Brightest NON HID bulbs

[goser]

Originally Posted by blazee

Are you talking about the ones that are called "osrams" or something like that?

What's the difference in those and the ones sold here. The set I bought at walmart were sold as sylvania, but had osram on the package.

Osram and Sylvania are the same company.

I would be cautious about using HIR bulbs. Anything that keeps heat inside the envelope is going to dramatically shorten the life of the bulb.

[SComp23]

Originally Posted by goser

Osram and Sylvania are the same company.

I understand that, but so are Philips and Magnavox, yet they sell TV's and other appliances as just "Philips" or just "Magnavox", it's the same principle.

[BlazerLT]

He is right, they are the same company and product, just with a different name.

I think Osram is the parent company.

[Serge PETIT]

I have read some interesting reports about the the HIR bulbs of Toshiba which seem to be more bright and have more effectiveness.
Here are some links:
http://www.finemotoring.com/index.htm
http://www.finemotoring.com/stats.htm
http://www.bmwcca.org/members/AM/Tem...e_Be_E36_Light
I hope it will help.

[BlazerBoyLT98]

I guess HIR might be the way to go

[BlazerLT]

I have the bulbs in my truck and do enjoy them.

[ZL1power69]

if they create more heat than a regular bulb would that damage the housing over time?

[muzzy1maniac]

So it looks like no harness upgrade is needed?? These look like a good investment!

[BlazerLT]

There won't be enough extra heat to notice.

Also, a new harness is not necessary.

[BlazerBoyLT98]

BlazerLT, if you have the the time can you take and post some pics of your lights shining on a garage or something similiar? I am curious about these bubs. Also they seem to range in price from $30 a bulb to $100 a bulb.

[BlazerLT]

I have the Xenon bulbs in mine.

They are brighter for sure, BUT, the thing is I found out the the yellow band frequency is the most powerful frequency and thus can penetrate farther than the blue and white.

Hence why fog lights are used.

The only way to counteract this is to use a higher wattage white light bulb.

I know I get flashed constantly on the highway by people thinking I have my hi-beams on when I am only running the lows. When I kick it up to high to show them the difference I have seen some cars swerve a bit seeing they get a little blinded. I now only quickly flash them to show them I am using the lows.

They are aligned properly.

[Blue Bowtie]

BlazerLT explains why HID lamps are really not "all that" in automotive lighting. They actually tend to do worse for driver visibility in for, mist, and snow. The higher frequency light tends to reflect or "flare" a lot more in water droplets and ice cystals (smow) than lower frequency light. Just because Benz used them doesn't make them good. You won't find them in taxi or landing lights on aircraft, because they just don't work as well in marginal visibility.

[BlazerBoyLT98]

I want bright, clear, sometimes powerful bulbs to really light up the road ahead when i am driving on backroads that are not lit and snowing or raining. I also want to buy the clear housings for my headlights

[Blue Bowtie]

The "old guy" trick with the 4-headlamp cars (5-1/2" rounds) was to remove the high beams and their mounting buckets, get a pair of 4007 lamps and hacksaw slots in the buckets to accomodate their different mounting lug positions (molded into the back of the PAR 46 lamp) and plug it all back together. The 4007s were clear/plain lenses and had an initial power of 100 watts, compared to the 37W of the "regular" high beam lamps. With the older mechanical voltage regulators, it was easy enough to bump the system up to about 14.5V where it would really do some good and push the lamps closer to 115W.

I had the "bright idea" that if a little was good, a lot was far better. As a result, my '67 Firebird had G.E. 4522 lamps in the high beam buckets. Still the PAR 46 envelope, but with screw terminals. That worked out well, since the wiring had to be upsized to 8 AWG and power relays installed to handle the two 250W lamps. The little old Delcotron 37A alternator had a little trouble at idle with those on, but it made for some spectacular lighting. I think I actually started to melt paint on my parent's garage wall once, many years ago.

The composite headlamps commonly used today are so limiting. I'm sure the polycarbonate housings on most vehicles just wouldn't take that kind of heat. Fortunately, some vehicles (like my Impalas) are made for European export, and thus have GLASS lamp housings available to satisfy exports requirements. They take a lot more wattage without starting fire. If you want to go nuts with your lighting wattages, you might want to see if export lamp housings are available for the vehicle first (usually a dealer only item). If not, plan on replacing them frequently due to distortion and yellowing. Several places have replacements available, like this: http://zbra.com

[muzzy1maniac]

Originally Posted by BlazerLT

I have the Xenon bulbs in mine.

They are brighter for sure, BUT, the thing is I found out the the yellow band frequency is the most powerful frequency and thus can penetrate farther than the blue and white.

Hence why fog lights are used.

The only way to counteract this is to use a higher wattage white light bulb.

I know I get flashed constantly on the highway by people thinking I have my hi-beams on when I am only running the lows. When I kick it up to high to show them the difference I have seen some cars swerve a bit seeing they get a little blinded. I now only quickly flash them to show them I am using the lows.

They are aligned properly.

I love amber lights for bad weather. My last truck had them and during really bad snow I would drive with just them on. I could see plain as day.

Don't forget when you mention fog lights you are refering to a beam pattern. Fogs are low and wide where driving are directed upfront.