headlight bulbs

[tja]

Which uprated bulbs are people using for main beam on face lift headlights? Also, is it worth uprating wiring loom as I did on my Corrado G60?

 

[Siena]

Not sure to be honest.

I'm just going to install a 4,300k HID kit for my mains.

 

[brendan]

do you mean standard h4/h7? (i.e. not HID)
i use osram silverstar h7 in my angeleyes kit and i'm happy enough with them. very well reviewed in whatcar (i think it was). available from www.powerbulbs.com (they regularly have special offers). for me it was a toss-up between the osrams and the philips silvervision - osrams won out because of a BOGOF offer.

 

[aragorn]

The only issue i'd have with HID mains is that you pretty much lose the ability to flash people. Cheaper kits simply wouldnt fire up fast enough and you'd damage the balasts on the better ones using them to flash people

If you want to find out if its worth uprating the wiring loom, standard bulbs or otherwise, get a voltmeter and measure the voltage across the battery with the headlights on and the engine running (should be around 14v) then measure the voltage across the terminals on the rear of the bulb, with the headlights on and the engine running. If the wiring is fine, you will see the same voltage as is at the battery, within about 0.1-0.2v. If the voltage is substantially lower (-0.5v>) then you will defo benefit from relay switching the headlight feeds.

 

[jcb]

I have always wondered about sticking in higher than 55W bulbs (on a private road of course).
I have heard of old mini's burning wiring out with 100W bulbs but I can't belive audi use the same crappy wiring loom.
would a 75W bulb really draw enough to affect the wiring?

my dipped beam is pants, like candle power at times
main beam is not much better

 

[aragorn]

Quite often the actual headlight switch dies with larger bulbs on cars that switch the entire lighting load thru the switch itself. Not sure if the A4 does this though

If your going to go with 100W bulbs i'd be looking at relay switching the feeds for definate, with some chunky wires from the bulbs to the relay and relay to the battery. Also dont forget a nice chunky earth to the chassis.

Maybe the stock wiring can take it, but if it cant, and does melt something, it could break the switch at least or set fire to the loom itself.

Get a voltmeter on your bulbs JCB and see whats happening, it might just be crap bulbs or perhaps the headlights arent aligned properly

 

[auroan]

You've more chance of melting the inside of your headlamp as well with 100W

 

[Nessy]

I've always found PIAA bulbs to give superb results and fitted H4 ones to my A4 shortly after purchase, the headlights (pre-facelift) were pretty good.....
After fitting the facelift OEM Valeos to my car I also fitted H7 PIAA bulbs to the main/ dipped beams and foglamps and have to say I was somewhat disappointed with the results.
It's not the fault of the bulbs, but of the headlights; the projector headlamps look fantastic but have crap performance; they aren't half as good as the old glass-lensed pre-facelift Valeos!
To get decent headlights on a face-lift headlight car I'd say you'd have to go down the HID route, that's what I intend to do.......................

 

[aragorn]

i find the total opposite tbh, projectors give far better light output and spread than the older open lamps, even with the same tired old bulbs...

You sure you've got them aligned properly?

Either that or bad connections between the old and new wiring causing voltage drop issues

 

[Nessy]

i find the total opposite tbh, projectors give far better light output and spread than the older open lamps, even with the same tired old bulbs...

You sure you've got them aligned properly?

Either that or bad connections between the old and new wiring causing voltage drop issues

Alignment done by my MOT garage the day they were fitted .....lovely crisp and distinct beam pattern , just lousy penetration into the unknown when its dark outside.
If you do a search on here for projector/facelift headlamps a recurring theme seems to be how bad these later headlamps are; just wish I'd done some proper research before I fitted mine, lol.

 

[jcb]

i agree. they are pants. mine are well aligned with some fairly hiegh end 55w bulbs.
still scares me at night when I have to drive with dipped lights.
I used to drive with front fogs on, not because I am a chav on brighton sea front but it helped me see where I am going through the gloom!

I bought some OEM HIDs from some b@stard on RS246 and am now £200 short with the same crappy headlights!

 

[a4turbos]

I recently bought some H7 philips x-treme power bulbs for the S4 main beam. Havent had to use them too much yet but they seem fantastic. Was like driving in daylight with them on compared to the last bulbs.

Got them from Ebay for about £22 delivered. seller: powerbulbsdirect delivered very quickly.

 

[jcb]

what are they? 55W halogen?

 

[Phantom_A4]

PIAA are very good for standard bulbs like nessy said. Also projectors i agree give a stronger directional light. HID's all the way imo, never had any problems with the hi/lo's i've had, just need to be careful where you buy them from.

 

[aragorn]

the only difference i can think of is that above the beam cutoff you get darkness, whereas the non-projector lamps tend to fade out more progressively

The lit area on the projectors does seem brighter than the old style lamps to me however, and fitting HIDs wouldnt change the beam cutoff point whatsoever, it'll just be even brighter in the lit area and still darkness after the beam cutoff

 

[Phantom_A4]

That is the whole point of projectors, is to project light on to what you need to see.....If you are having problems seeing with projectors, you must have them aligned too low...

