mdocod
Flashaholic
DC/AC shouldn't make a major difference... There is a thermal mass to the filament that will shrug off the spikes in AC and hold the heat through the dips.
As for installing landing lights... eh... well, do the math first and figure out how much power you are actually going to need.. Most vehicle alternators are rated for ~50-150 amps depending on the vehicle. Around 80 is probably pretty common. Keep in mind that running an alternator at maximum output frequently is going to wear it out much faster.
With that in mind, the total power consumption from the alternator in most vehicles is going to be limited to around 600-1800 watts. (in some cases less)... In my experience, it's the fancier luxury vehicles that include nice big alternators with plenty of overhead to easily run all of the nice features in the car.
Right now, you are already running high and low beams at the same time, this consumes about 200W give or take.
rear defrost, rear lights, brake lights, blowers for climate control, blinkers, dash lights, engine computer, other control electronics (ABS etc), ignition system, heated mirrors, heated seats, window wipers, dash lights, stereo... and on and on...
All of these things consume additional power, some features you may or may not have but one could assume that with a few things on, several hundred watts are being consumed above and beyond the headlights.
Most stock alternators can handle the addition of a set of fog lights or auxiliary driving lights, (70-130w) and maybe a bit more, like some thumping subs or a small inverter running a piece of medical equipment or something.... but, when you start putting loads of 600W X2 with a pair of aircraft landing lights, you are pushing well over the scope of most car alternators.
On a separate note: If you were actually listening to 3000W of musical power in your car at that close range, you would be suffering from organ damage, retina separation, major hearing loss or complete loss of hearing, etc etc... The world of car audio and the way they like to throw around "watts" as a specification is actually far worse than the over-stated lumen value of many cheap flashlights. If the system were drawing anywhere near that much power, your battery would go flat in minutes, and the headlights would be very dim in the moments leading up to the battery failing. Truth is, most people listen to music inside of a few watts of total power consumption. Often, a fraction of a watt is more than adequate for a good listening volume. Bass does require far more energy and is far less efficient to produce than the normal listening range; if you are running a gangster style thump mobile, then it's possible that you are using 100+ watts here... I have actually hooked up measuring equipment between amps and speakers. Bass in most musical programs in excess of 50-100W inside of a car (assuming average woofer efficiency) is almost intolerable. Some speaker/enclosure combination's will require much higher power input to achieve those same levels of output due to inherent inefficiencies (long-throw driver designs in small sealed boxes, as an example)... Nuff said on this, just wanted to share...
Ok... so you are going to run into a power problem if you want to run a high power lamp for any long period of time... with that in mind, your best bet is to scale back in the power consumption department, and if you want more raw lumens, look in the direction of HIDs. A pair of 35W HIDs in an auxiliary "high beam" oriented design will probably really impress just about anyone, move up to 50W and you'll have more lumens on the road than you could ever really seriously need...
Now, I want to defend your position of needing more light as many responses here have been trying to discourage it. Provided the roads are not populated, and provided you have a real reason involving safety to have more light, I'm in full support. I live in the woods, I have to keep an eye out for deer any time I go out. I too would like to improve the forward lighting on my vehicles. As I recall, in many states in the USA, auxiliary driving lights in massive quantity are perfectly legal provided they are not activated in the presence of other traffic (especially oncoming). These lights may be sold for "off-road" use only, but can be used on rural roads in most places without any legal trouble if you are courteous in the way they they are used. Even traveling 45MPH through a wooded rural road can be dangerous if you have large mammals randomly hopping out into the road, more light, especially if it is directed properly, will help the driver see those animals with more advanced warning.
So.. to consolidate: air-craft landing lights might be fun if they are just there to impress friends for a few seconds, but for practical long-term use in rural roads, adding some HID aux lights is probably the best route.
Eric
As for installing landing lights... eh... well, do the math first and figure out how much power you are actually going to need.. Most vehicle alternators are rated for ~50-150 amps depending on the vehicle. Around 80 is probably pretty common. Keep in mind that running an alternator at maximum output frequently is going to wear it out much faster.
With that in mind, the total power consumption from the alternator in most vehicles is going to be limited to around 600-1800 watts. (in some cases less)... In my experience, it's the fancier luxury vehicles that include nice big alternators with plenty of overhead to easily run all of the nice features in the car.
Right now, you are already running high and low beams at the same time, this consumes about 200W give or take.
rear defrost, rear lights, brake lights, blowers for climate control, blinkers, dash lights, engine computer, other control electronics (ABS etc), ignition system, heated mirrors, heated seats, window wipers, dash lights, stereo... and on and on...
All of these things consume additional power, some features you may or may not have but one could assume that with a few things on, several hundred watts are being consumed above and beyond the headlights.
Most stock alternators can handle the addition of a set of fog lights or auxiliary driving lights, (70-130w) and maybe a bit more, like some thumping subs or a small inverter running a piece of medical equipment or something.... but, when you start putting loads of 600W X2 with a pair of aircraft landing lights, you are pushing well over the scope of most car alternators.
On a separate note: If you were actually listening to 3000W of musical power in your car at that close range, you would be suffering from organ damage, retina separation, major hearing loss or complete loss of hearing, etc etc... The world of car audio and the way they like to throw around "watts" as a specification is actually far worse than the over-stated lumen value of many cheap flashlights. If the system were drawing anywhere near that much power, your battery would go flat in minutes, and the headlights would be very dim in the moments leading up to the battery failing. Truth is, most people listen to music inside of a few watts of total power consumption. Often, a fraction of a watt is more than adequate for a good listening volume. Bass does require far more energy and is far less efficient to produce than the normal listening range; if you are running a gangster style thump mobile, then it's possible that you are using 100+ watts here... I have actually hooked up measuring equipment between amps and speakers. Bass in most musical programs in excess of 50-100W inside of a car (assuming average woofer efficiency) is almost intolerable. Some speaker/enclosure combination's will require much higher power input to achieve those same levels of output due to inherent inefficiencies (long-throw driver designs in small sealed boxes, as an example)... Nuff said on this, just wanted to share...
Ok... so you are going to run into a power problem if you want to run a high power lamp for any long period of time... with that in mind, your best bet is to scale back in the power consumption department, and if you want more raw lumens, look in the direction of HIDs. A pair of 35W HIDs in an auxiliary "high beam" oriented design will probably really impress just about anyone, move up to 50W and you'll have more lumens on the road than you could ever really seriously need...
Now, I want to defend your position of needing more light as many responses here have been trying to discourage it. Provided the roads are not populated, and provided you have a real reason involving safety to have more light, I'm in full support. I live in the woods, I have to keep an eye out for deer any time I go out. I too would like to improve the forward lighting on my vehicles. As I recall, in many states in the USA, auxiliary driving lights in massive quantity are perfectly legal provided they are not activated in the presence of other traffic (especially oncoming). These lights may be sold for "off-road" use only, but can be used on rural roads in most places without any legal trouble if you are courteous in the way they they are used. Even traveling 45MPH through a wooded rural road can be dangerous if you have large mammals randomly hopping out into the road, more light, especially if it is directed properly, will help the driver see those animals with more advanced warning.
So.. to consolidate: air-craft landing lights might be fun if they are just there to impress friends for a few seconds, but for practical long-term use in rural roads, adding some HID aux lights is probably the best route.
Eric
