In a message dated 5/8/99 7:59:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
sanborn@net1plus.com writes:
> new harness. I
> installed these new Sylvania X-travision halogen sealed beams. They are
> modern 55/60 watt units instead of the original 30 or 35 watt ones.
<snip>
> I was concerned about whether the old electrical components would carry the
> load of the new sealed beams.
>
> Do I need to wire in the relays or will the old switch and the new harness
> carry the load.
Brian,
The headlight wires on your car are *probably* rated for 8 amps. The old
lights pulled a maximum of 6 amps, while the highbeams on your new lights
will pull 10 amps. Fortunately, the wire ratings are conservative -- ie, they
won't melt with 8.1 amps.
Whether or not you can get by with the existing wiring is a judgement call.
If you still had the old wiring, I would say definately not, but with a new
harness and all the associated new connectors, you probably can. The wiring
harness on my car was not new, but it was cleaned well, and suspicious
connectors replaced when it was restored about 11 years ago. When I got the
car, it had the 55/60 watt headlamps, and they have been there ever since,
with no problems.
I'm only guessing at the wire gauge for your TR4, so it could be smaller than
the TR6. Triumph typically used wires about one size smaller than the
*correct* ratings, so your wiring may only be rated for 6 amps.
I wish I could give you a more definitative answer, but there are so many
variables, both in the car's wiring scheme and in the wire ratings, that's
it's hard to do. Theoretically, you should use the relays. If you should go
that way and need any help with wiring diagrams, let me know.
As additional info, in an emergency once, I ran my car's entire electrical
load, including headlights, through a 16 gauge wire, rated for about 8 amps
or so, for about an hour. I held the wire in my hand the whole time to
monitor the temperature. It definately got warm, but never actually what you
would call hot.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://members.aol.com/danmas/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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