Hello guys i have a question how much wattage can the high beam handle i have a 2005 jaguar stype and thinking of putting LEDs instead of halogen high beams can i put 100 watt ??

 

chaarani, as a general rule, the factory wiring is pretty much at hte limits of what can be handled. You can go from 55 watt to 65 watts fairly safely. But, much beyond that, you are tempting fate. Now, if you are wanting more light, may want to consider doing HID bulbs. That will double the light output from the factory halogen bulbs.

 

hello , i have HIDs but i want to make the high beams Led instead of halogens my friend uses the same led i want to put and they haven’t made any problems but he has a nissan altima not a jag so i dont know if you dont recommend putting them directly do you recommend i put a fuse for them ?

 

chaarani, the issue is not the fuse. The issue is the wiring itself. Automotive manufacturers are saving weight in the car by taking each wire and running the smallest gauge wire they can (this can save up to 100 pounds off a car and net them about 0.1 mpg in increased mileage). A wire can only handle so much current (voltage is not an issue in most cases, especially in automotive applications). Since the car is locked in at 12 VDC, the only way to get more power out of something is to raise the current it is pulling. I do not know if you have ever seen what pulling too much current through a wire looks like, but if you are lucky, you simply melt the insulation off of the wiring and it then touches something and pops the fuse. For the unlucky, does the term "Fillet of kitty" mean anything. In these cases, the wire gets hot enough that it starts something on fire and the car goes up in a big ball of flames. I would hate to see that happen to your car. Hence why I am not recommending it. I know the X-Type has issues with the wiring barely handling the factory 55 watt halogen bulbs and in a lot of cases, it results in the headlight wiring turning crispy and failing. Now you are talking about doubling that. I can almost guarantee issues. It may not happen right off the bat. But, you will have issues.

Now, there is a way around this, but this involves a lot of wiring changes as you are going to have to upgrade the grounds to the headlights (ie, put in a second ground wire) and then install a relay set up where you are pulling power from say the fuse box through a relay and then using that relay to power your new high beams. You would then use the factory wiring to be nothing more than the signal wire saying when to use the high beams. Then with properly sized wiring, you can run what you are saying. Then your next issue is how much heat the headlight housings can handle. This is where running say 55 watt HID bulbs would be tons more light than 100W LED bulbs. Still need the relay setup as the HIDs have a 30 amp initial draw per bulb. THis is more than the factory wiring can handle even for a second or two. While it may not hurt the wiring, it will destroy your 55 watt HID setup in no time flat.