# Headlight Bulb upgrade



## bilajio (Oct 2, 2009)

Hi all

Has anyone upgraded their headlight bulbs to the brilliant white / blue tint style bulbs?

can you recommed where i can buy an entire set from? i bought some from ebay for my Golf but found the dipped beam (one click) where still coming through with an Orange hue.

i look forward to your responses [smiley=gossip.gif]


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## Teighto (Aug 10, 2008)

Ebay mate -


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## Neb (Oct 25, 2007)

I just put in the 6K HID bulbs today. Although my passenger isn't working for some reason. :x Paid $50USD shipped for the pair


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## Dave-TT (Feb 24, 2009)

You could get a HID Conversion Kit for around £65.00 and they look fantastic!


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## bilajio (Oct 2, 2009)

my brother has got a pair of Philips Blue Vision which look fantastic, he got them from Powerbulbs.com, ive just ordered a pair and will let you know how they look.

not a fan of ebay as i bought a set before which didnt look right at all


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## kevlo (Sep 6, 2009)

i got a hid conversion kit from hids-direct.co.uk. spot on service and the lights look absolutely awesome.

this was for my astra sri though but im sure they will have a kit that fits. they cost me £80 inc P+P and piece of p1ss to fit


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## tonyabacus (May 14, 2009)

Try Hids-Direct, they were really helpful and do loads of stuff.


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## Dave-TT (Feb 24, 2009)

kevlo said:


> i got a hid conversion kit from hids-direct.co.uk. spot on service and the lights look absolutely awesome.
> 
> this was for my astra sri though but im sure they will have a kit that fits. they cost me £80 inc P+P and piece of p1ss to fit


That's where i got mine from, they fit fine and work very well! Very please with them indeed


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

An old post but gives you some info that may be useful:

HID lamps are visibly brighter when replaced after a couple of years. Although they have a ten year lifetime, they can get very dim and change colour over that time, even though they continue to work. All HID lamps are limited to 35W so new cars that look brighter are either simply due to being new bulbs or better lenses. I suspect new bulbs is the main reason though :wink:

These are new Philips D2S bulbs which are standard TT fitment and used by most car manufacturers. They are rated as 3,200 lm @ 4100K and are the brightest available at the standard 35W power rating. http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20Sheets ... %20D2S.htm










Bluer (higher K rated) Philips bulbs are available but are not as bright at only 2,400 lm @ 5,800K: http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20Sheets ... ltinon.htm

You'll find this generally - the higher the K rating (bluer) the less lumens.

HID lamps are noticably dimmer beyond two years of age, although they do "last" for years longer, getting dimmer all the time :wink: . The best upgrade for visibility is to get new standard ones!

This is the cheapest source of Philips D2S HID bulbs I've found:
http://www.hidplanet.com/philips4100k.html 
$78.99/pair + $38.92 shipping = ~£55.9104 for a pair

The cheapest UK source I've found is: 
http://www.xenonmaster.com/shop/item.asp?itemid=4

... at £35 each plus £4.50 post making a pair £73.50

For main beam, Philips Xtreme +80% were the brightest but this has been overtaken recently by Osram Nightbreaker +90%.

If you want visibility with maximum range then don't go for anything with a heavy blue tint - that just removes the yellow part of the spectrum leaving the bulbs bluer but with less light output.

At night, human eyes are more sensitive to yellow light anyway, so that is not a good idea. In dim conditions you perceive it as white anyway as colour vision is less sensitive than black and white.

Also blue light is scattered by water vapour and absorbed more than yellow, so blue bulbs cause more short range back reflection glare and by the time the light has gone down the road there's little remaining that gets returned from long distance.

I first noticed how good the new HID bulbs were down a good mix of roads in the dark. I am now very impressed with the combination of lights I have (Philips Xtreme H7, Philips D2S HID). In fact the new D2S burners are so good that I can drive at high speed and still see far enough ahead on dip beam to cover my comfortable stopping distance! Amazing!

With main beam on, my visible stopping distance is way greater than required for the maximum speed of the car. Very impressive!

Without the brighter HID dips, the bright H7 main beam caused you to loose visibility to the sides because of the contrast giving you tunnel vision but now with the brighter dips everything is more in balance and you get an excellent even spread of visible light  .

One disadvantage is that if you come across a reflective roadsign, the amount of back reflection is dazzling and you need to switch to dip :wink:

*WARNING:* When replacing the HID bulbs, make sure your lights and ignition are turned OFF otherwise you can get a 23kV shock :!: 

*Wak's guide on changing bulbs:* http://www.wak-tt.com/tt_bulbs/changingbulbs.htm

*Some supplimentary information:*

Here's a graph of the human eye's sensitivity to light colour during daylight when the cone sensors are more active:










At night the eye is most sensitive in the green - yellow portion at around 550nm when it is using its rod sensors:










Here's a graph of "Colour Temperature" in Kelvin.










This is the spectral spread of a bulb of 5000k amd one at 7000k:










So, for the most effective night headlight vision choose 4000k-5500k bulbs. 8000k bulbs put a higher proportion of the energy in the blue part of the spectrum where the eyes are less sensitive at night, so you'll end up with poorer night vision and dimmer light for the same wattage :wink: Some bulbs also achieve a blue hue by filtering (wasting) the yellow part of the emission - another reason for having less lumens for the same wattage.

There is also the effect of water vapour in the air. Water absorbs the higher colour temperature moreso than the longer wavelengths. That's why fog lights are sometimes coloured yellow - because the yellow part of the spectrum is not absorbed as much. If you have bluer headlights and fogs they will be next to useless in misty foggy conditions - the light has got to go down the road and back for you to be able to see it - being absorbed all the way. If you want to see further don't get blue/purple higher K bulbs! :wink:

Further reading:

http://www.intellexual.net/hid.html
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... d/bad.html


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## KentishTT (Jun 28, 2007)

A good post John!

I have 6k HID D2S burners fitted at the moment and I find the very white light suits my vision well but they are very bright without too much light scatter so do not travel much past the projected beam length which is consistent with what you mentioned regarding the way the light travels a progressively shorter distance the further into the blue light spectrum the light output is.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

Blue vision ones are good for non-Xenon cars, here's my before and after:


















They are not blue in the slightest, but do give a whiter light than normal bulbs. Probably edging into the 5000K region.


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## Clark5986 (May 24, 2013)

Neb said:


> *I just put in the 6K* HID kits* bulb today. Although my passenger isn't working for some reason. :x Paid $50USD shipped for the pair*


I have installed BI-XENON HI/LOW DUAL BEAM HID Kit H4 H13 9004 9007 9008. Its working good!


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## Basscube (Jan 2, 2012)

Old post.....

Osram nightbreakers are great bulbs

or Xenons offcourse


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