got a 96 Civic DX hatchback with aftermarket projectors with halos. i cant get the damn things to shine bright enough to pass Pa state inspection. they have standard 55 watt bulbs and i was told that if i hop up to a higher wattage bulb they will get even dimmer due to more power draw. i'm at wits end and i'm about to light the car up in flames. any tech tips would be great. THANX!!!

 

well easist way... get some stock style headlights and bulbs and slap them on the car... get your sticker take it home and swap them back.lol

 

^ +1

 

that thought had crossed my mind but i'd actually like to fix it right. driving with those dim lights at night sucks.

 

thats just what you get with cheap projectors! you can get hoter bulbs BUT then you have to rewire your headlights with some highwattage harness and a relay and fuse and more wires ran to th ebattery.... but then you have to worry about the extra heat melting the projectors plastic...
dont just wire up the hoter bulbs to your stock wiring either or you factory wireharness will fry!

IMO function over style if you have a problem!

 

Absoultely function trumps style. Install stock ones you'll see better at night.

 

You can install the 100 watt bulbs, and wire a relay to trigger them. This will provide you the amperage needed to make them bulbs burn.
Use the negative turn on at the factory bulb plug to trigger the relay.

 

you dont use the stock wiring to power the bulbs!
you buy some decent size wire to hold the power. id guess 14-16gauge wire, ruffly 12ft is all that should be needed. 4 ring terminals to fit that wire, wire the wires directly to the hoter bulbs wire terminals dont use the stock wire harness plug!

just be sure to add a fuse on the power wire right next to the battery! needs to be safe justincase the wire shorts out it will save your car from a certain car firie death!
then simple a 12volt relay. and wire it just like this... picture below.
just be sure to properly fuse the power wire next to the battery where you get the power from!
the REMOTE TURN ON LEAD is you use the stock wire harness on the passenger side (because its closer to the battery) and check the headlight wire harness and find out the wire that gets power when the headlights are turned ON and connect that wire to the remote turn on lead on the relay... then the #85 on the relay just gets grounded to any bolt or if ya use a selftaping screw into some metal under the hood just be sure theres nothing that could get poked from the screw geting drilled thru...
then the #30 on the relay gets wired up to the bulbs power wire, and simply use the same ground wire from the relay on the bulbs terminal or another selftaping screw or another bolt thats on the car already... your choice.




it can be done if ya got some wire, terminals, light tester and some electrical tape....

BUT IMO... if you just want to pass inspection... then get some stock headlights and bulbs to instal on the car.... and if you still want to rock the DIM halo headlights then you can try upgrading the bulbs to hotter ones and upgrade the wiring..... and HOPE it doesnt melt your cool halo headlights.LOL

you could try replacing the bulbs with some HID headlights BUT most likely ya wont be able to pass inspection with them maybe maybe not... HIDs are not legal since the projectors youd be using them in are not OEM HID PROJECTORS with the hid bulbs and ballasts powering them... still a risk to pass inspection. just buy a set of stock headlights slap them in quickly and go get your car to pass inspection... 96-98headlights OEM shouldnt cost to much... doesnt even have to be OEM just oem style, and not projectors....