I do a fair bit of driving during the hours of darkness on rural twisties and the more light to see deer the better.

I currently have Cobalt II bulbs and am happy enough but I got to thinking there's scope for fitting a couple of extra lamps behind the grill, sorta 70's style mod but discrete at the same time.

I don't think it should cause any overheating issues as the grill seems plenty big.

The Octy is my first drive by wire car and I was wondering if a simple relay connected to the high beam feed would cause any warning lights as I read lots about the system monitoring being easily upset.

I'll detail my project if and when I get around to it.

You'll know it's me coming if I'm just a wall of light!

I think your confusing Drive-by-wire and Canbus but regardless; have you considered running 100w rally bulbs in your mains? I have run these in all my cars and the difference is substantial over standard bulbs. Mind you they are strictly illegal for road use but no MOT station picks up on it and no one else ever sees them as you dont tend to use them with oncoming vehicles. Just a thought. 

The Octy is my first drive by wire car and I was wondering if a simple relay connected to the high beam feed would cause any warning lights as I read lots about the system monitoring being easily upset.

 

I don't think a relay should cause any problems with the canbus monitoring. 

 

 

I think your confusing Drive-by-wire and Canbus but regardless; have you considered running 100w rally bulbs in your mains? 

 

I'd be very wary about running 100w bulbs in standard headlights. Especially in the case of the Octavia where the headlights are all plastic.....the 100w bulbs are quite a bit hotter than standard bulbs. Of course they could also cause all sorts of damage to the canbus system and/or the wiring.  

Yes I tried 100w bulbs on my motorcycle years ago but I wouldn't be tempted to use them on plastic covered lights with canbus.

I was just curious if anyone had any experience adding extra electrical loads on the Octy.

Fair enough. I have used them no problems on three cars with plastic lights. As long as they are UV Cut bulbs the risk of damage is minuscule. Each to their own. 

There is a cheap and simple way to get more light out there on the road....

I'll be the first to say it... HID kit?

 

Search for the seller Londoncolour on ebay. That's where everyone get's their kits from. Go for the non-canbus 4300k kit then get someone local to you with VCDS to code the car to accept the light.

 

Huge improvement over standard bulbs.

 

Phil

HID kit for main beam, & or HID in place of fog lamps. I rarely use front fogs but have HID in them to give me a bit more when on dark B roads.

I do a fair bit of driving during the hours of darkness on rural twisties and the more light to see deer the better.

I currently have Cobalt II bulbs and am happy enough but I got to thinking there's scope for fitting a couple of extra lamps behind the grill, sorta 70's style mod but discrete at the same time.

I don't think it should cause any overheating issues as the grill seems plenty big.

The Octy is my first drive by wire car and I was wondering if a simple relay connected to the high beam feed would cause any warning lights as I read lots about the system monitoring being easily upset.

I'll detail my project if and when I get around to it.

You'll know it's me coming if I'm just a wall of light!

 

 

ADDING lights without removing the existing ones shouldn't cause any "bulb fault" error.

BTW you may not have enough power to light up them properly and your fuel consumption will (slighty) increase.

There's got to be enough power available else the fog lights wouldn't be fitted and they are similar wattage 55+55+21 compared to a proposed 2x55 or 60 if I fitted additional spots.

If you really do want to add extra lights it can be done no problem.

 

You would need to run appropriate gauge wire to the battery with an inline fuse. Then pick up an earth point on the body somewhere and stick a relay inline maybe wired to the full beams so the driving lights come on with when you put our main beam on?

 

I would seriously recommend using a HID kit though in the dipped beam then some brighter (osram or similar) bulbs in the main beams. The beauty of the HID kit is that it fits completely inside the headlamp housing and no modification required to the car at all.

 

Phil

 

BTW you may not have enough power to light up them properly and your fuel consumption will (slighty) increase.

 

I very much doubt it. If the op add's two spots using 50watt bulbs, at 14.4v that will pull 7 amps. The battery wont even notice, let alone pull enough extra load on the alternator to cause a drop in fuel economy