My wife just noticed that one of her driving lamps is out, and we'd like to get it fixed before Midnight on the Dragon. Looking at REALOEM.COM, the description of the bulb just says "H3 55W". I know that "H3" is the bulb type, but does anyone know if the connectors/wires are standard? In other words, am I likely to find a replacement at an auto part store, or is this something that we'll have to order when we get home?

 

H3 is a standard designation for one style of halogen bulb (H1, H11, etc.). You can pick them up at any AutoZone, Pep Boys. The 55W refers to the wattage of the bulb, like the 60W in your home light sockets. Very straight-forward installation.
I'm pretty sure 55W is the max allowable by law.
Not that you couldn't put in 100W bulbs!

 

H3 55 Watt Don't go bigger or you'll fry the relay. If you just have to go bigger, make sure to wire-in an interceeding contactor to protect the factory wiring.

Rawhyde

 

Put in 100w bulbs and you most likely will fry the wiring.

You dont really think MINI/BMW is going to put more expense in thicker wiring than required for the law? Funny.

And illegal

 

Thanks for all the advice - a local auto parts store near the Dragon had the Wegner H3/55W bulbs. I figured the odds of matching the colour of the factory bulbs was pretty low, so I replaced both of them and kept the good original one as a spare.

In researching the bulbs, I found some Hoen "Xenonmatch" bulbs that are supposed to closely match the colour of the factory xenon lamps. Has anyone here installed those? The factory driving lamps look very yellow compared to the xenons.

 

If you really want to learn about lighting, see http://www.danielsternlighting.com

OEM Xenons run 4200K. Normal Halogens less. People have bought Hoen and they are supposed to be good for matching. Don't go higher than that as you will see less. If your intention is to see, 4200K is high enuff. If you go higher, you see less and its just bling

Best of Luck ... yeah Hoen is a respected brand.

 

I'm just trying to get a better match to the headlamps. I've seen some of the other lights you're talking about, though - blue, very blue, even purple. Maybe that's the look they're going for, but as you say, the actual light output is lousy.

 

I came across this at the Morristown MINI website and immediately thought of this thread.
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...catalogid=3751

Driving Light Bulbs H3
Special replacement bulbs for the MINI Driving lights (Part# 63 12 0 144 132) to match the color of the optional Xenon lights. Price does not include installation.
Item # 63 17 0 412 647
MSRP: $22.50

 

Unless i'm mistaken the "Driving Lights" take normal W5W bulbs. Are you guys talking about the fog light bulbs?

In either case, i've used Hoen bulbs in the past and they definitely match xenon very well. They sell a 65 (?) watt bulb that can be used in the halogen housings to match xenon color/output almost exactly without the harsh cutoff of aftermarket xenon kits.

The only downside is that you could potentially fry your wiring because of the increased wattage. I used them in my Passat and it melted the insulation. Luckily I caught it early (And called Hoen about it). They sent me some new sockets that were rated for the additional wattage. After everything was hooked up it worked fine for over a year, until I sold the car.

They also sell normal (55w) bulbs that can go in the stock housings without any modification. Keep in mind the higher the color temperature (Kelvin rating) the lower the performance in harsh weather. Yellow lights will always help cut through the fog better .

*Edit* after reading your post again I realize you're talking about the stock driving lamps that mount to the grill and come on when you use you use your highbeams, not the driving lights mounted in the bumper .

 

WAY too expensive!

Hellas here for $10. http://www.rallylights.com/hella/H3.asp

Xenons are 4200K. These are 4000K.

 

On Saturday I discovered that one of the bulbs in my factory rally lights was dead. Took it down to AutoZone and found an exact replacement (down to the wire connections) for $3.99. It was in the driving/off road lighting section and is labeled as a 12V 55W H3 bulb. Installed it yesterday afternoon and it works fine.

 

Your not going to find 4200K H3s for $4. However, for the bulb you just bought, the same URL has them for $2.70

 

Entirely possible. But I'm happy with the factory bulbs through the yellow tinted lamin-x, so I wanted as close to an exact swap as possible. That's also what the original poster was asking about. Since I use my rallys regularly, I wanted a bulb pretty quick. It was worth $1.30 (less shipping costs) to me to get the new bulb yesterday.

 

FYI - I've been running 100w bulbs in my MINI driving lights for a year and a half with no problems...

The visibility at night is awesome!

-Michael