As many of you have seen in my other thread I got some new bulbs delivered for my Superb. 

 

The fog lights are already replaced and the white light is better than the OEM. 

 

Today I also replaced the Xenon bulbs. OEM were 66340HBI, Osram Xenarc standard bulb. And my new ones are Osram D3S Laser Next Generation.

 

I did some readings with a lux meter before and after the switch. When I first replaced the bulbs I got poor readings from one side. Even though everything looked like it was fitted correctly I took the bulbs out again and re-fitted them. It seems like the bulbs need to be clicked in place when they are fitted correctly. When it was fitted the right way, the bulb stayed in place even if the metal brackets weren't locked. Then I locked the brackets and connected it and got even results. 

 

NOTE: The lux readings are not actual light output of the bulbs because it was not dark in the garage. The lux readings are just to show the difference between the different type of bulbs under the same conditions.

 

So here are the results:

 

Standard bulb: 204

Osram next gen: 335

 

The lux in the hotspot increased by 64%. And I believe that the difference will increase as the new bulbs burn in.

 

As a matter of fact it was really visible with only looking at the hotspot that the new bulbs were a lot better.

 

As many of you have said the headlights pointed down to much. I can't understand how Skoda can adjust them so badly. Tonight I'll try to adjust them to get a better length.

Standard bulb:

 

Edited 2 November, 20187 yr by Bob-thebuilder
Edit

Osram D3S next gen:

 

 

Have adjusted the height now. Works just fine without having VCDS. There are 2 adjustment screws. One for the length and one for the width

 

Any chance of a pic showing screws and which one is which?

 

And which way to turn?

4 minutes ago, xman said:

Any chance of a pic showing screws and which one is which?

 

And which way to turn?

I'll try to get a picture later. Wifey is out driving at the moment

Did you have to remove the light units or bumper to do this? I tried to replace mine earlier this year without removing anything, pretty much dislocated all my fingers and then had to drive to Skoda and pay them to do it as I failed 

6 hours ago, drewellis said:

Did you have to remove the light units or bumper to do this? I tried to replace mine earlier this year without removing anything, pretty much dislocated all my fingers and then had to drive to Skoda and pay them to do it as I failed 

 

I did the change in my garage without removing anything. The first time was tough and it took me about 30 minutes to replace both of them. Then I got poor results from my lux readings from one side and realised that I had done something wrong so I took the bulbs out, changed side on them (in case there was something wrong with the bulb itself) and the second time took me about 15 minutes once I got the technique. 

 

With that said, the design of the car does not really make it easy to do the job. Volvo/Ford have by far the best headlight design. Open the hood, get two pins out and the whole headlight assembly just slides out and you can do whatever you like. Couldn't be better. 

Ah ok cheers, I wonder what Skoda do to replace them - they charged me £80 to replace the bulbs (labour only)!

I must have sausage fingers lol

I bought cool blue intense and looking at spec sheet it seems that lasers and these produce same lumens (3200lm), any ideas why would that be so?

My next goal, well thinking about it, is to get 45w ballasts for even better light output.

 

P.S.: I was looking into getting LED's but I found out that there is simply no space to store the LED drivers. I have advanced lights (SLA) and when opening up cover checking behind original ballast there is simply no space left. Even LED lamp it self could be very tight fit (problem with motors?). So expensive Xenon seems to be the only option for me =(

Edited 3 November, 20187 yr by JackySi

Bonus:

 

Light ouput video on a swedish country road. Unfortunately I didn't do a video before I replaced the bulbs and adjusted the headlights. But there is a massive difference from what I can see with my eyes before and after.

 

 

And here are the adjustment screws. The right one, in the middle of the headlight, is for up and down and the one to the left is for adjusting left to right

14 hours ago, Bob-thebuilder said:

 

 

With that said, the design of the car does not really make it easy to do the job. Volvo/Ford have by far the best headlight design. Open the hood, get two pins out and the whole headlight assembly just slides out and you can do whatever you like. Couldn't be better. 

