How can I underdrive my 50W fog bulbs so they last forever as my Canadian DRL lights.
How can I underdrive my 50W fog bulbs so they last forever as my Canadian DRL lights. They would still be quite visible at 40watts I would guess and taking the volts down by XX percent should add a few thousand or more hours of life. Resistors ?? But which ones would I want ? I don't know.
I haven't tested the actual voltage to the bulbs yet. I know that LED's last forever but I just spent a whopping $15 on a pair of Hella Yellow bulbs to go in my yellow laminated fogs so I want to explore the incandescents. |
Resistors = probably not. Well, you could get 10W resistors, but certainly not the best way.
Look into the ebay voltage step down modules similar to this: 131558369217 but higher power |
<p> </p><p>I understand that running halogens at low voltage disturbs the redeposition cycle, and may not lead to increased life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_lamp</p><p> </p>
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DC Step Down Adjustable Power Supply
I'll look into these thanks |
Originally Posted by DNMakinson
(Post 1251122)
<p> </p><p>I understand that running halogens at low voltage disturbs the redeposition cycle, and may not lead to increased life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_lamp</p><p> </p>
I'm hoping to only underdrive them a little bit. For example if they are getting say 13.5V at the lights I'd like to take it down to 13 or 12.5V. I should measure my headlights V as that is what the Canadian cars use as DRL's - a lower voltage is sent to the headlights so that they last much, much longer. |
If you wanted to loose only 0.5-1.0 volts, smaller diameter wiring/worst ground will get you there. Essentially using wire as a resistor.
Or possibly look into using a DRL module from another car directly? Might be the easy button. |
How can I underdrive my 50W fog bulbs so they last forever as my Canadian DRL lights.
How do halogens respond to PWM?
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<p>
Originally Posted by patsmx5
(Post 1251226)
If you wanted to loose only 0.5-1.0 volts, smaller diameter wiring/worst ground will get you there. Essentially using wire as a resistor. Or possibly look into using a DRL module from another car directly? Might be the easy button.
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Originally Posted by NiklasFalk
(Post 1251429)
How do halogens respond to PWM?
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The thermal relaxation of the filiment is going to be way too slow to care about a chopper or pwm.
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Much more technical than in was expecting.
I thought I could thrown in a few resistors like my ATV heated grips run when in the low setting and call it a day. - Ceramic Resistor |
Yep, something along those lines would work. If you go that route, be sure to mount the resistors to a suitable heat sink.
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Originally Posted by Landrew
(Post 1251643)
Much more technical than in was expecting.
I thought I could thrown in a few resistors like my ATV heated grips run when in the low setting and call it a day. - Ceramic Resistor Assuming a lamp is rated for 50 watts at 14 volts, it's got a resistance of 3.92 ohms. If you put a 1 ohm resistor in series with it, total system wattage will drop to 40 watts, of which the resistor will be dissipating about 8 watts and the lamp will be dissipating about 32. |
You know, 100W 10ohm resistors are like 6 bucks on amazon prime. Sounds pretty easy to me.
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Originally Posted by Joe Perez
(Post 1251670)
You can, but as Ted noted, they will generate quite a lot of heat, so mount them appropriately.
Assuming a lamp is rated for 50 watts at 14 volts, it's got a resistance of 3.92 ohms. If you put a 1 ohm resistor in series with it, total system wattage will drop to 40 watts, of which the resistor will be dissipating about 8 watts and the lamp will be dissipating about 32. Sweet, I will try this. They will be mounted around the front fender and get some airflow. |
Conduction >> convection ;)
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How can I underdrive my 50W fog bulbs so they last forever as my Canadian DRL lights.
The simplest way would be to couple them in series, but 7V might be too low.
Requires very little in parts. |
ebayed some gold aluminum housed 1 ohm 100 watt resistors. It'll take 2 weeks to get here. I'll be playing with the DRL and side markers until they show up.
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Originally Posted by NiklasFalk
(Post 1252811)
The simplest way would be to couple them in series, but 7V might be too low.
Requires very little in parts. |
3 Attachment(s)
FYI on a Canadian made car the DRL modules black with white wire is the one that activates the headlight DRL's. remove it and its manual only.
With that out of the way and the resistors having shown up I proceeded to install my Hella yellows into the fogs. Resistored light on the passenger side regular in drivers. Yes that resistor gets hot, we will see how it survives down there. Trying it this way and see how things go for a few months. https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1439325497 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1439325497 https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1439325497 |
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