*****Max wattage for Lights STOCK WIRING******
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 106
Likes: 0
From: Southern Indiana
*****Max wattage for Lights STOCK WIRING******
I'm looking for some new lights to put in without upgrading the electrical system for an HID or such. So my question is what is the safest wattage I can go with before the wiring starts to overload and burn up?
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 10,511
Likes: 10
From: Under the flightpath of old ORD 22R
In terms of safe without an upgrade, you should not go higher than 60W ( normal bulb is 60W high, 55W low ).
Keep in mind the contacts in the MFS control the lighting, and this I think would be the weakest link to the whole set up.
You could burn out the MFS on a regular basis at ~ 85.00 each, this could get expensive.
Using the 80% rule for the high beam fuse yields the answer per side at 144W.
The same rule on the low beam fuses ( each 10A ) yields the answer of 96 W per side.
While this is the worst case calculation, I would strongly suggest not doing this.
Keep in mind a higher wattage bulb on smaller AWG wire is not going to burn as bright as it can.
Even the stock bulb size has this problem on the factory wiring.
If you want more lighting, try the SilverStar Ultra bulbs available for your MY truck. These are the US version of the OSRAM bulbs from Europe.
I went from H4 SilverStar to H4 OSRAM bulbs and had a light output increase, and an AMP draw decrease on my motorcycle.
Next I added an external harness to the aux fuse panel using 12 AWG wire, and the light output jumped again ( using a light meter to test, not SOTP look ).
You are going to spend much less in the long run going with an external harness triggered by the factory harness and installing SilverStar Ultra bulbs. One other thing you can do to help is change the headlamp to the Lightning / Harley type clear headlamps.
Newtakeoff has the RH side Lightning headlamp for cheap ( ~90.00 + ship ) , and you can get a new left hand side one from a dealer for ~ 160 + Shipping.
Upgrading the wattage in the bulb, while looking like the lower cost option on the surface, is going to cost more in the end, and in the interim will not provide a marked improvement over the factory setup due to the stock headlamps on the 1997-2001 headlamps ( with the non clear lens ).
If you move forward with installing higher wattage bulbs, we will be here to help trouble shoot the problems that might occur.
Keep in mind the contacts in the MFS control the lighting, and this I think would be the weakest link to the whole set up.
You could burn out the MFS on a regular basis at ~ 85.00 each, this could get expensive.
Using the 80% rule for the high beam fuse yields the answer per side at 144W.
The same rule on the low beam fuses ( each 10A ) yields the answer of 96 W per side.
While this is the worst case calculation, I would strongly suggest not doing this.
Keep in mind a higher wattage bulb on smaller AWG wire is not going to burn as bright as it can.
Even the stock bulb size has this problem on the factory wiring.
If you want more lighting, try the SilverStar Ultra bulbs available for your MY truck. These are the US version of the OSRAM bulbs from Europe.
I went from H4 SilverStar to H4 OSRAM bulbs and had a light output increase, and an AMP draw decrease on my motorcycle.
Next I added an external harness to the aux fuse panel using 12 AWG wire, and the light output jumped again ( using a light meter to test, not SOTP look ).
You are going to spend much less in the long run going with an external harness triggered by the factory harness and installing SilverStar Ultra bulbs. One other thing you can do to help is change the headlamp to the Lightning / Harley type clear headlamps.
Newtakeoff has the RH side Lightning headlamp for cheap ( ~90.00 + ship ) , and you can get a new left hand side one from a dealer for ~ 160 + Shipping.
Upgrading the wattage in the bulb, while looking like the lower cost option on the surface, is going to cost more in the end, and in the interim will not provide a marked improvement over the factory setup due to the stock headlamps on the 1997-2001 headlamps ( with the non clear lens ).
If you move forward with installing higher wattage bulbs, we will be here to help trouble shoot the problems that might occur.
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 10,511
Likes: 10
From: Under the flightpath of old ORD 22R
http://www.newtakeoff.com/headlamp_f..._01-04_RH.aspx
If you check with the collision catalog at any of the Ford dealers selling part online, the price is ~ 160.00 for the left headlamp.
I am thinking of doing this same thing for my dad's 01. I am just going to get a set of the KYO "harness upgrades" ( they are really just male - female pigtails ) and make a harness to run the lamps off the battery, and use the factory connector to signal the relays.
I have some 40A relays and 12 AWG 105* wire laying around, so making the harness is going to be dirt easy. Just going to use the little fuse maxi fuse holders, so I can stack them on the E-fan fuse holder, so they are neat in one place ( the fuse holders interlock together for mounting ).