Hella H3 100W Halogen Bulb 12V PK22s 1850 Lumens

The Hella Marine H3 100W is a single-filament halogen replacement bulb for 12-volt lamps that use the H3 format. It runs on the standard PK22s base with a T3.25 quartz envelope, puts out 1850 lumens of clear white light, and drops straight into any fixture built around the H3 pattern. If you've got a driving lamp, fog lamp, or spot lamp that's gone dark, this is the bulb that brings it back.

Here's the thing worth knowing up front. At 100 watts, this is a high-output H3, well above the 55-watt bulb most H3 housings ship with from the factory. That extra wattage buys you a brighter, longer throw of light, which is exactly what you want in an auxiliary driving or spot lamp reaching out past the bow or down a dark channel. It also means the bulb runs hotter and pulls more current, roughly 8 amps at 12 volts, so you'll want a fixture and wiring rated to handle it. Check your lamp's maximum wattage rating before you fit a 100-watt bulb into a housing designed for 55.

The H3 is a single-filament bulb, so it produces one beam. It doesn't switch between low and high on its own. What job it does, whether that's fog, driving, spot, or spreader light, comes down to the lamp housing and reflector it sits in, not the bulb itself. Swap the same H3 into a fog lamp and it throws a wide, low pattern. Put it in a pencil-beam spot and it reaches way out. The bulb just supplies the light.

Not sure if your lamp takes an H3? The giveaway is the base. An H3 bulb has a single wire lead coming off the PK22s cap instead of pins or a flanged plug, and the capsule is short and stubby. If your old bulb matches that and the glass reads H3, this one fits. The 12-volt rating covers standard boat and automotive electrical systems. It is not for 24-volt systems, so if you're on a larger vessel running 24 volts, you'll want the 24-volt version instead.

On the water, H3 bulbs show up in spreader lights, docking lamps, and auxiliary spot lamps on everything from center consoles to sportfishers. Hella Marine builds its lamps on a fit-and-forget philosophy, decades of materials know-how aimed at gear that keeps working in salt air and spray. This is the replacement capsule for those fixtures. The clear quartz glass and tight filament tolerances give you consistent color and output bulb after bulb, which matters when you've got a pair of spreaders and you don't want one running warmer or dimmer than the other.

The 1850-lumen output lands this firmly in the high-wattage class. You get a crisp, clear beam with the warm-white color halogen is known for, easy on the eyes over a long run and good at cutting through mist and spray where some cooler lights wash out. It's a proven, no-surprises light source. No drivers, no ballasts, no firmware. Power it up and it works.

One install tip that applies to every quartz halogen bulb, including this one. Don't touch the glass with bare fingers. The oil from your skin creates a hot spot on the envelope that shortens the bulb's life or cracks it once it heats up. Handle it by the metal base, and if you do brush the glass, wipe it down with rubbing alcohol before you power it up. Takes ten seconds and saves you a repeat trip to the parts drawer.

This listing is for a single bulb, not a pair, so if you're replacing both sides of a spreader setup, order two. And a straight-shooting note: a 100-watt H3 is a lot of bulb. Some road and trailer applications limit you to 55 watts for street-legal use, so if this is going on a highway-driven trailer or truck rather than a boat or an off-road rig, check your local rules first. We'd rather you know going in than find out at an inspection.