Hi folks,
Am looking for some H4 bulbs to use in some aux. main beams/driving lights.
They're 7" Hella headlamp units (all glass/metal) and mounted in full airflow. How hot do you think I can run them before splashes cracking the hot glass is a risk? 100W, 130W, 150W? And which bulbs would you use? (not looking to pay more than =A330 a pair)
Alternately, where is the best (read cheapest!) place to get a pair of Hella 1000 FF driving lamps from and again how hot/which bulbs should I use?
Can't help with the bulbs, maybe Carl Gibbs can, but welcome back to the group fella.
Not seen you arround for a while, hows the Landy.
The glass shouldn't get hot whilst you're driving along - it's got Xmph wind continually cooling it down :) My 130w main-beam bulbs seemed to give off very little heat, even when the car was stationary.
I've always got them from the USA, via eBay. There's billions on there for less than a tenner inc post. You can get some blue-tint jobbies for a nice clear light - it doesn't matter that some of the light-output is cut by the blue filter, because they're much more powerful to start with.
My last set were MTEC branded
Not really I'm afraid. I could take a guess at 150W not being too much of a problem, since as Nom says - when you'll using them they'll be getting plenty of air flow - you're not exactly gonna be using them in a traffic jam! My main beams are 100W and are fine in the standard plastic/glass headlight. I know people that use 130W in Cibie Oscars (also glass/metal) with no problems too.
Indeed, do tell....
Landy needs new lights Carl. ;-)
Lenses/reflectors/bulbs are fine but the adjusters got bo**ocksed, so thought about mounting the old headlights as auxilliary driving lights or getting a pair of driving lights.
Just marshalling for the time being until I can get it sorted properly. Vindis Skoda are providing fully kitted out Octavias and Fabia vRSes as support vehicles which is nice of them. The newest 2.0TDi VAG engine is a stonker with a 6-speed box behind it and the kit you get on a =A316.5k Octavia is bonkers.
Nom - quite a bit of low speed/stationary work on rallies and 130W is a LOT of heat. Did you run non-standard wiring in the Ti? If not then you weern't running those bulbs at 130W, 'cos the voltage drop on tandard
600 wiring will massively reduce the power you actually get through them.The "MTEC" brand concerns me in that it is packaged and "blued" in a way that would appeal to owners of small elderly vauxhalls as it were. "100W=3D170W is just plani bo**ocks (though could well be the ebayer rather than the manufacturer.)
What's the quality of the bulb and the beam-pattern like? The cheapies may be high wattage but usually the beam spread/pattern is horriffic... :o
Lenses/reflectors/bulbs are fine but the adjusters got bo**ocksed, so thought about mounting the old headlights as auxilliary driving lights or getting a pair of driving lights.
Just marshalling for the time being until I can get it sorted properly. Vindis Skoda are providing fully kitted out Octavias and Fabia vRSes as support vehicles which is nice of them. The newest 2.0TDi VAG engine is a stonker with a 6-speed box behind it and the kit you get on a £16.5k Octavia is bonkers.
Nom - quite a bit of low speed/stationary work on rallies and 130W is a LOT of heat. Did you run non-standard wiring in the Ti? If not then you weern't running those bulbs at 130W, 'cos the voltage drop on tandard
600 wiring will massively reduce the power you actually get through them.The "MTEC" brand concerns me in that it is packaged and "blued" in a way that would appeal to owners of small elderly vauxhalls as it were. "100W=170W is just plani bo**ocks (though could well be the ebayer rather than the manufacturer.)
What's the quality of the bulb and the beam-pattern like? The cheapies may be high wattage but usually the beam spread/pattern is horriffic... :o
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you want HID's mate like mine! that'll sort it out properly lighting wise :)
HIDs?
If I had the cash, and thought they'd last more than 30 seconds parked outside before somebody made off with them I'd do it...
Chappie at powerbulbs.com (just got a random phonecall at 6:30pm about lights!) can get them, but the filaments evaporate/distort so quickly that the life barely gets into the tens of hours. Has reccommended
130/90 as the most practical compromise, and Phillips "Rally" bulbs as the ones to go for. Any more light required and its go buy some clear lens/freeform driving lamps and junk the parabolic reflector jobbies. At =A325 I'm gonna give it a shot - can always swap them into the "ordinary" headlamps if/when I get the freeforms.
Yes, all standard.
No idea what the actual power through them was - but they were a *BUNCH* brighter than the stock bulbs, and than the Philips Vision Plus that I tried. I was happy with em, and I could finally see where I was going at night (the TI's main-beam is SHOCKINGLY BAD !).
I've done the same in the past with other cars, and also been happy with the results - brighter bulbs are the way forward !
Yep. Gave a nice white light though, which was exactly what I was after.
The new Pug has crystal-lense projector lamps, so white light comes as standard :)
Well I found them to be just fine - as I said, I figured they must be pretty good if folk are bothering to clone them :) They're cheap enough - if you don't like them, then just try something else.
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