headlights / fan overide switch
Discussion
I do not have a copy but Steve Heaths bible will tell you how. It is quite easy, find the otter switch and run simply piggy-back two wires and run inside the car to a switch.
Improving headlights is a bit of a mine field. If you just up the wattage of the bulbs then in theory you should uprate the wiring, somepeople dont and dont have probs, thats for you to decide ! On many vechicles if you rewire using heavier wire there is less voltage drop and the difference is quite noticable. A few years back i rewired many Range Rovers and with bigger wattage bulbs as well they ended up really good.
Improving headlights is a bit of a mine field. If you just up the wattage of the bulbs then in theory you should uprate the wiring, somepeople dont and dont have probs, thats for you to decide ! On many vechicles if you rewire using heavier wire there is less voltage drop and the difference is quite noticable. A few years back i rewired many Range Rovers and with bigger wattage bulbs as well they ended up really good.
I've slaved long and hard to improve the dipped headlights on my Griff 500, which start out a lot worse than the Chimaera due to the perspex covers.
The biggest benefit has been from running 100W bulbs, after the appropriate check on the rating of the wiring, relays and fuses. No problems, although the bulbs last under a year due to the heat, or possibly due to them running at below the correct voltage (but not the case - see below).
I toyed with running uprated wiring directly to and from the battery, via relays controlled by the existing harness, in order to combat any voltage drop in the standard wiring. Best way to check if this is worth the trouble is to switch on the lights, then temporarily touch a thick cable directly between the battery and the lights. If the light gets appreciably brighter then you're getting a large voltage drop in the standard wiring, and it's worth upgrading.
However, I tried this for both the +ve and earth connections and got a miniscule increase in brightness. Measuring the voltage increase, I got only 0.85V more, from 13 to 13.85V with the engine running. Not enough to be worth the hassle of upgrading the wiring. This was on a '97 car btw.
Other possibilities are a pair of PIAA Superwhite bulbs, which have 130W equivalent light output from only 80W power consumption (£50/pair). Better would be Clive Reed's Zertec conversion to HID lights, but this is an order of magnitude more expensive.
Hope this helps,
Pete
p.s. Mr Reed - any plans to make a Griff headlight upgrade which fits under the perspex covers and keeps the original appearance?
The biggest benefit has been from running 100W bulbs, after the appropriate check on the rating of the wiring, relays and fuses. No problems, although the bulbs last under a year due to the heat, or possibly due to them running at below the correct voltage (but not the case - see below).
I toyed with running uprated wiring directly to and from the battery, via relays controlled by the existing harness, in order to combat any voltage drop in the standard wiring. Best way to check if this is worth the trouble is to switch on the lights, then temporarily touch a thick cable directly between the battery and the lights. If the light gets appreciably brighter then you're getting a large voltage drop in the standard wiring, and it's worth upgrading.
However, I tried this for both the +ve and earth connections and got a miniscule increase in brightness. Measuring the voltage increase, I got only 0.85V more, from 13 to 13.85V with the engine running. Not enough to be worth the hassle of upgrading the wiring. This was on a '97 car btw.
Other possibilities are a pair of PIAA Superwhite bulbs, which have 130W equivalent light output from only 80W power consumption (£50/pair). Better would be Clive Reed's Zertec conversion to HID lights, but this is an order of magnitude more expensive.
Hope this helps,
Pete
p.s. Mr Reed - any plans to make a Griff headlight upgrade which fits under the perspex covers and keeps the original appearance?
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