Seperate light bulbs

hey guys, i have this bit of a problem since HIDs are illegal here, so i had an idea of installing a set of normal halogen light bulbs with a separate switch inside the car totally separate from the OEM light with their own wiring, so that i can switch them on and off alone, but i've never dealt with lighting before so can someone guide me because i tried searching but don't know exactly what to search for or if just someone has any idea of what i should do, your help is greatly appreciated since i need this badly, i can't afford losing my driving license for a month or so because my HIDs

+12V from the battery wired to a switch. From the switch the wire goes to the positive on the lights and the negative of the lights gets attached anywhere to the car's chassis.

You'll need to know either the watts the bulbs are or the Amps they draw for both the correct wire size and switch size. In order to get the amps you can take the known watts and divide that by 12.

If the load is a few amps you can use either 16 or 18 gauge wire.

A breaker or fuse should be sized accordingly from the battery +12V before the switch for the amp load and don't use the lights on the highway where someone could get blinded and come head on with you.

Post edited by: jmborchers, at: 2008/09/06 05:49

thanks alot man for the help and no worries i have HIDs in my fog lights too so sometimes i run them only since they are low to the ground and don't hurt anyone

the bulbs i have are philips 55watts 12v ones so that should equate to a current of 4.6

Post edited by: bob3825, at: 2008/09/06 05:58

Remember each 55W bulb is going to take 4.6 amps. So you have to add all the amps together.

if you have 2 you'll be drawing about 10 amps. In this case you'll need 18 gauge wire rated at 105 celcius or 16 gauge wire if 90C.

note: if you use 18 ga the wire will get warm to hot with 10 amps running through it. If that's not okay use 16 gauge wire.

Post edited by: jmborchers, at: 2008/09/06 06:16

then i'll just go with the 16 gauge to keep things cool
now i just have to get the supplies and get to it

thanks a lot mate

If all wire is 16 gauge.

The wire from the battery to the breaker or fuse.

From the fuse to the switch.

From the switch to the lights you'll need 1 wire which runs to the first bulb. This same wire then continues to the second bulb.

From the light to the chassis on both lamps. you could either tie each lamp to the chassis with a wire or wire them the same as the positive with a termination at only one point.

Post edited by: jmborchers, at: 2008/09/06 06:27

so i'll connect the bulbs in series, and just to be sure was voltage the same in series or parallel connection, I'm a computer science student so electrical circuits aren't my thing

I'm just making sure the second bulb will get the right voltage

You have to connect the bulbs in parallel, not in a series connection.

If you connect in series you'll get about 6V through each bulb which is not what you want.

oh ok then, i got the wires today and the fuse and the switch just need to find a good spot in the headlights for them and i hope it goes ok

Post edited by: Thatguy, at: 2008/09/13 02:29

And 16 gauge wire with a 10A switch will be more than enough to handle that momentary peak load.