires and switches. I calculated a 33% power loss, due to bad connections.
To fix this, I might run separate wires from the battery to a separate
relay for every filament (I have six of them, the rectangular + square lamp
setup) and operate the relays by the original wires to the bulbs.

If I can be bothered. This way the bulbs last much longer ;-)