I am looking to upgrade the lights on my 1976 914. I have found H4 units with replaceable bulbs. I can buy 100W bulbs for off road use only. Can they be used safely without using an additional relay?

thank so much!

I installed them with relays to avoid possibly melting wires. I later swapped the headlights for LED's With the 100w bulbs you can watch the volt meter drop.

Please do not put 100W bulbs in your car; our wiring is old and it will not do well. Instead, consider a set of these LED headlights:

https://vintagecarleds.com/shop/7-inch/vc50...ate-7-inch-kit/

I have them in my car. They are plug and play and very bright with no issues for oncoming traffic. I have never been flashed by oncoming traffic.

They are always installed with relays

Helps if your batter is in the front

I ran them for 15 years but went to led
Much friendlier on the alt and night driving without worrying

H4 are past history, LED best compromise.

Thank you all! Glad I checked

LEDs are more better man.

Bob B

Click to view attachment

Got most of your next questions right here

https://914rubber-tk.com/doku.php?id=led_he...troubleshooting

Entire kit here
https://914rubber.com/h4-lens-and-led-bundle-1

100W bulbs should not be used without a relay. Ask me how I know. Using them without a relay will result in Lucas, the Prince of Darkness, visiting your cars wiring and fuse box to teach you a lesson in the mystery of electricity.

I had 80/100w bulbs back in the day. You need to run a dedicated 8 ga wire and relays. The stock system can barely handle stock watts.

I moved up to HID bulbs, but it needs to be in an e-code (euro) h4 housing. The DOT housings glare too much. This was way before LEDs got good. Today I'd buy LED bulbs as they are about the same price as a good HID kit.

I used to run aircraft landing lights in the fogs. I often drove the long dark roads of central Washington up to Wenatchee. Found that the truck drivers wouldn't tun off their brights. Making it almost impossible to see. I little click on and they dimmed theirs.
But they did an excellent job of lighting up the road. Yes, I used a relay.

Back when I had my Mk3 Golf, folks on Vortex would put ACLs in the stock fog light location and quickly melt the plastic "lens" that VW put on there. We would all giggle at how stupid bright they were. I certainly did not know about relays at the time, and folks who did this were dumb kids like me. Wires got melted if they were left on too long. That also made us giggle - so long as it was not our cars.

Zach

I was a dumb kid, just know about relays as my dad was an electrical engineer.