SWMBO has been complaining about lights on car - I put it down to old age - either her eyes (65+) are not so good or the original bulbs are failing (13 yrs)
On reflection it was going to be easier and cheaper to try the bulbs.
SWMBO saw an advert tor Osram NightbreakerPlus in today's Telegraph.
H1s are roughly £24.00 in Halfords, most mail bulb/wiper sellers on tinternet.
Good old Amazon turns up trumps - just over £13 for 2 bulbs inc 80p P&P
With a bit of luck in a week's time we will have them fitted and road tested.
Failure with that might be a tad more expensive after 40 yrs!!
I did not know what true happiness was until I got married............then it was too late!
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>> SWMBO saw an advert tor Osram NightbreakerPlus in today's Telegraph.
>>
>> H1s are roughly £24.00 in Halfords, most mail bulb/wiper sellers on tinternet.
>>
>> Good old Amazon turns up trumps - just over £13 for 2 bulbs inc 80p
>> P&P
Great great bulbs, super light, only last a year tho. You'll be forking out every year.
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Philips Extreme equivalents are now at least 3 years and possibly 4, no problems yet, being a tight git the set that i put in the pick up is doing sterling service in the C2.
Considering the state of Northants third world urban roads thats a credit to them.
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Recently fitted a pair of Halfords Extra Brilliance +50% H7s in the Mondeo's dipped lights, as I have done with pretty much every car I've had since the Skoda. They don't appear a lot brighter on the Mondeo (H4s seem to show the biggest improvement over standard), but the beam pattern is clearer and better defined, and they certainly have a better spread of light in the straight ahead on dark wet roads.
I'm doing a lot of commuting at 3 or 4am lately and the county council have turned off most of the street lights between here and Leicester, so good lights are a must. I give them a wipe over before I set off, as the morning dew has a noticeable scattering effect on the light beams.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sat 12 Nov 11 at 17:55
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>> Philips Extreme equivalents are now at least 3 years and possibly 4, no problems yet,
>> being a tight git the set that i put in the pick up is doing
>> sterling service in the C2.
yes my Philips Extremes have lasted longer than the Osrams, but not quite as good a light,.
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>> >> SWMBO saw an advert tor Osram NightbreakerPlus in today's Telegraph.
>> >>
>> Great great bulbs, super light, only last a year tho. You'll be forking out every
>> year.
>>
Not my experience. Of the 6 bulbs on vehicles in the drive, I've replaced 2 bulbs in 3 years.
I guess Mr Z is hard on his lights, flashing at mimsers and those stuck in the snow.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 14 Nov 11 at 00:33
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>> I guess Mr Z is hard on his lights, flashing at mimsers and those stuck
>> in the snow.
Not at all, thats what the horns are for.
Both Osrams failed after 12 months and one day, the Philips have done much better, tho as I say not quite as good a light as from the Osrams.
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I wouldn't think that the strangely illogical sensitivity circuits on the Auto lights systems, fitted to cars, does much to add to bulb longevity, as mine often come on and then off when least expected and then don't come on when I would have expected them to. flashing on and off this way isn't good for bulb life.
On Friday I was in the area of Polhill, Otford and Sevenoaks where it was very foggy at about late lunch, early afternoon and dark as well and yet the Auto sensor did not see fit to switch the lights on and so I turned them on and operated the pull switch to light my rear red fog light. All a bit inconsistent really, considering they'll come on during an early Summer's evening, say, at about 7pm, when sunset is after 9pm and it's a cloudless sky.
I'd like to experiment with all these bulbs but today it's such an protracted and painlful job changing headlamp bulbs in most modern cars.
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>> I wouldn't think that the strangely illogical sensitivity circuits on the Auto lights systems, fitted
>> to cars, does much to add to bulb longevity, as mine often come on and
>> then off when least expected and then don't come on when I would have expected
>> them to. flashing on and off this way isn't good for bulb life.
The BMW system fitted to the E90 3-series is not so much illogical as ridiculously over-sensitive. I end up turning it off most of the time. Passing under a canopy of trees for a few hundred yards is enough to trigger it on an otherwise bright and sunny day. Then the stupid things stay on for ages afterwards. Thankfully, it's just a question of headlight switch position to disable the ridiculous system completely.
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>> Both Osrams failed after 12 months and one day,
One of the dipped Orsam nightbreakers in my Vectra failed after 8 months, then the other one went a week later.
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those stuck in the snow
chorttle.
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Going back some years I used to fit my vans with 100/80 rally bulbs. That used to deal a swift blow to the daytime fog light merchants. Chortle also..
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>> Going back some years I used to fit my vans with 100/80 rally bulbs.
Had those in me Sierra, melted the dipswitch, had to fit relays into the lamp wiring close to the lamps after replacing dipswitch.
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Did that with an MGB. Didn't melt anything, but I knew there was a problem when my right knee got very hot. The wiring to the headlamp switch on the column shroud sits just above it.
I ended up swapping the headlamp units for Cibie ones. The improved beam gave far more illumination with 55/60w bulbs than the old Lucas ones did with 80/100w ones.
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On a 13 year old car, fitting relays to give the bulbs a good voltage direct off the battery should give a good gain in light output.
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>> On a 13 year old car, fitting relays to give the bulbs a good voltage
>> direct off the battery should give a good gain in light output.
>>
.....and a reduction in bulb life!
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Marked improvement in dipped beam with the new Osram Nightbreaker bulbs - brighter and markedly whiter.
Only issue now are the main beam lamps that look decidedly yellow beside the sharp white of the new dipped beam. Probably should have replaced both dipped and main beam at the same time.
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More importantly, did the gaffer get her eyes checked?
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The newer generation of osram nightbreakers are supposed to be much longer lasting. I'm thinking of getting some. I had the other osram brighter bulbs and they lasted for years without trouble even though everyone said they didn't last long.
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>> The newer generation of osram nightbreakers are supposed to be much longer lasting. I'm thinking
>> of getting some. I had the other osram brighter bulbs and they lasted for years
>> without trouble even though everyone said they didn't last long.
They were probably not the "brighter" brighter ones. There were +30's and +50's I seem to recall.
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There's a remarkable difference in the efficiency of headlights depending on the make / model of car.
A couple which were noticeably bad in my experience were the Xantia and the Signum/Vectra C. The lights on a Volvo 850 and a 940 were good, a Galaxy excellent and an Espace only adequate. 5 and 3 series BMWs were good as was an Audi A4. The Mk3 Mondeos were good, the Qashqai on halogens is very good and on xenons mine was outstanding. The E class has fantastic xenon beams but it does have rather a lot of other lights going on as well.
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I thought my eyes were going until I cleaned the inside of the windscreen. Thick layer of greasy black filthy clag came off with a bit of elbow grease. Can see out now.
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>> The Mk3 Mondeos were good
For beam pattern and long-distance penetration, I would say the Escort (Mk7)'s dipped beams were better. I found the same with the minicab cars - the Octavia's dipped beams (H4 bulbs) easily outdid the 406 (H7). Maybe I just get on better with H4s?
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Seeing better @ night time - Zero
