Poor low beam headlights

I am pretty unhappy with the low beam headlights of my '94 Accord LX,
especially compared to some of the newer cars with those blueish
headlights. I wonder if any of you successfully adapted some better
light bulbs than the original stock bulbs.

Thanks,
Rudy

 

The first thing to do would be verify your connections including ground,
clean headlights and adjust properly. Then go from there. I have a 96 that
is certainly adequate for night time lighting.

Dave

 

You might want to try ECE headlamps as found on Accords in Europe. They
are very superior and better performing than the crappy US DOT headlamps.

 

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/bulbs.html

 

I might add, none of the bluish looking bulbs are going to be an
improvement, save (illegal) overwattage bulbs. The ones that are
legal don't actually produce more light than the brightest legal
"non-blue" bulbs. I'd start with the Sylvania XtraVision 9006
that you can find for under $20 a pair at most Wal-Marts. These
aren't blue, and don't let anyone persuade you that blue is better.

The only "blueish" headlights that are going to produce more light
are real xenon high intensity discharge lamps. There are some
safe retrofit kits, and Illusion Lighting is a company that Daniel
Stern considered reputable. Unfortunately they seen to be closed
for business until this Summer. When I last looked, their kits
ran somewhere in the $600+ range.

<http://www.illusion-lighting.com>

The only safe way to retrofit with real HID bulbs is to replace
the entire assembly with proper reflectors and electrical upgrades.
There seem to be some companies that sell real HID bulbs that
drop in as replacements for 9006 or other bulbs, but I hear
they'll likely blind other drivers and provide a crappy light
pattern. I've also heard of people that tried substandard kits
which ended up melting their wiring. HIDs are arc lamps (like
flourescent lights). They use less power when one for a while,
but require a large power spike when starting up.

 

A popular swap is adapting 9005 bulbs to fit into low beam.
Haven't done it, can't comment on effectiveness

I'm quite happy with my Silverstars.

 

What? I don't know if I'd be happy with bulbs that cost twice as
much as and last 1/6 as long as standard 9006 bulbs. The 9006 ST
(Silverstar) has a rated life of 150 hours, the standards I think
are 1000 hours (I can't see on the chart) and XtraVisions are
850 hours. I've heard of 9006 Silverstar users who got ticked off
that they were replacing them every 6 months.

<http://www.sylvaniaautocatalog.com/sylvania/ProductBrowse_halog.asp?Batchid=45&FigNumber=127,130,131>

Not only that - the actual amount of light they put out is less
than a Sylvania XtraVision 9006.

 

Yeah I was buying those things a couple times a year so I just went back to
the stock bulbs and am richer for it.

I didn't know you could put a 9005 high beam bulb into the low beam
side...interesting...I would imagine a little connector change would be in
order. I haven't looked into this at all yet.

 

Well - you shouldn't and it would have to be modified to fit. A 9005
produces more light because it doesn't have the dark coating at the tip
of the glass that's required in the 9006. A 9005 also uses a nominal
65W when a 9006 uses a nominal 55W. This would be illegal and unsafe.

 

That's ok.
You don't have to like them, I do.
Been running them on, all the time the car is on, for over a year, original
pair.

 

I don't care if you like them or not. I'm just trying to talk anyone
else out of getting them. Yours' seem to have lasted longer than
average.

<http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html>

"The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs have a very short lifetime, because
the filament is selected so as to be overdriven. This is necessary
because the blue filtration coating "steals" so much light that only
an overdriven filament can push enough light through the filter to
be legal. The Sylvania SilverStar bulbs are also priced quite high.
This is not because they cost a lot to make, and not because they're
based on some exotic new technology. It's because the goal with this
product is to take market share away from other overpriced bulbs
like the PIAA line.

For best headlamp performance and best value, choose only bulbs with
clear glass."

-- -- --

Here's the opinions of a guy who works in advanced automtive lighting
for a living, sells several high-priced bulbs, but doesn't sell the
Sylvania Silverstar because (in his opinion) they're overpriced junk.
I have bought Osram Silverstar bulbs from him, which (in H1) have been
measured to produce more light and project it further.

This was from a thread I participated in with him last fall:

<http://tinyurl.com/5owj3>

--quote--

Many people have -- some of them buy into the optical delusion (if you
will) that their headlamp performance is better with them. Most of them
get tired of replacing these expensive bulbs every few months.

Blue bulb glass does not improve bulb performance, it worsens it. Bluer
("whiter") light is not correlated with better seeing -- more light is
correlated with better seeing. And bluer light is absolutely the wrong
direction to go for fog lamps, which work better with yellow light.

See my other post in this thread -- short life, low output and high
cost...what's not to like?

Conspicuously, they don't make claims for total light output. If they
did, nobody would buy blue bulbs. They claim Sylvania Silverstars are
the "Brightest and whitest", relying on most people's thinking that
this means something. It doesn't; "brightness" is just as subjective
as "loudness" (is Metallica "louder" than Mozart? Sure seems that way,
even at the exact same Sound Pressure Level. Same principle applies
with "brightness" of light). And "Whiteness" doesn't mean anything
either, though there are numerous companies working very hard to
convince the public that bluer light is "whiter".

--unquote--