From mdcbbs!uunet!gatech!ukma!cs.widener.edu!dsinc!pitt.edu!gvls1!tredysvr!cellar!blu Fri Dec 4 11:50:35 PST 1992 Article: 9161 of rec.autos.vw Relay-Version: VMS News - V6.1 24/02/92 VAX/VMS V5.5; site mdcbbs.com Path: mdcbbs!uunet!gatech!ukma!cs.widener.edu!dsinc!pitt.edu!gvls1!tredysvr!cellar!blu Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Subject: (repost) Info on Driving/Fog lights. Message-ID: From: blu@cellar.org (Dan Reed) Date: 3 Dec 92 16:10:16 GMT Sender: bbs@cellar.org (The Cellar BBS) Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system Lines: 113 All About Fog/Driving Lights As always, with lighting kits, you get what you pay for. A $20 kit will not last, not be bright, and just will plain suck. Better kits start at about $40-50 and up. A few good names are Cibie, Bosch, or Hella. Anyone of these kits are of good quality. Better auto stores, and discount department stores will carry at least one of these brands. Make sure the lighting kits use At LEAST a 55 watt bulb. When selecting a lighting kit, make sure the kit is made of durable material, has replaceable lenses and bulbs. Also, take note of how they will mount to the car, and how they will look. See what is in the kit, and what you need to buy separately. Fog lights are typically mounted BELOW the bumper. The light pattern should be wide, and low, the lights have a custom lens, and reflector to achieve this. Fog lights are either clear OR amber. Amber is used for heavy fog, as the light does not reflect back off the fog. However, the amber lights to not seem to be as "bright" as the clear ones, but they work best in dense fog. Driving lights, are typically mounted above the bumper (they can be below it, however you must adjust the lens..). Driving lights are clear, and should be aimed fairly high. Driving lights should *only* come on with your high beams. Adjust the light to how you like it, some prefer a "pencil" type beam, in the center of the road, while others may prefer two separate lights showing both sides of the road. Below is a schematic for PROPERLY wiring fog and/or driving lights. If the lights are wired as shown, your fog lights will only work with your low beams, and your driving lights will only come on when your high beams are on (also for flash to pass). Most states REQUIRE that the lights work in this order (NJ for sure). Check all local laws before doing this. Print out the schematic, it might make more sense (or turn your terminal 90 deg!). For all wires running from the relays-to-lights or lights-to-ground or relay-to-lights, should be At LEAST 12 Ga. wire. Do NOT forget to add a fuse to the circuit. Make sure all connections are either "crimped" or soldered, with heat shrink tubing covering them. Wire "taps" work well to connect the wire from the headlights to the switch. Radio Shack has all of the connectors/fuse holders/switches/relays you could ever want. If you choose to add MORE lights, or lights of higher wattage, boost the wire sizes, get bigger relays, and fuses. Also make sure your car can handle the drain on the electrical system. Note: The "fog light switch" and "driving light switch" shown are for a standard SPST NON-LIGHTED switch. The "factory" VW OEM "fog" switch is a bit more complex. * Most German/European cars have fog light switches that can handle rear fog lights. Disclaimer: If you blow your car up, don't say it was my fault.. ____ (+) ____________________ | ---------- / ________ | S |Driving |_____/ | || | |Light55w|____ | --------- ---------- | | _| Relay |____ V | | | 30 Amp| | | | --------- V ---------- | | |Driving |_________________| |__________ |Light55w|____ ___________ To Driving Light ---------- | / Switch V / / / / (White) ----------________________/________________ | Hi |_________________________________ To Light Switch --> | Low |_____ \ (Blue) ---------- | \_______________ | (Gray) _____________ To Fog Light Switch V | | --------- |_| Relay |_____ | 30 Amp| | --------- | ---------- || | V | Fog 55w|_______________________|| | | Light |_____ | | ---------- | | S ---------- V | |____ | Fog 55w|________________________| (+) | Light |_____ ---------- | V V = Good solid ground to car body. S = Fuse (20 Amp). (+) = + 12 Volts, wire to battery. (Wire colors are for an 89 Golf) * Rear Fog Lights, Common in Germany and Europe, these are 20-30 Watt RED lights mounted off the rear of the car. They are supposed to come on with the fog lights. The brighter light is seen easier than "common" tail lights in fog. Some cars come with "knock outs" off the rear bumper for these lights. You would install them, just like fog lights, however, have them on the