Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 10:28:53 -0800
Reply-To: Marc Sayer <marcsayer@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Marc Sayer <marcsayer@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: Headlight bulb upgrades - which bulbs are best? Brands? Color?
In-Reply-To: <2bc.1f5d3a1.30d940ee@aol.com>
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>I just bought a headlamp upgrade kit and want to install more powerful bulbs
>for the front lights. What do you recommend as far as brands, and color?
>
>
>
I know that the blue HID wannabe blue bulbs are all the rage now (they
are even selling blue "fog" lights now if you can believe it), but the
bluer the light, the more scatter you will get and the worse they are in
fog and poor visibility conditons. I upgraded my 280ZXT headlights a few
years back when the blue bulbs were first coming out. It was part of a
series I was writing for a magazine. Vendors donated AutoPal, Hella, and
Cibie headlights and several different bulbs, most of them the new blue
bulbs. I installed one after another and drove at least a week with each
one. We get lots of fog here and those blue bulbs were really, really
bad. On low beam they were worse than the white bulbs on high. I would
never use them myself. I settled on the white 90/100 halogens. In a
decent housing with a good strong top cutoff, when aimed properly, these
will not blind other drivers or draw the attention of the police. They
will give strong clear illumination on low beam that is placed properly,
and they will light up the world like daylight on high beam. I prefer
the E code housings to the DOT housings. The pattern on the DOT housings
is just not very good and lacks the sharp control of the cutoff. Here is
a very good site for info on aiming and the various patterns of E code
and DOT headlights; http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html
partway down the page they have tow drawings shoing the pattern of the E
code and then the DOT, it makes it clear why you can run brighter bulbs
witht eh E code. In fact there is a ton of great info on that site
period, spend some time snooping around and you will see what I mean.
The AutoPal brand is definitely a bargain brand, and they are not as
good as Cibie, Hella, or other top brands. But we found in testing that
they were pretty darn good and much better than most stock lighs. I have
their E code EURO CRYSTAL DIAMOND lights on my LUV 4x4 and my Trooper
and their regular E code lights on my ZXT. The Crsytal Diamonds have a
smooth lens and a facetted reflector. They throw a nice pattern, not
great but very good. And they are not going to break the bank. I got
mine on eBay for under $45 delivered for the pair, with the white 90/100
blub upgrade (they list them with those blue bulbs of course, since that
is what everyone seems to want right now).
There is a reason fog lights were traditionally yellow or amber, and
there is a reason why France speced yellow headlights. These colors cut
through fog and poor conditions better than the shorter wavelength
colors like blue. Short wavelegth colors are bad enough on headlights,
but they have absolutely no business being used in fog lights. It
defeats the whole purpose of a fog light.
Stick with a white light, and maybe try the French spec yellow bulbs for
the inner high beams. I know someone on the list was selling those
recently.
--
Marc Sayer
Journalist, Photographer, Dog Trainer (APDT member #062956)
Board member - Western States Great Dane Rescue Association
Director of Operations & Training - Deaf Dane Rescue Inc.
Springfield, OR USA
My Homepage - http://gracieland.org
Deaf Dane Rescue Homepage - http://gracieland.org/DaneRescue/
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