Headlights

i am looking at some new headlights and i was searching on ebay. i found one that i think will work. can you guys tell me weather or not it will have every thing i need to convert over to the bright halogen bulbs.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/EURO-DIAMOND-CUT-HEADLIGHTS-JEEP-CHEROKEE-79-01-98-99_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQihZ019QQitemZ8075680271QQrdZ1

also is that the right price???

correction xenon bulbs not bright halogens

xenon are HID-you cna't do HID without the associated ballasts and sealed housings.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

but the kit comes with the housing. from what im geting from that article is that you can't replace a BULB in the same housing.

Better off spending a little more and getting a set of Hella or IPF lenses, plus a pair of bulbs... like these shown below in model H6054C or H6054J

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/200mm.asp

Looks like they take a standard H4 bulb, so no trouble there.

Incandescent bulbs may be filled with Halogen, Xenon, Krypton, or some other inert gas - the idea is twofold - 1) prevent rapid oxidation of the tungsten filament, and 2) Redeposit the filament on itself, rather than on the inside of the bulb envelope (that's why bulb surfaces get darker as they burn out.)

HID lights are an "arc" light - they don't have a filament. HID lights require a ballast to produce the high voltage needed to make the arc (or is it a low voltage and a very high current? I've not taken one apart yet...)

H4 bulbs also have a 900x number, and should be available anywhere. Don't go to a higher wattage unless you also upgrade your wiring, tho...

On a personal note, those look rather shonky to me, and not even worth $7 each. I do like my Hellas - I think I got what I paid for with those. Check Susquehanna Motorsports (www.rallylights.com) for more information on those.

5-90

87manche said:

xenon are HID

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Uuuuhhhhh....no.

I have the IPF housings and the fat boys and I think it is a great combo. It looks like a stockish light and has a great cut-off. I have yet to ever get flashed @ 4.5 with 32's b/c the light pattern is so good. I would just find a cheap set of H4's that are bright but spend to money on the IPF or Cibie housing.

Ditto the E-codes - I use them with 90W/130W Hella "Super White" bulbs, and don't get any complaints - except the "The Ships Have Landed!" look I get when I flash back at riceboys with those irritating "bloo" headlamps.

The Super Whites work very well in most weather, and I do have Hella 550 fogs (now) for fill-in in fog. However, the cut-off on the dip beam is sharp enough and low enough that it doesn't cause me any trouble in fog.

It's worth spending money on good housings, I think - even the Hella Vision Plus housings are a dramatic improvement over stock (I think. And so does my wife, since she's got them in her DD with 50W/80W bulbs.)

5-90

like mentioned previously... get some HELLA vision pluses or IPF's. i run HELLA headlamps with McCulloch HID's. ive ran this setup for 3 years now, never had any issues. HID's are a worthwhile upgrade if you drive at night frequently.

sorry i took so long to get back to this topic.

so xenons are not HIDs, so i don't need a wiring upgrade.

if i spend some more money on the hellas or ipf it will pay off in the end.

Correct on both?

also, sorry 5-90, i want the blue headlights. are those avalible in the H4's?

i only like the blue one because they have a nice amount of coverage. they are bright in the rain.

Correct. Spend a little up front, and you'll usually end up with a better product. All the more so if you check on "reports from the field" before laying down YOUR cash!

HIDs don't require so much a wiring upgrade (which IS needed if you go with something brighter!) but a wiring modification - with the installation of ballasts units and such. They'll work off stock wiring, but you'll still have to install a few things. Incandescent bulbs are usually advertised by the "fill gas" - nothing, or a hard vacuum; halogen gas of some variety (I'm not sure which xenon/krypton (inert, "noble" gasses) being the most common.

If you want "bloo" lights, I won't try too hard to discourage you, but know a couple things...

1) I almost invariably see these badly aimed. Probably why they crank me off so much.
2) They're a knock-off of the HID look, which is why they're blue. They're also bluer than HID, which makes them less efficient illuminators (blue is not an effective colour for primary illumination.)
3) They'll glare a bit more in fog, snow, and rain.
4) A blue or bluish light is not going to give as effective illumination as a white light, or even a yellow light. White light does not "change colours" due to different absorption/reflection rates, and yellow has minimal effect in the tints used. I'd sooner go with yellow than blue - yellow also has the beneficial effect of not glaring as badly in rain/snow/fog (which is why fog lights are also pale yellow.) Still, white is definitely my first choice.
5) If you upgrade your lighting in pretty much any way above stock, you'll want to check their aim, or just re-aim them. I've posted useful instructions on how to do this with lighting upgrades (HINT - it's not "dead ahead!") here a few times, and a search should turn up those instructions until I get them written up as a FAQ (since I seem to get asked once or twice a month.)

