Is the wiring for W210 fog lights up to handling overwattage bulbs? Will 70 watt or higher used to replace 55 watt H1 bulbs cause any wiring problems, overheating or melting. Thanks.

__________________

• My Website - www.E55AMG.com

The wiring should be able to handle 70Watt bulbs (in stead of 55Watt). A lot of people with "bad" visibility change their 55Watt bulbs for 100Watt bulbs here in the Netherlands (although I would never do THAT).

70Watt should still be safe; the fogs are normally powered by a relay (with an additional fuse on top). If I may ask: What do you ant to gain with these over wattage bulbs? The fog lights are only additional auxiliary lights that one might want to turn on…

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

Kevin, I have a 1987 W124030, and I have 100/90 watt 9004 headlight bulbs and 80 watt H3 bulbs in my fogs.
No, I don't think the OEM wiring will handle the load and I have provided larger wiring an relays for the increased load.
If you are interested in the way I did mine, you can reach me at my e-mail and I will respond with detailed how to do it and a parts required plus the source.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from Houston!!!
Donald, El cheapo

I used 80/100W 9004 bulbs for a few months.

My brother borrowed the car to go to vegas, and I swapped the bulbs out for the regular stock bulbs because I hadnot had the high watt bulbs on for more than an hour since I had installed them.

At first the light seemed better, but I noticed it was just brighter, but the visibility was no different.

I also decided the factory wiring may not be able to handle it, so I took them out.

You would be better off looking for the European lights or rewiring your lights with relays and thicker gauge wire.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Being an Ham Radio Operator, WB9ZON, brought to mind the filtering of a.c. from a d.c. circuit.
A capacitor blocks d.c. to flow and allows a.c. to flow.
By installing the largest, in micro farads, capacitor in the d.c. circuit, both high and low beams, to ground you get pure d.c.voltage/amps.
This a.c. comes from the alternator.
I have a capacitor on the feed side of my headlight relays, one right and one left.
Wheither they improve the luminens of my 100/90 watt 9004 bulbs I can't say; but they look brighter to the eye and cost so little why not give them a try.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from Houston!!!
Donald, El Cheapo

Whoa! Donald, that went over my head! Maybe I will just stick to standard wattage.

Kevin as simple as abc.
Don't sell yourself short, if you can remove the cluster you can handle this.
Think it over and when you have the cluster in your hands, DO IT.
If I can help via the e-mail try me.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from Houston!!!
Donald, El Cheapo

As a physicist, I feel I may as well put in my 2cents regarding headlight bulbs. First, I ran 80/100 watt bulbs in my w201 for 6 months. I kept a close eye on fuses and wiring. There were no noticable effects. I would only worry if you have to change a fuse rating to install a component. The stock headlight fuses are ample. The fogs at 100 watts were likewise no problem. I am currently using the 80/100 watt bulbs in my w202 and again there are no problems. The fogs on that car, however were not fused for 100 watts. I will experiment further and keep you updated. The above comment about a capacitor was way off. They pass dc quite nicely. When used in series with a resistor (or anything having a resistance, such as a bulb), they charge to the full circuit voltage at a rate (in seconds) given by the product of the capacitance (in farads) and the resistance (in ohms). What you would see is your headlights starting slowly and then coming up to full light strength. Not very good when switching to low from high beam. OK, so now a word about those cute blue bulbs that claim to give you the output of a 100 watt bulb in a 55 watt bulb. Rubbish. They actually put out less light (measured with a light meter) than a regular 55 watt bulb. Why? because they draw the same amperage and put out 55 watts, except they have blue tinted glass, which, for the photographers out there, behaves the same as a colour correction filter used to make film see yellowish light at sunset as the more blue middle of day type light. All photographers know that this attenuates the light, necessitating opening the aperture to let more light in if they hope to use the same shutter speed. So what do these actually do with respect to a 100 watt bulb (or a HID system)?
Let me first explain something called "black body radiation". An object (a metal normally) can be made to glow if heated. The wavelength of light given off is related to Boltzmann's constant and the temperature (in degrees Kelvin) to the fourth power. The hotter the temperature, the more intense the light, and the further toward the blue end of the spectrum the light moves.
So, what these blue lights are doing is replicating the colour temperature of the hotter lights. Since they cant draw more power to actually make the filament hotter, they accomplish it by filtering, which actually lessens the light getting to the road compared to a similar wattage clear-lensed bulb. The gas they contain is no different in behaviour to any other halogen bulb. It allows the tungsten of the filament to precipitate back onto the element instead of remaining as vapour over time, and precipitating on the glass, producing a bulb that remains as bright as new until it finally expires, rather than dimming with age. 14 volts is nowhere near enough to excite the gas atoms to produce an intense light discharge when they return to ground state, regardless of gas. This is how the HID systems work (much like a fluorescent home light), requiring a very high voltage transformer and thus still drawing a low current.
Hope this helps.

