Headlights

Hella brand is what you want. I installed my Hellas in 1997 with 100/55W standard Hella bulbs, and haven't burned one out yet. High-wattage bulbs don't last as long, but I don't use my high beams very often; no one needs a low beam of more than 55W, but in E-code lamps the 100W high beams are impressive. If yours are VisionPlus, better bulbs would be a waste of money, since most of the extra light wouldn't go onto the road anyway. The "+30," xenon, etc., is riceboy snake oil--stick with standard bulbs.

There is another brand name that's the same bulb--either Hella makes them both, or the other company makes them for Hella--but I don't remember what it is. Saving a couple of bucks on an off-brand bulb is foolish, since they won't last nearly as long.

One popular Hella vendor is

As for fit, any H4 will work.

Actually the "+30" and "+50" type clear bulbs are a legit improvement with tighter filament tolerances and an optimized gas fill.

What about the Hella Brand of +30 and/or +50?

I haven't tried them.

I've tried Philips, and my statement applies to those.

Right now I'm trying to track down either a bad connection or a moisture problem. My right head light is only dimly lit on low beam and not lit on high beam. And it's not the bulb.

:me>>Actually the "+30" and "+50" type clear bulbs are a legit :me>>improvement with tighter filament tolerances and an optimized gas :me>>fill. :PN>

:PN>Not in my experience. It seems they have extremely lower production :PN>toelrances (bad quality) and much lower lifespan.

Funny, Daniel Stern (lighting.mbz.org) likes Philips Premiums (aka High Visibility in US-DoT HB1/3/4/5 format), Vision Plus and the Osram/Sylvania equivalents. And when it comes to automotive lighting, bulbs etc. that guy really, really, REALLY knows his s#|t. Most reviews that I've read also praise the clear (not blue) versions of these bulbs. Istr the Hellas weren't rated quite so highly, but remember, Hella doesn't make bulbs, they're just rebranded third party manufacturer products. I'm not sure who the original maker is of the Hella bulbs, and that may well vary by bulb type. Daniel Stern would have all the finer details. Some of them may be good quality; others may be cheapy back alley Korean or Chinese junk.

A multimeter always helps; it certainly picked up the bad connection at the high beam splice to my driving lamps. But I really slapped myself on the forehead going "Doh!" when I found the source of this problem because it was so glaringly (npi!) obvious. In fact I had already had a tentative hunch by the process of logical deduction that that is where the problem was, yet I didn't have the common sense to check there first, instead going off on wild goose chases checking the connections, voltages and currents *inside* the car under the dash! But then, I'm just a bittuva dummy, I guess. To the following question:

In Bigtown, 7% of telephone subscribers have unlisted numbers. If I take 500 people from the phone book at random, how many of them will have unlisted numbers?

...I originally thought the answer was 35, but someone apparently told me it wasn't. Oh well, I might figure it out some day... and so many people call me "bright", "smart", "clever" and "extremely intelligent". If only they knew the difficulty I have with questions like that one, they might rethink their position. Maybe (decimally)

7% of 500 isn't actually 35 as immediately sprung to mind, but I didn't think I was all that bad at math. ;)

Connections, sockets, relays (if applicable), electrical system generally... all worthy of a quick inspection.

(Discreetly X posted.)

I don't know why you put this ancient joke in here, but if you take the 500 from the book, they aren't part of the 7% that are unlisted. Maybe I missed it somewhere. . . . . . . . .

I don't know why you didn't snip the previous text to which you didn't reply, either.

Doh! Of course! ;)

voltage drops are the best way to check just about everything on your car, from starters to light bulbs

It is likely to be less than 35, but I would think not that much less. Let us know the right answer when you find that someone and he/she explains it.

Leon

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 01:04:05 GMT, "MudPuppy1976

Not sure what you mean by "certified" bulbs.

"As good as Hella" is very easy, because Hella does not manufacture bulbs. They buy them (from all over the world...Germany, Korea, China, France, Taiwan...) and put them in blue-and-yellow boxes. Some of the stuff in their lineup is good quality, and some is junk.

You may want to peruse

(H7 bulbs) (H1 bulbs) There's no analogous H4 test in this series, unfortunately, and because it was done a few years ago most of the newest "+50" bulbs are not included. But look it over and observe the patterns of what works well and what doesn't. In a nutshell: Stick to bulbs made in Europe by Osram, Philips, Narva, or Tungsram (GE) and you'll do fine.

