# sylvania low beam bulb is not bright as HID ?



## picard (May 24, 2005)

has anyone notice that sylvania bulb low beam for sedan is not as bright as HID? Sylvania claims its light is almost as bright. I install it but it is no where as bright.Is this due to the reflector? I have the accord 93 sedan. The beam seam to spread out. It doesn't look like white beam of lexus ES300 or any lexus sedan. Does PIAA bulb produce brighter beam than sylvania?


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## ACMarina (May 25, 2005)

Which Sylvania are you talking about? If you're talking about Silverstars, I've got a little bit of experience with them. To me, they bump the output a little bit and put a coating on them to make them seem a little bit "whiter". Kinda the "look" of HID to those outside the vehicle, but they aren't going to be as "bright" to the driver as Xtravisions. 

The problem with "brighter" bulbs, the way I figure it, is that they're putting more light into the same reflector. There would be more light in the area that there's normally light in, so you don't really notice it. To really change the lighting on your car, you'd need to add on some driving lights or alter the projection of the light in some way, maybe with new headlight capsules or something. Projectors, perhaps. .


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## DaGunn (May 25, 2005)

The Sylvania SilverStars are not as bright as HID, but neither are the super bright PIAAs. But, both are close to the low end of HIDs color temp, with the PIAAs just a bit closer. The problem with the PIAA and other Hi-Intensity lights is their life. If you get a year out of the bulbs count yourself as lucky. Also, the lights are expensive, even more so for the PIAAs. PIAAs are available in sets only so if one burns out you have to buy a whole set at $75.00. The Sylvanias are available in both sets and singles at about $20 per light at Pepboys. One of my PIAAs crapped out the other day and I just installed a set of the SilverStars. Their specs indicate about a 33 percent increase over standard Halogen headlights. 

Dave
- Tip: do not even bump a 55 Gallon plastic garbage can when you have your PIAA headlights on as the hot filaments in the light will break.


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## zespectre (May 25, 2005)

The headlights on my 97 Jeep were dim, dim, dim. Did a bit of rewiring that helped but the real difference came with the Silverstars, much brighter and nice white output. I know they aren't supposed to have the lifespan of some other bulbs but mine have held up so far (8 months and I don't know how many hours) and that includes some pretty rough offroad thudding around.


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## ACMarina (May 25, 2005)

I'm guessing if you're talking about low-beam bulbs alone, that the Accord has seperate bulbs for high and low beams. It MAY be possible to alter the plug for the low beams to accept a high-beam bulb. Wouldn't effect the actual projection of the beam, as that's all handled by the reflector and lens. Might melt the housing or fry your wires, though. I know that it can be done with SOME Chevrolet trucks, though. And some of the mid-90s Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis/Towncar headlights. 

Also don't know about legality, but it would be worth researching at the very least. .


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## Vortex (May 25, 2005)

It can easily be done on the Accord. The differance is only 10w of extra draw for an additional 700 lumens of output and the beam pattern will stay the same. I've done this succesfully to my 2003 Accord. Here is the how to: http://www.bmwe34.net/E34main/Upgrade/More_light.htm

Try it with the silverstars /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif


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## picard (May 25, 2005)

I have the silver star sylvania bulb. It doesn't show that far at all. Does extravision throw farther?


hey Vortex, is this kind of dangerous to the bulb if you remove the plastic according to the instruction in the URL you posted.


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## ACMarina (May 26, 2005)

Throw has more to do with the design of the reflector than the bulb, I think. The Silverstars put out a little more light, but there's some light removed by the filter. It gives the feel of HID, but it seems from your description that you're not getting the light output that you had before. .


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## Vortex (May 26, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*picard said:*
I have the silver star sylvania bulb. It doesn't show that far at all. Does extravision throw farther?


hey Vortex, is this kind of dangerous to the bulb if you remove the plastic according to the instruction in the URL you posted. 

[/ QUOTE ]

As long as you leave no finger prints on the glass bulb or scrathes. The bulb is pressurized so be carefull. I use a hot blade and just shear the tabs off. After doing this a few times I got tired and simply snipped the factory 9006 sockets off and spliced in some 9005 sockets.

Try this with a pair of 9005 sylvania Xtra Vision bulbs /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif You will be pleased at the result for very little $$$$.


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## VidPro (May 28, 2005)

i like silverstars.
i heard that Piaas were a tighter fillement, which achieved a better spot, but that would also mean more heat in the tight space, mabey that is why they are short lived. other than Touching them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
course if the tight filament was in the wrong location for the reflector, it would be worse not better.

all FAUX HID will never be REAL hid, it just can not do the same thing. uses less power, for the output.

get some trailtek hid lights, hang them Low as driving lights, that is what i would like to do, but its $$$


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## picard (May 30, 2005)

*How does splicing silverstar 9006 socket help?*

why do you snipe the 9006 socket off and splice on 9005 socket? How does this help to increase throw?


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## ACMarina (May 30, 2005)

*Re: How does splicing silverstar 9006 socket help?*

Well, here's what happens.

9006 bulbs have a coating over the tip of the bulb, as you can see in the website Vortex linked to. 9005 bulbs don't have this coating. If both bulbs put out the same amount of light from the get-go (which they don't) then you'd have more actual output from the 9005 because the coating isn't absorbing any of the light. 9005 bulbs are actually higher output anyway for the most part, so replacing a 9006 with a 9005 will have more light output.

The problem is that you can't just plug a 9005 bulb into the 9006 socket. There are tabs that get in the way. You can either grind the tabs off of the bulbs themselves, cut grooves into the 9006 socket, make an adapter to hook the 9006 socket into a 9005 socket and then hook that to the bulb, or replace the 9006 socket completely and wire in a new 9005 socket. The latter is the best option.

In some cases, you could go to the automobile's manufacturer and buy a new plug that runs from the vehicle's harness to the headlights. If all went well, you could just buy the plugs for a 9005 bulb and replace the 9006 plugs with them. Since that's often not the case, you'd probably have to cut the old ones off and go from there..


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## flownosaj (Jun 1, 2005)

*Re: How does splicing silverstar 9006 socket help?*

[ QUOTE ]
*picard said:*
why do you snipe the 9006 socket off and splice on 9005 socket?

[/ QUOTE ]
So he doesn't have to remove the extra tabs and material from the new bulb evey time he puts a high beam into the low beam spot.


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