Can I Change Out My H3 55w Bulbs For H3 100w Bulbs?

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Can I change out my H3 55w bulbs for H3 100w bulbs?

Discussion in '2nd Gen. Tacomas (2005-2015)' started by Yorkie3621, Jun 24, 2013.

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1. Jun 24, 2013 at 2:37 PM #1

   #1 Yorkie3621 [OP] New Member

   Joined: Feb 16, 2013 Member: #97669 Messages: 2 Gender: Male First Name: Stephen North Carolina Vehicle: 2012 Tacoma 4x4 double cab Air Raid, Short Shifter, Magnaflow muffler, Grill mod, brush guard, skid guard, Hell H3 100w spots

   I have a Westin Ultimate Bull Bar and have installed 4 Westin 55w lights on it. Believe me, drilling through these bull bars is almost impossible! Tough, tough, tough! Anyways, the light is okay but I'd like to do better. Can I just simply switch out the 55w H3 bulbs for more powerful 75w H3s or 100w H3s? Is there a better 55w H3 bulb out there than the Westin stock bulbs? Thanks a lot, guys.

   Yorkie3621, Jun 24, 2013 #1
2. Jun 24, 2013 at 2:45 PM #2

   #2 Pugga Pasti-Dip Free 1983 - 2015... It was a good run

   Joined: Jun 18, 2010 Member: #39131 Messages: 38,825 Gender: Male First Name: Mike Massachusetts Vehicle: '19 Ford F-250 6.7 SCrew F-250 Land Yacht Mod

   If the stock wiring can handle the extra load and the housing doesn't melt, there's no reason you can't upgrade the bulbs. That being said, I don't think that's your best bet... If you're set on keeping those lights, you might want to consider HID's insteady of just upping the wattage. 4 lights at 100W/ea is a lot of draw for the light output you're going to get out of it. If you want quality lighting, the answer isn't always just to throw more wattage at it. A quality set of lights will put plenty of light down a trail, a lot of it is the lens and reflectors. Check out companies like Light Force and PIAA, their lights aren't cheap but they throw light a looong ways. Secondly, is your location. That bull bar mounts lights way too low for driving or distance lights to be effective. Fog lights would do great that low, distance, not so much. Distance lights should be mounted higher up, around headlight height.

   Pugga, Jun 24, 2013 #2
3. Jun 24, 2013 at 6:51 PM #3

   #3 coma09 Updated avatar

   Joined: Jun 22, 2009 Member: #18751 Messages: 207 Gender: Male BC Canada Vehicle: 2013 taco access cab 4x4

   My best experience for long range was Cibie Oscars, pencil beam lens. Metal lamp, glass lens. I used the 100w bulbs. I wired them with the right gauge wire through a relay, with the coil fed from the high beams. 100W not legal for on road use. The lamps themselves shouldn't have an issue.

   coma09, Jun 24, 2013 #3
4. Jun 24, 2013 at 10:31 PM #4

   #4 acdronin Well-Known Member

   Joined: Dec 2, 2010 Member: #47036 Messages: 19,635 Gender: Male .

   Pugga said: ↑

   If the stock wiring can handle the extra load and the housing doesn't melt, there's no reason you can't upgrade the bulbs. That being said, I don't think that's your best bet... If you're set on keeping those lights, you might want to consider HID's insteady of just upping the wattage. 4 lights at 100W/ea is a lot of draw for the light output you're going to get out of it. If you want quality lighting, the answer isn't always just to throw more wattage at it. A quality set of lights will put plenty of light down a trail, a lot of it is the lens and reflectors. Check out companies like Light Force and PIAA, their lights aren't cheap but they throw light a looong ways. Secondly, is your location. That bull bar mounts lights way too low for driving or distance lights to be effective. Fog lights would do great that low, distance, not so much. Distance lights should be mounted higher up, around headlight height.Click to expand...

   Four 100w bulbs is 33.3333333333333333333333333333333333333 amps of draw on a relay, my advice would be to wire them to two separate relays and back to a single switch, also it would be better if you don't want to replace all the wiring with heavier gauge wire.

   acdronin, Jun 24, 2013 #4
5. Jun 24, 2013 at 11:07 PM #5

   #5 ProForce IG @proforce.expeditions OB#5411

   Joined: Oct 12, 2009 Member: #24205 Messages: 7,078 Gender: Male First Name: Anthony Alaska Vehicle: 09 MGM TRD Sport DCSB 4.0 Auto 2wd Too many to list. See build page. Link in signature

   acdronin said: ↑

   Four 100w bulbs is 33.3333333333333333333333333333333333333 amps of draw on a relay, my advice would be to wire them to two separate relays and back to a single switch, also it would be better if you don't want to replace all the wiring with heavier gauge wire.Click to expand...

   Wrong! According to my calculations, its actually 33.333333333333336.

   ProForce, Jun 24, 2013 #5
6. Jun 24, 2013 at 11:11 PM #6

   #6 acdronin Well-Known Member

   Joined: Dec 2, 2010 Member: #47036 Messages: 19,635 Gender: Male .

   ProForce said: ↑

   Wrong! According to my calculations, its actually 33.333333333333336. Click to expand...

   

   acdronin, Jun 24, 2013 #6

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