Secondly the main point of HID's is to brighten the existing area that the light normally falls on. This is to help drivers see clearer as apposed to normal halogen, if you want to see further thats what full beam or hi on hid's is for......it's not to change the beam cut off at all, unless you want to go round blinding other drivers with your dipped beam, so you can see a little further.

 

[aragorn]

Well exactly, yet the other posters in this thread seem to think that a) the projectors provide worse lighting, and b) that HID's will somehow fix that.

Also Hi/Lo HID's only exist on aftermarket fit H4 replacement kits. Every OEM HID installation ive seen has used a projector with HID for dip only, with halogen mains. The main reason being that HID's dont take nicely to being used to "flash" people. Not only do they take a few seconds to fire up, but the ballasts arent designed to be cycled on and off quickly.

 

[jcb]

are "projectors" the facelift headlights?

can't say I have a comparison but they are definitely poor on my car and I changed the bulbs to those recommended by my pet car parts guy (don't remember which ones).

always see HIDs on other cars as much brighter when driving towards me.
Full beam is fine on mine, but how often do you get to drive along on full.

might try some of these phillips or PIAA bulbs and see what happens. Still waiting for my £200 from the thief who sold me some RS4 HIDS!

 

[audinary]

The main reason being that HID's dont take nicely to being used to "flash" people.quote]

Interestingly, a lot of current BMWs use the HID for dip and main, with dipped beam achieved with a little flap being deployed to cut the top off the light pattern. Said is also used to "flash" main beam when HIDs are on, with a seperate halogen bulb being used for flashing when the headlamps are switched off.

Dunno if any Audis are like that....

 

[Izzy1]

i've put in some 100w H7 white bulbs in my projectors and they don't make much difference. other cars on the road seem to give off better road lighting.

would i need to result to HID?

 

[jcb]

you say you saw no difference going from 55W to 100W? that is mad, you sure you don't have bigger problem with voltage or alignment?

 

[Nessy]

Without getting into an argument about how projector ( ie facelift headlamps with wraparound indicator and plastic lense) work versus the pre-facelift ones (ie glass lense, separate indicator) as my knowledge of physics is too poor I can say with some conviction that the later headlamps are worse.......
I haven't seen many complaints in my time about visibility with early A4 headlamps, and as mentioned in an earlier post the H4 PIAA bulbs worked great in my original headlights.
With the facelift headlights I definitely feel less confident when travelling in the darkness in unfamiliar territory, despite being correctly aligned they seem to 'project' their light onto a smaller area ( I guess that's why they are called projector lamps )..., rather than the seemingly wider area that the earlier headlights illuminate........
Who knows what the real cause is, but after having an '86 Audi 80, a '94 Audi 80 and now the A4 my current Audi has without doubt the worst headlight performance of all of them......

 

[Izzy1]

well the problem i am having with my 100w bulbs is that they don't seem to reflect well off the road. I had some 55w bulbs in my golf and they light up the road perfectly. also put 100w bulbs in my bora and still bad lighting (then again everyone complains about bora lights) now that i've moved towards an Audi i would have thought the lighting would have been better. i think i might have to lean towards a HID kit but i don't really want to be speanding a lot of money just for lights. seen some kits on the bay for under £50. are these any good?

JCB - voltage and allignment seem ok.

 

[aragorn]

have you actually checked the voltage at the bulb terminals with the bulbs on? (ie inside the housing, on the back of the actual bulb itself)

I know in my brothers old nova the 100w bulbs he fitted were barely any brighter, mainly due to the increased current causing more voltage drop on the feed wires so they were getting a volt or so less than the 55w bulbs...

 

[Izzy1]

have you actually checked the voltage at the bulb terminals with the bulbs on? (ie inside the housing, on the back of the actual bulb itself)

I know in my brothers old nova the 100w bulbs he fitted were barely any brighter, mainly due to the increased current causing more voltage drop on the feed wires so they were getting a volt or so less than the 55w bulbs...

nope i have not. don't have the tools to check.

do you think the 100w bulbs are likely to mess up my wiring or possibably blow my lights?

what do people recomend to be the best light bulbs?

 

[aragorn]

having disassembled a set of facelift lamps i wasnt all that impressed with the size of the wiring between the multiplug and the bulbs themselves, the main harness seems quite beefy though.

Get yourself a voltmeter (5er from maplin) and check the voltage on the back of the bulbs....

 

[Izzy1]

will check tonight. i think my brother has one.

should the power be the same as the power from the battery? i.e around 14

 

[aragorn]

yup it should be pretty close

 

[NineNails]

do you think the 100w bulbs are likely to mess up my wiring or possibably blow my lights?

It could, yes. Or melt the headlight switch or cause a fire. This sort of setup requires the circuit to be relayed with thicker gauge wire after the relay to carry the higher amperage required for the bulbs you have fitted. The relays' perpose is to protect your cars stock wiring and switch-gear.
HTH
Si.

 

[aragorn]

yup this is advised, although i would imagine that if the switch gear or wiring is struggling you would see it as a voltage drop at the lamp anyway...