Urq smoked tailights.....

[Jim Haseltine]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Smith" <smitty at pcrealm.net>

> I thought I would mention this, for those that have upgraded to the
> Hella smoked taillights. I recently upgraded to the euro 4 bulb
> lampholders as well (thanks to Mr. Bennett) and was concerned about
> the 4x21 watts now being carried by the marginal original wiring. Not
> to mention the headlight switch.

The 21 watt bulbs are for the brake lights, so unless you sit with your foot
on the brake pedal all the time the current doesn't flow for very long.
It is marginal cabling though. Its a single run of 1mm, good enough to carry
9amps when new but now? If it was continuous current I'd not be happy
running more than 4amps.
4x21w is 7amps but its only transient so I wouldn't be bothered - Audi
weren't, they didn't upgrade the cables for the later cars.
OK, you're now running 4x5w tail lights, but they should be ok. Each light
cluster is supplied by a separate 0.5mm cable, capable of carrying 4.5a when
new. Even with twin 5w bulbs they've got to carry less than 1amp.
Its the earth cables I'd look at. Only 1mm and has to carry a lot - think
about it, at night you've missed a turning so you flick on the hazards and
reverse. When you brake, the earth from each cluster is carrying 8amps.

I do hope that I haven't screwed up my calculations.......

Regards,

Jim Haseltine