Fitted a set in the dipped beam great improvement. After few months removed them to make the continental driving adjustment and noticed big dark blisters in the glass adjacent to the filament, light output had dropped dramatically. Osram said it was most unusual and replaced them. This was in August, tonight I noticed the light output has again dropped off, I will take them out tomorrow to have a look. Anyone else had problems? Wondering if there is something about the Octavia light housing that causes them to run hot.

IIRC correctly all the +50, +80 and +90 globes are expected to have a significantly shorter working life than normal globes. Something to do with the method/design they use to get increased visible light without higher current.

Osram use a light blue coating on their "Nightbreaker" globes to get their "whiter" light, so it might be this coating that is causing a problem. For the lo-beam globe (H7) you might want to try the Phillips X-treme or the Osram 65W version (it is supposed to be brighter and last as long as std globes, but is labelled as "Off Road"). Philips don't make a hi-beam (H1) X-treme globe yet (supposed to be out soon).

I'm prepared to replace more often for the better vision, but it makes looking around for cheaper suppliers worth while.

Edited 31 October, 200817 yr by gregozedobe

That is well known issue with "Night Breaker" :thumbdwn:. It isn't appropriate for dipped beam.

For dipped beam I would propose "Cool Blue", and for main beam - "Night Breaker".

Must consider and different color temperatures also.

The Philips X-Tremes don't last much longer. After 3 months the ones I took out of the Astra were well burnt.

I'm running the Nightreakers in the full beams on the Vectra.

Aparently Philips' DiamondVision are a good job.

Now they tell us they are not suitable for dipped beam and then wonder why people consider Xenon Conversions.

At £30 a pair they should at least last a year out.

See this weeks autoexpress for run down on lights.

I had some Osram Silverstar +50% in dipped position on a car for about three years. Lots of night driving and still working fine when I sold it.

I had Nightbreakers in my GPS for the 6 months i had it and they were like new when i got rid, car used most nights, bulbs worked for dipped and mains. Excellent bulbs, no problems here, ill be getting some for the estate eventually.

Also dont buy for £30, they can be had for £15 off the bay

I've fitted nightbreakers in the Porsche and found them to be a huge improvement over the standard H4 bulbs. On dipped they are a little better than the Octy but full is a significant improvement.

I had Nightbreakers in my GPS for the 6 months i had it and they were like new when i got rid, car used most nights, bulbs worked for dipped and mains. Excellent bulbs, no problems here, ill be getting some for the estate eventually.

Also dont buy for £30, they can be had for £15 off the bay

To be fair I only paid £30 because I needed them that day as was going to do a long night drive and didn't have a drivers side headlamp.

Also the bay @ £15 I assume is + postage and having to deal with paypal... no thanks to dealing with paypal.

I should add I ran osram silverstars for a good couple of years in a previous car with a lot of driving.

Halfords are doing the 2 for one offer again and they have just started to stock H1's in Extreme Brilliance +90's fitted some the other day and they are exellent. I've got the full set now of H7's and H1's in +90's not had any problems with the H7's so far also Halfords.

Craig.......

My point was at the prices asked if the life is reduced as much as it sounds (down to 1 year for some people) then the £500 factory Xenon isn't so expensive and the temptation of some to spend up to £200 on conversions makes sense.

My L&K is the first car i've had with xenons as standard. Obviously they're brighter but do they last longer as well then?? I'll have a search on the forum but I know very little about xenons as i've never had them before.

Well pulled the lights out today and as expected the bulbs were blistered and blackened. Seems to me +90% is technically a step too far. Think I will go back to the +50%. Even the original bulbs are better than the +90% after 3 months.

You're not touching the glass of the bulbs when installing are you? This could possibly explain the blackening effect.

My L&K is the first car i've had with xenons as standard. Obviously they're brighter but do they last longer as well then?? I'll have a search on the forum but I know very little about xenons as i've never had them before.

True Xenon globes (HIDs) are supposed to last a long, long time (much longer than halogens, often the life of the car). Most of the "wear" comes from the initial power-up, so it is better not to keep switching them on and off frequently.

Well pulled the lights out today and as expected the bulbs were blistered and blackened. Seems to me +90% is technically a step too far. Think I will go back to the +50%. Even the original bulbs are better than the +90% after 3 months.

Ive been running Philips X-treme H4s (+80) in my Transporter for over 12 months with quite a lot of night driving. No reduction in light output so far, and they were a worthwhile cheap upgrade (the lights were pretty underwhelming with the std globes). They were only a slight improvement over the Philips +50 globes they replaced.

No I am most careful not to touch the glass and if I do clean them with meths.

Just wondering if the construction of an H4 where the filament is fractionally further away from the glass than in an H7 has something to do with it?

I am puzzled how the glass envelope can get blistered and blackened unless it is contaminated in some way. The envelope is quartz glass and if they overheat they tend to melt and go pop (the gas inside is at very high pressure and the bulb with explode like a small bomb).

Interestingly all 4 bulbs that have gone had absolutely identical black blisters directly adjacent to the filament. I have described it as a blister for simplicity but I believe it is the glass bulging through its full thickness. Difficult to prove without risking injury:eek:

(the gas inside is at very high pressure and the bulb with explode like a small bomb).

Got the philips x-treme in my dipped and I always drive with my headlights on when on the motorway.

I am turning my dipped lights off whilst stuck at traffic lights though now I drive to and from work in the dark. No idea if this is a good thing as its either

a) Giving them the chance to cool off and less burn time

Causing more damage by the on off action

Still they are a LOT better then the original bulbs.

The philips x-treme bulbs will be no hotter than standard bulbs so leave them on, they may in fact run cooler. If you used rally bulbs (higher wattage 100w etc) you would then need to be concerned about heat and the gauge of the wires to your headlights so you don't end up having a fire

All +***% bulbs have to run hotter to get the extra light.

55W - It's always going to be 12v and so the current will always be the same too.

The only way to get extra light it to change the gas and the filament so the filament itself burns hotter and as an effect of this lets of more light. This means more heat is produced by the bulb.

I'd head that the +80/90% bulbs were really pushing it as far as it could go and that the designers had had to play a lot with the filament and it's design for these to work.

I have run some +50% for a long time, but I remember when the +30% bulbs first came out and the +50% they were not recommended for drivers who did large mileages and it stated they had a shorter lifetime.

I'd be happy with around 2 years from a set of bulbs, but I guess only time will tell for the higher light output ones.

Something has to give, so I guess it's the lifetime.

heat power + light power = electrical power(Constant)

heat power = electrical power(Constant) - light power

Thus, going up with the light, heat is going down.

chavdarlk has hit it on the nose, the higher the light output, for the same wattage, the lower the heat. Basic physics and incontrovertible. The use of different gases/filaments to produce more light is due to the filament glowing more brightly in that gas and the combination doing so by producing LESS heat, but MORE light. The exact same applies to low wattage energy saving household bulbs, though here no more light output is required, simply a reduction in the wattage, to save energy. Try holding an energy saving 7w bulb while alight, then try the same with a 40w standard - watch for the burns with one.......

The blistering noted in the bulbs may well be some chemical deposition, not caused by excess heating, or degradation in the internal coating of the glass (as suggested).