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Another Headlight ? Cibie H4 housings and LED bulbs?

Redsnake

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Tulsa, OK
OK... so not to beat a dead horse here, but I wanted to post and see if anyone had specific experience w/ Cibie E-Code housings and LED bulbs? (Or any combination of H4 E-Code housings and LED bulbs). Searching the forums and I haven't had any luck.

The reason I ask is I'm getting tired of replacing halogen bulbs so frequently...

My current set up: Cibie E-Code Housings, upgraded headlight wiring harness, upgraded 160amp alternator, upgraded entire wiring kit f/ 5-90 and 90/100 watt Osram bulbs.

I've had to replace the bulbs 4 times over the past 2 years. Always happens when it gets really cold out, or when it's raining out, etc... I realize the higher watt bulbs have a shorter life, but is 4-7 months of DD use normal? 98% of street only driving... I don't really want to run the normal 55/60 watt bulbs as the higher wattage definitely helps at night. The other issue w/the higher watt bulbs is I have to order online as nobody local has these in stock to purchase.

SO... with that being said. I've been thinking about going to LED route. Since LEDs have a much longer life and can generate a really nice day-light type output that's what I'm thinking. I don't want to drop $500+ for a new set of truck-lite or more for the JW Speaker lights. I've already invested that much in current headlight upgrades (have done a couple different light set-ups before going Cibies) and don't want to do it all over again. I've seen a few nice LED upgrade set ups. One in particular is the GTR Lighting LED Conversion Kit.

http://www.gtrlighting.com/led-conversion-kit/

I wonder how well these would do in a nice E-Code housing like the Cibie. Would I see much if any benefit? I hate to be another guinea pig on this one... OR should I just keep saving my $$, replacing the halogen bulbs and go on my way? I'm open to any constructive suggestions and opinions.

Thanks.
 
I am running Cibie with 90/100 Osram bulbs as well. My intention was to order 55/100 bulbs, but somehow got 90/100 shipped.

I've not lost a bulb yet in 2 years, but I've also only put maybe 1000 miles on it during that time.

Personally, I'd try 55/100 bulbs. You still get the higher wattage for high beams, but better potential life on the low beams.

David Bricker / SYR - LAX
 
I've had great luck with hella 100/80W bulbs. I'm still on my first set of bulbs after about 12k miles over 18 months of daily driving duty, including a couple cold months with a cracked headlight housing. Jeep is no longer a daily driver but I'm still running the same bulbs and it's been almost 3 years since I bought them.
 
I must have bad luck or something shorting my lights... I've also tried the Hella 80/100 bulbs... actually I tried those first and then was told that Osram were better. Neither live a long life in my XJ. :(
 
I say give them a try and report back. I've seen one beam pattern on a miata with a bosch housing (round) and the cut off was a bit less defined and less of a spread but not terrible either. http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=521070
 
Most LED "conversion kit" bulbs are Hi: 36 watt Per Bulb / Lo: 30 watt per bulb.

Watts are watts, no matter the source. 36 watts is feeble. LED H-4 conversion technology is not yet good enough.
 
Around 6 years ago, shortly after I got my current heep, I picked up a set of IPF H4 housings and some cheapo xenon bulbs on q-tec. I wanted something that was less blue in color, so I found some of the hella 80/100 on amazon for 15$. Swapped them in within the last year, but my xenon bulbs still worked fine.
 
I'd really like to know your critique results should you obtain LED's for your CIBIE glass.

Me.., I use OSRAM H4 65/70+50 Rally's, and burn 'em out in about 3 months. Was thinking about NARVA, but have yet to read a comparison to which might last longer. I'd like higher watt H4 bulbs in the OEM position, but I'd probably get pulled over by a ticket writer. An optional LED light bar seems to be the better option for me.

Many around my area are just going nuts with LEDs, i.e., full on light bars as aux. to their HID's, or added to their OEM old styles. The thing I have noticed is the light spread is wide, with a lot of the spread flooding the night sky.

