Date:         Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:39:39 -0800
Reply-To:     Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: queston on H4 55/60w bulb to fit stock bulb socket
Comments: To: Marc Sayer <marcsayer@hughes.net>
In-Reply-To:  <4AF9B766.6020402@hughes.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 10:56 AM, Marc Sayer <marcsayer@hughes.net> wrote:

> There is even more to this. The housing (ie the reflector and lens) is
> designed for the specific bulb not only in terms of fit but also
> filament location and orientation. ...


Even worse for folks that have syncros or vans with larger wheels or tires.
Aiming the ECode Round lights is a study in tradeoffs.  The relative
position of the filaments in the H4 bulb is fixed.  The position of the bulb
in the reflector assembly is fixed.  To aim the system properly so the low
beam cutoff is just slightly below horizontal, the optimum aiming in my
opinion, you sacrifice the aiming of the high beam.  It will be too high.
Compensating for the high beam by readjusting is like cutting some off the
top part of the blanket and sewing it on the bottom of the blanket so your
feet won't get cold.

The reflectors have an optimum above the roadway height so that both beams
are correctly aimed.  The headlight position oo the vanagon is above that
design height.

In days of yore before our road divas were made two companies made dual bulb
7" round Halogen headlights  (then called 'QI').  Carello in italy made a
dual h1 system that had two reflector assemblies and by shimming the one of
the bulbs, you could get almost a perfect relationship.  With the lights
that is.  The other company was Marchal who offered the Ampilux in h1 h1 and
h1 h3.  An adjustable reflector for the high beam allowed correction for a
wide variance in roadway height.

Sadly these were discontinued years ago and bring a dear price on the
auction/used/NOS market.  The original h1 h1 configuration was simply
superb.

My recommendation is to get a set of 'buckets' and some 7" high quality
reflectors and then choose the bulb luminosity to fit your particular
needs.  A quick look at "Le Mans" the movie with the 917 and Steve McQueen
will give you an idea of the Marchal's capabilities.

Pensionerd.