Headlight bulbs

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Ross_K
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Post by Ross_K »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by wrinklet1</i>

I will have to learn how to post photo's on here one day.
Paul
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Hi wrinklet1, have a read of this thread:
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... hichpage=1
It should tell you what you need to know... [:)]
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Post by wrinklet1 »

thanks Ross, I will give it a go
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woopee!!!
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Ross_K
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Post by Ross_K »

Looks like you've got the hang of it. [:D]
You might want to re-size the photo for the benefit of 56k modem users though. [;)]
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Post by Kowalski »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by NiSk</i>

It seems that the human eye is sesitive to different colours at different ambinet light levels. Colour vision is most sensitive to blue light while B/W vision is most sensitive to yellow/green light.
A very interesting article can be read at:
http://www.photo.net/photo/edscott/vis00010.htm
//NiSk
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Human eyes have two types of light receptors, rods and cones. Cones give us colour vision whilst rods give monochrome vision. Rods are much more sensitive to light than cones, so in low light levels it is they that are most active and why our vision becomes less sensitive to colour as it becomes darker.
The overall result is that we are more sensitive to yellow/orange light at low light levels. The effects with regard to car headlights are complicated to say the least, really what you need is headlights that put blue/white light out straight ahead, and cast yellow/orange light on the periphery (i.e. the less well lit areas), I don't think anybody makes headlights that do that yet [;)]
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Post by wrinklet1 »

Have re sized it now Ross
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Post by wrinklet1 »

I have just realized that this is my 400th posting...weyhey [:)][:)][:)][8D]
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Post by JohnT »

I bought a set of 'bright blue' bulbs off E Bay and one lasted a month and the other less than three months for £9!
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Post by user_3150 »

Brighter bulbs tend to last less due to a more intense heat. Someone I know also has loads of problems with smaller bulbs at his motorist centre especially H1 bulbs as they get too hot and blow really easily. Also I have had brighter bulbs but they all blew quite quickly (I didn't touch the glass either). A bit dissapointing when they are about £15-£20 a set.
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Post by pete_wood_uk »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mpr1956</i>

I must admit I have been tempted to install 100w bulbs, but have been put off by the ruling on maximum power (not to mention the risk of smouldering wiring!).
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Been there, done that. Summary: Don't bother. I tried a set in my '93 Xantia (ie the early one with the really useless lenses) and found that they were perhaps a little brighter (but not much, see other threads about the hopelessness of the Xantia's headlight wiring loom) but they burned out very quickly. Can't remember what make they were, I'm afraid, but I assume that the extra heat dissipation in that rather small lamp finished them off.
The lights in the '97 Xantia are significantly better - they're now barely adequate, which is a big improvement :-).
(When I was growing up, I learned to drive in my dad's Mk1 Golf with 4 decent round lamps across the front - 2 with 100/80s in, and 2 100W Cibie spots for main beam. Now *that* (ie 400W on main beam) was a decent set of lights for getting around the Yorkshire Moors at night! [:)] ).
Best regards
Pete
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Post by aengus »

don't bother with the so-called blue bulbs, they usually have a blue filter coating to give the tint, and that effectively reduces the light output. Likewise the 'xenon' extra-bright bulbs are not really any better than standard bulbs. They are all aimed at the boy-racers who want the HID blue tint effect without the expense of the conversion.
Best go after the vision-plus or the osram's as they really do give better output, or go the full HID conversion route.
XM's have same prob's re headlights, esp the S1's and RHD S2's, only the PHD S2's got the revised light setup without the silly plastic diffuser that seems to be the main cause of the problem as they get opaque. Not sure if the Xant's are the same, but expect they are similar. One fix was to remove the diffuser and re-align the lights, to at least get a useable beam, although it results in a slightly odd pattern.
regards
Dave
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Post by davek-uk »

I have a pair of the Lidl 50% brighter bulbs fitted in the Xantia dip beam and I'm not sure if I could tell the difference.
High beam on the Xantia have 100w bulbs fitted and they're excellent. I usually uprate my bulbs (the AX used to have 80w/100w H4s and they were brilliant (litrally!) I've had no problems in over a year of running 100w main beam in the '97 Xantia. In fact, the only problem is that they illuminate new reflective road signs too much!
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Post by aengus »

apart from the legalities, the potential problem is the heat causing damage to the bulb mounting/reflectors... some time back someone had fitted 100w buld to his vauxhall calibra - worked fine for a short time, then the bulbs dropped and shattered as they'd melted the reflector where the bulb clip was so they dropped out.
On the XM, find the main beam is fine, no plastic lens in front of the buld, remove the one from in front of the dip bulb and presto, can see where you're going again.
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Post by wrinklet1 »

I have been running with 100w bulbs in my Xantia for the past 4 years with not over heating problems.
Paul
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Post by Brilec »

The problem with tinted lights, and particularly with mono frequencey ones, is that you rely on reflection of the light to see anything, regardless of what colour the eye is more sensitive to.
Just look at the old low pressure sodium lights, and see how many colours show up under one. Bright red looks black for example. And you just don't notice black objects, which is why fire engines are now painted much brighter in many areas. The old red could not be seen.
Thus the nearer to daylight you can get will always be the best, true white light being the presence of all light frequencies.
Colour blindness will also have varying effects, and one in ten males suffer from it.
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