After much research and ADR checks, I am fairly certain that it is legal to upgrade my XR H1(55w) halogen globes to SMD LED lights with H1 base (80w)
My issue is the higher wattage. Technically speaking, those 95/100 watt halogens H4s carry an overheating risk but SMD LEDs don't heat up hardly at all, so temperature isn't a concern, but what about amperage and current draw. Can the wiring handle 80w?

Hello,

I would play it safe and run a relay. Are the LED globes a known brand or E Bay special ? There is a lot of stuff sold with outrageous claims and " adjusted " pictures to back it up.

i ran 100w low beam and 130w halogen globes in my ed xr and there was no issue, there was more heat but not enough to cause issues, the extra load never tripped the curcuit breaker..

although i would not run these globes in a std headlight with poly lense as it would melt the lens.

The lights are (supposedly) Cree brand. Pretty sure they're constructed in Hong Kong.
I'm expecting them to be not that great but who knows.
I was thinking about relays and fuses, but how should I put them in, these lights are h1 base, so they literally plug into the same wiring.

No worries on the polycarbonate lenses, my lights are metal and glass. The car in question is in my profile image.

Last edited by CRL13X on Sat Jan 30, 2016 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

You basically upgrade the existing fuses and relays / circuit breaker with a higher current equivalent.
When I ran 90/100 lights in my EB all I upgraded was the circuit breaker. But I must say I did have an issue with the connector on the globe melting over time which I think was caused by the extra heat from the globe. So I went to 35W HIDs from Jaycar and so far they are fine.

Are the LED's a bulb replacement or a full headlight replacement?

If theyre are bulb replacement I can just about promise the quality of the product itself will be pretty ordinary and the beam pattern will be interesting, the existing headlights are meant to work with one single light source (the filament in the bulb) not several as is the case with LED's

as RtvNut mentions ... i have a couple here that i bought a few years ago & nah i never used them due to design of globe/headlight. one of the globes is roughly 2 inches long so the focal point for aiming the light is way off. but if you want to try them, go ahead & try.

ADR's also limit you to running a 60w high beam, 55w low beam, so technically, no, an 80w LED bulb/array/light assembly isnt legal. I am however curious as to what makes you think an 80W LED is legal....

Another thing to be considered when comparing a LED/array to an incandescent lamp is that when the 60/55w standard was set, it was done with the idea that you can only extract so much light (in terms of how bright it will be) with a given amount of power

Technological advances in filament design, gasses (allowing the filament to made smaller, running hotter and brighter without burning out as fast), bulb glass quality, etc have made headlights brighter as the years have progressed.

LED's are significantly more efficient at turning power into light than a normal bulb, so an 80w LED is going to be a LOT brighter than any incandescent lamp, which is where, if it comes down to sheer light output, you will have problems. The ADR's limiting headlight current draw were written in the interests of not blinding oncoming drivers, not anything to do with the actual vehicle.