|
|
I have great respect for the DIY'ers (Do-It-Yourself) of this world. These are the people who take on all sorts of daily challenges (like Porsche maintenance) as though it were an enjoyable walk in the park. Everything within my web is really for the DIY'ers. My lighting upgrade is an example of a project that, with a little planning, you can do this in a single day. Hopefully, this page will get you started toward better lighting. First, lets talk lights. I'm not a lighting expert, and I'm not going to begin pretending - there are many here on the internet who will. All I know is what I see. From the little I've learned in snooping around the web and chatting with people it comes down to this:
E-coded, what the heck is that?That was pretty much my attitude toward any sort of special headlight assembly. So I started with trying to simply optimize the system that came with the car. I replaced the OEM sealed beams with some Bosche H4s (55/60 watt). That was about $50 right down the tubes - no difference that I could see at all. I grumbled about that for a few months and along the way picked up a stone chip in one which led to a crack and a failed bulb. I wasn't about to buy ANOTHER one of those so I started looking for alternatives. I had 3 simple criteria.
E-coded lights are basically a headlight specification used on European cars. One of the concepts of the E-code specification is to limit the light in the upper left quadrant (we're talking left-hand drive cars here) and provide extra light in the upper right quadrant. The idea is that the road signs will be lit but oncoming traffic will not be blinded. This requires a well defined pattern of light that is the signature of the e-coded lights. Don't confuse these with "Diamond Cut" or the other plastic lamps that are being imported from China and sold on EBay. Those might work well - I'm doubtful but I don't really know. From what I have found, there are basically 4 manufacturers of 7" round, e-coded, lead glass, faceted lamps designed for h4 bulbs. At the high end of the spectrum is a lamp made by Marchal. If you can find the "flatface" Marchal, expect to pay about $400 each. Next is pretty much a tie between the Cibie and the Hella. These will cost about $65 ea. Finally there is one that is not talked about too much, the Zelmot. Evidently they are selling well as the price has nearly doubled in the last year or so. They now sell for about $50 ea. Each of these have an embossed E (with a circle around it) in the lens, to signify E-coded. By contrast, US spec'd headlights will have the DOT letters. If it doesn't have the E, don't expect much improvement. As I said, the Zelmot is at the low end of the E-coded lamps. I'd like to try some of the others but for now I have only tried the Zelmot. My first impressions are very positive. If you look around the internet, you will find that some criticize the Zelmot, keep in mind that these are almost always people who are selling the other lamps and naturally want to steer you toward their product. At $25 ea these were a very good deal but somewhat less so, now at $50 each. Now before you look at these photos, a couple of points should be made. First, electronic photography is very easy to manipulate, I didn't take the time to tweak these, but I could have. With just a little time I could have made one seem much better than the other. Second, it would be very easy for me to have "dirtied - up" the lenses and influenced the comparison. So, be wary of comparison pics. And last, it is almost unfair to compare the OEM sealed beams to a 90/130 watt H4 E-code setup. The bigger bulbs have a huge advantage. The pics are just a few reference points using a pair of the Zelmots versus a pair of OEM sealed beams.
WARNING: Poorly aimed headlights (especially these) can significantly irritate oncoming drivers. Many of these approaching drivers are armed. Irritating them is just not a good idea. One other note about these lamps, they have a distinctive flat face.
Handle With CareOne quick caution on these bulbs and this applies to all halogen bulbs... when you're installing these bulbs, try not to touch the glass part of the light bulb. Doing so will leave a small amount of oil (from you skin) on the glass, which in turn, will result in hot spots and early bulb failure. If you do accidentally touch the glass, wipe them down with rubbing alcohol to remove the oil.
Legal - Umm, Not ReallyAnother point that I should emphasize is that these lamps and bulbs are illegal. I suspect they are illegal in all parts of the USA. What does this mean - probably nothing. I have never heard of anyone having their headlamps inspected for over-watt bulbs. I have observed the safety inspections in several states and usually it is check to ensure that the lights come on and maybe that they are not pointing too high. It would not be difficult though for an inspector to look for the "DOT" symbol and you should be aware that there is potential for a problem. Sellers know this, of course. The usual way to allude to this problem is some vague statement telling the buyer to check local laws and regulations. If you want a legal lighting system, stick with OEM halogen sealed beams and slow down, if you would like to see the deer standing along the shoulder of the road - before she comes through your windshield then, well, read on.
