Having read tremendous amount of articles complementing the Osram Silverstar series H1 bulb, has anyone actually tried fitting them and is the luminance improvement really improved by up to 50% with its standard voltage of 55 watts. Knowing that the extra lights actually comes from the xenon gas in the tubes.
Will I get a whiter beam as well??? Need your comments. Thanks.
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maru
The 'upgraded xenon' bulbs certainly seem to give a whiter light compared to the original fit bulbs. I'm sure they've been test with a light meter and shown to give 30 or 50% more light or whatever, but you eyes won't see it that way.
Improvement, from the driver's perspective, as have been mentioned here before, seems to depend on the car. I've seen a noticeable improvement on two cars (Saab 900 and '96 Corsa), both of which use twin filament H4's in conventional 'ribbed' lens lamps. These were also replacements for used bulbs which may be a factor. In both cases I think lighting had improved, and that the new bulbs were worth the cost. In both cases these were Halfords 55W Xenon lamps - same two bulbs actually!
I've recently fitted a pair of Philips 55W H7's in the dip beams of a new Astra (not because I thought the original lights were bad - it's a long story) with the modern clear lenses. Result - no significant improvement.
Regards
John S
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Hi John S
the philips 55W you mentioned, was it the VisionPlus or Blue Vision series.
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maru
Vision plus. Got them from Powerbulbs, and got a pair of blue vision sidelamp bulbs thrown in. The sidelamps definitely look brighter than the originals.
Regards
John S
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I've fitted a pair of visionplus H4 bulbs to my 405. These seem OK but I can hardly tell any difference from the standard halogens, however the headlights on my 405 seem very bright whatever the bulb. It may be worth asking a XM driver (Rob Grovier?), these are reputed to have really poor dipped beams.
Steve.
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Agree these lamps are brighter, but the small print also says these lamps have a shorter operationallife - but does not quote actual hours.
K2
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due to the extra light output, does the beam pattern actually spreads longer ahead and does it alter the beam angle?
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maru
The beam pattern is unchanged, as this is set by the lamp design. However, illumination withing the beam area is better bue to the increased light output from the bulbs, and for the same reason range is slightly increased.
It's worth making sure the lights are correctly aligned to optimise range and to avoid dazzle.
Regards
John S
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Fitted Phillips vision plus ( similar type of bulb to Silverstar ) to Landrover SII with Lucas halogen replacement lamps - huge difference but on my new megane the difference is minimal more a case of a whiter light.
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Has anyone done any tests on more modern cars on the actual voltage reaching the bulbs? In some older vehicles (eg Mk 2 Golf GTI) the best mod is to locally relay the headlamp wiring. This was very surprising since VW seem to use relays for just about everything else!
If the replacement (different technology) modern bulbs have a different light output to voltage applied (ie shape of graphical curve), this could also account for why some cars experience significant improvements and others dont. (Because of possible wiring/earth voltage drops).
Most modern cars will have relays to prevent high current wiring to the lighting switches, but the wiring from the relays which maybe remote from the headlamp unit will be cost engineered, (ie as thin as possible), possibly introducing voltage drop. Dont discount common earth returns which may be shared with other high current accessories.
Any vehicle electrical designers out there? Muliplexed wiring in some very new vehicles will introduce voltage drops if Silicon is used for switching the high loads. Do they use relays or electronic switches for headlamps?
This may be all academic to most readers, for which I apologise, but I only know enough to ask the questions, not to answer them!
pmh (was peter)
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Pmh
Yes, take your point about voltage drop.
However, these bulbs are still 55W, at least nominally. Therefore, they should draw the same current as the originals, so should not overload even non-relay wiring and any comparisons should be valid. Improved light output results from different bulb design allowing a hotter filament.
It may be that they are more sensitive to voltage than standard bulbs.
Regards
John S
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Same 55W gives same current at same nominal voltage, (remembering that most of this heat not light anyway!). However the question I was raising is how does the light output vary with reduced voltage? (when cf with older designed bulbs).
Not 'overloading wiring' is not the issue, it is the effect of whether the voltage drop experienced at the bulb means the new bulb is less efficient at producing increased light output.
ie if they are more sensitive to voltage input than standard bulbs, it is possible that different vehicles will show different benefits. This could explain why some individuals experience better improvements with some cars than with other cars.
Can you think of any reason why the optics of relector or lens could affect the benefit? (Absorption of specific wavelengths is an esoteric possibility I suppose).
pmh (was peter)
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pmh
I don't think I was disagreeing with what you've said, and I too raised the question of their behaviour related to applied voltage.
Ceratinly I've found a noticeable benefit (whiter, brighter light, and better illumination) on some cars, but little change on our current car.
The only differences:
The improved cars replaced used H4 bulbs with new, and the lamps were the traditional riffled lens type.
The virtually unoticeable car replaced virtually new H7 bulbs, and the car has clear headlamp lenses.
I wonder how much lamp aging has to do with it?
Regards
John S
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I would think one of the greatest advantages of fitting the Philips bulbs would be their exact beam pattern. According to a test on the Autoexpress website an awful lot of branded bulbs do meet the specifications they should. This could have a large impact on the amount/quality of the beam cast.
Steve.
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I have just fitted Osram H1 silverstar on my new Nissan Sentra. (www.nissan.com.my) and noticed that there is only minimal improvement on the light output.
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Fitted Osram Silverstart H4 bulbs to the Octavia, 2001MY with clear lenses, and the difference is quite noticeable. The beam pattern seems much sharper, the light output is much whiter and things like catseyes and white lines at the far end of the beam pattern are much more clearly visible. On main beam the pattern was always good, but now I have the strength of beam to illuminate the road clearly a lot further ahead than previously.
As far as bulb life goes, I drive at least 80 hours per week, with dip beams on for approx 60% of that time, either due to poor weather or night driving, and I'm still on the pair of bulbs I fitted last November. To contrast with this, my old Mondeo fitted with normal halogen H1 bulbs used to blow dip beam bulbs alternately every week.
However...
We fitted the same type of Osram bulbs to the Peugeot 405, and noticed no real improvement at all, maybe a barely perceptibly whiter light but none of the other improvements found on the Skoda.
And the lights on the T-reg Mondeo are already as bright as the uprated ones in the Skoda, so we don't really feel the need to change them! Especially not when it would need a pair of H1s for the dips, another pair for the mains and another pair for the fogs.
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