Headlight wattage question

[Mudsport96]

Hey guys, on my 06 Tahoe i planned on putting some better bulbs in than it has currently.
Pretty sure it has Sylvania blue coated bulbs now, and i have to run with the fogs at a minimum to see the road decent. And most of the time i have the highs on even in town.
I can get some 80 watt lows from hella for like 20 bucks. I know ive read about some people having issues with HID conversions melting the harness and relays. You think or know from experience if 80s would do the same?

 

[iamdub]

Hey guys, on my 06 Tahoe i planned on putting some better bulbs in than it has currently.
Pretty sure it has Sylvania blue coated bulbs now, and i have to run with the fogs at a minimum to see the road decent. And most of the time i have the highs on even in town.
I can get some 80 watt lows from hella for like 20 bucks. I know ive read about some people having issues with HID conversions melting the harness and relays. You think or know from experience if 80s would do the same?

First off, are the lenses clear and clean? Are the headlights aimed correctly? Is your alternator putting out ~14.x VDC when driving?

The factory wiring is insufficient to get the full use of the 55-watt bulbs, so it'll surely be shorting those 80-watt bulbs. You're gonna need to feed them directly off the battery through a relay harness. Use 12 gauge wiring in the harness and ceramic connectors at the bulbs with 12 gauge pigtails, such as these:

9006 female ceramic pigtail 12 Gauge 9006 P22d HB4 Right Angle | Autolumination

9006 female ceramic headlight pigtail connector 12 Gauge

www.autolumination.com

What may or may not be a problem is that the housings might not hold up to the heat of 80-watt bulbs. I suggest you make or buy the harness (ensure it's 12 gauge or larger) with the ceramic connectors and put it on the Sylvanias first. Hook up one side on the harness and leave the other plugged in like stock to have a side-by-side comparison. This, alone, might be sufficient and you won't have to worry about burning the housings.

After you get the harness and before jumping to the 80W bulbs, you might wanna try running a 9005 bulb (this is the 65-watt bulb in your high beams) in the low-bean spot. It requires very minimal modification to the bulb itself- just trimming a slice off of one of the mounting tabs and removing the tab inside the plug socket. Two minutes with a utility knife with a fresh blade is all it takes. Between the harness and these bulbs, you will have quite an improvement and not have to worry about burning anything.

Also, it's common for higher-wattage bulbs to have a much shorter life than their lower-wattage counterparts. So, don't be surprised if you have to replace the bulbs once every year or two, depending on how much you use them.

 

[Mudsport96]

Well i replaced the regular 55w bulbs about a 8 months ago when one went out on the left side. I thougjt hell the zxv or whatever they were called are supposed to be better. Hell they sucked. But dealt with them till now. I was un aware of the harness shortcomings on these rigs. I have a direct harness for the lights on my old truck and it is wonderful for power transfer. I guess ill have to build one for this too.

As for the lenses, yes they are clear and clean. I made the dealership replace them before i bought it ( helps to know someone too). So they are only three years old.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

My recommendation is to get yourself a good set of LED headlights. They have active fan cooling, so that heat is not an issue on the headlight housing, and they will be brighter and extend your vision further down the road better than any high wattage incandescent bulbs. And, you won't have to change harnesses to install.

 

[Mudsport96]

My recommendation is to get yourself a good set of LED headlights. They have active fan cooling, so that heat is not an issue on the headlight housing, and they will be brighter and extend your vision further down the road better than any high wattage incandescent bulbs. And, you won't have to change harnesses to install.

How do they do in the reflective housing? I had a set in my ford for a month and the factory housing scattered the light too much and could never get a well defined pattern.

They were the Lasfits, my dad has them in his 16 2500 Silverado and they are great..but they are a different style lens

 

[Joseph Garcia]

They should do fine in your reflective housing.

Items to require in your LED headlight search: The LEDs must be active fan cooled (no passive heat sink cooling), and they must be adjustable (rotating the LED holder within the LED housing (not the headlight housing) to obtain the correct beam pattern.

The actual adjustment mechanism is different for different brands/models, but the instructions supplied with the LEDs (or an installation guide on their product web site) should guide you through the process.



Bottom line, the popsicle stick in the LED headlight holding the LED chips needs to be as close to vertical as possible, after installed and locked into place in the headlight housing, with the LED chips pointing to the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions. The photo of the guide above, while not for every specific brand/model, will give you a visual sense of how these LED headlights need to be positioned in a correct alignment within the headlight housing.

I use GTR Ultra 2 LED headlights. They are expensive, but you get a lifetime warranty. To my way of thinking, you get what you pay for, at best.

 

[Mudsport96]

Ill look into that

 

[corvette744]

If your staying with the factory reflector housings do led bulbs.I did and it was better than stock but wanted more. So i got depo projetors and installed a 35 watt hid the hid is only around 90 bucks.These work perfect and have a massive amount of light output.This is what i reccomend. 55 watt hid supposedly will melt my projector housing and see no need for more light.

 

[Mudsport96]

Yeah, im not into major modifications on the Tahoe esthetic wise. Powerwise yes, but modding headlights isnt my thing. If the depo projectors are direct drop in replacement for the factory housing maybe id do it.

 

[Mudsport96]

If your staying with the factory reflector housings do led bulbs.I did and it was better than stock but wanted more. So i got depo projetors and installed a 35 watt hid the hid is only around 90 bucks.These work perfect and have a massive amount of light output.This is what i reccomend. 55 watt hid supposedly will melt my projector housing and see no need for more light.

Well i looked on Amazon and no Depos. Anyone have experience with acanii lights?