As I transition from the Altea (leaves my care 5th Jan) to the Lancer (arrived in my stable November 28th) Its hard not to do side by side comparisons. One of which is lights.
The dipped beams on the Altea (H7's) are superb. Bright white and sharply defined.
The lancer (H4's) are not bad, good beam definition, not patchy, but not quite as good as the Altea. So upgrade bulbs to be slipped in. (access to the bulbs is super, nothing much in the way - probably classed as just a "one knuckle" graze)
Now I have determined from the web that the Philips x-treme +80% or the philips vision plus +50% are the bulbs to go for for performance.
Questions
Are the +80% really that much better than the +50%
Whats the longevity of +80% bulbs compared to the +50% or standard bulbs.
I popped into a halfords super store to find that they a: only had own brand bulbs (generally not good writeups) and b: they were expensive like for like to philips bulbs available on line.
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H4's (in reflectors I take it?) are not great. Philips x-treme are good bulbs and noticably brighter than standard (I cant really quantify it, but they are a good deal better in my opinion). I run X-tremes in my own car which has daylight running enabled, so they are on all the time, and have been in there about 14 months so far without blowing.
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>>(generally not good writeups)>>
I bought a set of Halfords 50 per cent extra headlamp bulbs about five years ago (£12.99 on a BOGOF offer) and they are still going strong.
They certainly made a considerable difference on the standard offering.
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I used to use Philips and Osram "50% extra" bulbs and noticed that although brighter, they didn't last as long - 18 months on average.
Famous proverb - "bulb that burns twice as brightly burns for half as long....unless it's a proper xenon....or an LED...."
Edited by Andy P on 04/12/2009 at 14:38
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AE when you are stripping the Altea out before it goes back, I will take the bulbs off you as well :)
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Deleted
Edited by Andy P on 04/12/2009 at 14:38
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Philips NightGuides don't seem to be available in RHD yet, but keep a look out: best replacement bulbs I've ever used. Yes, RHD; the bulb surface has a thin strip of blue on one side and yellow on the other, which only work properly one way round. IIRC there's an extra sweep of yellow towards the centre of the road for further "reach" without causing undue dazzle. Blue on the nearside for road signs and pedestrians (and dazzle be blowed!)
A fantastic marketing/road safety opportunity missed here: why don't manufacturers supply these replacement bulbs in sets of three, not two? That way there's always a matching spare one just in case (traffic regs in Spain require a spare bulb set, except where the darn things cannot be fitted by a normal human hand at the roadside.)
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H4 Philips extremes in both vehicles...18 months to 2 years i think...big improvement and no probs yet...got them online for £18ish a pair.
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While you are at it consider upgrading the sidelights.
My blue W5W bulbs are so much brighter than standard bulbs and in fact it is hard to tell that they have a very slight blue colour unless you just a couple of feet in front.
I consider them a useful backup if a dip beam fails but my four Osram Silver Stars have yet to fail since fitting them 40K miles ago in Nov 04.
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My KA has seriously weedy lights, especially dipped beam. Halfords have some 80% brighter H4s at £14 but 2 for 1, so I might give myelf an early Xmas present, and report back. Henry thanks for the tip about the sidelights too.
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Take care that the +xx% bulbs dont melt the polycarbonate lens.
One advantage of fogs is that they subsitute for a dipped h/l in an emergency.
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>>>Take care that the +xx% bulbs dont melt the polycarbonate lens.<<<
Everybody here is talking about bulbs that take the same current (ie same wattage) but give improved light output and therefore do not produce more heat. If anything, I would guess that they produce less heat but may run at a higher temperature. The extra light energy has to come from somewhere!
Is it the polycarbonate lens that is at risk, or the reflector and silvering?
As I say i am guessing, but can anybody else offer a better explanation?
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The pollycarbonate lens (cover now actually - they do nothing to aid light pattern thats all done by the reflector) is at risk from excess UV (makes them cloudy) and heat (makes them seperate from the headlight body)
The reflector is at risk from excess heat, and any masks or shileds in use could distort.
The brighter bulbs are brighter becuase they burn hotter, and have much greater manufacturing tolerences with repsect to filament postioning.
The philips bulbs are certified safe for polycarbonate lenses.
