Well, it looks like you have it all covered!!!! (Pun intended!!)

 

The Low Beam lights are not aimed low!! They are aimed OEM straight out, but the excellent cutoff stops light from shining above 3'! Shining the lights against a closed garage door shows a bright band of light from ~1' to ~3' above the ground. The OEM foglights, which I do not use, are aimed to light the area on the ground in front of the Magnum from 1' down. The High Beam lights cover the area above 3'.

I have been most bothered by drivers who use foglights all the time and have them aimed upward! They often do not have a cutoff, and are quite dazzling! Foglights are for use in FOG, when even Low Beams reflect too much light back at the driver!

 

A few minutes of research turned up what I was looking for. Google is a great verb.

The lights use 14-awg wire. According to the American Wire Gauge table 14awg wire is good for 32 amps in open-air transmission. Thats great, but the bundled transmission rating is

*5.9*.

That thickens the plot considerably as your safety margin just took a nosedive. That doesn't mean that you need a 30-watt fuse for each light. You've taken the *wiring* past its rated capacity, not the amperage running on all of the wires.

55-watt bulbs and 60 watt bulbs: 3.93+3.93+4.29+4.29=16.44 amps
now lets rate a set of 80/100's: 5.71+5.71+7.14+7.14=25.7 amps

(I don't know what the bulbs are listed as ratingwise. I'm calculating the amperage here, based on the known wattage and the system's 14-volt voltage:
http://www.keelectric.com/ketools/AmpsKilowatts.html )

For the original lights, we've got a safety margin out the wazoo. About what you'd expect from any auto mfr. With 80-100 bulbs you are on the edge of that margin for the low beams and well over it for the highs. All while not exceeding your overall system amperage limit.

All of the above is a gross oversimplification of the stuff that goes into calculating wiring load. There's a fair chance that despite your overloading your wiring, there is still enough conservatism built into the wiring specs to keep you from claiming the grand prize in a wire sculpture contest.

Don't forget to say your prayers every night.

 

check your email...

 

The Magnum's 30 Amp circuit is for TWO headlights, one High and one Low. There is nothing else listed as being on those circuits. 180W/12V=15A!!

So, why did Dodge use a 30A fuse, if, according to you, drawing 15A with the 80/100 Opti Blue bulbs will damage the wiring!!??!!
Dodge used Automotive Engineers to design these circuits. You are referring to data "as a service to our Electrical Contractor Customers. The developers anticipate that the Licensed Electrical Contractor"!! Designing AC circuits for inside wiring of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings is NOT the same as designing 12V DC circuits in an automobile!! They may both be fruits, but one is oranges, and the other is bananas!!

PS: I am a retired Inside Wireman of the I.B.E.W.!

 

> PS: I am a retired Inside Wireman of the I.B.E.W.!

Read the posts up above concerning your comments. If you're looking for respect you're going about it in the most annoying possible way, on two separate Dodge forums, now.

As I said, I got what I did from Google, and from other people who claim training in this field. If you made intelligent comments without acting like an arrogant blowhard then people might give your words weight.

This ends with you now. I discovered the "block" list for this forum and you're gone. In case anyone else is interested, click My Forums, search for the name of the member you want to block, check the box to the right of their name, use the drop-down to select 'block list' and add the member to the contact list. Problem solved.

 

Using the "block" is just an electronic way to play Ostrich, and stick your head in the sand!! Just like the Ostrich, shutting out facts does not change them, or make them go away!! Not having you as a reader is your loss, not mine!! If I can help, inform, or occasionally tease even one reader, I will not find my efforts to have been wasted!!

What you should have done is reply to my rebuttals with facts, and answer my questions about the reasonableness of your assertions!! Hopefully other readers will have more open minds, will be able to grasp the logic and information contained in my posts, and will resist the temptation to run to the nearest sand pile whenever someone does not reinforce their preconceived notions!!

I still await an answer to the basic question: “So, why did Dodge use a 30A fuse, if, according to you, drawing 15A with the 80/100 Opti Blue bulbs will damage the wiring!!??!!�!! If you do not have a valid answer, just say so, without attacking me personnally for posing the question!!

 

Hmm. Wattage is where the heat comes from, not the current. You have a 30A fuse so that you cannot put too much current through the wiring without burning out the fuse. That doesn't mean that you won't overheat the wiring due to excessive wattage. I'm not saying that the 80/100's are too much for the harness, because I don't have a Magnum and can't tell you what the harness is like. But, I can tell you that if the harness isn't adequate then a long road trip is where your risk becomes a factor. Short trips (hour or less) are more than likely going to be harmless. Take the 91-6 Caprice (94-6 Impala SS). The stock wiring harness was meager for stock wattage bulbs. Yet, that is what GM put in there, and what the GM engineers determined was adequate. An aftermarket harness is readily available for those cars, and is a significant improvement which also allows higher wattage bulbs.

 

 

Sorry, that is not correct!!

Electricity 101: Voltage X Amperage = Wattage. In a 12V auto system, because the voltage is a constant nominal 12V, the wattage is directly proportional to the amperage. In a bulb, reduce the filament resistance by half, and you will double the amperage AND double the wattage! The heating of the wire is caused by amperage. A 120W bulb in a 12V system requires a large wire to carry the 10A load, whereas a 120W bulb in a 120V system only needs a small wire to carry the 1A load!!