The lamps are just a part of the story, you will also need to choose light bulbs and possibly a replacement wiring harness. The 944 lighting system is designed for 55/60 watt bulbs and if you stay with bulbs that draw no more than 60 watts, you should be ok. If you want to go beyond than that, then you will want to investigate what is needed to fit relays to support the increased power. You can, of course, put in the bigger bulbs without the relays but you have an excellent chance of burning up your head light switch. This will almost certainly happen in a matter of minutes, not days or weeks. The relays are nothing magical. They're just like motor oil or spark plugs - they all work pretty well. If you want to buy the more expensive or underwater relays, that's fine with me, but it is really overkill. I use no-name or Bosch relays with equal success. For headlights, 30 amp relays are the ticket, they are identical to several of the relays in your car's fuse box now. What the heck is this "relay thing" anyway?Relays are widely used in electrical applications where one circuit is to be energized or
"turned on" by the presence of a voltage, provided by another circuit. An example of this is when an automotive radio sends out a triggering voltage to turn on an external amplifier or activate a motorized antenna. Anywhere a switch can go in a circuit, a relay can replace it, (as long as there is a triggering voltage available to activate it). This is the typical "pin-out" of a "Bosch Relay." "12vdc SPDT" would be a better descriptor for a 12 Volt Direct Current relay with Single Pole, Double throw configuration. But Bosch was, at one time, the principle supplier of this device, so the relays have become known simply as "Bosch relays" - this is an unofficial name.
Relay at rest.
Relay energized. Connections * 87a is the normally closed connection (can be used as a switched voltage output when the relay is at rest). (This terminal offers no voltage when the relay is energized.) Why 30 Amp relays?Because power (in a DC circuit and expressed in watts) is voltage (expressed in volts) times Current (expressed in amps). With 130 watt bulbs we have this simple formula... 130 = 12 vdc X current, therefore 130/12 = current and current is then equal to 10.8 amps. Ok, now wait a minute, there are two bulbs so that gets us to 21.6 amps. And also, the 12 volts fluctuates some so the current may fluctuate a bit too. All this really tells us is that a 20 amp relay is a little too small, 30 amp relays should be perfect. This also tells us that our fuses should be about 25 amps for the high beams and 20 for the low beams (assuming the 90/130 bulbs that I'm using above). The thing about fuses is that we want them to be the weakest link in the circuit so we will need wire and connectors that can routinely handle 25 amps. According to Handbook of Electronic Tables and Formulas for American Wire Gauge, the smallest wire that can handle 25 Amps is #15. 15 is not commonly available and besides we want the wire to be well above the rating of the fuses. In careful engineering, the insulation temperature limit, wire length, thickness, thermal conductivity, and air convection and temperature should all be taken into account. This could be a fascinating little science discussion but instead let's just cut to the chase and go with a #12 wire, its easily big enough. One other minor factor here, occasionally someone will want to chat about the the fracturing of the wire strands due to the stress of our articulated headlight system. Supposedly the wire harness that leads to the 944's retracting head lamps is under some fatigue stress due to the constant movement of opening and closing the light assemblies. This is a fascinating theory and one I first learned when I reported aboard the USS Ranger 30 years ago. You see when a young sailor arrives at his "first ship," the wise and all-knowing Shop Chief will often send the young lad looking about the ship for radar contacts, pad-eye covers or, in my case, fresh cabling. The Chief explained the need for fresh cabling and his explanation went along same the lines as that of the strand fatigue theory. So off I go. Naturally, when I finally find the other Chief, who supposedly had the fresh cabling, he would say he was "fresh out" ...but send me off to find another Chief (Chief Nonut) who might still have some. This was, of course, a big run around and everyone played along because it was fun and because it was a good little drill for the youngster to learn how to navigate about the ship. The ship was/is quite a maze of narrow passageways and dead ends. If you have the bad fortune to be in such a maze when there is a fire or when it is dark from a power failure, it can be quite terrifying. But I digress; the point is that strand fracturing exists mostly in the theoretical world. Not the one we live in. Cut open the wires on your 20 year old car and look for yourself. Even the wiring in the driver's door which are fatigued much more than the head lights will show no such problem. It takes something just short of a bazillion bends of a copper strand to fatigue it sufficiently so as to "crack." And its a good thing too, else we would have the fine stranded wire (which is prescribed to solve this problem) all over our cars and anything else that moves. If you want to use the fine stranded wire - OK by me. It is a little more difficult to get and costs only a little more. One last thing about the ship, and I do so like thinking about the ship - in the past tense; I could have resisted my first assignment to seek "unobtanium" but that would surly have gotten me the more arduous task of "mail buoy watch"... ;] There's got to be another way....OK, so you're just not sure about getting into a Saturday afternoon wiring project. You do have a few alternatives. First you might check out a place called Rally Lights and specifically their Hella 60/55w which are available for $36 each. I don't have any experience with these guys or the Hellas but they have been recommended. With these bulbs, your OEM harness should work OK. Second, there's a fella that hangs out over on the Pelican board that has been making up harnesses for friends. You might check him out as he also comes recommended with several write-in votes. Here's a insight to Steve aka shikzachaser on the subject of Rap... "I am just a struggling old man trying to cope w/ a modern world and I don't understand the anger. Plus I think animated crappy poetry is for the birds."
Shikzachaser's wiring harness In Response to your email:Many have written to ask where these Zelmots can be purchased - the ones seen above came from JC Whitney - see link below. Here is the link to the JC Whitney version. Remember, I do not have any association with this vendor. Several readers have said they are or will soon be running this lighting combination. A couple of observations passed along to me:
|
