Are these lights ready for the trash?

[Ls400]

No, I edited post 7 to fix a spelling error.



Good idea to have a thorough eye exam if it's been awhile. Even under the best of circumstances, people with very good vision can't see everything they need to at night. We kill way too many pedestrians with cars, and it's a miracle we don't kill more than we do.

I recently saw on DVN that if all cars in Germany had HID headlights it would lead 2.5x decrease in nighttime fatalities. If only there were a way to extract HID performance from a set of halogens! Forgive me for dreaming .

 

[-Virgil-]

If only there were a way to extract HID performance from a set of halogens!

Do not make the error of thinking all HID headlamps are necessarily better than all halogen headlamps. With the recommended bulbs in your new headlamps, correctly aimed, you will have low beam performance within the range covered by HID headlamps.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I couldn't agree more. It's not what generates the light, it's the beam pattern and where you put the light. As it turns out, the StarrHID headlights on my Crown Vic are starting to show their age. But the very fresh FACTORY TOYOTA headlights on both of our 2007 Corollas, using 9012 and 9011 bulbs, are really quite good.

Anyone who feels inclined to whine about the cost of factory Corolla headlights should seek factory lights for other vehicles. I believe I can still get factory lights for our 1999 Grand Cherokee (1999-2004 is the WJ series, and they use the right angled version of 9006 and 9005), but it looks like if I want both sides I'll have to buy the ones for the Overland/Limited, can't find both sides for the Laredo. The are NOT as cheap as the excellent Corolla lights.

 

[Ls400]

So I got one of the headlamp housings swapped out. The driver's side came today. I did that and turned the lights on for a preliminary assessment. So I have one Sylvania silver Star ultra 9006 and one generic 9006. I put the ultra in the new lamp on the left and the generic in the old lamp on the right. What's up with the beam patterns?? Why is the ultra creating such a different and more diffuse pattern? I swapped the bulbs and the same thing happened--the ultras created a rather diffuse looking beam pattern.

What's up with this?

Is this a good or bad thing?

http://imgur.com/gallery/B67MR6w

 

[-Virgil-]

Faulty bulb or bulb installed improperly. It's a very bad thing.

Note that the Sylvania bulbs are not a good choice in any event ,and you should not be using them if you're trying to see well.

 

[LeanBurn]

To me that looks to be more than just bulb problems.

What about keeping the original headlamp housings, safely heating the entire assembly, removing the front clear cover and putting the aftermarket front in its place? You retain the OEM beam pattern, bulb positioning etc, but the protective clear cover is renewed.

 

[-Virgil-]

To me that looks to be more than just bulb problems.

Dude said the problem followed the bulb when he swapped it from the new headlamp on one side of the car to the old headlamp on the other side. Unless that's not what he meant, that means it's a bulb problem.

What about keeping the original headlamp housings, safely heating the entire assembly, removing the front clear cover and putting the aftermarket front in its place?

This is a really bad idea. For one thing, there is no such thing as "safely heating" a headlamp -- it's going to be damaged by the attempt. Also, these lamps are not made to have the lenses removed or replaced, and it is just about impossible to get an adequate seal once the lens is removed. Furthermore, it's not just the lens that deteriorates over years of service, so does the reflector!

 

[jaycee88]

I swapped the bulbs and the same thing happened--the ultras created a rather diffuse looking beam pattern.

Do you mean you swapped one Ultra with the other Ultra (in the new headlamp), or do you mean you swapped the Ultra from the new headlamp to the old one?

Put the generic into the new headlamp - if it looks as it should (like the passenger side lamp in the photo), then the problem is with the Ultra bulbs. If the beam still looks bad, it's a problem with the new headlamp assembly.

Is this a good or bad thing?

http://imgur.com/gallery/B67MR6w

It's horrendous, but this is a good example of when a photo of beam patterns shining against a wall is useful - that is what it looks like when something is very wrong!

 

[Ls400]

Do you mean you swapped one Ultra with the other Ultra (in the new headlamp), or do you mean you swapped the Ultra from the new headlamp to the old one?

Put the generic into the new headlamp - if it looks as it should (like the passenger side lamp in the photo), then the problem is with the Ultra bulbs. If the beam still looks bad, it's a problem with the new headlamp assembly.

The generic produces the same rather focused beam pattern with the flat cutoff in both the new and old housings.

The Ultra produces the diffuse pattern in both the new and old housings.

 

[Ls400]

Faulty bulb or bulb installed improperly. It's a very bad thing.

Note that the Sylvania bulbs are not a good choice in any event ,and you should not be using them if you're trying to see well.

Thanks for the advice. I do have 9012s and 9011s on the way.

The only reason I have the Silver Stars in the interim is that they appeared to be the best option at Wal-Mart.

From what you stated here:

It doesn't matter if there's a ring of blue near the tip of the bulb; that's not an area of the glass where light that's part of the beam pattern goes through, so blue light in that location doesn't absorb light that would otherwise contribute to the beam pattern. What it does is strategically block some of the light that would otherwise get counted in the integrating sphere (tool to measure the lumen output of a bulb). With the blue ring, a bulb that would otherwise fail because of lumen output greater than allowed for its type can pass.

