Previous discussions here have provided information (and emotion) about the blue replacement headlight bulbs that are available. I'd like to read what the lighting engineers here have to say about the new Sylvania SilverStar line.
I saw an ad on TV and looked at their website -
Of course they're a little biased -- its their product.
regards,
Leon
Dan Stern will totally agree. Go with the XtraVision. Pink package.
The SilverStars do have a blue t> Previous discussions here have provided information (and emotion) about
Sylvania Silverstar bulbs have a blue filtration coating on the glass. There is no such thing as a blue-coated headlamp bulb that gives genuinely better performance than an uncoated bulb. All colored filters "steal" some of the light passing through them -- you cannot have filtration *and* still have all of the source light available for use after it's passed through the filter.
There are legal regulations on the minimum and maximum light output allowed for each different headlamp bulb type. The range for most types is nominal value plus or minus 15 percent (some have a narrower plus-minus 10 percent allowable range). That means a bulb type -- for instance, the low beam of a 9007 -- with nominal output of 1000 lumens is legally permitted to produce between 850 and 1150 lumens. This, in turn, means that five different 9007 bulbs, all producing _legal_ output, do not necessarily produce the _same_ output. For maximum headlamp performance (maximum seeing) you want the highest lumens.
There are also legal regulations on the maximum power consumption allowed for each different headlamp bulb type. For many nominally "55 Watt" types (again, such as the low beam of a 9007), the maximum allowable power consumption is around 62 Watts at 12.8 Volts. This means manufacturers cannot ramp up the wattage in an effort to get higher headlamp performance (near the top of the allowable lumens) *with* the light-stealing colored glass. So they put in a high-luminance filament coil that is, effectively, designed for use at a slightly lower than normal voltage (typically 11.9 to 12.1 instead of 12.8 to 13.2). This is called "overdriving" the filament: It puts out a lot of light when run at normal voltages, but its lifespan is very short compared to a filament that isn't being overdriven
-- and all the extra light being produced is absorbed by the colored coating, so in the end at best you have the lumens of a standard bulb, and in most cases the actual lumens are less than with an uncoated bulb.
These colored bulbs, whether it's Sylvania's Silverstar, Wagner's Tru-View, General Electric's Super Blue, PIAA's Xtremewhite, etc., do not produce "blue" light. They tint the light *in the direction of blue* to produce a visual appearance that is "whiter" and "brighter". "Brighter" does not mean there's more light -- it's a subjective visual appearance only. More light is indicated by the term "more intense", which you'll notice the marketers of blue bulbs stay away from, because these bulbs do not make your headlamps more intense. You may also see reference to these kinds of bulbs producing light of a "higher color temperature". That's another way of saying the same thing: The light is tinted in the direction of blue.
There's been a fair amount of research done on the effects of these bulbs on all aspects of headlamp-related phenomena (seeing, glare, etc.). Sullivan and Flannagan of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and others, have found that there is no improvement in seeing with either the Sylvania-type (blue coated) or the Wagner-type (Neodymium Oxide) colored bulbs, but -- at equal *intensity* -- the colored bulbs produce significantly more glare (nearly 50% more) than bulbs with clear glass:
Sullivan, J. M.; Flannagan, M. J. 2001. Visual effects of blue-tinted tungsten-halogen headlamp bulbs. Michigan University, Ann Arbor, Transportation Research Institute, Human Factors Division. 28 p. Sponsor: Michigan University, Ann Arbor, Industry Affiliation Program for Human Factors in Transportation Safety. Report No. UMTRI-2001-9. UMTRI-94291
A copy of this study can be had fairly easily by contacting UMTRI (
It is also worth considering as we head into winter that light of a
*lower* color temperature is better for driving in rain, fog or snow. Not because such light "penetrates the snow (fog, rain) better", as has often been erroneously argued in support of yellow fog lamps, but because of how the human eye processes different light wavelengths (colors). See:Bullough, J. D.; Rea, M. S. 2001. Driving in snow: effect of headlamp color at mesopic and photopic light levels. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lighting Research Center, Troy, N.Y. 9 p. Lighting Technology Developments for Automobiles. Warrendale, SAE, 2001, p. 67-75. Report No. SAE 2001-01-0320. UMTRI-94232 A10
Bottom line, some people find the appearance of these "extra white" headlamps more pleasing than the appearance of untinted headlamps, but they do not help you see, they cause more glare, they work against you in bad weather, and their lifespan is comparatively short.
