Hey all

I recently had Bosch cool white headlights on my 850, but one of them burnt out, so i replaced them with cheapie plasma HID xenon gas filled light bulbs i got on e bay. I just installed them, but I have not turned on my lights yet cuz i have a question. On my stock and Bosch cool white bulbs, its says 12V 60/55W H4 (i have a 1993 850), but on the xenon ones, it sez 12V 100/90W H4 obviously it uses more power..35 watts more, but will it be okay for me to use them? I'm afraid they will burn my wires or something. I haven't turned on the lights yet, and I probably won't until i know what to do.

Thanks

If you want more light, you need higher lumen output, and this isn't necessarily related to wattage. Check out what's available at http://www.autolamps-online.com. And I seriously recommend e-code lenses if you don't already have them - they'll put a lot more light where you need it.

Running overwatt lamps will generate extra heat. This will turn your connectors into resistors, and eventually melt the connectors or even part of the housing. My experience with overwatt lamps (recommended by the company that sold them to me) a few years ago in a set of pricey foglights resulted in melted connectors and housing, and cracked lenses. When I tried overwatt lamps in my headlight fixtures, I saw almost no difference...but my connectors were melted.

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(98 S70 T5SE misc mods, mostly lighting) (92 940GLE)

I would guess the current through the wires will be higher. E * I = Watts.
E = 12V , and so on.

You misunderstand. These ratings are for brightness. They still use the same voltage. They will be 35 watts brighter than the old bulbs. Make sure to check with DMV about state regulations on wattage. In some states it is illegal to run brighter than normal lights.

Hope this helps.

True rick850R, but since they are at a higher wattage, they will dissapate more heat, and i'm wondering if it will burn anything within my electrical system. And about state regulations and such, it'll be alrite. Its a volvo, no one ever suspects a volvo..the best excuse is "It came with the car..factory H.I.D."

True rick850R, but since they are at a higher wattage, they will dissapate more heat, and i'm wondering if it will burn anything within my electrical system. And about state regulations and such, it'll be alrite. Its a volvo, no one ever suspects a volvo..the best excuse is "It came with the car..factory H.I.D."

Yikes!!! You are really pushing it. The rating on the bulb is typically the measure of power the bulb will use. Not the amount of light produced. The measure of light output is Lumens. A bulbs wattage is a measure of power. It it represented as Watts(P)= Voltage(V) x Current(I) or P=VI. Using the low setting on your original bulbs (55W), your wiring would be handling a current of 55W/12V or 4.6 Amps. Now with the new bulbs (90W), you will be running 90W/12V or 7.5 Amps. Not only is 7.5A a lot but it is 64% higher current draw than your existing bulb. I would not run this amount of current through the stock wiring. You should add relays to handle this amount of current to eliminate a potential wiring meltdown and/or engine fire. For anyone wanting to use a higher wattage bulb, I would say you could get by with a 30-35% increase in current on the factory wiring.

My real recommendation is to replace your bulb with some of the newer bulbs from Phillips or Sylvania Xtravision type bulbs. These will give you 5-15% more light output and stay in the 55-60watt range. Most of the bulbs I have seen out there are junk. I have tried a few of the blue bulbs and they actually have LESS output than standard halogens despite the claims.

i believe volvospeed.com has some stuff about making the wiring more robust.

here's something to visit...

http://lighting.mbz.org/faq/ (somedays it's up, somedays it's not)