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I have the Phillips 50% H4 brighter in my Octavia Mk1 , which has abysmal headlights. About 3 years old and OK.They made quite a difference at first but still not as good as other cars I drive, Fiat Panda, Nissan Note, Focus etc.
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Doesn't the MkI Octavia have the projector type headlights ? There was thread about the poor performance of projector headlights on a Toyota Avensis recently.
I have long since found that pretty much any H7 Fresnel Reflector type headlight with clear lenses is subjectively better than projector type headlights. I accept that projectors can be aesthetically more pleasing and might have advantages in conversion from RHD to LHD dipping patterns too.
I also wonder whether high output bulbs last for a shorter time in projector installations because of the more confined space in which additional heat has to be dissipated ? Just conjecture, I understand that true HID (arcing) bulbs are actually cooler than filament ones and observe that they are predominantly mounted in projector type solutions.
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We use Osram Night Breakers in the cars and motorbike. I prefer the indefinable 'quality of light' from the Night Breakers to the X-tremes.
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We use Osram Night Breakers in the cars ....
The nightbreakers I fitted in my Vectra-C dipped beams only lasted 8 months.
Seems to be the case with some of these high output bulbs. They're worked harder to produce more light and the end effect is that they don't last as long as normal bulbs.
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Have had the philips +80% bulbs in my car for over 2.5 years and a lot of night driving - with no problems at all. Even with the enhancement, our bog-standard new Fabia has vastly superior lights at night, maybe down to the bulb (the FIAT uses weedy H1s) but probably a VAG reflector design that just works better.
Might also be worth checking alignment / etc. Part of my problem was that one of the original bulbs was in upside-down and alignment all to cock. But still not a patch on the Skoda...
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Regarding Phillips Rally type bulbs etc and 100W units, has anybody fitted these and had problems with melted fittings or wiring?
thanks
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Regarding Phillips Rally type bulbs etc and 100W units has anybody fitted these and had problems with melted fittings or wiring?
It's a fair cop guv...in my dim and murky past i put 90/100 bulbs in my Sierra, within a couple of months it had melted the dipswitch so i relayed the thing instead.
I think thats the only car i ever fitted with overpower bulbs...might have done the Granada too though.
At that time coincidentally i drove a Seddon Atkinson truck which was fitted with 4 x 7" round headlights...the maker came up with a retrofit conversion to equip all 4 with dip as well as main beam, worked very well too with the added bonus that a blown bulb didn't make a great deal of difference...made my car look like it was on sidelights only.
That's the only mitigation i can come up with for my dodgy car bulbs:-)
edit...the bulbs we are discussing now are normal legal wattage but far brighter output.
Edited by gordonbennet on 06/12/2009 at 22:47
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If you're needing to fit illegal bulbs maybe you should slow down.
Or see the optician ;-)
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I guess 100W / rally spec bulbs are not road legal for a reason....they dazzle other folk. Spare a thought.
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maybe down to the bulb (the FIAT uses weedy H1s) but probably a VAG reflector design that just works better.
>>
Ford switched to H1s on my 98 MKII Mondeo and mine are good. May well be a better reflector design on the FORD.
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Doesn't the MkI Octavia have the projector type headlights ? There was thread about the poor performance of projector headlights on a Toyota Avensis recently.
MkI Octavia (R-X reg) has plain reflectors and fluted glass lenses. Mk II (X-54 reg, and still being sold in basic trim for taxis) has detailed reflectors and polycarbonate lenses (covers?). Both use H4 bulb for dip/main. The more recent (54-09 reg) Octavia has the projector-type headlights.
I ran a Y reg Octavia MkII with Halfords Extra Brilliance +50% H4 bulbs in for four years and over 250k miles, went through 5 bulbs in that time and there was no heat damage to the headlight assembly at all.
AFAIK the higher rated bulbs have some sort of ultraviolet-absorbing coating which doesn't reduce visible light but tempers the wavelength most likely to damage plastic reflectors.
Edited by Dave_TD {P} on 07/12/2009 at 00:18
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MkI Octavia (R-X reg) has plain reflectors and fluted glass lenses. Mk II (X-54 reg and still being sold in basic trim for taxis) has detailed reflectors and polycarbonate lenses (covers?). Both use H4 bulb for dip/main. The more recent (54-09 reg) Octavia has the projector-type headlights.
