Bulb Wattage

[Rmuth25]

So I ordered these new H11 bulbs(halogen not HID) and I noticed that they are labeled as being 100 watts. The stock bulbs coming from my fogs are 55watts. Does that pose a risk of damaging anything or is it okay?

[audtatious]

They may cause wiring problems and a possible melt down. I've heard numerous people with Nissans have this problem. On my old 2k2 maxima just the heat from the 55w fogs would eventually cause the glass lenses to break. It was not until I upgrade the fogs to HID was I able to stop replacing lenses.

[Theiranman69]

yea i'm lookin to buy bulbs that put out 100 watts, lemme know if you have any problems.

[audtatious]

Upgrade your wiring and you should be fine.

[Rmuth25]

Upgrade your wiring and you should be fine.

What does that mean?

[LongBeachCoupe]

Why change the wattage of the bulbs?

a 35w 6000k HID light isnt bright enough?

[Rmuth25]

Why change the wattage of the bulbs?

a 35w 6000k HID light isnt bright enough?

I live out in the sticks so I use my highbeams alot so I figured the constant ticking off and on of the hids in my fogs could lead to issues so I decided to switch back to halogen. My decision to do so was also aided by the fact one of my ballast for my low beams broke. Anyway I ordered bulbs from eBay that were listed as 55 watts but when I got them they had 100 watts on the bulb. I wanted to know if that could lead to problems.

[audtatious]

The problem with using 100w fog lights is that historically the Nissan wiring harness for the fog lights were not designed to handle that much power and the end result could be a melted harness and other damage. I have seen members have this problem on numerous occasions. The solution would be to use a relay of some sort which simply uses the power from the current fog lights as a on-off trigger and pulls power for functionality via a larger gauge power line from the battery and sends it to the fog lights with upgraded power lines as well.

In addition, 100w bulbs will run much hotter than their 55w counterparts and my cause issues with the factory fog housings. I know in the Maxima the 55w bulbs caused a lot of heat in which the glass lens would crack and break more easily. As I don't own a Altima I'm not sure if the factory fogs are glass or not but heat may still be an issue.

Another solution would be to use HID's in the foglight housings and rewire the lights so they do not turn off when you use your high beam.

[Theiranman69]

i'm changing my bulbs cuz i got my car without the premium package, so i got the standard halogens...

[Theiranman69]

i just realized something, theres a difference between what the bulb draws and what it outputs in wattage, cuz i found some bulbs that draw 55 watts but output 100, and others that draw 80 watts and output 130... the ones that draw more than our stock are considered high wattage bulbs and require a new harness, as in new wiring. but the ones that draw 55 watts should be ok with our cars, am i right? or am i wrong... just that's just stuff i kinda pieced together within the last 30 min or so...

[Rmuth25]

i just realized something, theres a difference between what the bulb draws and what it outputs in wattage, cuz i found some bulbs that draw 55 watts but output 100, and others that draw 80 watts and output 130... the ones that draw more than our stock are considered high wattage bulbs and require a new harness, as in new wiring. but the ones that draw 55 watts should be ok with our cars, am i right? or am i wrong... just that's just stuff i kinda pieced together within the last 30 min or so...

Yea I dont know all I have on the bulbs that I got is that they say "100W" on the little plastic part of it that you connect the wiring harness.