Headlight voltage drop

[cliftyhanger]

A tale of woe...
I was given some LED bulbs for Christmas, H1 and H4.
I knew I woukd need to modfy the outer headlight bowls, done with a bit of 2" exhaust pipe welded to give extra space, then vented and a splashshield fitted (easier than it sounds)
However, I tried the inner H1s first. Only to find they barely glowed. A check direct across teh battery, and I was blind for 10 minutes. Time to break out the voltmeter.
Battery voltage was 12.8V. At the lamps 9.3! For good measure I checked the voltage drop from battery + to the lamp+ which was indeed 3.5V

I was horrified by that, and undertook fitting a pair of relays plus sorting the wiring, mainly grubby connectors.
The results were excellent, the voltage drop was down to 0.2V and the LEDs seemed as bright as the sun. However, I expect the original halogen bulbs would have been much brighter if they had been refitted.
The moral of the story is that if your lights are not as bright as you hope, check the voltage drop. Fitting relays cost me about £5 and a couple of hours, with the added benefit of preserving the headlight switches that often suffer. Even if you don't fit relays, cleaning all the wiring connections and so on will reap serious rewards.

The car has done well over 200 miles in the past 3 days, including 2 trips for Triumph lunches. Which obviously drag on and we ended up travelling home in the dark. The lights certainly are excellent.