Currently running some Osram Night Breakers. Which I’m almost largely happy with. The output is fine and dip beam (They are H4’s) is lovely. But main beam turns a horrid grey/blue colour. I cannot fathom the logic on why they have engineered it this way.
You can see the blue banding on the bulb is the cause of this nasty tint shift, so it’s completely deliberate by design. But I really don’t get on with it at all.
Does anyone know of any comparable bulbs in output, but that don’t have a tint shift between high and low?
I’ve had good success in the past with higher wattage bulbs, but the only issue is heat, they can sometimes discolour the lenses. And the extra amp draw, which can melt the headlight switch and stress the wiring. So means having to direct wire them to the battery and add relays. I don’t mind doing this to an extent, but it’s cost and hassle I can do without at the moment. And I don’t trust the stock switch to handle the current.
I have run 80/100, 80/120 and 90/130 watt bulbs. Although most I’ve used in recent years haven’t been as impressive. I have a set of 80/120’s in my TR7 V8 which have been in there since pre 2001!!! And they are brilliant, physically the glass on the bulb is almost have the diameter again over regular H4’s. But I have not been able to find these for years.
The Osram Night Breakers seem to perform at least as well as the 80/100’s do, but with less heat. So I’d love to find something similar without the horrid blue tint.
Currently not looking at HID or LED for these lamps.
The only competitor without a tint would be Philips X-treme Vision. GE Megalight Ultra +120% has a blue ring at the top.
All three got great review results. BTW they all deliver a bit more than 1530 lm. But you cannot mod them
If you want a bit more lifetime with slightly less power try the GE +90% (or Bosch Plus 90 in Europe).
The strangest tint had the discontinued Philips Night Guide. It was yellow to the left and blueish to the right.
I would not mention it for modern cars but - if you are not happy with your headlights I recommend checking the voltage drop in your power cables. If the connectors and relays are corroded the light output of halogen bulbs goes down significantly.
Some motorbikes use the light switch to really switch their 4.6 Amps (without a relay) and the light output is notoriously poor. Even high power bulbs do not help.
I like the Philips X-Treme Vision + 130% H4 bulbs in my Dacia Logan II.
They are much brighter than the “factory bulbs” (Osram), the light is white, not blue (3700K).
I used the X-Treme Vision + 100% for a few years in a Clio, all the other H4 bulbs i used in that car only worked for about one year (i had the Clio for 14 years), but the X-Treme Vison kept working for more than 3 years until i replaced the Clio for the Dacia.The 3 year old Xtreme-Vision bulbs were still working when i left the Clio at the garage when i picked up the new car, and because they are much brighter, i replaced the standard H4 bulbs of the Dacia immediately (i bought the Philips X-Treme Vision + 130% bulbs while i was waiting for the Dacia to be delivered).
I have used 80/100W H4 in a Suzuki Bandit 1200S, but the socket melted after a while…
And that bulb was not much brighter than a normal H4.
Certainly worth checking your earthing, voltage drop at the lights etc etc, as tbone mentioned.Some simple extra earthing vastly improved the headlights on a vauxhall I had.
I know you said you don’t want hids, but I’ve always found them to be great.
My brother car had really poor lighting, but he was adamantly against fitting hids for some reason and spent a year on and off and wasted not an inconsiderate sum on this special supa dupa bulb or that uprated mega bulb, finally he gave in and fitted a hid kit, after his first night time drive, he was like why didn’t I do this in the first place.
Anyway just my two pence worth
Thanks. But I’m not unhappy with the output. Just the tint on full beam. I have HIDs in other cars, but you need bi-xenon ones to replace H4’s. Which are more money and add a mechanical failure point. I also think the lamps are probably not suited to a HID bulb and would result in too much glare for on coming traffic.
This is true. Bi-xenon in the reflector housing is glare overload. I have this setup and it produces a TON of light (55w hid kit) but the beam quality is poor and all oncoming drivers hate me.
This seems like a good thread. I subbed when it showed up and was planning on silently following… hopefully I can ask this little question without derailing the thread. Does anyone have a link to information on which halogen bulb types / reflector housing types do lend themselves to nice HID conversions? If there’s “no such thing” then I’ll just go back to monitoring the conversation and contemplating picking up some of these fancy halogen options.
Dual filament bulb headlights (h4) are the worst for converting to hids for the reasons others have mentioned,glare etc.
That said if you don’t go more than 35watt and choose a hid bulb with a good designed hood in front of the bulb to direct the light back on to the reflector correctly and set the lights to the correct level adjustment etc, I’ve found they work perfectly and don’t dazzle other motorists.
The easiest, best results are single filament type headlights (h1 etc) often they will have a parobolic/dommed lense (think that’s what they are called) in front of the bulb they always work perfectly, just like the halogen but much more usable light, often that type would have been available with a hid option instead of standard halogen bulbs, for a price, from the factory, again even on those the most important thing is making sure the headlights are adjusted correctly as often people just fit a Hid kit like it’s just changing a bulb and wonder why they dazzle other drivers, they need to be set up as per the car manufacturers recommendations, which normally means weight in the car to simulate people and at least half a tank of fuel etc etc
Another thing is to make sure the hid bulb is correctly seated in the halogen mount as sometimes modification is needed,as the hid bulb base is much thicker and needs trimming to seat correctly, often people don’t check that and it to can cause the dazzling issues people complain about.
Anyway that’s my experience from fitting a fair few,others may differ
