Lights out

[Smoker]

Took the 240D to work yesterday, and then to the Dr. Who movie. About 2.5 hours of night time driving total, with no 'daytime' as I come in to work before light and leave at dark in this season.

I'm running high wattage H4s, and a modern stereo/amp....bout 3/4s of the way home when I switched from low to high beam the radio turned off....then came back on. Figgered I'm overdriving the poor little 55a alt, so I shut off the cabin fan, radio....by the time I was getting to the driveway the lights were pretty feeble.

Alt light didn't come on, but it comes on for test. I've got three junker 88-91 Saab 9000 turbo's here. One definitely has the 115amp alt, I know because I just replaced it about 8 months ago. Just recently took the car off the road due to rust but the running gear is fine. Guess that's my 'other' Thanksgiving holiday project...pull alt, make up some heavy wiring, and put in the 240D. At least Saab alternators are easy pulls.

I might pull the other two out while I've got the proper tools at hand and put one in the 300CD as well. I'm sure the 65a isn't happy with the H4 high output's either, although it has made many runs without a problem...10amps may be the difference.