same circuit (dash switch) with a separate relay. A good idea here in the states, however, check all local laws before installing them. Happy Motoring.. -- Dan Reed AKA Blu Max - blu@cellar.org - AnalCADGeek! - Industrial Music Maker 68' Cougar XR-7, 89' VW Golf, 74' Honda CL360t, Vextrex Unit Lover From suntan.eng.usf.edu!usenet.ufl.edu!darwin.sura.net!udel!news.intercon.com!psinntp!greenwich.com!mark Tue May 25 13:11:00 PDT 1993 Article: 1782 of rec.autos.vw Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Path: suntan.eng.usf.edu!usenet.ufl.edu!darwin.sura.net!udel!news.intercon.com!psinntp!greenwich.com!mark From: mark@greenwich.com (Mark Sirota) Subject: [W] APS Euro 16V grille conversion, Hella FF's Message-ID: <1993May25.165922.16361@greenwich.com> Sender: news@greenwich.com Nntp-Posting-Host: marmaduke Organization: Greenwich Associates, Greenwich CT Distribution: usa Date: Tue, 25 May 1993 16:59:22 GMT Lines: 40 As promised, here's my review of the APS Euro 16V grille conversion, using Hella FF's as the main beams. You may recall that I previously had the same kit using Hella H4's as the main beams, but the whole kit was stolen off the car. I've replaced it with the FF version. FF stands for Free Form -- they've got a sculpted reflector, allowing the use of the entire light (rather than just the upper half) for the low beams. This theoretically gives brighter, more focused and efficient light. The downside is that there's no high beams in the main light -- the FF's use a single-filament H1 bulb, rather than the two-filament H4. The driving lights built into the grille provide the high beams, and the car's wiring must be modified to allow the low beams to stay on while the high beams are on. Kits are provided to do this if you have a German-made car, but I was on my own for my American-made car. Not sure about the Mexicans. Other than that, the APS instructions are top-notch, and everything is provided. Having had the H4 kit, I can't really recommend the FF kit. The concept of the FF lights sounds great, but in practice, the low-beam light pattern just simply isn't as good as the H4's. The dispersion isn't as wide, or as even -- on dark New England twisties, I just don't get enough light at the sides of the road. Meanwhile, the high beams are also lacking. The driving lights just don't have a wide enough beam to suffice if the road curves at all. The H4's high beam pattern supplements the driving lights nicely, but there is no help from the low-beam-only FF's. It is definitely really nice to have the low beams stay on with the high beams, so that you get *more* light rather than *different* light. But this particular combination, FF's and H3 driving lights, just doesn't work well together. Save your money, get the H4 version. -- Mark Sirota, System and Network Manager Greenwich Associates, Greenwich Connecticut mark@greenwich.com, (203) 625-5060 From lynx.unm.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!borland.com!ewodzien Wed Nov 10 08:36:23 PST 1993 Article: 22647 of rec.autos.vw Newsgroups: rec.autos.vw Path: lynx.unm.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!borland.com!ewodzien From: ewodzien@borland.com (Ed Wodzienski) Subject: Re: [W]Cabrio lighting upgrade Message-ID: <1993Nov9.210056.29838@borland.com> Originator: ewodzien@genghis.borland.com Sender: news@borland.com (News Admin) Organization: Borland International, Inc. References: <1993Nov8.140132.6484@msus1.msus.edu> Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1993 21:00:56 GMT Lines: 54 All: I have an '82 Cabrio (or Cabby as Peter puts it :) ) and I used the factory grille from an '89 or newer Cabrio. I replaced the far outside lights (8"ers) with Hella H4's (55/100W) and put 100W H3 in the smaller ones further in. On high beams I have a total of 400W of lighting. Needless to say, it really lights up the night. I have had this setup for about 2.5 years with NO problems whatsoever. Keep in mind that with all of this lighting, you must make sure you dim your lights quickly to avoid blinding oncoming cars. The grille fits perfectly and only requires just a little modification. I have AC on my car and the grille accounts for this. (In fact it is the only one that I know of that does). In order to make it work on pre-89 (or is it 88?) you need to remove some metal from the front end. Not much. I used a dremel and drill. To give you an idea, the new grille has a square "catch" on the bottom where the old grille used to screw on. All you need to do it turn the screw hole into a square, and your done. The only other thing that you have to do is ream a little material out of the upper