Any reason NOT to install 100w H1 bulbs for both beams?

[bob tilton]

Got a burned out headlight and need to order bulbs. Gonna go ahead and order a full set. Is there an¥ reason NOT to install a total of 4 100w H1 bulbs for high and low beam? The car has Daniel Stern relay upgrade and the lights are Cibie Biodes. TIA!

[jsoderbe]

Premature wear of the reflectors? Excessive heat, melting brackets?

Regards,

Johan

[70SATMan]

Bob, What were they originally supplied with? 55W or 80W? I'd look carefully at the wiring you have on the Biode itself and the connector not to mention the wiring you have from the relay to the lights. Going to 100W bulbs is almost double what was stock I believe. Ceramic connectors are recommended on the Bosch H1s when going to 100W.

The other thing that people do not often consider is the heat dissapation within the light itself and whether it can handle it. With the Biodes and the added exterior lense, you will build up a lot of heat in the light and the fender bucket without the normal heat loss to the outside like a standard Bosch H1. If it were me, I would go no more than 80W if the normal set up was 55W.

[bob tilton]

Thanks for the input gentlemen. I pulled 100w bulbs from both beams last night which was a surprise. I was expecting 55 and 100.

[Mark Morrissey]

100 all around would be too hot. On my biodes I have 100 for high beams and 55 for lows.

[Joe901]

Some years ago one of the Technical Guys at Cibie wrote a detailed article about H1 bulbs for one of the Motorsport Magazines in the UK. I have looked for a copy but can't find it now, which is a pity.

The gist of the article was that if a reflector had been designed to collect the output from a typical 55W H1 bulb there was little point in fitting a 100W unit as all that happened was that the output would only increase by the order of 2% due to internal scattering of the light.

His point was that the size of reflector and position of the bulb were the most important aspects of a lamps design.

As I was actively rallying at the time and ran a Ford Esort with 2 x Biode Headlamps, 2 x Super Oscar Spots and 2 x Oscar Driving Lamps we fitted 100W bulbs to all of them and ran into continual Alternator and Fan Belt Problems (100A Motorola Alternator + Single Belt). The rallies we competed on were always held on a Saturday Night - 11.00pm onwards and were normally 200-250 miles long so light was a major issue.

We read the article with interest; completely ignored the advice and carried on using 100W 'Marine' bulbs.

The 100W Bulbs available from Phillips at that time weren't 'E' Marked and effectively illegal for road use but no-one ever checked.

I have to say we never did do an A-B comparison to see the difference.

[Allen Henderson]

I installed dual 100w bulbs in my Turbo H1s some years back. I added a relay for both the high and low beams (there may have already been one for high beams). They REALLY lite up the road and sometimes you needed that with the Turbo. High beams are only used occasionally for most driving and I never had any problems. Thanks.

-Allen-

[bob tilton]

Originally I posted the question after doing a search and found fragmented info on people running 100w for both beams. So I know people are doing it without issue, at least long term. With that said I ordered enough bulbs to run 100/100 or 100/55 or 55/55. Thanks for all the input gentlemen.

[Allen Henderson]

I forgot to add that I had a mini toggle switch soft-installed below my dash. With it I could turn on both 100watt High and Low beam bulbs at the same time! Thanks.

-Allen-

[super9064]

The PO had them installed on mine, but I ended up replacing the with the standard setup because people kept flashing their highbeams at me. It just got to the point of being annoying. Perhaps in they were adjusted low that would help. Just my two cents.