Good explaination Benzfan.
Also, if you guys really want to know about lights.
Go to the Philips Auto Light Forum

I forgot to mention that capacitors also discharge at the same rate they charged at when the circuit voltage is removed. Current will continue to flow, so your lights would slowly dim before going out if you had a capacitor in the circuit. They actually filter a rectified AC signal (AC converted to DC) to provide a constant voltage DC signal. Try hooking a car stereo up directly to a battery charger. You will get a 60 cycle hum from your speakers. Then, put a car battery between the charger and the stereo. The hum is gone. The battery behaves as a very large capacitor, effectively filtering the AC component out by providing a discharge time that is significantly greater than the 60 cycle per second supply that is poorly regulated by the battery charger. By the nature of the battery, it does not require an expensive, accurately rectified and regulated charging voltage. It can vary slightly 60 times per second. The fuel gauge on my old Fiat spyder had no damping whatsoever, and would bounce on the slightest bump. The fuel gauge being a simple voltage comparator network, I placed equal capacitances in series with both the fixed resistance of one of the coils in the gauge, and the variable resistance that is the sending unit that is hooked to the other coil in the gauge. I believe I also added an extra resistor to each as well, chosen to give me the time constant I thought would be appropriate. The result was a nicely damped gauge needle.

benzfan, thanks for your replies.

You stated this about your W202:

"The fogs on that car, however were not fused for 100 watts"

What do you mean by this?

This is where my original question started. I wanted to know if the W210 foglights would handle 70 watt bulbs. Should I check the foglight fuse rating? Any idea what it should be rated in order to handle the 70 watt bulbs.

Thanks.

As long as you are not going too far, 80w/80w or 80w/100w, or even 100w/110w bulbs should fit w/out much problem at all. I had PIAA 80w/110w on my W140 for a year w/out any problem. 80w/100w should be the safest bet, IMO..

Andy Kuo

__________________
1992 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/W140_Side.gif

2002 Acura TL Type S
http://members.shaw.ca/AKRY/type_s_side.gif

Benzfan, the on coming car with it's blue tinted headlamps look nice.
Is it possible the owner wants his car to look different not being concerned wheither the blue eyes improve on his visibility?
Regardless what a colour correction filter does to the photo image, DO NOT Steal a persons Joy by telling him how technically wrong he is.
Never let anyone steal your Joy as well.
I have a 0.9 microfarad capacitor from the battery terminal to chassis ground on both of my headlight relays. Agreed the best filter is a DC source(battery), but just for belt and suspenders I have the capacitor to ground.
A capacitor in series as inductance(a chock)opposes the flow of AC power frequencies while allowing DC to pass unopposed.
Test your memory.
When our Beloved Benz had a generator, capacitor was connected from the output terminal to ground.
The instrument cluster had a capacitor connecting the power terminal to chassis ground.
A PI filter was in series with the radio power lead as was the radio chassis connected to ground via a capacitor. Again allowing ac to ground and blocking DC.
The Capacitor is not in Series or Parrallel, but to ground.
This capacitor is not storing electrons until it equals the battery voltage then discharging only to repeat the cycle.
You see your illustration in the Markets where they want to get your attention with the flashing red LED.
Consider your application with that which is common in the automobile to remove unwanted AC.
Happy Trails beep Beep from The Spiderman in Houston!!!

Right you are. I have to remind myself sometimes that the AC generated by the alternator is not perfectly regulated in the car's electrical system after being rectified. It still retains an AC component. My humble apologies for sounding arrogant. That certainly is not my intent. The blue lights do look great, and my 80/100 are ever so slightly filtered too, but it is very pale. They look very white rather than bluish. I do like the look, but became concerned when I first installed a darker set and found I couldn't see as well as I hoped to on desolate highways at night, so I started some research to test my theory. As long as people know what they are truly getting, great. True HID lights definitely put out more light, which translates to safety, and that was my real concern.
As for my W202 fogs not being fused for 100 watts, If you remember, Power=Current X Voltage. Voltage is fixed at about 13.5ish (say 12 for calculating). Therefore, the current drawn by them = 100/12 = 8.3 amps. My fogs on the W202 had 7.5amp fuses. They will blow as soon as the fogs are turned on. 10amp fuses, however, are enough to protect the circuit but still allow the fogs to operate properly. The question is; Will the relay and wiring handle the extra current? Probably, but for how long? It is likely that by simply switching the fuse, I would shorten the life of something. A relay, connector, or wire. If taken to the extreme, it could cause a fire. Find a rating table for different wire gauges (which changes with length), and make a judgement about your stock system. If in doubt, rewire. It's quite easy to do, actually, and very satisfying when finished. Having fun working on a car and learning all about it has always been my greatest joy. I've owned some very high-maintenance cars (Alfa, Maserati, etc.) and there is nothing more satisfying than the completion of what you thought would be a hard job. Mercedes is actually one of the easiest to work on IMHO.

For anyone who needs a spare, I have a single dark blue tinted 80/100 watt H4 bulb that I am willing to send anywhere free of charge. I blew the other and am using a much lighter tint now. It is a Eurolite Xenon Crystal by Toucan Industries.