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If stock wattage is 55/60 low/high (it is), and your relay started frying at 65w, I think somebody forgot to put a bigger margin of safety into the design. :)
You know, now that I think about it, I don't remember if I even DO have 100w high beams. I know when I first got my E-code headlights, I got 55/60w bulbs. A couple years later I added a completely separate set of relays and a new wiring harness, which is definitely up to the task of overwattage bulbs. At that time, I went to 80/100w bulbs. However, both bulbs went out within a few months, which was very disappointing. I don't really know the reason, as they were Hella bulbs, so I expected some life out of them. I put the 55/60w bulbs back in, and only one of them has gone out so far - the other is about six years old!
I'd love to go back to the 80/100w bulbs, but they need to last at least a couple years, preferably more. 55/100w might last longer, but I don't really have much opportunity to use the high beams, so the extra wattage on low would do a LOT more good.
Long story short, here's where I got my wiring harness and relay:
http://www.hioutputbulbs.com/compt.htm
It looks like the price has gone up by 25% since I got mine, but it is still a very nice harness and worth it, especially since it comes with the relays. Granted, you could build your own similar for probably half the price or less, but throw in your time and labor to find all the pieces and put them together...
I see they also have a HID conversion kit for $450. That looks interesting, but looks like you'd loose high beams, though you could add driving lights easily enough that come on with the high beam switch.
Oh, the other thing they have which I highly recommend are 50w lights for the reversing (back-up) lights. I know, you are thinking 'Whoa, that takes a 21w bulb!! It'll fry something!' Actually no, it's perfectly fine, the circuit is only being asked to handle 8 amps, and that for only a small amount of time (unless you like to drive in reverse everywhere). Just check the fuse rating for that circuit, and you'll see the wiring is up to the task. It makes a BIG difference when backing up at night. :)
As far as a higher wattage headlight relay, that's sort of a trick question. Relays are not rated by power, but by current. If it's frying, you are either trying to draw too much current through it, or the contacts have become faulty either as a result of underdesign (too small) or oxidation over time. Bad contacts leads to increased resistance at the connection point. I can't believe Saab would put anything less than a 20A relay in there, so my bet would be that the contacts have never been cleaned and the resistance is way up. However, they did use pathetic 9004 headlight bulbs in USA cars, which have contacts that are way too small, so you never know... Oh, and they decided to run full headlight current through the switch in the steering column, at least on my car, that wasn't too smart. What is the point of having a relay if you put the switch in the main power line between the relay and the load?? Granted, with stock wattage bulbs it isn't much current, but the entire point of a relay is to keep load current out of the switches in the first place.
Aaron Gilbert
posted by 64.40.51...
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