Xenon full beam bulbs?

[Twidle1]

Hello.

My vrs came with demons and I find the full (high) beam bulbs a bit crap.

Has anyone replaced them? If so what with?

Thanks for your help

JT

[Twidle1]

Slight auto correct typo... xenons not demons pmsl

[Gizmo]

The Philips xtremes and Osram Nightbreakers are renowned to be the best you can buy ATM.

[ryan-re]

they arent xenon main beam, they are H1 halogens.

Ring 120%+, Philips xtreme visions are both very good bulbs

[Perc]

The improvement when fitting "uprated" halogen bulbs is going to be marginal at best. It's still going to be 55 watts and still halogen. I fitted Philips ones immediately when I got the car and there was a noticeable improvement, but still nothing that can compare to a HID kit.

I talked to a customer with a 2008 TDI RS (pre-FL, the RS got the facelift a year later as we all know) and he claimed that a Can-bus optimized HID kit worked fine without issues in his car.

[Twidle1]

Thanks all!

[RainbowFire]

It's still going to be 55 watts and still halogen.

Not all are Halogen......

http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/H7-Ring-XENON-Ultima-120-Headlamp-Bulb-55W-pair.html

[Perc]

Not all are Halogen......

http://www.autobulbs...b-55W-pair.html

Still filament, = halogen in my book.

Xenon bulbs are something else and a 55W HID kit will be orders of magnitude brighter than any "uprated" 55w filament bulbs.

[JD52]

I've read that all these uprated bulbs have a shorter life that the standard bulbs.

Does anybody know if this is also the case for the Ring 102%+?

ta

[Perc]

More and brighter light from the same watt typically leads to a shorter life. IMO it doesn't really matter for the high beam since it doesn't get used that often.

[ryan-re]

I've read that all these uprated bulbs have a shorter life that the standard bulbs.

Does anybody know if this is also the case for the Ring 102%+?

ta

Yes they will have a shorter life but as above it wont be as bad in H7/H1 applications compared to h4 (dual fillament). Also think, they are what, £20 a set? I'd rather spend £20 on them more often than have usless bulbs all the time

The Ring 120%+ bulbs are very good, I ran them in my civic in H4 guise and certainly recomend them.

[RainbowFire]

Still filament, = halogen in my book.

I like it when people make it up themselves

Before halogen, there was tungsten. Also uses a filament....

http://www.gsfcarparts.com/959aa1000

(little better than candles)

Where does that come in your "book"? :p

[RainbowFire]

The Ring 120%+ bulbs are very good, I ran them in my civic in H4 guise and certainly recomend them.

I ran them in both the dipped and the main on the Octavia. A great improvement over the originals. The dipped were in for 16 months, only pair I bought. Also used on/off/on with the CH/LH setup. I was replacing bulbs on a Focus every 4 months, as a comparison.

The only reason for taking them out of the dipped beam was to install the HIDs.

[Perc]

I like it when people make it up themselves

Before halogen, there was tungsten. Also uses a filament....

http://www.gsfcarparts.com/959aa1000

(little better than candles)

Where does that come in your "book"? :p

Hardy har har.

Anything that is a halogen bulb, or similar to a halogen bulb (this includes "xenon" bulbs built like halogen) have very similar light output per watt. Some are slightly better (the uprated Philips/Osram bulbs for instance) and some are worse (cheap off-brand junk) but they're all in the same ballpark.

And that ballpark isn't anywhere close to the OTHER ballpark where the xenon burners are.

[JD52]

if you have HIDs, how does that affect the quick on/off of flashing yer headlights?

[Fatbloke]

All incandescent bulbs with a filament are only very slightly different from each other. Modern conventional (i.e not HID) headlamp bulbs all use a tungsten filament. Thay are all filled with inert gas (pressurised) eg. Nitrogen, Argon, Krypton and Xenon. Halogen bulbs also contain a tiny amount of iodine to chemically enhance the re-deposition of vapourised tungsten back on to the filament. They are all Quartz glass. The best performing conventional bulb uses a quartz glass and tungsten filament with pressurised Xenon gas only. As a high atomic weight noble gas it is the most effective at reducing filament vapourisation allowing the filament to burn hotter and hence brighter. It is more expensive as it is the least naturally abundent of the noble gases.

