What gauge wire for 12v/100w car bulb?

Alaric Darconville

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If you have current headlight specs please post them

I am not sure what kind of specs for which headlamps you are asking about.

He may be inquiring about photometric requirements for automotive headlamps, referenced in FMVSS 108 (and elsewhere). (For example, SAE J1383, "Performance Requirements for Replaceable Bulb Motor Vehicle Headlamps", or maybe J1735, "Harmonized Vehicle Headlamp Performance Requirements"). ($65.00 non-member price for that one. Ouch.)
 

xul

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Links to what?



The phrase "high luminance luminous flux" does not appear in my post, and the phrases that do appear don't mean anything when taken out of the referential context in which they were written. Please re-read the post you are having trouble understanding.



I am not sure what kind of specs for which headlamps you are asking about.
Links that talks about
" 1000 lumens with low filament luminance gives much poorer seeing performance at night than 1000 lumens with high filament luminance, and there is substantial crossover as well; 700 high-luminance lumens can give better seeing performance than 1000 low-luminance lumens."
 

Lynx_Arc

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Links that talks about
" 1000 lumens with low filament luminance gives much poorer seeing performance at night than 1000 lumens with high filament luminance, and there is substantial crossover as well; 700 high-luminance lumens can give better seeing performance than 1000 low-luminance lumens."
I think the phrase could be said to mean underdriven incans tend to be yellowish-orange instead of a brighter color of white.
It is like having half dead D cells in your incan 2D maglight.
 

Alaric Darconville

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I think the phrase could be said to mean underdriven incans tend to be yellowish-orange instead of a brighter color of white.
It is like having half dead D cells in your incan 2D maglight.

It's also akin to how a single soft white 100W bulb puts out 1690 lumens (MOL), which is greater than the number of lumens put out by four 40W light bulbs (4@490lm, 1960lm). The 100W bulb has a higher filament luminance, and so even though the total lumens is higher with those 4-40W bulbs, the higher filament luminance of the 100W bulb will give better seeing performance. (However, one advantage to the 4-40W bulbs is that each can be in a distant corner of the room, to provide more even light, and less shadowing.)
 

-Virgil-

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Links that talks about
" 1000 lumens with low filament luminance gives much poorer seeing performance at night than 1000 lumens with high filament luminance, and there is substantial crossover as well; 700 high-luminance lumens can give better seeing performance than 1000 low-luminance lumens."

I'm still not sure what more you'd like to know, but I can suggest availing yourself of the transportation libraries at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center. I'm not sure about LRC's library, but the whole of UMTRI's catalogue is indexed online and they have a service whereby documents can be provided to those who aren't within easy visiting distance.
 

-Virgil-

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I think the phrase could be said to mean underdriven incans tend to be yellowish-orange instead of a brighter color of white.
It is like having half dead D cells in your incan 2D maglight.

Well...that's true, and it's tangentially relevant, but it's not a paraphrase of the assertion Xul seems to be having trouble with.
 

Lynx_Arc

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It's also akin to how a single soft white 100W bulb puts out 1690 lumens (MOL), which is greater than the number of lumens put out by four 40W light bulbs (4@490lm, 1960lm). The 100W bulb has a higher filament luminance, and so even though the total lumens is higher with those 4-40W bulbs, the higher filament luminance of the 100W bulb will give better seeing performance. (However, one advantage to the 4-40W bulbs is that each can be in a distant corner of the room, to provide more even light, and less shadowing.)
I'm thinking there is a certain amount of power required to get a filament up to the right temperature for proper light color output. When you reach that temperature if you both increase the filament size and power input (typically current when it comes to constant voltage bulbs) then the power required to keep the filament temperature hot enough doesn't increase as fast as the light intensity does. In other words more energy is wasted as heat in those 40 watt bulbs than a single 100 watt bulb due to the fact you have to get 4 filaments up to the right temperature and maintain them separate from each other.
I am wondering if he would be better suited to run 130 or even 150 watt halogens if that is feasible than use 100 watt lights. 2 150 watt halogens may approach the output of 4 100 watt lights and use 25% less power. I think however the cost of bulb replacement could become an issue as I have seen 130 watt halogen bulbs and they seem to cost about twice that of 100s and are 10 times harder to find locally (if you even can).
 

xul

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So it has to do with the luminous flux spectrum and the luminosity curve.

I am running two 120v, 40W incands in series which takes 30W total at 120v in two exterior fixtures and they give a pleasant orange light [these fixtures were gobbling bulbs for some reason and I didn't feel like looking for the loose connection].
But, like 10% of the males I am red-green colorblind so I can't swear that most people would see this light as orangey.
 
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Diesel_Bomber

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A few points:

1.) Put a voltage meter on your vehicle somewhere. A cheap $4 Harbor Freight DMM will be good enough for this. Start your vehicle, monitor voltage. Normal engine running/alternator working voltage should be 13.8 at the very lowest to 14.7 at the highest. Turn on your lights. Does voltage sag? Rev the motor a bit, does it go back up? This will tell you if your alternator will handle the load.

2.) Standard light duty vehicle alternators are rated in PEAK amps. They are meant to put out their full rated capacity for a few minutes to recharge a partially depleted starting battery, and then drop to a much lower charging level. Your 110 amp alternator is meant to produce 110 amps for probably no more than 10 minutes; the CONTINUOUS rating will be much lower, as little as half the peak rating. Keep this in mind if you do the voltage test I list above. Just because your alternator will handle the load does not mean it will last under that load.

3.) You have an Excursion, which is pretty much a Superduty truck w/ a permanently attached camper. Same drivetrain, same engine, etc. Superduty trucks get used for ambulances and that kind of thing. There is absolutely an off-the-shelf high continuous amperage alternator available for your application that will probably bolt right in, especially if you have a diesel.

4.) A voicemail from Joe the counter guy will not hold up as proof of approval for a warranty claim on a failed alternator caused by aftermarket additions. Get a written statement from someone with the authority to make a financial decision on that level that should you add X amount of lights of X model number to vehicle X(vin would be nice) and the alternator fails, you will be covered. Failing this, prepare to pay for a new alternator ahead of time. Better to prevent a problem than "go ape$hit" on someone over a problem you could have avoided.
 
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guiri

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I can't comment on 1 and 2 but I can on 3 and 4. First, mine is a V10 but yes, there are plenty of much more powerful alternators.

4. You're probably right but I will try my alternator first and see what happens. I would like to upgrade to bigger/or dual alternator/s and dual batteries but that's just a question of money which right now, is not gonna happen.
HOWEVER, I AM expecting some money within a year (unless I get $hi**ed out of that too), not much but enough to make these upgrades, so maybe it'll happen. Other than this, there really isn't much I'd like to do to the truck
as I'm not into rims and stuff that doesn't improve the riding or whatever. The rest of the upgrades are inside in electronics and only what I need.
 

xul

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14.7 at the highest
15.5v in the winter for at least some cars. Probably colder batteries can stand a higher charge rate while not sacrificing battery service life.

At 17v you are boiling the electrolyte pretty well while 12.8v should give you zero current into the battery.
 

Alaric Darconville

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while 12.8v should give you zero current into the battery.

So long as the charging voltage is higher than the battery's present output voltage, you will be able to run current through the battery. A badly discharged battery may start taking a charge well below 11V (although that battery may also be permanently damaged by having gone that low).

Yes, 17V is pretty high voltage.

Probably colder batteries can stand a higher charge rate while not sacrificing battery service life.
Just don't charge a frozen battery. Also, as the cold battery charges, it warms up, and the charging voltage should be lowered accordingly.
 

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