Like I said - if you want "bloo" lights, go ahead. I won't try to dissuade you based upon my personal bias, but you do have facts listed above on the realistic reasons why I won't use "bloo" lights, so do please consider those as well.

5-90

so wait a minute. i have the 6054 halogens. if i go to the xenon lights is it the same thing???

i want it to be a hell of a lot brighter at night that the pos halogens. i got the "true lite" halogens by wagner and the only differance is a purple glow when you look into the fixture.

There are two ways to improve over stock lights -

1) Upgrade the emitter (bulb.)

2) Upgrade the collimator (housing.)

Of course, nothing is stopping you from doing both.

It's important to remember that sealed beam lamps are made about 10,000 at a time, and therefore shortcuts are taken in manufacture. For instance, the lense is moulded (rather than cut,) and the reflector bowl is glass (rather than polished metal,) both because it's a disposable part. There's no reason to make it any good, since it's just going to be thrown away, no?

There are three ways to make lenses
1) Moulding. Just like it sounds, and just like casting metal. Therefore, tolerances are going to be very loose, but there is also minimal to no "second operation" work to do
2) Cutting. Again, just like it sounds. Only this time, you don't start with molten glass, you start with a slap, and you use process similar to machining metal to make the lense profile. Glass lenses can, in fact, be cut on CNC machinery with a little retrofitting and re-tooling. This will give a more consistent lense profile.
3) Grinding, or Cutting/Grinding. This is how optical lenses are made (like for eyeglasses, and better camera lenses.) You still start with a glass blank - but it has had better quality control involved in making the blank - and you actually take much finer cuts or just grind the lense to profile, and finish grind. You're working with an abrasive starting at about 1000 grit (for rough forming) and finishing with something in the neighbourhood of 25,000 grit (for final profiling and polishing.) This give the best lenses, but takes craftsmen (rather than machine operators) and is usually done by hand.

Quality headlamp upgrade housings (like Hella, IPF, and Cibie) will have cut glass lenses mated to polished aluminum or polished CRES reflector bowls, since they're theoretically "forever" parts. Also, the fact that they're not making them in lots of 10,000 frees up operation time to work on QC and fine production of the bulb capsules that go into them - which is why I don't buy bulbs from sealed beam makers unless I have to.

The cut glass lense offers a better beam profile (by dint of the better control over lense form) and the polished metal bowl offers greater reflective efficiency over the (usually) Plasma Vapour Deposited metal reflective layer on a glass bowl. It's also a "first surface" reflector, which is naturally more efficient than the typical mirror. (Commercial mirrors are silvered on the BACK of the glass, precision mirrors on the FRONT. The latter are known and "first surface." Precision mirrors are made that way to reduce/eliminate distortion - commercial mirrors have tramsission losses due to going through the glass layer TWICE, and distortion due to internal refraction.)

Another advantage to going to a specialist is that they devote much more time and effort into specific product lines (Hella does not manufacture their electronics - they design them, and hand the designs to Robert Bosch AG to manufacture...) so you're going to get a better lighting product.

I know it sounds like I'm pushing Hella, but they're the outfit about which I know the most. If I knew more about Cibie, IPF, or PIAA, I'd talk about them more - but I don't, therefore I don't.

Answer your question? Or will you want more? :confused1

5-90

Like 5-90 said, go with the Hella E-codes. I wish I had a before and after shot of my headlights at night from stock to now. The difference is literally night and day, it's amazing. I currently run the E-code housings with 100/80W Hella Optilux Xenon HB and could not be happier. I also upgraded the wiring harness at the same time. Not at all difficult to do by yourself, just requires some patience when figuring out what wire goes where. But as I said before, well worth it.

Please do not buy those crapnasty lens's and generic bulbs.....
I went with 5-90's recommendation and for x-mas recieved the E-codes from rallylights.com... they are the best as far as i am concerned.. i also have the upgraded harness ...from bigoffroad.com he is local to me... i run 130W
I suggest you call and speak to the folks at rallylights.com i cant recommend them enough!

aaron

Thanks alot you guys! It looks like I will be getting some hella lights than. 5-90- i really like the way you break everything down so us slower people can understand it.

Dvipercop said:

Uuuuhhhhh....no.

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yeah that's my bad, I meant to say Xenon OR HID?

IPF H4 Converison...

OLD..



New...



Well worth the 250$

jeep01xj said:

IPF H4 Converison...

Well worth the 250$

Click to expand...

I don't think I've ever said that IPF's weren't actually WORTH the money you laid out for them - just that they were rather spendy. Probably the only real reason I don't have anything but "reports from the field" on them (which are consistently good, I must admit.)

5-90