Perhaps the CIBIES with their excellent glass crystal faceting, (great low beam cutoff), would also concentrate the LED spread correctly on low beam. Perhaps is the question here! High beam OSRAMS really work well providing a thousand yard tunnel, but again.., whether, or not the CIBIE glass will concentrate LED's out that far as well as the H4 bulbs is another question.

I do know that HID headlights, and LED light bars anger a lot of people who either face into them, or have them glaring via the reflections off of three mirrors, from behind. Courtesy, and/or common sense seems to be lacking amongst some drivers with high illumination, non properly aimed lights.

Please spend the money to find out, and report to the rest of us.., OK?
 
The LED optics need to be matched to the housing, the same as converting to HID in a housing designed for a halogen bulb. LEDs need a different reflector since all the light comes from single point as opposed to a glowing filament that has lots of surface and much different shape.
I too have noticed that higher wattage bulbs burn out quicker than stock bulbs.
I run Hella 80/100-watt bulbs in IPF E-Code IPF housings, getting the bulbs from Amazon for $7 delivered.
http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-HLA-H83140171-Halogen-Bulb-Road/dp/B000COBLKW
It takes about five minutes to change a bulb. Compared to the cost of LED headlights, it pays me well to change a burned bulb occasionally.

Looking at Hella's specs, the 80/100 bulbs are rated for 100 hours.
Sylvania rates their Silverstar 55/65-watt bulbs at between 125-200 hours, depending on the bulb number.
The more powerful bulbs just burn up quicker.
We will all have LED bulbs someday. I'm going to wait a while for the cost to come down and the quality and reliability to go up.
Until then, I will continue to change a bulb or two a year. Always have a spare in the glove compartment.
 
The LED optics need to be matched to the housing, the same as converting to HID in a housing designed for a halogen bulb. LEDs need a different reflector since all the light comes from single point as opposed to a glowing filament that has lots of surface and much different shape.

I think if you look at the way the Halogen H4 bulbs are, there is a tiny reflector in those designed to 'aim' the light towards the top of the housing on Low and then on High to aim at the top and bottom of the reflector. So if an LED bulb does the same AND one has a good set of Cibie E-Code housings that should produce a very nice light output. This would exclude the cheaper LED bulbs that have multiple/scattered leds.

No doubt it's cheaper to just replace Halogen bulbs... but over time for those of us who spend a LOT of time in our cars the payoff would seem to be much quicker to go LED. Assuming the LED works well.

And the way my luck is... when the halogen bulbs burn out on me it's ALWAYS during bad weather or very inconvenient times. So changing them sux... ha.
 
I think if you look at the way the Halogen H4 bulbs are, there is a tiny reflector in those designed to 'aim' the light towards the top of the housing on Low and then on High to aim at the top and bottom of the reflector. So if an LED bulb does the same AND one has a good set of Cibie E-Code housings that should produce a very nice light output. .QUOTE]

The E-Code headlight housings are designed for only one type of bulb, halogen.
Until the housings are engineered for LED's unique properties, they will never provide the optimum light pattern that a halogen bulb will.
The physical shape of the light emitters are totally different, requiring different reflectors and lens.
Same goes for HID conversions that were so popular a few years ago.
If you want LED bulbs, buy the type that come with a complete housing so it is a completely engineered package.
 
I appreciate the input to all. I think I may just keep changing halogen bulbs until the price of LED (full headlights such as Trucklites or JW Speaker) come down to more reasonable levels. Since I already have the Cibie E-Codes, upgraded wiring, etc... I don't think I'll see much change (other than longevity)
 
Where to find Cibie H4 housings?

Can't locate a source for left hand Cibie's for my XJ? Besides Stern that is. What size do we use, 200mm?
 
The HID and LED bulb retrofits are generally garbage and screw up the light pattern. The retrofit kits are starting to get banned in Europe because the poor pattern blinds oncoming drivers. Personally, I get 3 years out of the NAPA house brand 55/100 or 80/100 H4s, which I think are Osrams. But I also have a 20-minute commute and it's usually only dark coming home. I had similar problems with the more expensive Sylvanias popping on cold mornings.
 
I run the 100 w halogen bulbs and use the headlights a fair amount. The bulbs only last maybe a year at most.
 
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