Has anyone ran 100w bulbs in either Depo or Esuse foglights?

[patrickvertigo]

I'm curious if the wiring harness and fuse for my esuse foglights will tolerate 100w bulbs. Has anyone tried this? I'm not really concerned with the actual foglight assembly melting as I am the wiring and/or fuse failing. I believe Esuse, Depo, and OEM honda foglights use the same wiring harness and fuse size. Let me know your opinions. Any info is appreciated.

This ad is not displayed to registered or logged-in members. Register your free account today and become a member on Honda-Tech!

[93egSLEEPER]

sounds a bit too hefty for my liking. not only would it put a lot of strain on your electrical system 100w bulb is extremely bright.

[patrickvertigo]

All I know is that the bulbs that came with the foglights are not very good at all. The thought process behind the whole thing is because I'm basically too cheap to put up the money to buy some silverstars (which are 55w but put out good light) and are like $40 for a pair. I found some 100W H3 bulbs at fleet farm for like 15 bucks for a pair.

Anymore info would be great. Anybody have a wiring diagram so we can find out if it is too much draw for the stock wiring harness?

[93egSLEEPER]

100w lights will blind people when you drive by, worse then HIDs. i would be pretty pissed if i came across a set of these on the road at night.

[patrickvertigo]

If they are aimed properly it shouldn't be a problem I don't think. Obviously, if you don't have them pointed any higher than the low beam headlights, it shouldn't really bother anybody. I'm just trying to figure out a way to get a little better output from them, if it means spending extra bucks for silverstars I guess I will have to save my pennies for a while.

[93egSLEEPER]

i have had many sets of silverstars and have loved them. save up and get a set and do it right. those lights just sounds like a problem waiting to happen

[patrickvertigo]

I know what you mean, I was just curious if it would work. Thanks for the info. Money is tight, ya never know.

[DeSchlong]

No, no, no. Very bad idea. Not only illegal for on-road use, but your wiring won't support the power required for the 100W bulb ... you'll likely fry your wiring and/or start an electrical fire. You'll likely also melt the insides of your fog light housing.

In the end, this will all add up to costing you way more than the $25 you would have saved on some decent legal bulbs.

There's lost to learn about good vehicle lighting. There's a lot of bull ish out there on the market and if you're like me, you don't want to get duped or get suckered in to marketing claims. I HIGHLY recommend spending some time reading Daniel Stern's website, here: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

He talks a lot about selective-yellow bulbs for fog lights. Here are the ones I purchased: http://www.coventrywest.com/H-Series.htm At $5.50 each, I know you can afford them.

[patrickvertigo]

There is a lot of good info on that site. Are you running the bulbs you bought in your foglights?

[DeSchlong]

^^ Correct. Yellow H3 for my foglights. I bought 2pr because they have infinite shelf life and the shipping cost was the same.

[patrickvertigo]

How well do they light up the road? Can you tell a big difference when you turn them on even with the low beams already on?

[FlewByU352]

I have H4/100 I think that what i read looking at my bulbs. They work fine and deffinately do not blind people. I can drive all day with my high beams on and nobody really even knows. HID's are so much brighter but anyways my electrical system has held up just fine. I plan on gettign HID to take less of a load off and less draw. Arent HID like 35w once they are warmed up? Maybe thats my problem with the lights on and the lights getting bright then dimming. A lot of power going to the motor.

[patrickvertigo]

I was doing some more reading. Can anyone confirm this?

If you look at the fuse box in your car, each one of the headlights are on their own individual fuse and/or circuit. High and low beams are also on their own separate circuits. These fuses are all rated 10Amps. It is my understanding that both fog lights are on the same circuit which is 15Amps, which would mean 7.5Amps per foglight. That would also mean that highlights would be more tolerant to higher wattage bulbs. I don't have the exact numbers but it might not be safe to run 100W bulbs with the stock foglight harness and fuses. But on the other hand it should be alright to use 100W bulbs in your headlights, as long as your housings can tolerate the heat generated by the higher wattage.

[kozanatos]

You can take out your reflectors >_> they will be brighter, and yes 'They are going to blind people' but they dont because they are not that powerful. I am still waiting for a day when its foggy to see if the reflectors being out make it so they aim too high thus lighting up the fog above me, but I highly doubt that. I like my fogs for Looks and Visibility on dim days. Not for actual fog, we get like 1-3 days of fog a month

[98greensi]

Originally Posted by 93egSLEEPER

100w lights will blind people when you drive by, worse then HIDs. i would be pretty pissed if i came across a set of these on the road at night.

what??? have you seen hids compared to 100 watt bulbs???

you'll be fine with 100 watt bulbs, i have 70watt yellow bulbs in my depo fogs it's alright cant see too much of them normally with the hids in the headlights, but with crappy weather the yellow bulbs makes a world of difference, anything over 55 watts is illegal. and you will see all your electrical dim whenever the car comes to a idle. 100watt bulbs are nice and bright. like someone else said if there aimed properly you wont blind other drivers. i had 100 watt headlights/ 100 watt fogs in my old coupe never had a problem with melting anything or people high beaming me, now with the hids thats a different storey.

[98greensi]

Ps here's a pic of my ford truck with silverstars in the headlights (highbeam) 55 watt yellow fogs (stock bulbs are only 35 watts) and in my roof lights 100 watt bulbs (they shine father down the road then my highbeams)



and the blue circles are just light getting reflected

[CRXREFIC]

Originally Posted by kozanatos

You can take out your reflectors >_> they will be brighter, and yes 'They are going to blind people' but they dont because they are not that powerful. I am still waiting for a day when its foggy to see if the reflectors being out make it so they aim too high thus lighting up the fog above me, but I highly doubt that. I like my fogs for Looks and Visibility on dim days. Not for actual fog, we get like 1-3 days of fog a month

lol we get fog every 6 months or more lol

[patrickvertigo]

Originally Posted by 98greensi

i had 100 watt headlights/ 100 watt fogs in my old coupe never had a problem with melting anything or people high beaming me, now with the hids thats a different storey.

What kind of wiring harness did you have in your car? I'm just trying figure out if the harness that came with fogs will be able to handle the wattage. I think it will be pushing the limits of what a 15amp fuse can handle.

[98greensi]

i had the oem harness for the heads and i wired in the fogs, the 100 watt bulbs should draw, 8.3amps each at 12 volts and 6.9amps at 14.4. it may hold but the wiring should be more then big enough to handle a 20 amp fuse and according to this site http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm if you have a 16g wire it's good for 22amps, or if it's 14 it's good for 32amps, i believe it's 14g on a depo kit

[patrickvertigo]

I have an esuse foglight kit. I assume that the depo and the esuse kits are built the same because they are both based off of the OEM setup. Are you sure that the wiring is actually that big? I thought it to be 18awg wiring. Which is rated for up to 16amps.

[98greensi]

14 and 16 are the more common wires, 18 and 22 are more used for ecu wiring, interior lighting etc, i'm sure the depo kit uses a 14g wire, i could be wrong though. you'll have pull the lights and compare the wires to a known wire size