 

The Octavia 2 is as good as it can get, one thumb nut to twiddle off, one pull on the handle and out comes the headlight.

 

At least it is like that the second time after you have lubricated the slide mech.

 

Oh and if you have old eyes like mine then you spend an hour trying to work out how to release the electrical connector

Edited 3 November, 20187 yr by J.R.

15 hours ago, Bob-thebuilder said:

And here are the adjustment screws. The right one, in the middle of the headlight, is for up and down and the one to the left is for adjusting left to right

Thanks for that, I adjusted mine last night and it’s made quite a difference

 

Hmm the seem same as mine regarding light output. I would really have to have lumens meter or see it in real life to compare. But I doubt new gen Xenon's can be better in light output at same wattage, amperage and same specs on sheet (3200lm for both bulbs). The ones I bought have same light output as original, just different color. 

Maybe you originally had a bad batch or bulbs were crap

35 minutes ago, JackySi said:

 

Hmm the seem same as mine regarding light output. I would really have to have lumens meter or see it in real life to compare. But I doubt new gen Xenon's can be better in light output at same wattage, amperage and same specs on sheet (3200lm for both bulbs). The ones I bought have same light output as original, just different color. 

Maybe you originally had a bad batch or bulbs were crap

 

That is simply not true.

 

There is a bigger difference between OEM bulbs and high performance bulbs. Scientific evidence is available not only from the manufacturer but also from real world tests, like mine.

 

To understand the difference you have to understand both the EU regulation and the science behind light output and how it is measured.

 

First of all, EU regulation does not say that a HID bulb that is rated 3200 lm actually need to have that as a light output. There is a tollerance. I have red the regulation documents before and if I'm not wrong the tolerance is +-450 lm. This means that a OEM bulb theoretically can be made with a light output of 2750 lm and a high performance bulb with a more precise manufacturing process can have a light output of 3650 lm. Still, they will both meet the same regulation.

 

Then you have to understand the way light is measured. Lumen is a measurement of how bright the light is directly from the bulb. In other words, the bulbs brightness. But, to get that light output on the road the light needs to be reflected. Then lux would be a better way to measure what actually hits the road in terms of light. As with the lumens, the EU regulation has a tollerance on how the bulb itself is designed. This means that the manufacturer can tweak with the design of the bulb itself and have a better manufacturing process to get a bulb that is designed to give more light on the road. In other words, design it to be more reflected in a better way. And they will still meet the regulation.

 

So, the high performance bulbs are a result of more precise manufacturing processes from the producers and therefore they get a better and better bulb. But the bulbs are of course more expensive to make.

On 03/11/2018 at 07:08, Bob-thebuilder said:

The first time was tough and it took me about 30 minutes to replace both of them.

without remove bumper
took 39 minutes, both replaced by friend who recently practiced with his Multivan

 

lux measured by phone, distance 0.7-1m
OSRAM Next Gen(Left) vs stock OSRAM(Right)
6000 vs 4700

 

and here have no explanation
OSRAM Next Gen Left vs Right
6000 vs 6400

 

color temperature 4800k

35 minutes ago, MartiniB said:

without remove bumper
took 39 minutes, both replaced by friend who recently practiced with his Multivan

 

lux measured by phone, distance 0.7-1m
OSRAM Next Gen(Left) vs stock OSRAM(Right)
6000 vs 4700

 

and here have no explanation
OSRAM Next Gen Left vs Right
6000 vs 6400

 

color temperature 4800k

I can’t understand how it’s possible without removing the bumper - I tried for hours and had so many cuts and almost dislocated fingers...

 

i guess the workshop shop process is to remove the bumper?

 

4 hours ago, JackySi said:

Hmm the seem same as mine regarding light output. I would really have to have lumens meter or see it in real life to compare. But I doubt new gen Xenon's can be better in light output at same wattage, amperage and same specs on sheet (3200lm for both bulbs). The ones I bought have same light output as original, just different color. 

