New bulbs

[Badger_01]

So after driving to work this morning and not being happpy with how dim the lights are I decided to get some of those nice and bright xenon bulbs or piss-everybody-off-lights-because-they-think-your-lights-are-on-high-beam lights lol

[Confused]

Please, please, please, do not put "HID" bulbs into your standard headlights.


The best thing you can do is to get some decent proper Halogen H4 bulbs, some decent wiring, an in-line fuse holder and a couple of relays.

Use the current wiring to activate the coil on the relay(s), and switch in the thick wiring coming directly from the battery (via the fuse) - this will ensure minimum voltage drop. Halogen bulbs have their output wattage rated at around 13.7v, and a 5% drop in voltage results in ~15% drop in light output!

[Badger_01]

These ones are 12v

[Confused]

So are all other car headlight bulbs - but when they say "55w" output, they actually measure these at ~13.7v, not 12v! If they did measure them at 12v, the output would probably be closer to 30w - which wouldn't be good for their advertising!

[Badger_01]

Ah I see. It is true that you learn something new everyday. Cheers for that

[sampsulo]

Hmmmmm


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[Davezj]

has anyone tried that latest breed of led headlight bulbs that you can get, they have between 15 -120 leds in a standard bulb package. i have not used them but i would consider a try out on these.

[SEAN-NZ]

So are all other car headlight bulbs - but when they say "55w" output, they actually measure these at ~13.7v, not 12v! If they did measure them at 12v, the output would probably be closer to 30w - which wouldn't be good for their advertising!

makes sense when you think about the fact the dim a fair bit when you turn off the car

[Confused]

has anyone tried that latest breed of led headlight bulbs that you can get, they have between 15 -120 leds in a standard bulb package. i have not used them but i would consider a try out on these.

Headlight reflectors and projectors work by directing the focal point of the bulb and spreading this light where it's needed.

A bunch of LEDs may be as bright in a basic bulb, but the focal point will be all wrong.

This is the same reason why putting HID bulbs in a reflector made for a Halogen bulb cause so much light scatter. The way that the two bulb technologies produce the light differs, and it puts the focal point in a different place, even by as little as a couple of mm, and that's enough for you to lose the definition and gain light where you don't want it - above the cut-off line for a normal dipped-beam headlight.