Anyone have any useful headlight bulb information.

Purchased some of the "Super White Light" bulbs on E-bay.

55W H1

There must be a psychology about them. I know for a fact (used my photo light meter) that the bulb claims are fake. A 55 watt super white bulb puts out the same light meter reading as my "yellow" standard bulbs. Either direct or reflective reading. No difference in light, just color. The road did "seem" darker. Blueish light and black asphalt make for dark road. The road reflectors did light up a bit more since "white" light was reflecting off of them.

I have some pictures, light meter readings and a few different bulb selections I will post in a week or so.

Any comments or suggestions from anyone? I'm not looking to put in those 100 watt off road light and melt the housing. Maybe 80watts in the high beam and Silver Star bulbs. They are on sale at Advanced Auto Parts with a rebate!

Don't try overwattage bulbs!!! The Subaru headlight wiring is very fragile, and if you exceed 75 watts or so the wires will melt!!! 85watts = melted wires. I have seen it happen many times.

 

I suggest getting the Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. They are a premium bulb, with a very high quality filament for more light output with no additional power requirement. The have a blue coating to produce white light. They are considerably brighter than the stock bulbs. I think the part numbers are ST-H1 for H1, ST-9006, ST-9005, etc.

 

You can not measure a light bulb based on its wattage, as wattage is a measure of power usage, and not light output. Light output is measured in Lumens. Since you are a photographer, you already know this, but other readers may not.

 

One thing to note is that Subaru uses very high quality bulbs throughout, they are built by Osram (Sylvania) and are among the best. How many Subaru's do you see with burnt out lights? Compared to Ford? I can't get over the fact that most of the 2002/3 Ford Explorers that I see have 2/3rds of the rear lights not working. Either the Explorers alternator is not producing stable voltage or their bulbs are crap.

 

I did note that the Silverstars were rated for 150 hours? and the regular bulbs were about 1000 hours? Maybe a read the Sylvania book wrong, but 150 hours is like 3 months of night driving for me.

 

BTW the daytime running light system powers the bulb at about 70-80% power, and has little effect on bulb life. But if you constantly drive with the switch in the headlight position you are shortening the bulb life and wasting gas (the alternator has to work harder to produce electricity for the headlights and taillights, which will reduce fuel economy).

I ran into the same problem with those damn blue/white bulbs.... I like the color in the snow or on a dry road, but wet roads seem to absorb all the light... Get a set of Ultra White Foul Weather Lights.. (34 bucks at schucks) the combo of those works awesome.

 

Oh and about higher wattage bulbs.. I ran 100 Watt lamps in my 86 for a few months and I do a lot of night time driving and I had no problems with melting wires or melting the housing...

Are the Sylvania Silverstar really brighter, or just whiter? They mention on their website that the European version does not have the "whiter" light. That would be my preference, are they available in the US?

 

Wagner makes a Halogen Gold product, that says they last longer, but they don't make any brightness claims.

 

Sylvania claims "SilverStar bulbs are whiter, brighter, and closer to the color of sunlight."

 

To me, if they're more like the HID lights that a minus. I find the whiter HID lights to have annoying glare when approaching.

I put the Sylvania Silver Stars in my '96 legacy last week - what a difference.

 

The Part # is 9003ST

Advance Auto Parts Has a deal - buy one and get one for 1/2 price plus another $6 off.

 

BobS

Originally posted by alias20035

BTW the daytime running light system powers the bulb at about 70-80% power, and has little effect on bulb life. But if you constantly drive with the switch in the headlight position you are shortening the bulb life and wasting gas (the alternator has to work harder to produce electricity for the headlights and taillights, which will reduce fuel economy).

 

I agree that the bulbs will burn out faster, but let me put it in perspective, 150 watts is about 0.2 HP. For those of us without DRL, running with the lights on all of the time is a cheap way to increase safety.

I'm going to try the Sylvania XtraVision, supposed to be

 

brighter but not whiter

and thus a lot cheaper.

Keeps away the Grim Reaper.

 

(headlight rap)

I have used the XtraVisions; definately a good buy. I was told that they did something to improve the beam patterns or something to that effect. Anyways, they create more usable light with the same power usage.

Anyone know what years the projector style headlights are made for? I think mine is a bit before that time, 1993 Legacy Wagon :-)

I installed the Xtravisions last night. They are substantially better than the standard bulbs - brighter, sharper cutoff, etc. Well worth it.

 

They're $13 at Pep Boys. Bought another pair for my wife's car this morning.

 

I have used the XtraVisions; definately a good buy. I was told that they did something to improve the beam patterns or something to that effect.

 

I notice a beam down and to the left which I didn't see before - nice for cornering.