It appears that the Silver Stars would be a better performer than the other options at Wal-Mart, which are the non-tinted Sylvania Xtravisions and Basics. The Silver Stars do indeed have a band of blue around the tip and a band of blue around the base, and a gap between the blue bands about where the filament is. Would the selective blue-tinting enable Sylvania to make the Silver Stars a better performer than the Xtravisions, which are completely clear?

 

[-Virgil-]

Thanks for the advice. I do have 9012s and 9011s on the way.

That's a good set of bulbs.

At the Wal-Mart, the best pick would be the Xtravision.

 

[Ls400]

That's a good set of bulbs.

At the Wal-Mart, the best pick would be the Xtravision.

Thanks, duly noted. I'll get those next time I'm in a squeeze instead of the silver stars. I've noticed that once or twice Walmart will have a few Sylvania basic 9012s but it is very rare to see them.

Do you mind addressing the other part of my post regarding the partial blue coat?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

The Silver Stars do indeed have a band of blue around the tip and a band of blue around the base, and a gap between the blue bands about where the filament is. Would the selective blue-tinting enable Sylvania to make the Silver Stars a better performer than the Xtravisions, which are completely clear?

The tinted bands exist to bring the total output of the bulb to legal limits, while still leaving the filament fully exposed to the lamp reflector. This is an oft-used, legitimate technique.

For a confluence of price, performance, and lifetime, the Xtravisions are the way to go.

 

[-Virgil-]

Thin bands of blue far away from the filament are much preferable to thick bands of blue with just a small ring of uncolored glass (as found on the Silver Star Ultra)

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Thin bands of blue far away from the filament are much preferable to thick bands of blue with just a small ring of uncolored glass (as found on the Silver Star Ultra)

Oh, yeah-- forgot that part. The bands on the SilverStar Ultra are gigantic compared to the Philips X-Treme Power, and encroach into the useful filament 'window' area.

LS, once you get your set of new, correct bulbs, you should never be "in a pinch" because you'll keep spares on board the vehicle, and will immediately order a new set of bulbs when you have to use a spare.

 

[Ls400]

Thin bands of blue far away from the filament are much preferable to thick bands of blue with just a small ring of uncolored glass (as found on the Silver Star Ultra)

Is there an optimal amount of blue surface area for a given bulb type, or is that dependent on reflector/projector design?

 

[-Virgil-]

Is there an optimal amount of blue surface area for a given bulb type

As little as possible and still squeak/sneak past the lumen limit.

 

[Ls400]

As little as possible and still squeak/sneak past the lumen limit.

But if there's an almost non-existent band of blue, is that going to measurably affect the amount of light recorded by the integrating sphere? Isn't the purpose of the bands to allow the filament to be overdriven by filtering out some "unwanted" light?

For a confluence of price, performance, and lifetime, the Xtravisions are the way to go.

Just for the sake of completeness, sometimes I notice that there are untinted Sylvania Silver stars for sale at Wal-Mart. They are untinted and lack the "ultra" moniker. I presume that these are brighter than the Xtravisions? (Don't worry, I'm just going to stick with 9012s in the future...waiting for the Volsa 9012+120!)

Example of a non-ultra Sylvania Silver star:

https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-SilverStar-Performance-Headlight-Contains/dp/B000BLKVAM

 

[Alaric Darconville]

But if there's an almost non-existent band of blue, is that going to measurably affect the amount of light recorded by the integrating sphere?

Yes. If the band exists, it is filtering light. This should go without saying.

Isn't the purpose of the bands to allow the filament to be overdriven by filtering out some "unwanted" light?

Not totally "unwanted", but less-useful/useless at the very least.

Just for the sake of completeness, sometimes I notice that there are untinted Sylvania Silver stars for sale at Wal-Mart. They are untinted and lack the "ultra" moniker. I presume that these are brighter than the Xtravisions? (Don't worry, I'm just going to stick with 9012s in the future...waiting for the Volsa 9012+120!)

Example of a non-ultra Sylvania Silver star:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BLKVAM/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Tinted. Maybe you need to adjust the CCT of your monitor; the pictures show light tinting on the SilverStar and more obviously on the two zXe variants.

The zXe Gold ones, if I could suspend my disbelief that they'd really be any good, has very carefully deposited (or laser-ablated), and fairly deep blue, tinting with distinct windows to the filament. I'd like to say they found a way to have stupendously bright filaments that need that much tint to bring them down to legal limits, and therefore the unfiltered light will make the Most. Awesome. Beam. Ever., but this is a Sylvania bulb.

(It would be nice if any of the banded bulbs used a yellow tint instead of blue, because that would make the scatter light less troublesome than if it tended toward blue. Blue light is a fairly small component of a bulb's output, so it would take a lot of yellow area to do that. Perhaps something along the lines of how the zXe Gold has the very distinct window formation on it. Yellow off-axis light may diminish front turn signal visibility, so that could be one reason to use blue.)

 

[Ls400]

Yes. If the band exists, it is filtering light. This should go without saying.

Yes, but let's say you have a bulb with a 0.1mm band of blue. And another bulb with a 0.5mm band.

Wouldn't the bulb with the 0.5mm band of blue be able to further overdrive its filament and create more "useful" light? A 0.5mm band also shouldn't have that much more of an effect on filtering out useful light, versus a 0.1mm band, right?

What I'm confused about is the assertion that as little blue as possible is optimal, because surely there's a confluence of blue area and "useful" light produced?