Bulb guru's - higher wattage or ultrabirghts??
Discussion
Hoping someone might be able to shed a little light on this 
Purely hypothetical for an off road vehicle. What is the best way of getting better brighter lights.
Assuming a H4 fitment halogen bulb (so dipped and main beam in a single bulb).
Halfords offer an "Extreme Brilliance" bulb which claims up to 90% brighter but retain the 60/55w rating. £19.99 but 2 for 1.
However for £9.99 you can also buy some "Rally" off road use 130/90w bulbs.
So my question is:
"Which is actually brighter? And with the best beam pattern?"
I've Googled, but so far I can't find a direct comparison between higher wattage bulbs (be it 100/80w or the 130/90w) and the 50, 80 or 90% brighter Xenon branded bulbs.
Anyone know the answer?
Ta
EDIT: Thanks for the replies. Not looking for HIDs and a H4 bulb MUST do both main and dip beam
Purely hypothetical for an off road vehicle. What is the best way of getting better brighter lights.
Assuming a H4 fitment halogen bulb (so dipped and main beam in a single bulb).
Halfords offer an "Extreme Brilliance" bulb which claims up to 90% brighter but retain the 60/55w rating. £19.99 but 2 for 1.
However for £9.99 you can also buy some "Rally" off road use 130/90w bulbs.
So my question is:
"Which is actually brighter? And with the best beam pattern?"
I've Googled, but so far I can't find a direct comparison between higher wattage bulbs (be it 100/80w or the 130/90w) and the 50, 80 or 90% brighter Xenon branded bulbs.
Anyone know the answer?
Ta
EDIT: Thanks for the replies. Not looking for HIDs and a H4 bulb MUST do both main and dip beam
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Sunday 12th December 19:17
Been looking at this sort of thing myself as the Mondeo needs something brighter. There are rumblings that switches/wiring should be improved to cope with the higher wattage. The 'brighter' bulb method is supposed to be a big improvement over normal bulbs though. Looking at getting a set of these shortly.
If you fit higher wattage bulbs you'll *possibly* be running the headlight wiring above it's rating which is not safe (can melt/burn or cause a fire). The higher wattage bulbs also create a loot more heat . . . so you might have problems there in the headlight assembly.
I'd stick with Osram +50% or +80% bulbs in the standard wattage - these are legal, safe for the car and do give a very noticeable improvement.
Don't buy from Halfords, they charge well over the top for bulbs. Look at somewhere like http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/
I'd stick with Osram +50% or +80% bulbs in the standard wattage - these are legal, safe for the car and do give a very noticeable improvement.
Don't buy from Halfords, they charge well over the top for bulbs. Look at somewhere like http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/
Check your headlamp unit. A lot of them, even from quite a while ago (ie my 1992 integrale) use plastic bodied lamps, even if they use a glass lens. Some use plastic lenses too.
So stick a high wattage bulb in there, which produces even more heat, and you run the risk of overheating the plastic body, distorting it and thus ruining the output. Or at the very least, burning off the internal silvering - thus reducing it's output again.
Been there, done that.
So decent bulbs of the same power as OEM will be the way to go, if you refuse to go HID.
Metal bodied lamps - like the Cibies in my old Renault 11, could take 130W H1s with no problem - other than the fact they lasted about 3 weeks as the quaility control on illegal bulbs isn't what it is on "proper" ones.
Might be worth a little wiring loom mod - add a relay to each of the dip and main beam (even to the point of a relay for each of the left dip and main, and the right dip and main),fed from a new, fused, decent cable(s) direct from the battery, using the existing power wires to control the relay.
Ensuring the bulbs get the full battery power can make a considerable difference - on the integrale, it removed the old wire from battery to fuse box, from box to lamp switch, from lamp switch to lamp, via any number of connectors, from the lighting circuit - all the connectors and switches add reistance, all contributing to a drop in voltage at the bulb.
Bri
So stick a high wattage bulb in there, which produces even more heat, and you run the risk of overheating the plastic body, distorting it and thus ruining the output. Or at the very least, burning off the internal silvering - thus reducing it's output again.
Been there, done that.
So decent bulbs of the same power as OEM will be the way to go, if you refuse to go HID.
Metal bodied lamps - like the Cibies in my old Renault 11, could take 130W H1s with no problem - other than the fact they lasted about 3 weeks as the quaility control on illegal bulbs isn't what it is on "proper" ones.
Might be worth a little wiring loom mod - add a relay to each of the dip and main beam (even to the point of a relay for each of the left dip and main, and the right dip and main),fed from a new, fused, decent cable(s) direct from the battery, using the existing power wires to control the relay.
Ensuring the bulbs get the full battery power can make a considerable difference - on the integrale, it removed the old wire from battery to fuse box, from box to lamp switch, from lamp switch to lamp, via any number of connectors, from the lighting circuit - all the connectors and switches add reistance, all contributing to a drop in voltage at the bulb.
Bri
Bricol said:
Check your headlamp unit. A lot of them, even from quite a while ago (ie my 1992 integrale) use plastic bodied lamps, even if they use a glass lens. Some use plastic lenses too.
