Osram Rallye 65W H7 is discontinued - Is there another like it?

[pungo]

$28.76 he said was the 2015 price. As long as shipping and freight prices don't change from what he expects currently.

Thanks, I assume that price is for a pair?

 

[passive101]

I think that's for a single bulb. I remember years ago paying almost $30 I think. But I also bought them 2 at a time, so I'm really not certain anymore.

 

[-Virgil-]

I seem to remember last time I bought them they were just under $30 a piece. $28.76 (76, not 75!) rings a bell.

Worth it, too, IMO.

 

[pungo]

Are these similar to the Osam Rallye 65w? I looked back through my records from 2015 and they were less than $40 shipped for 4 bulbs. Maybe they were on closeout? Guess I should have bought more.

 

[passive101]

They should be identical

 

[-Virgil-]

Are these similar to the Osam Rallye 65w?

Should be identical to the real (German-made) Osram Rallye 65w bulbs. Starting not too long before those were discontinued there was rash of cheap low-quality knockoffs from China, in very convincing Osram packaging.

I looked back through my records from 2015 and they were less than $40 shipped for 4 bulbs.

I think at that price either you got a thundering bargain deal on real ones, or you got the phonies.

 

[-Virgil-]

HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I got my 65w H7s from Stern. Actually they arrived about a week ago, but I wanted to keep my lip buttoned until I put them through some tests. My findings: THEY'RE BACK. These bulbs prove out at least as well as the discontinued Osrams in terms of output (flux in lumens) and beam focus (hot spot placement and intensity, light distribution below the cutoff, cutoff sharpness, etc) in the variety of lamps I tested them in. Close scrutiny shows top-level assembly workmanship, as I expect in a German-made bulb. And as predicted, they dust the previous top dogs (Philips X-Treme, Osram Night Breaker/Racer, Tungsram Megalight). I was originally going to buy ten, but he's got a pretty nice price break for a dozen, so I decided to live large and bought 12. Might buy more to lay in a stockpile, but it'll have to wait until the Misses isn't watching my wallet quite as closely.

 

[passive101]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I got my 65w H7s from Stern. Actually they arrived about a week ago, but I wanted to keep my lip buttoned until I put them through some tests. My findings: THEY'RE BACK. These bulbs prove out at least as well as the discontinued Osrams in terms of output (flux in lumens) and beam focus (hot spot placement and intensity, light distribution below the cutoff, cutoff sharpness, etc) in the variety of lamps I tested them in. Close scrutiny shows top-level assembly workmanship, as I expect in a German-made bulb. And as predicted, they dust the previous top dogs (Philips X-Treme, Osram Night Breaker/Racer, Tungsram Megalight). I was originally going to buy ten, but he's got a pretty nice price break for a dozen, so I decided to live large and bought 12. Might buy more to lay in a stockpile, but it'll have to wait until the Misses isn't watching my wallet quite as closely.

I got mine as well. I put them into my Ninja 650 and both of them are able to run at the same time without a power issue. The heat difference doesn't seem to be very much as nothing has melted. When I used my Lux meter comparing the stock H7 to these H9s I see some little difference in the numbers. It doesn't seem huge against my garage, but there is a bit more light through the whole beam pattern. I notice many LEDs have gaps where their isn't a lot of light on other bikes with the reflectors like mine. The 65W H7's are a little brighter and they do keep the exact same beam pattern from what I measured. These are definitely brighter then the short life slightly brighter H7 bulbs. These are the bulbs I remember.

One thing I did notice doing side by side testing is that these are slightly whiter then standard H7 bulbs. I'm not certain if that's only from the more lumen output so they appear whiter, or if there is a slight difference in how they're made. I think I'll be ordering a few more as backups for these in case they quite making them again.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

One thing I did notice doing side by side testing is that these are slightly whiter then standard H7 bulbs. I'm not certain if that's only from the more lumen output so they appear whiter, or if there is a slight difference in how they're made. I think I'll be ordering a few more as backups for these in case they quite making them again.

Both bulbs put out white light. Do you mean that new bulbs put out light that tends more towards blue, or the standard H7 bulbs put out light that tends more towards yellow?

 

[passive101]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

Both bulbs put out white light. Do you mean that new bulbs put out light that tends more towards blue, or the standard H7 bulbs put out light that tends more towards yellow?

The new bulbs put out more towards blue or appear to have a slightly higher kelvin temp compared to standard H7 bulbs without any filters or marketed (increased whiteness). They're still definitely standard halogen looking. It's just something I noticed. Maybe their are differences tolerances in kelvin temp from bulb to bulb as well? It's small enough to have not noticed if I didn't have 2 bulbs a few inches away from each other.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

The new bulbs put out more towards blue or appear to have a slightly higher kelvin temp compared to standard H7 bulbs without any filters or marketed (increased whiteness). They're still definitely standard halogen looking. It's just something I noticed. Maybe their are differences tolerances in kelvin temp from bulb to bulb as well? It's small enough to have not noticed if I didn't have 2 bulbs a few inches away from each other.

Higher filament luminance in cd/m2​ often comes from higher filament temperatures, so, knowing what we do about blackbody radiators the color temperature is going to go up (and the filament life is going to go down).

 

[passive101]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I thought these have about the same amount of life of standard H7's. I thought the filament was just slightly different within a mm in length? Or are they just longer lasting then the higher brightness overdriver H7's?

 

[Mr. Merk]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

Virgil, do you think that the higher wattage might cause my Porsche Cayenne to freak out with these in the high-beams?

 

[-Virgil-]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I doubt it would throw any codes, but the only way to know for sure would be to try it.

 

[pungo]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I bought a set of these for the high beams on a 2001 BMW 525i. They are much better than the stock 55w H7. They are currently configured as DRL by PWM that reduces the output. I'm wondering if running them with PWM is going to dramatically reduce the life span of the bulb. The low beams are factory Xenon. When coding the light control module, I can configure the DRLs as low beam, high beam or off. I'd hate to prematurely burn out these new H7 bulbs.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I bought a set of these for the high beams on a 2001 BMW 525i. They are much better than the stock 55w H7. They are currently configured as DRL by PWM that reduces the output.

High beam DRLs are bad and they should feel bad. It ruins bulbs not by wearing out the filament, but by causing the envelope itself to blacken and potentially blister.

This was an HIR1 in the high beam of a '99 RX300, which also was the DRL.

Low beam DRL would be the simplest way to prevent this on that BMW, and normal headlamp usage at night would probably keep this from happening, or at least as badly.

 

[-Virgil-]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

Here is another vote to code it for low beam DRLs. Much longer lifespan of the Xenon bulbs versus halogens, much wider visibility angles of the low beams versus the high beams, no degradation of the high beam bulbs due to low-volt operation, etc.

 

[pungo]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

Thanks for the recommendations. I did notice one of the old high beam bulbs I pulled out has a black discoloration on the inside of the bulb glass. I coded the light control module to use the Xenon low beams as the DRLs to save the life of these precious 65w H7 bulbs for the high beams.

 

[-Virgil-]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

Precious...? More expensive than a regular H7, but I didn't think they were all that expensive.

 

[pungo]

Re: HOORAY! New 65w, 2100-lumen H7 bulbs are for real!

I said precious since I'm not sure what the availability will be in the future, not due to the cost, which I also thought were not that expensive. Now that I think about it, I should pick up a spare set.