50w HID bulb vs. 35w HID bulb

S

skyline03

Member
Location
Los Angeles
Car
10 FX35
I am looking to replace the OEM HID bulb with morimoto D2S bulbs. Is the OEM ballasts rated for 35w or 50-55w? Would putting a 50w-55w bulb effect the headlight housing? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
oem ballasts are 35w. If your installing a 55w bulb in a 35w ballast i dont think it would do any damage. If your changing your ballasts as well then you might run into issues. But its illegal anyways in LA to run 55w bulbs/ballasts
 
Some members have tried and have run into problems. The 55w bulbs tend to blink and not fire up correctly on the 35w ballasts. Not everytime, but enough times that they switched back to 35w.

And I wish they would stop making these 55w bulbs. A lot of people have no idea between D2S AND D2R and get the wrong ones blinding everyone on the road. Besides the 55w blinding everone anyways.

Sent from my DNA
 
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Stick with 35w. The stock wiring will melt or burn over time it already happened on my neighbors ex35. 55 watt runs way too hot.
 
my headlights are TRS 35w d2s 5k's

my foglights are TRS 55w 5k's.

you can see how the extra wattage affects the color. the foglights look more "blue" which is weird for a 5k. 8k is usually blue.

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and the stock headlights with 55w 5k foglights. they look SOOOO yellow.

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I always heard that 55W fogs had a nasty tendency of melting the enclosure.
 
Nice comparison pictures. So basically it's near impossible to get exact color match for head lights and fog lights since the head lights are projectors and fog are reflectors. I wonder if you went with 35w fog would you get a closer color match
 
ka0tyk said:
You can always make ASSumptions... the 55w are on a relay. I dont trust wiring in ANY car.
Click to expand...

A relay would not make any difference in if the wiring melts or not. Ive seen 55watts melt the molex connectors and melt the housings on many cars because of the high heat exposure overtime. The relay is set there to detect voltage changes. The relay doesnt monitor if the wiring detoriorates overtime.


Im merely suggesting something because I have much more experience in car lighting to the point where I've spent hundreds and hundreds of dollar s in testing different stuff where I know which is good and which isnt. My neighbor with his EX35 just replaced his wiring and one of his foglight housings melted and turned yellow running morimoto 55watts.

As to the ASSumption comment save that stuff for another forum. We here at IS are a friendly community. If you like that stuff go to the org instead. Its really not needed here. I suggested it not to be an ass as you say but to be helpful and suggest against using something that could potentially be an expensive mistake.
 
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Agreed, comment not needed we're simply trying to help you out a prevent an issue for your ride. Also, a relay is just a voltage controlled switch, it's not going to prevent you from running more current than what your wiring is rated for. Also, it's not always the wires that are melting, a 55W bulb produces more heat than a 35W and can melt the fog enclosure if there is no way for that heat to escape.
 
If its a 35W ballast why would you run anything but a 35W bulb. You're just asking for trouble.

Im with the others stick to 35W all the way round wether its fog lights or headlights.
 
its a 55w balast not a 35w.

a relay with the appropriate sized wire for the amperage and distance willsafely run the load without any melting danger. it doesnt detect just voltage. it detects a low amp circuit completion and the switched side allows for a high amp draw SAFELY based on the wiring and relay rating. this isnt my first rodeo with electrical (or mechanical). ive built plenty full wiring harnesses for cars and boats with all my projects.

as far as heat, its fine. no melting. the front glass doesnt even get warm. i appreciate your concern with you spending whatever on your lighting (which apparently makes you some expert?) but there is no danger here.

i guess i should take them out of my navigator as well...

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im just someone showing multiple working examples not "opinions" or "my neighbors car..." of what works.
 
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kat0tyk, you're absolutely right on with the relay. Relay is simply an electronic switch, with proper wire size and circuit ampage within the specs of the relay on the wiring, it will be safe. The members comments on running 55W ballast with 55W bulb in stock housings (fog or headlight) in our cars will have a high tendency of melting these housings.

We all would love to hear from you on your fog setup in a few months.
 
I'm assuming both operate at the same voltage, so the higher power means you're running higher current. This will get hotter, but too hot? Well that depends, and there's only one way to find out. :wink:

Don't call people asses when they are trying to help btw, or I'll see to it that you are kicked by your's right out of here.
 
I don't think the problem would be the wiring, I think what they were trying to say is that the heat from the bulb could
melt the wiring. Regardless of how it's wired, a 55w bulb is 55w. Relay or not, the heat output is going to be the same.
 
la_fx35 said:
We all would love to hear from you on your fog setup in a few months.
Click to expand...

its been ~9 months with multiple trips to lake havasu for 5 hours in 110*+ heat. IMO there is no danger.

Are there actually threads with pictures of melted housings from people on this forum (not "my neighbors car caught on fire) or are these all just urban myths? i did a quick CSI search of the internet and cant come up with anything other than people asking if they will melt, or some dude in a honda where the bulb came out from an improper install and then melted his housing.
 
Mtn FX melted his from changing his dtrl's. I slightly melted mine during the whole CREE fiasco. Not 55w HID specific, but clearly it's possible to cause issues from lights, which is why people brought it up.
 
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