[Perc]

if you have HIDs, how does that affect the quick on/off of flashing yer headlights?

You *can* flash them, but it's not really good for them. You get the same flash you get with standard xenons when they first ignite. I'm told it's better for them if you keep them on for a second or two, making it a slightly longer flash.

I don't think it's much of an issue though. HID in the high beam (drop-in conversion kits or bolt-ons) is tried and tested up here in the northern parts of Europe where roads are unlit and traffic is low.

[john.errington]

As fatbloke (sorry) says, Xenon filled Halogen bulbs give the highest light output you can get (for now) with conventional 55W bulbs.

"Yes they will have a shorter life .. " they should not because the Xenon helps prevent filament evaporation.

I've used higher power bulbs (100/80) in a rally car and gone back to normal bulbs because with a larger filament the beam pattern was cr*p.

The same goes for HID's: The headlamp unit is designed for the H7/H1 filament position and size, and anything else may not give as good a beam pattern.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has fitted a drop-in HID conversion regarding the performance and beam pattern -with photos?.

[booke23]

There are some good comparison pictures in this thread: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/54025-hid-lights/

Having experimented with high output halogen bulbs in my Fabia and having factory Xenons in my Octavia, all I can say to anyone thinking of buying expensive high output halogen bulbs in the hope they will be like HID Xenons.............forget it.

HID Xenons are in a completely different league of light output compared to any high output Halogen bulb.

[nickguzzi]

John, I have had a cheapo HID conversion for the last two years, and the difference is vast. The beam pattern is well controlled and not had any problems with flashing by oncoming drivers. On the country roads round here they are fantastic, in built up areas I usually lower them to avoid pulling up behind someone and lighting their lives, rather like 4x4's and trannies do.

I have fitted some Osram's to the main beams and in comparsion they are total rubbish.

The story I heard from a guy who dealt with lighting, was that projectors were originally designed for a HID light source. A lot of the negative noise is from when people used to put fit them to reflector type lamps, and this led to all sorts of rubbish being spread around, not least by various legislative/quasi governmental bodies.

[ryan-re]

with regards to "el chepo" hid conversions. Legaly yes they dont comply to X, Y and Z so shouldnt pass mot's or road side inspections etc but if they are fitted in projector lenses then you should have no beam problems apart from when you go over a bump etc where a oem hid system would auto allign.

I have a friend who has some extremly rare oem projectors on his gen 6 celica. Recently he fitted a £20 hid kit to it and the beam pattern is fine. Its very flat and the glare is next to nothing. Ive stood infront of the car with them on and the affect is the same as if they were oem hids.

As above, its when they are put in reflector style housings which can't control the beam where you get blinded. This imo should be a simply banned. HID bulbs in reflector housings an instant mot fail and instant order to remove them if a police officer stops you. Shame massive safety issues like this are not addressed

[mr_awol]

with regards to "el chepo" hid conversions. Legaly yes they dont comply to X, Y and Z so shouldnt pass mot's or road side inspections etc but if they are fitted in projector lenses then you should have no beam problems apart from when you go over a bump etc where a oem hid system would auto allign.

I've either been told, or read on t'interweb, that the auto levelling is not quick enough nor sophisticated enough to react to bumps in te road. This makes sense so i believe it.

As I understand it, auto levelling only actually kicks in when there is a heavy load in the boot, whilst towing, and maybe whilst going up a hill for an extended period of time.

[nickguzzi]

Some one on here posted that the built in delay for the leveling motors is a couple of seconds.

Totally agree Ryan, HID's in projectors and HID's reflectors are totally different animals, time wasted policing both when only the latter willfully cause problems.

[Twidle1]

Looks like i started off a depate lol... well just so you all know i upgraded them this week to osram nightbreaker + and can honestly say they make a load of difference! Not bad for £13!

Thanks again for all your help!

JT

[ryan-re]

I've either been told, or read on t'interweb, that the auto levelling is not quick enough nor sophisticated enough to react to bumps in te road. This makes sense so i believe it.

As I understand it, auto levelling only actually kicks in when there is a heavy load in the boot, whilst towing, and maybe whilst going up a hill for an extended period of time.

thats not how auto leveling works. Auto leveling is hooked up to the suspension so its working 100% of the time and works in real time with the movement of the car.

If you have oem hid's you can see it working when you are driving