support so the new grille snaps in, rather than screw in. The installation (minus wiring) took about an hour. I believe in overkill when it comes to wiring, so I used two separate relays for the high beams (one for each side). That way the power comes straight from the battery and doesn't stress the high-beam switch. DO NOT wire 400W directly to the old wiring. It cannot handle the extra current. One other thing, the 100W H3's (for the center lamps) have a little tab that is supposed to prevent you from installing them in US cars. Just snip this off using wire cutters (dikes). No prob. The resultant lighting is phenominal. In fact its so bright, I have turned off street lights with them! I cant recommend it enough. If you cant afford the H4's right away. Definitely get the grille and the 100W H3 bulbs. They make the most difference. The grille really updates your car! I always thought the old grille dated the car and made it look bad. BTW, I got my grille from the dealer. It was about $230 (with all lamps and misc parts) Wiring was about $15 ($45 retail) Hope this helps! -Ed209 BTW, does anyone know how to get VW article information listed in the FAQ? I have sent mail to Jan, but no luck. Can you help? Thanx, -- R 1 3 5 | Ed Wodzienski | Rides: |__|__|__| | Computer Sci Senior- CalPoly, SLO | '82 Volks Cabrio 2 4 | (ewodzien@oboe.calpoly.edu) | '89 CBR 600F 6 5 4 3 2 N 1 | (ewodzien@genghis.borland.com) | From eafg034@ea.oac.uci.edu Thu Jan 19 13:01 PST 1995 Received: from mailer by fshpp1 with SMTP (1.38.193.4/16.2) id AA12570; Thu, 19 Jan 1995 13:01:18 -0800 Return-Path: Received: from rigel.oac.uci.edu by UG.EDS.COM (PMDF V4.3-10 #4) id <01HM157KSLI800AQKJ@UG.EDS.COM>; Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:59:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: by rigel.oac.uci.edu id AA24824 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for jan@ug.eds.com) ; Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:18:16 -0800 Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 12:18:13 -0800 (PST) From: Deanna Westra Subject: Hella driving beams To: jan@UG.EDS.COM Message-Id: X-Envelope-To: JAN@FSHPP1 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Status: RO For rallying in the desert, I use Hella 500 Driving Beams with 100W bulbs in addition to the Corrado's normal lights. They're good, but if I were buying again I'd spent the extra $80 and get a pair of Rallye 2000 lights from Hella. The driving beams are great up to about 90 or 100 mph, faster than that and I don't see far enough to feel safe. Go for the pencil beams (in addition, not instead of). Neither light is adequate for mountain sections (the Corrado's fogs are completely useless). For twisties, I would get the Rallye 2000 wide-angle Cornering Beams. --Deanna From corrado-l-owner@teleport.com Thu Aug 10 16:36 PDT 1995 Received: from mailer by fshpp1 with SMTP (1.38.193.4/16.2) id AA04221; Thu, 10 Aug 1995 16:36:56 -0700 Return-Path: Received: from desiree.teleport.com by UG.EDS.COM (PMDF V4.3-10 #4) id <01HTWXV1JSE8001BA4@UG.EDS.COM>; Thu, 10 Aug 1995 16:33:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from daemon@localhost) by desiree.teleport.com (8.6.10/8.6.9) id QAA02110 for corrado-l-outgoing; Thu, 10 Aug 1995 16:28:14 -0700 Received: from merlin.nando.net (root@merlin.nando.net [152.52.2.2]) by desiree.teleport.com (8.6.10/8.6.9) with SMTP id QAA02097 for ; Thu, 10 Aug 1995 16:28:11 -0700 Received: from sopines207.nando.net by merlin.nando.net (4.1/davel-nando/dec93) id AA27121; Thu, 10 Aug 95 19:27:48 EDT Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 19:27:47 -0400 (EDT) From: lobo@nando.net (Matt Ridge) Subject: Fog light bulbs Sender: owner-corrado-l@teleport.com X-Sender: lobo@mailhost.nando.net (Unverified) To: corrado-l@teleport.com Reply-To: corrado-l@teleport.com Message-Id: <9508102327.AA27121@merlin.nando.net> X-Envelope-To: JAN@FSHPP1 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 1.4.4 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Precedence: bulk Status: RO >Trivia: did you know that the stock H3 bulbs that were in my '93 Corrado >fog lights were GE and they are brighter than the european made replacements >sold >by VW dealers and also the ones I got from ND, I forgot the name but they come >in >a white box with an orange stripe. I didn't like driving around looking like >my lights were not aimed so I put two of dimmer ones in, untill I stumble >across the >GE ones. I burnt out a bulb once and picked up an identical GE one at NAPA. I was suprised they had it in stock, but it must be a freqently used size. Matt Ridge lobo@nando.net '93 VR6 in NC