R50/53 Wire gauge of MINI driving lights v PIAA 540 wire gauge.
Wire gauge of MINI driving lights v PIAA 540 wire gauge.
Can anyone tell me what the wire gauge of the OEM MINI driving/rally lights is compared to the wires used on the PIAA 540 lights? PIAA looks like 14 gauge and the original MINI look smaller at 16/18 gauge.
Going to replace the factory fitted driving/rally lights (about as much use as having two candles on the front of the car) with a pair of PIAA 540's. PIAA bulbs are H3 55w and MINI bulb are H7, I believe.
I would appreciate any input. Auto electrics is/are not my thing, and I don't want to fry anything.
Cheers.
Ray.
Going to replace the factory fitted driving/rally lights (about as much use as having two candles on the front of the car) with a pair of PIAA 540's. PIAA bulbs are H3 55w and MINI bulb are H7, I believe.
I would appreciate any input. Auto electrics is/are not my thing, and I don't want to fry anything.
Cheers.
Ray.
Last edited by CRC; Sep 23, 2018 at 07:51 AM.
I’m not familiar with how the stock lights are wired, but I’m assuming a relay is involved someplace. Are you looking to just splice into the existing leads going to each factory light or rewire back to the relay (wherever it is)?
110 watts (ie two 55w lamps) at 12v is about 9amps......I think that 14 gauge wire is good up to 15 amps if I recall correctly. So if the same lead feeds both lamps, then 14 gauge is ok. If they are wired separately, then I think 18 gauge for each lamp is adequate. When in doubt, go with a larger than needed size.....doesn’t hurt anything.
Have fun!
110 watts (ie two 55w lamps) at 12v is about 9amps......I think that 14 gauge wire is good up to 15 amps if I recall correctly. So if the same lead feeds both lamps, then 14 gauge is ok. If they are wired separately, then I think 18 gauge for each lamp is adequate. When in doubt, go with a larger than needed size.....doesn’t hurt anything.
Have fun!
^^^ Fastlane, thank you. I'm going to connect the wires with spade connectors, and connect directly to the factory wires. When I removed the factory lights, I cut the wires as close as I could to the lights so I just have to feed the PIAA wires thru the grille to connect. This way I won't have to go back to the relay. Everything will be factory, from the switch up to the grille.
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