cudaman51
Well-Known Member
anyone know of a good replacement headlight ( for round single)that puts out real light. i plan on installing relays today to prevent voltage drop so that wont be an issue.any tips would be appreciated
headlight upgrade
- Thread starter cudaman51
- Start date
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I have a headlight conversion kit that I bought from a company called APC..its for the H-4 connectors but as it is right now it only works in low or highbeam mode depending on which two plugs I hook up to it, but it made my lows as high as my brights..It comes with relays and everything. You could look into that and see if you could find a dual instead of a quad plug setup.
The 7 inch round plastic housings for modern bulbs are available at ebay etc..
Tips I have that might save some trouble and coins... Buy a second connector for the left headlight. Reason being, That left connector has 2 wires in one terminal. The right connector has only 1 wire in each terminal. Those original wires are too small for the current they will be conducting so here's what to do, Cut the 6 factory wires approx 1 inch behind the left side headlight connectors. Pick the small crimped limbs that hold the wire insulation open and clip them off. Pull the insulation off the 2 wires and combine the wires. You now have a large enough single lead in these factory connectors terminals. Add sufficient wire gauge and length from the relay terminal to headlights.
You'll find the factory grounded both bulbs at the left side. Change that too. Ground each bulb near each bulb.
Placing 2 of the new larger gauge wires in the 1 relay terminal is a little difficult but can be done. Result is a separate wire to each bulb.
Fewer cut/splice points equals fewer problems in the future.
Buy some uninsulated crimp connectors at the part store along with heat shrink tubing. Crimp and solder the wires.
I install 2 layers of heat shrink tubing cut at least twice the length of the connection.
Dont buy the cheap relays and connectors at ebay. They are junk.
A new, quality, Echlin SPDT relay connector alone will cost you 10 bucks. So get those connectors at a parts yard for less.
The "do it yerself" upgrade is a chore compared to buying a kit from somewhere like Painless. Time ?, Skill ?, Money ?, You'll have to decide which route is best for you. Hope this helps
Tips I have that might save some trouble and coins... Buy a second connector for the left headlight. Reason being, That left connector has 2 wires in one terminal. The right connector has only 1 wire in each terminal. Those original wires are too small for the current they will be conducting so here's what to do, Cut the 6 factory wires approx 1 inch behind the left side headlight connectors. Pick the small crimped limbs that hold the wire insulation open and clip them off. Pull the insulation off the 2 wires and combine the wires. You now have a large enough single lead in these factory connectors terminals. Add sufficient wire gauge and length from the relay terminal to headlights.
You'll find the factory grounded both bulbs at the left side. Change that too. Ground each bulb near each bulb.
Placing 2 of the new larger gauge wires in the 1 relay terminal is a little difficult but can be done. Result is a separate wire to each bulb.
Fewer cut/splice points equals fewer problems in the future.
Buy some uninsulated crimp connectors at the part store along with heat shrink tubing. Crimp and solder the wires.
I install 2 layers of heat shrink tubing cut at least twice the length of the connection.
Dont buy the cheap relays and connectors at ebay. They are junk.
A new, quality, Echlin SPDT relay connector alone will cost you 10 bucks. So get those connectors at a parts yard for less.
The "do it yerself" upgrade is a chore compared to buying a kit from somewhere like Painless. Time ?, Skill ?, Money ?, You'll have to decide which route is best for you. Hope this helps
grimreaper
Cross Member
Start with this page and follow the advice of our resident light guru, Dan Stern.
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=755012#post755012
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=755012#post755012
nothingbutdarts
Well-Known Member
Indeed. Dan is DA MAN when it comes to lighting. http://danielsternlighting.com/
My headlight relays are wired like this ( altered someone elses' drawing ). The yellow and green colors were used simply because that is what the part store had on the shelf. Orange for in line fuse holders also off the shelf.
inkjunkie
Well-Known Member
Just wondering out loud, can the headlights be wired so both low & high beam, are on at the same time?? I did this to my Chebby truck and it makes a hugh difference in the ability to see at night. Slant Six Dan, where are you???
