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> H3 LED replacement for driving lights, Anyone found one?
chmillman
post Jun 10 2025, 03:41 PM
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Thinking about replacing my driving lights in the bumper with something more powerful than the 55W halogen H3's that are OEM. However, I haven't found anything that puts out more light that would actually fit in there.

Most of the H3 replacements I have found are either weaker than the 1450 lumens the halogens are supposed to have, or are way longer and thus won't fiit in the reflector. The H3's are actually pretty small bulbs. Posting this here on the off chance that someone has actually found something that works.
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mepstein
post Jun 10 2025, 03:56 PM
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Spokeworks makes a killer led conversion.
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Geezer914
post Jun 10 2025, 05:03 PM
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Got these on AmazonAttached Image Attached Image
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dtmehall
post Jun 10 2025, 05:12 PM
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be careful. i believe the fuse for the driving lights is 8 amps. 100 watts @ 12v is 8.3 amps
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Geezer914
post Jun 10 2025, 05:39 PM
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I installed a 10 amp fuse.
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dtmehall
post Jun 10 2025, 06:05 PM
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QUOTE(Geezer914 @ Jun 10 2025, 05:39 PM) *

I installed a 10 amp fuse.



I used these

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CQJFSR5...e=UTF8&th=1
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Cairo94507
post Jun 10 2025, 07:59 PM
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I have Jerry's (Spokeworks) LED driving lights in my car and I love them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
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cgnj
post Jun 10 2025, 08:23 PM
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Are these installed in factory fog light housings with a factory fog light lens? Driving lights lenses , cornering lenses, and fog light lenses have different light patterns.
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porschetub
post Jun 10 2025, 08:49 PM
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QUOTE(cgnj @ Jun 11 2025, 02:23 PM) *

@geezer914 @cairo94507 @dtmehall
Are these installed in factory fog light housings with a factory fog light lens? Driving lights lenses , cornering lenses, and fog light lenses have different light patterns.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I have the Pilot driving lights and happy with them ,they are legal here also ,LED lamps are illegal unless they are standard fitment from new which they weren't on a 914 ,cheers
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JRB1
post Jun 10 2025, 10:05 PM
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I suspect the 100 Watts refers to the equivalent output rather than the actual power draw. That seems to be pretty typical in the LED world because people are used to buying bulbs by wattage rather than lumens. YMMV

Also be careful installing a larger fuse without checking the ampacity of the wire in the circuit.

- Jim
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Chris914n6
post Jun 10 2025, 10:37 PM
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^^ What Jim said. Likely 100w output for both bulbs combined, so really about 10w each in electricity like house bulbs. Best to measure them though, but will be way less than incandescent due to led efficiency.
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chmillman
post Jun 11 2025, 12:12 AM
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Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. The active word here is H3. Euro-spec cars came with H3 halogen bulbs for the driving/fogs and H4's for the non-sealed-beam headlights. Not the same base as BA20 shown in the pic above.
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Cairo94507
post Jun 11 2025, 07:29 AM
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Here are the Spokeworks LED fog/driving lights in my car. They use the stock housing, lens and clips.

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dtmehall
post Jun 11 2025, 01:10 PM
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i purchased driving light housings from 914Werke
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914werke
post Jun 11 2025, 01:24 PM
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It wasn't clear but I think the OP was referring to the LATE OE fogs in the BUBS.
The "pilot" driving lites I offer also are equipped with the H3 bulbs but are specific to the early bumper-ed cars.
They can be rather easily converted to one of the many high lumen LED bulbs on the market.
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chmillman
post Jun 12 2025, 02:20 PM
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QUOTE(914werke @ Jun 11 2025, 01:24 PM) *

It wasn't clear but I think the OP was referring to the LATE OE fogs in the BUBS.
The "pilot" driving lites I offer also are equipped with the H3 bulbs but are specific to the early bumper-ed cars.
They can be rather easily converted to one of the many high lumen LED bulbs on the market.


To clarify again… I have according to you an “early” car (74) with the round driving lights (clear lenses, very little ribbing) and they currently have 55 watt H3 halogen bulbs. I do not need a replacement for the lamp housing or the reflector/glass. I was simply looking at the possibility of replacing the H3 halogen bulbs with LED’s that emit more light (i.e. more lumens than 1450 per side).

If you say “They can be rather easily converted to one of the many high lumen LED bulbs on the market”, can you point me to which? In my searches I have only found ones that are either too long in front of the bulb mounting flange (hits the front glass), or too long behind the flange (hits the back of the reflector housing). The original halogen H3 bulbs are actually quite small, and there is not a lot of space in the reflector.
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anderssj
post Jun 12 2025, 02:32 PM
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I’m running a pair of Hella 118 driving lights that I updated to LEDs with H3 base. I use them strictly as DRLs as the LEDs are relatively low output and the light output is not as focused as before. I’ll see if I can dig up the info on them—but it may take a bit as I’m in MN and the car is back in VA…
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anderssj
post Jun 12 2025, 02:41 PM
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Ok, found it:

Attached Image

https://www.superbrightleds.com/h3-led-dayt...-xoC6hAQAvD_BwE

Like I said, relatively low output (400 lumens), but they’re great for daytime running lights.

Hope this helps!
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Chris914n6
post Jun 12 2025, 05:51 PM
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Handful of good options on Amazon. Being made in china should mean availability where you are.
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chmillman
post Jun 13 2025, 06:48 AM
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So I’m guessing that the Spokeworks round units will not be much brighter than the 55w H3’s I have now, given that they are “2x brighter” than the standard 35w US bulbs? Plus mainly for use as fog lights as there is no reflector?
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