Good! Avoid any bulb marketed by its light color (blue, "superwhite", "extra white", "whitest and brightest", etc.), by "kelvin ratings", or by comparative appearance ("Just like HID!").

All sorts of places. I keep 'em, Powerbulbs keeps 'em, and you can get the

+30s off the local parts store shelf (Sylvania Xtravision 9003XV). The +50s are not over-the-counter items in North America (ya gotta have a prescription ;-{)} )

The problem with long life bulbs is that they produce less light. The changes made to the filament coil to give longer life tend to reduce light output. Bulbs are inexpensive enough that there's seldom a particularly good reason to go with long life bulbs.

--Daniel

TO WRITE TO ME: Remove the headlamp from my return address.

On what grounds do you base your claim that Philips' +30 or +50 bulbs (which ones did you use, specifically?) are poor quality bulbs? Please be precise.

Sounds like you've got bigger problems than "bad quality" Philips bulbs.

DS

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003, it was written:

Absolutely right. A lot of folks aren't quite sure how to measure voltage drops, so here's a quick refresher. I've written it up in terms of testing headlamps, but the principle is the same regardless of what kind of circuit is under test.

Conditions:

ALL headlamps connected - you may have to backprobe the sockets, but removing the socket from the headlamp invalidates the test.

Circuit to be tested (low or high beam) energized

Connect your voltmeter positive lead to the battery (+) and the voltmeter negative lead to the + terminal of whichever headlamp beam you're testing

-- use the bulb farthest away from the battery. With the lamps on, your voltmeter will give a direct reading of the voltage drop. Write it down.

Then connect the positive voltmeter lead to the ground terminal of the headlamp bulb, and the negative voltmeter lead to the (-) terminal of the battery. With the lamps on, your voltmeter will again give a direct reading of the voltage drop. Write it down.

Add the two voltage drop figures obtained, and this is the total circuit drop.

Remember, light output drops exponentially, not linearly, with voltage drop. Small voltage drops = large light losses.

DS

The same can be done for checking connections like the grounds. The smallest drop means bad connection.

When I find a drop like between the battery and firewall which messes up headlights, I walk the meter along the circuit looking for the same or zero volts depending on if you use the + or - battery post. Sometimes I use the plus terminal with the meter to check for a ground drop, don't care exactly how much, just looking for one. I walk from the firewall to the Engine block, alternator case, cable connector on both ends of the big wires and on the clamps on the battery itself.

Its amazing the number of times I find the drop across 'clean' battery terminal clamps or bolts....

Second biggest is the negative cable to the block connection.

Sneakiest drop is between the alternator bracket and the engine block or distributor and block. Have found those a few times...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"A well known UK make, Lucas shares the dubious honour with Hella of not having a single legal bulb in this test."

Fond MGB memories are bubbling up.

Leon :)

I did not make such a general statement.

If you promise to read my posts a little more carefully, then I promise to more precise.

Absolutely. If I had been unaware of that, why would I have told you?

However, I sincerely think you might also have bigger problems than this newsgroup can help you with.

It's easier to back probe the headlight circuit while energized with the the positive voltmeter lead at the power side of the headlight, and the negative voltmeter lead at the ground side of the headlight, this will give you total circuit voltage drop, right off the bat, without taking 2 different readings, or adding numbers.

D. Jeremy Dyck Certified Journeyman Technician Planet Kia, Brandon, Mb, Canada

Er...no, it won't give you that at all. It'll just give you voltage drop across the bulb filament, which is a useless thing to know. if you're trying to assess the quality of the headlamp *circuit*. Total circuit voltage drop cannot be properly measured without measuring across the entire circuit.

Keep journeying, you'll get there!

DS

|On Thu, 25 Sep 2003, Jeremy wrote: | |> It's easier to back probe the headlight circuit while energized with the |> the positive voltmeter lead at the power side of the headlight, and the |> negative voltmeter lead at the ground side of the headlight, this will give |> you total circuit voltage drop, | |Er...no, it won't give you that at all. It'll just give you voltage drop |across the bulb filament, which is a useless thing to know. if you're |trying to assess the quality of the headlamp *circuit*. Total circuit |voltage drop cannot be properly measured without measuring across the |entire circuit.

Doesn't that depend on which side of the filament you probe to? If you check voltage drop from positive battery terminal to postive side of the filament, you are testing the circuit exclusive of the filament.

Rex Rex in Fort Worth