Most of the manufacturers offer headlamp bulbs that have higher-output filaments _without_ any light-stealing color coating. These tend to run right at the high end of allowable lumens. They're more popular in Europe than in North America, but North American examples are Sylvania Xtravision, Wagner BriteLite, GE High Output, Philips High Visibility, Candlepower Bright Light, Narva Rangepower, and -- confusingly -- Osram Silverstar, an extra-high-output *uncolored* bulb line sold primarily outside North America.
Finally, some comparative bulb test results. AutoExpress finally released the results of their new H4 (=9003, =HB2) bulb tests.
Standard and blue bulbs ("Osram CoolBlue" is what is currently sold in North America as "Sylvania Silverstar"):
Daniel J. Stern Standing Appointed Member National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board Visibility Committee
And so it panned out that the following script was sculpted by none other than JimV:
[SNIIIIIIIIIIIIIP needless complete quote of previous article]He certainly does, but his posts aren't made more informative by repeating them in their entirety below a one line top post. Hth.
High-output or otherwise, what would you consider to be the best all- around replacement for a 4656? (Accent on visibility if you want a preference.)
The best? A good quality, name brand H4 replaceable bulb unit in the same size/shape as the 4656. They're not all created equal even among reputable brands, let alone the "diamond back" garbage marketed to the backwards baseball cap set, so ask a lot of questions.
The best if you insist on sticking with a sealed beam? A Wagner H4656BL "Britelite" or a GE H4656HO "High Output".
DS
When you upgrade the wiring on your headlight system (to decrease voltage drop), aren't you essentially "overdriving" your stock lights? How much will this decrease the life of stock headlights?
Thanks,
- Dave
Not sure about others, but I've had bad experiences with the longevity of the Wagner Brightlites (H6054). I've had two out of three sealed beams go out in a relatively short amount of time. The brightness of the units also varied between the three I had. My stock lights lasted almost 10 years, the two Britelites lasted less than one year each. Currently I have one remaining Brightlite (about 4 year old???) and one Sylvania XtraVision. Both seem similar in brightness, but I think the Sylvania has a slightly better beam pattern.
- Dave
I recorded some really interesting results last week with a few different large rectangular (2B1, 200mm x 142mm, 7.5" wide by 5.5" tall) sealed beams:
General Electric H6052 halogen standard sealed beam, 13.5V, low beam maximum intensity: ~25,000 candela (note: Low foreground light levels, narrow overall beam, relatively high levels of upward stray backdazzle light.)
Wagner 6052 non-halogen standard sealed beam, 13.5V, low beam maximum intensity: ~25,000 candela (note: Low foreground light levels, narrow overall beam, good control of upward stray light.)
Sylvania Xtravision H6054XV halogen "high performance" sealed beam, 13.5V, low beam maximum intensity ~15,500 candela (note: WIder beam pattern than the others, but poor hot spot maximum and formation and too much upward stray light).
You begin to understand why I specified one of the other two "high performance" sealed beams, and then only with the proviso that an H4 conversion unit would be a better choice.
DS
Depends on "Before" and "After" voltage. Often you solve a bulb starvation problem. Sometimes, depending on line voltage in your vehicle with the engine running, you do wind up overdriving the bulbs to some degree. However, the critical difference is that even if you overdrive 'em, you're getting more seeing light -- you're not overdriving 'em and then putting a filter in front of them that cuts the light level back down.
You can closely approximate the effect of a voltage change upon light output, power consumption and life:
rated life in hours [(new volts / rated volts) ^-13] = hours at new volts
rated output in lumens [(new volts /old volts) ^3.4] = lumens @new volts
rated power in watts [(new volts/ old volts) ^1.55] = watts @new volts
Remember, bulbs are rated for output at 12.8 or 13.2 Volts (North America/Rest of World) but for life at 14.0 Volts.
DS
Daniel, I laughed when I first saw Dave's question. As a guy with a degree in EE, my immediate thought was that changing from a 14 guage wire to 12 (or whatever) would have little effect on the voltage at the lamp. Copper is, after all, a pretty good conductor and my offhand guess would be a few tenths of a volt.
However, it's probable that the connectors make the most difference. What's your experience with voltage drops due to too-small wiring, corrosion in the lamp socket connectors, relay contacts, etc. Do we want to be crazy and go "gold"?
Floyd
Well, surely.
