Lighting upgrade, in my search for more lights... Options

[Rayme]

If some of you are like my and totally not interested in those fake, overly expensive short lived "blue" hid like bulbs, well I feel your pain, the general concessus seems to be "buy silverstars and like it".

There is 2 "legal" options to results in actual more light output, and both costs less than 50$ !
Both will results in 3400+ lumens from low beams instead of the regular 2000 lumens (hid would results in the 6000 lumens), thats almost 170% more lights! Also your beam pattern will remain the same, so glaring is almost a non issue if you have your lights properly aimed

So what is it?

1. HIR bulbs

-HIR bulbs are not well known but works really well. They are special bulbs coated in an infrared reflective coating thats sends back heat to the filament resulting in almost 80% more light output than regular halogen bulb at the same wattage and lifespan. (halogen being 1000 lumens, HIR is 1875 lumens).

You can google about the technology, or theres that one seller on ebay that sells them, they are expensive though.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TOSHIBA-HIR-9011-9012-B...1QQcmdZViewItem

The bulb will requires small modifications to the socket to fit into the low beams.


2. 9006 to 9005 conversion.
This will result in a little less light than HIR but is easier(bulbs are common) and cheaper. Basicly you modify the high beam bulb (9005) to make it fit into the low beam headlight. High beams bulb outputs 1700 lumens vs 1000 for low beams. You need to modify the socket for them to make it work. As you can see in the image, they are very similar and the 9005 has not coating at the top end. The only small disadvantage is these use 65 watts instead of 55. Your wiring/socket might handle the 10 watts over or might not, its a risk to take, or just upgrade your wiring for safety's sake.


This is a little messed up but you get the idea, I'll be doing the 9006-9005 convertion myself, possibly with silverstars.
These are a great alternative to stock housing HID retrofit which are, illegal, unreliable, expensive and dangerous for other drivers.

This post has been edited by Rayme: Feb 22, 2007 - 12:02 PM

[pittfirefighter]

"This is a little messed up but you get the idea, I'll be doing the 9006-9005 conversion myself, possibly with silverstars.
These are a great alternative to stock housing HID retrofit which are, illegal, unreliable, expensive and dangerous for other drivers."

-OK i do agree that this is true. HID's are dangerous without the projector upgrade. BUT high beam bulbs in a low beam housing are just as problematic. The 9005 bulb is not made to be looked at by other drivers. That's why its missing the coloring in the tip and is of a higher intensity. You will blind every driver with 9005 bulbs, no matter how you have the light output pointed.

- AND on a personal note, I am running HID's and have been pulled over for various other things including window tint, dumb driving (left hand turn where i shouldn't have made one), and driving too fast. Never once have they mentioned anything about my headlights. It even passed inspection in Pa with HID's in. I can't say the same thing about a 9005 bulb in the low beam housing.

-9006 - 9005 conversion is completely illegal (at least in pa), light output for low beam headlights is restricted to 55 watts

This post has been edited by pittfirefighter: Mar 20, 2008 - 2:16 PM

[Rayme]

"This is a little messed up but you get the idea, I'll be doing the 9006-9005 conversion myself, possibly with silverstars.
These are a great alternative to stock housing HID retrofit which are, illegal, unreliable, expensive and dangerous for other drivers."

-OK i do agree that this is true. HID's are dangerous without the projector upgrade. BUT high beam bulbs in a low beam housing are just as problematic. The 9005 bulb is not made to be looked at by other drivers. That's why its missing the coloring in the tip and is of a higher intensity. You will blind every driver with 9005 bulbs, no matter how you have the light output pointed.

- AND on a personal note, I am running HID's and have been pulled over for various other things including window tint, dumb driving (left hand turn where i shouldn't have made one), and driving too fast. Never once have they mentioned anything about my headlights. It even passed inspection in Pa with HID's in. I can't say the same thing about a 9005 bulb in the low beam housing.

-9006 - 9005 conversion is completely illegal (at least in pa), light output for low beam headlights is restricted to 55 watts

That doesn't make much sense to me. When I swapped my high beam bulbs into the low beam there wasn't difference to the naked eye, I couldnt see it more blinding. The frosted lens makes a damn good job at directing the light where it's supposed to be. I once took out the lens and moves it around the headlight, what happend? The beam pattern stayed the same wherever I moved it.
Plug and Play HID's are the new rice.