Anyone use just one high beam?

[Wayneburg]

Has anyone here disabled one of their high beam lights to reduce the load on the car battery and to reduce some weight(bulb, housing, wiring)?

Is it illegal to drive with just one working high beam light?

I've tried looking up this information, but I can't seem to find anything.

Any advice?

Thanks

[AMX]

The weight of a bulb and wiring would not reduce the weight of the car at all! Also, the mileage savings for reducing the load on the alternator would be very, very, minimal, and seeing how it's a safety issue, I would strongly advise against it.

[JanGeo]

You are talking about a 5 watt difference in most lighting systems per bulb high vs low beam. Inspection would fail in states that have vehicle inspections. Simpler to switch to LED parming and marker lights and save power there.

[GasSavers_RoadWarrior]

I rarely ever drive on high beams, I can usually see well enough to drive @ rural speed limits on the low beam.

[theholycow]

If you want to modify to reduce alternator load, add a switch that disables charging of the battery and charge it when you get home. I thought of it recently and then read here that some people have done such systems, though they did it with a lot more investment (and slightly more advantage) than the way I was thinking of doing it...

I agree with everyone else about the futility and risks of using one high beam.

[smccall]

Not a great weight and fuel saving tactic.

[Wayneburg]

Ok thanks every one. The idea is canned.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

most cars have 60 watt low beams, and 65 watt high beams, or 70/75, but yes, 5 watts each is normal, so you save 10 watts by only using low beams, your tail lights are often at least 5 watts each, along with each of the other marker lights, even the brightest LED's available draw less then one watt each while being used as marker lights, and up to 3 watts while being used as brake lights (compared to 25 watt brakes lights), the 1/3 watt LED's are also brighter then the bulbs they replace, and should last the rest of your life.
And before you ask, LED head lights seem to be in the $500+ range, LED tail light replacements are in the $20-25 range.

[mkiVX]

Originally Posted by Ryland

most cars have 60 watt low beams, and 65 watt high beams, or 70/75, but yes, 5 watts each is normal, so you save 10 watts by only using low beams, your tail lights are often at least 5 watts each, along with each of the other marker lights, even the brightest LED's available draw less then one watt each while being used as marker lights, and up to 3 watts while being used as brake lights (compared to 25 watt brakes lights), the 1/3 watt LED's are also brighter then the bulbs they replace, and should last the rest of your life.
And before you ask, LED head lights seem to be in the $500+ range, LED tail light replacements are in the $20-25 range.

just buy a set of hids.
they drop you down to 35w and out out double the power.
they consume alot when first lit but len out to 35 w

[Lug_Nut]

Wayneburg,
What do you drive? Some vehicles leave the low beam filaments illuminated when the high beams are on. In that situation you are adding 100 or so watts to the low beam load, rather than adding 100 for the highs and offsetting that by removing 100 for the lows.
If your ride has this arrangement you can legally drop out the low beams while the highs are on and reduce the 200 watt high-low load to 100 watt on high only.