Sorry my mistake, I think I knew from in laws former MKI Elegance (?) estate that the projector lamps were the integrated fog lamps (at least on higher specced models).
My comments on projector headlamps still stand though, my '99 A4 B5 had them with H7 bulbs IIRC and they were subjectively outperformed by SWMBOs Mk IV Golf at the time - but it was a long time ago.
AFAIK the higher rated bulbs have some sort of ultraviolet-absorbing coating which doesn't reduce visible light but tempers the wavelength most likely to damage plastic reflectors.
AFAIK all bulbs have this to some extent ?
Edited by idle_chatterer on 07/12/2009 at 00:28
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the projector lamps were the integrated fog lamps (at least on higher specced models)
Spot on (excuse the pun), the fog lights (or circular blank mouldings on the poverty models) were indeed projectors - unusually mounted outboard of the headlights between those and the indicators. When the Octavia was first around this layout made them very easy to identify on approach on a dark night.
It also had the advantage that driving an Octavia with the front foglights unnecessarily switched on doesn't look "cool" like the ankle level ones would, therefore less people do it. Of course, this could also be because most Octavia drivers fall into two categories - those who would never use the front fogs for "coolness" and those who don't know they're fitted or where the switch is ;-)
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Just as a general comment about bulbs. Gee-ed up by all the talk of these, I bought a pair of Halfords 80% extra thingy H4s bulbs on Saturday (2 for £24.99 - bogof offer) & fitted them.
I'm sure they're much brighter - I ran a stationary 'side-by-side' test with headlights pointing at the garage & the difference was marked - but I quickly acclimatised or habituated to them after using them for a night & now I don't notice the difference driving.
I'm sure these bulbs work better with clear projector type reflectors/lenses - my old fashioned ribbed lenses don't seem to make the best use of the extra light produced.
Longevity? Well, lasted 2 days (so far) without problem!
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but I quickly acclimatised or habituated to them after using them for a night & now I don't notice the difference driving.
But you would if you reverted back to the old ones I bet!
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Like woodbines, I have just been to Halfords and bought two 90% brighter bulbs @ £18.99 for the two, plus fitting, and I can certainly see the difference. I drive to work and back, in the dark both ways, on 'B' and unclassified roads with bends, no catseyes or edge markers and it was a lot easier with the new bulbs. I am not driving any faster but I can see further ahead. New car, I still think the dipped beam is a bit low so I might see if I can have it checked and raised a bit if there is scope to do so.
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Just dropped into my local Ford dealer and, Yes, even though factory set, the dipped beams were a bit low so a road test tonight should confirm the overall improvement = Brighter bulbs and a correct beam height, I Hope
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Me too - I've been running these lamps for a couple of years and one failed last week. I popped in and found they were on BOGOF. A two-minute job to fit on my 306 HDi.
They do make a difference, though in my experience they seem to last only about a year.
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AE:
As the Altea is on the way out, may the BR expect a change of moniker on the part of one of our most esteemed members?
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You may call me Sir
as in Lancerlot
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Quick, someone ban him before he gets the chance to use such an appalling pun permanently. ;-)
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Ok Well.
I popped into my local car parts and goodies shop, (not halfords I like to keep the local traders alive) and he didnt have any Philips x-tremes, but did have some Osram Nightbreakers +90%.
So in they went, and I was right, putting in the left one by the battery took the skin off one knuckle!
On the way home tonight, they are really rather good. Much brighter and longer beam with a much more defined cut off but further away. A worthwhile improvement.
what happens to all these old bulbs we are collecting?
Edited by Altea Ego on 08/12/2009 at 20:51
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what happens to all these old bulbs we are collecting?
You put them in the pack the new ones came in and in a drawer in the garage (or under the spare wheel if you have one) for when a super bulb blows, and they gather dust.
Course if you're really mean you take the supers out when you sell the car and put them in your next one.
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Course if you're really mean you take the supers out when you sell the car and put them in your next one.
Spot on - if you'll pardon the pun.
Edited by idle_chatterer on 08/12/2009 at 21:34
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Off at at tangent again and sorry about that but for some reason I notice these things....driving home tonight I passed a bloke reversing on to his drive with a duff dipped beam bulb on his car. Nothing too remarkable about that of course but the ironic bit was that his house is festooned with what seems to be more Christmas lights than Blackpool. As our colonial cousins would have it....go figure.....
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