However, very few vehicles have 14ga headlamp wires from the factory. And a great many vehicles run their 16 or 18 gauge headlamp wires through the firewall, up the steering column, through the headlamp switch, back through the firewall, and clear out to the lamps, without any relays. And a great many bean counters seem to think that because headlamps are only used at night, they're a 50% duty cycle item and so can get by just fine with half the wire size they'd otherwise need.
Considerable. I've run into (and owned) a number of vehicles set up thus:
-110 system watts, low beam
-130 system watts, high beam
-No relays, long circuit as described above, feed wires ~10ft long
-16ga high beam feed wire
-18ga low beam feed wire
-20ga common/ground wire bolted to body sheetmetal
No measurement needed to see the gross inadequacy of this system!
My current daily driver still has its crappy factory headlamp wiring (plumber's plumbing leaks, cobbler's kids go shoeless), 110 system watts on low beam and 130 system watts on high beam. I measured the segmentary voltage drop and found 1.7V drop on low beam, 1.9V on high beam. Yetch.
DS
These differences in gauge make a lot more differences at 12 volts than they do at 120 volts. It takes 10 times the current to drive a
60 watt autmotive headlamp than it does a 60 watt household lightbulb. This means that the voltage drop in the feed wiring is 10x greater in the car than in an equivalent household circuit. It is 10x greater in absolute terms, but 100x greater in relative terms.The dome light on my '93 Accord has three settings--always off, always on, and on when the door is open. I was surprised to see that when the door was open open and I switched from on-with-door-open to always-on, the light got noticebly brighter. The dual feed from the door switch and the dome switch made the light brighter. Granted, the gauge of the dome light wiring is probably much smaller than that of the headlamps, but if the same 'just good enough' mentality was used to choose the gauge of the headlamp wire, I can see how one might gain a benefit by using a fatter wire.
Andrew
I hope that you're trying to educate someone other than me; such a debased discussion of Ohm's Law in reply to my post is rather insulting to me.
Floyd
It was for the benefit of the general readership, but honestly, in the back of mind I was rather dismissive of someone claiming to be an EE who didn't think that a few tenths of a volt out of 12 volts was significant, otherwise I might have spent a little longer choosing words to make it more clear that my comments weren't directed at you.
Andrew
"Andrew" wrote
No problem... BTW, in looking a little deeper, "few tenths" is off by an order of magnitude. It's more like "few hundredths". In looking around, it appears that the resistance of (presumably copper) 14g wire is around 2.6 ohms per 1000 feet, and 12g is 1.7 ohms. That gives difference of about 0.024 amps (if driven by 12v; 0.029 if 14.2v). (This is all assuming I've remembered and done everything right...)
So those people upgrading their wires to get more lumens are dreaming - the whole system has to be upgraded. But we already knew that.
Floyd
Er...huh? No. First off, as stated in another post, there are very few cars using 14ga wire for the headlamps from the factory. 16 and 18ga are much more common, and 20ga makes regular appearances. Secondly, and more importantly, The raw conductivity of 12ga vs. 14ga stranded copper wire doesn't really enter into it. It's the voltage drop *while under load* that's at work here. If you do nothing but restring a factory circuit with
12ga wire in place of the original 16ga wire, you will certainly get more lumens.You'll get even more if you install relays and bring the power supply electrically closer to the power consumer, too, if that's what you mean by "the whole system has to be upgraded".
Am I overthinking your response? It seems odd an EE would get hung up on irrelevant ohms per foot and say nothing about voltage drop under load.
DS
I will bow to your greater experience; but how large a difference are we talking about?
Yes.
Well, my "explanation" isn't very clear. I'm only pointing out that,
*in general*, the wire diameter is only one (small) factor as far as total voltage drops in a (headlamp) system. Most of the resistance (other than the actual filament/arc) is probably in the connectors - I've never seen melted wire in the middle of a long run (unless it's been crimped/damaged): it's always at the connectors. Bigger diameter wires have less resistance at the connectors because there's more surface (contact) area with larger diameters... I completely agree that bigger is better.Of course, I used a particularly poor example (12g vs. 14g), too. If only the manufacturers used either, I imagine there would be fewer problems. The difference between 20g (10.5 ohms per 1000') and 12g (1.7 ohms) is rather dramatic (I used
Floyd
If you don't understand the relationship between the conductivity of a wire and the voltage drop across it, then you should sue your high school.
Well, duh.
Sure.
You're underthinking. You're failing to grasp a painfully simple concept.
Andrew
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