i had 2 questions 1) do i want silverstars and 2)do i need a wiring harness. after searching i found out that i want the silverstars but i found mixed answers on if i NEED a harness, will the silverstars melt my stock harness. and where can i get a better harness at? and is the difference with the silverstars in that much of a difference with the new harness vs old. <--any pics? thx
Wiring Harness With Silverstars
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
Joined
·
2,458 Posts
First off, the SilverStars will not melt your harness.
Secondly, if you want to do just one or the other, go with the harness. It may cost a bit more, but it will make your stock headlights brighter than SilverStars would be if you didn't upgrade the harness. The BEST harness, IMO is found at SUVlights.com. Beware the eBay versions... most of them are crap.
Secondly, if you want to do just one or the other, go with the harness. It may cost a bit more, but it will make your stock headlights brighter than SilverStars would be if you didn't upgrade the harness. The BEST harness, IMO is found at SUVlights.com. Beware the eBay versions... most of them are crap.
a harness will not make your lights too much brighter...
there are plenty of online calculators that you can use to see how many more amps a larger gauge wire will provide you. It has an input field for the length of wire too... and it will come out to be a fraction of an amp... your much better getting silverstars IMO. The wiring harnesses are mostly for if you are going to upgrade your bulb to a much higher wattage...
Jesse
there are plenty of online calculators that you can use to see how many more amps a larger gauge wire will provide you. It has an input field for the length of wire too... and it will come out to be a fraction of an amp... your much better getting silverstars IMO. The wiring harnesses are mostly for if you are going to upgrade your bulb to a much higher wattage...
Jesse
http://www.stealth316.com/2-wire-resistance.htm
Heres one to calculate the resistance of a wire at any gauge at a specified length
Heres one to calculate the resistance of a wire at any gauge at a specified length
Joined
·
2,458 Posts
Methinks you haven't used the upgraded harness. The stock harness is crap--the upgraded harness DOES make a difference on stock bulbs--granted, nothing is going to make a night-and-day difference short of true HIDs, but the upgraded harness is the way to go if you don't have an extra $500 to burn, but you want better lighting. That and a set of foglights to make up for our narrow-focus headlight beams.
And, it's not about amps. It's about volts. The stock harness suffers voltage drop due to the insufficient wire gauge.
And, it's not about amps. It's about volts. The stock harness suffers voltage drop due to the insufficient wire gauge.
Joined
·
2,458 Posts
That's personal preference really--I prefer fogs.
In our cars, the headlights are kinda crappy (and that's me being nice.) The low beam is way too low, so if you don't live in the middle of nowhere and drive with high beams on all the time, the first thing you need to do is aim the lights up a little, so the low beam projects out a little farther.
Then the addition of foglights will help with the illumination to the sides and also immediately in front of the car (up close.) Driving lights will extend the long-range lighting of the car, but won't add too much visibility to the sides or down-low.
In our cars, the headlights are kinda crappy (and that's me being nice.) The low beam is way too low, so if you don't live in the middle of nowhere and drive with high beams on all the time, the first thing you need to do is aim the lights up a little, so the low beam projects out a little farther.
Then the addition of foglights will help with the illumination to the sides and also immediately in front of the car (up close.) Driving lights will extend the long-range lighting of the car, but won't add too much visibility to the sides or down-low.
im not exactly looking for brighter lights. yes that would help but i have fogs now and im happy with that. i was looking to go with a little whiter light. and something that looked good. this is alot more info then i expected to get...thx...o and im probable just going to get the silverstars since they wont melt my harness and go from there.
Joined
·
4,482 Posts
I put in those whiter lights on my sable few months ago from ebay for like 15 dollars for both or something (first set, one burned out, 2nd set, both brights burned out at the same time, on third set and no sign of problems) so yea, i guess you could say those cheap ones on ebay are crappy seeings how the jacked up on me twice. Anyways, i also bought Eurolite TF1600 and took out the stock bulbs and put in the whiter ones. I got before and after pictures, but i have to get them off my grandparents camera at there house. i also have TF1200 on the way. And by the way, I bought the TF1600 off ebay for like 25 bucks and the TF1200 for 40 :banana: . The foglights do help with side view. We have bad dear around here so i needed something. Those whiter lights i dont think help THAT much, but they do help and look MUCH better than stock lights. Besides the fact they make signs reflect bright as all hell :blink:.
Joined
·
156 Posts
if you are going to suggest that route, please explain.
The pre-made harness does not require and cutting, is completely plug and play, reversable, and costs $50.
The relays costs about $12 each (I'm guessing), plus additional wire. [/b][/quote]
I bought 5 relays for about $10 (shipping included) on ebay.
A number of years ago I did an exhaustive test of light output of halogen bulbs. It turns out that once a voltage of 12-12.5v is reached, any additional voltage results in an almost exponential increase in light output. The best stock wiring harness I have run across is that in my 97 XJ6. The stock harness gave only 0.3v drop. The harness on my 95 SHO gave a 1.1v drop. I build my own harnesses and they give no more than 0.1v drop.
In testing 100w halogen H1 bulbs, I found that, with a wire length of only 3 feet between the bulb and the battery, 10 gauge wire had much less of a voltage drop that 14 gauge wire. Using 130w or 160w bulbs really make this drop visible. All the driving in lights on my rally car use 10 gauge wiring and I have more light output than every other rally car I have seen.
In most cars the current to the headlights is fed from the battery to a breaker or fuse, to the headlight switch, to the high/low beam switch, and finally to the headlights. It is through this circuitous path (pardon the pun) that voltage drop occurs. My 95 SHO had the headlights grounded to the body via a (much too small) 20 gauge wire. Harnesses replace this path with something much better.
The key to the harnesses is the quality of the relay, the gauge of the wire, the quality and assembly of connectors, and the quality of the fuse/circuit breaker.
For my headlight harnesses I use 12 gauge wire. This seems to be the best compromise of cost vs voltage drop vs the physical routing of the wire. I take the main power for the lights from the alternator rather than the battery. I ground the lights to one of the alternator mounting bolts as well as the battery. The purist in me knows that there is a small voltage drop between the battery and the alternator. I use automotive circuit breakers rather than fuses. I have yet to find a fuse assembly that gives less of a voltage drop than a circuit breaker. I use crimp connectors on the ends of the wires and, after crimping the connector properly, I solder the crimp part of the connector. This causes solder to fill little air gaps within the crimp and adds to the strength of the crimp. I use silver based solder. I use dielectric grease between the bottom of the crimp and the insulation of the wire. I cover the greased area with heat shrink tubing. As the years go by, this technique stops a corrosion buildup inside the crimp.
You may think I'm going overboard with this voltage drop thing, but it really does make a difference.
Joined
·
702 Posts
I want HID-looking lights. By that, I mean more bluish lights. I used to have some called "cool blue" but they didn't seem to make a difference for being $20 more than normal bulbs. Any ideas for us cheap people?
Zach
Zach
Joined
·
4,482 Posts
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
Join the discussion
Join now to ask and comment!