Maybe you originally had a bad batch or bulbs were crap

 

HID bulbs fade over time in light output, maybe he had them for some years. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp#End_of_life

Actually correct way to replace bulbs is to remove the wheel arches, not bumper. Removing bumper and the lights can mess up alignment and front distance sensor. I did right bulb using hands (hard but was ok) the left one I removed arches, couldn't do without.
The ballast however, will require removing bumper, so I'm taking my time with it. 

 

5 hours ago, Bob-thebuilder said:

 

That is simply not true.

 

There is a bigger difference between OEM bulbs and high performance bulbs. Scientific evidence is available not only from the manufacturer but also from real world tests, like mine.

 

To understand the difference you have to understand both the EU regulation and the science behind light output and how it is measured.

 

First of all, EU regulation does not say that a HID bulb that is rated 3200 lm actually need to have that as a light output. There is a tollerance. I have red the regulation documents before and if I'm not wrong the tolerance is +-450 lm. This means that a OEM bulb theoretically can be made with a light output of 2750 lm and a high performance bulb with a more precise manufacturing process can have a light output of 3650 lm. Still, they will both meet the same regulation.

 

Then you have to understand the way light is measured. Lumen is a measurement of how bright the light is directly from the bulb. In other words, the bulbs brightness. But, to get that light output on the road the light needs to be reflected. Then lux would be a better way to measure what actually hits the road in terms of light. As with the lumens, the EU regulation has a tollerance on how the bulb itself is designed. This means that the manufacturer can tweak with the design of the bulb itself and have a better manufacturing process to get a bulb that is designed to give more light on the road. In other words, design it to be more reflected in a better way. And they will still meet the regulation.

 

So, the high performance bulbs are a result of more precise manufacturing processes from the producers and therefore they get a better and better bulb. But the bulbs are of course more expensive to make.

I tested 4 different bulbs including crap Chinese ones.  My findings were exactly as I explained. Osram's blue cool intense do have stated in document that there is 15% tolerance in light output. But bellow 3200 lumens not above. As I said what I found out was that these 200-300 lumens make almost no noticeable difference in real life and that my cool blue's shine as good as Philips Xenon X-tremeVision gen2. Tested in same car/projector. Projectors do hell of a job splitting light across road. Quality on Xenon does differ, but after certain point the differences are really really small. After all check my video and you will see that road is illuminated perfectly.

P.S.: OEM bulbs actually have 5 year warranty which is more than most "better quality" after market replacements.

P.P.S.: Don't get me wrong I'm not saying there is no difference at all. I'm saying there is very small difference. Much more you get from Upgrading ballast or changing to LED bulbs (if you find correct ones, most Chinese (90%) are going to give you less brightness than Xenon). I've seen very very bright LED bulbs in Superb before however. I didn't know which, was on road. But it was 6000K and very very bright. 

Edited 5 November, 20187 yr by JackySi

This OSRAM article explains upgrade bulbs. How upgrade halogen bulbs only really provide significant benefits for reflector designs and far less so projector designs for which the Silverstar 2.0 is the recommended choice.

 

For Xenon headlamps which mostly use projection designs, upgrade bulbs get their major advantage by altering positioning of the arc, not extra lumens.

 

Lumen output is limited by legislation.

 

On 05/11/2018 at 11:14, ionelmc said:

 

 

HID bulbs fade over time in light output, maybe he had them for some years. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp#End_of_life

recently saw some pics (light maps) of old and new, the difference was very great,  however I was surprised to find the age difference was ONLY 4 years 

thanks for the info, I'll be adjusting the range later.

do you adjust the beam height with engine running / ignition on?

48 minutes ago, Q102 said:

do you adjust the beam height with engine running / ignition on?

 

Most definitely Yes