So stick a high wattage bulb in there, which produces even more heat, and you run the risk of overheating the plastic body, distorting it and thus ruining the output. Or at the very least, burning off the internal silvering - thus reducing it's output again.
Been there, done that.
So decent bulbs of the same power as OEM will be the way to go, if you refuse to go HID.
Metal bodied lamps - like the Cibies in my old Renault 11, could take 130W H1s with no problem - other than the fact they lasted about 3 weeks as the quaility control on illegal bulbs isn't what it is on "proper" ones.
Might be worth a little wiring loom mod - add a relay to each of the dip and main beam (even to the point of a relay for each of the left dip and main, and the right dip and main),fed from a new, fused, decent cable(s) direct from the battery, using the existing power wires to control the relay.
Ensuring the bulbs get the full battery power can make a considerable difference - on the integrale, it removed the old wire from battery to fuse box, from box to lamp switch, from lamp switch to lamp, via any number of connectors, from the lighting circuit - all the connectors and switches add reistance, all contributing to a drop in voltage at the bulb.
Bri
Cheers.So stick a high wattage bulb in there, which produces even more heat, and you run the risk of overheating the plastic body, distorting it and thus ruining the output. Or at the very least, burning off the internal silvering - thus reducing it's output again.
Been there, done that.
So decent bulbs of the same power as OEM will be the way to go, if you refuse to go HID.
Metal bodied lamps - like the Cibies in my old Renault 11, could take 130W H1s with no problem - other than the fact they lasted about 3 weeks as the quaility control on illegal bulbs isn't what it is on "proper" ones.
Might be worth a little wiring loom mod - add a relay to each of the dip and main beam (even to the point of a relay for each of the left dip and main, and the right dip and main),fed from a new, fused, decent cable(s) direct from the battery, using the existing power wires to control the relay.
Ensuring the bulbs get the full battery power can make a considerable difference - on the integrale, it removed the old wire from battery to fuse box, from box to lamp switch, from lamp switch to lamp, via any number of connectors, from the lighting circuit - all the connectors and switches add reistance, all contributing to a drop in voltage at the bulb.
Bri
Not refusing to go HID, but a normal HID kit won't work, as normal HID's use 4 bulbs, 2 for dipped and 2 for main. H4's are a single bulb which combine dip and main into a single unit. So the only option is a bi-xenon kit, which is more money and I don't yet know if you can get them with D2R spec bulbs (for reflector lenses).
300bhp/ton said:
60 said:
If it is for off road, I'd get a £30 HID kit from ebay. You might find you need a better loom to use the high wattage bulbs.
Same as above, a single bulb needs to do dip and main beam, so HID is not a straight solution as they are single bulbs, so 4 lamps needed in total.They have a shield which moves over part of the bulb to change the direction of the light pattern when you change between high and low beam.
For maximum light, no filament bulb will ever come close to a £30 set of HID's off ebay.
Search for H4 bi-xenon.
Edited by Rubin215 on Sunday 12th December 22:31
WhoseGeneration said:
First option is to try the standard wattage "brighter" bulbs, from a respected manufacturer.
If not enough, then, with the provisos others have mentioned, the higher wattage versions.
Is there no possibility of adding two separate spotlights?
Quite a costly option though. I can probably buy a couple of higher wattage bulbs for about £10-11 all in.If not enough, then, with the provisos others have mentioned, the higher wattage versions.
Is there no possibility of adding two separate spotlights?
I suppose I could add some spotlamps for mainbeam and convert the current lamps to single bulb dipped, but that's a bit more than I want to spend at the mo. Gives me some ideas though, so cheers.
It's a fact that Higher wattage bulbs are much brighter than the "ultrabright" bulbs.
Every car I have tried them on has been fine, despite much internet hot air about wiring and lenses melting. The only car I didn't try them on was my MGF as the housings and wiring were so totally sub standard like everything else on the car.
Every car I have tried them on has been fine, despite much internet hot air about wiring and lenses melting. The only car I didn't try them on was my MGF as the housings and wiring were so totally sub standard like everything else on the car.
Rubin215 said:
300bhp/ton said:
60 said:
If it is for off road, I'd get a £30 HID kit from ebay. You might find you need a better loom to use the high wattage bulbs.
Same as above, a single bulb needs to do dip and main beam, so HID is not a straight solution as they are single bulbs, so 4 lamps needed in total.They have a shield which moves over part of the bulb to change the direction of the light pattern when you change between high and low beam.
For maximum light, no filament bulb will ever come close to a £30 set of HID's off ebay.
Search for H4 bi-xenon.
Edited by Rubin215 on Sunday 12th December 22:31
ExPat2B said:
Every car I have tried them on has been fine, despite much internet hot air about wiring and lenses melting.
So you know for a fact do you that all cars headlight wiring and relays will take at least double the 55w load ? You'll be happy to pay the repair costs of the OP's car if 130w bulbs melt his wiring loom ? Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff