05_2.5 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 One of my fog lights burned out and i have a 35W H3 bulb laying around. What problems would i run into if i ran the 35W as opposed to the 55W recommended? These are non hid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongHiway Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Won't be as bright. Running a lower wattage bulb should not cause problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTS Jeff Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Food for thought, most cars don't have fog lights at all. I think you'll be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongHiway Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 :eek:I reversed the answer to your question. Hopefully you did not run home and try it. It's the other way around. Runnning a higher wattage bulb won't cause a problem, a lower wattage buib in a socket with a current supply of 55 watts will just burn out quicker if not right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vam Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 nothing major will happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 :eek:I reversed the answer to your question. Hopefully you did not run home and try it. It's the other way around. Runnning a higher wattage bulb won't cause a problem, a lower wattage buib in a socket with a current supply of 55 watts will just burn out quicker if not right away. No, you had it right the first time. Running a lower wattage bulb will be perfectly fine as long as the voltage remains the same. It's like plugging a 40W bulb into your lamp at home instead of a 60W. V=IR P=IV V=voltage (volts), I=current (amps), R = resistance (Ohms), P=power (watts) Therefore, moving some stuff around, you find out that R=V^2/P. If the voltage is 12 (which it is), you figure out that a 55W bulb's resistance is 2.61. If you swap out that 35W bulb, you figure out that the resistance is increased to 4.11. Increasing the resistance is FINE because the bulb will only draw as much as it needs to burn. Remember, a bulb is basically just a thin wire that is heated up. The problem comes where you INCREASE the wattage. You can see that if you increase the wattage of a bulb to say... 110W, you've reduced the resistance down to 1.31, which is half the resistance of your 55W bulb. This is fine for the bulb, but NOT good for the wiring of your car which is NOT designed to handle that much juice! You'll melt your wires. Because remember, V=IR? You now 9 amps of current going through your wiring, whereas with a stock 55W bulb, you'd only have about 4.5 amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05_2.5 Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 :eek:I reversed the answer to your question. Hopefully you did not run home and try it. It's the other way around. Runnning a higher wattage bulb won't cause a problem, a lower wattage buib in a socket with a current supply of 55 watts will just burn out quicker if not right away. No i didnt there is snow all over the place here and with more on the way its going to have to wait. Just looking to save a few bucks since i have it laying around. I'll give it a shot when it gets a little nicer out and if it burns out it burns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 It won't burn out, but it's going to be dim as hell. Why bother? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBlack-V Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 If you have yellow fogs i have an extra H3 I can send you for free (just pay shipping). its a good bulb from candle power and i have no need for it since I dont have my wrx anymore and my LGT has no use for the H3. I was 0. And I'm still a zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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