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Of course they can, but there is some controversy as to legality and whether the lamp life will be shortened.
Just wire directly from the center of your dimmer to the low beam wire, so it stays hot anytime the headlight switch is on.
In other words your dimmer now becomes a simple on/ off switch, two terminals used. It simply turns the hi beams on/ off.
Back in the "quad light" (B body) days of the last century, I used to use 4537 landing lights. People didn't argue with those. Those who thought they'd lost the dimmer switch.....found it again!!
slantsixdan
=..=
Headlight bulbs are pressurized to about 10 atmospheres, cold. They are designed to handle the heat and pressure resulting from running one filament at a time. They are not designed to handle the heat and pressure, nor the current on the common
filament support lead. of running both filaments at the same time for more than very brief periods during beam changeover or headlight flashing. Doing so carries the very real risk of the bulb grenading inside the headlamp, destroying it. Some people who think they're clever wire it up this way anyhow, and the "Brite Box" people have made a business out of this "clever" (not) modification. Running the lows together with the highs can only be done safely if the lows are
produced by different bulbs than the highs -- it's a common modification on systems that use a single-filament low beam bulb and a single-filament high beam bulb on each side of the vehicle, and which come wired from the factory to turn off the low beams when the high beams are switched on.
The reason why some systems come that way is to do with provisions in the US headlamp beam regulations regarding foreground light -- that is, light striking the road surface relatively close to the vehicle. If the combination of high + low produces more than a certain amount of light at a certain downward angle, then the lows have to be switched off in high beam mode (with certain exceptions, see below). Too much foreground light works against the night driver's distance visual acuity, because the brightly-lit foreground causes the pupils to constrict, reducing the amount of light entering the eye. At the same time, increased foreground light causes the subjective impression of "good" (or "better") lighting.
This is probably the prime example of how the human visual system is a lousy judge of its own performance; it's very easy to create situations in which we think/feel our ability to see is much better or much poorer than it actually is. On the other hand, factory Xenon (HID) systems, which in most cases give very high levels of foreground light, are required to leave the low beams on with the highs. That's because it takes awhile for a Xenon lamp to come up to intensity after it's switched on. If you turn off the Xenons to go to high beam, then you need to switch back to low beam, you've got a dangerous "black hole" until the Xenons come up. There are lots of complaints from owners of cars with single-Xenon headlamps (Xenon low, halogen high) that their high beams are uselessly weak. There's some basis for that complaint, but the bulk of it is because the high beams, no matter their actual performance, are rendered useless for long-distance seeing by the brightly-lit foreground on account of the high-intensity low beams. There's no right answer here, just different compromises on a philosophical continuüm. The better your low beams are, the better your high beams have to be or else the gap in their objective performance will be aggravated.
As for which headlamps to put in your single-headlamp car: Reputable-brand ones, whether you have Money to spend or you don't. If you don't have Money, get GE Night Hawk H6024NH sealed beams, about $20 apiece from amazon.com (put "H6024NH" in the search field). Not the world's best headlamps, and they're still throwaway sealed beams, but they're the world's only decent cheap 7" round headlamp. All other sealed beams are junk (because made on decrepit tooling), as are cheap replaceable-bulb units. Forget the Chinese garbage from APC, Eaglite, Maxtel, Sirius, Pilot, Adjure, and eleventy dozen other brands, and the Indian-made garbage from Autopal and Neolite. They are dangerous headlight-shaped toys that do not produce adequate performance for even creeping along at 25mph, let alone normal road speeds.
If you have Money to spend, pick your equipment carefully even though the field narrows down to about three reputable brands that are practically easy to get (there's a really nice Koito 7" round H4 headlamp, but it's costly and difficult to get). Hella and Bosch are widely available and well made of good quality materials, but their optical efficiency lags pretty severely -- this post is growing long as it is, but if you want detailed discussion and proof on this point, say so. Get Cibié ("C-B-A") replaceable-bulb headlamps, about $150/pair. Feed them properly with relays. And pick your bulbs thoughtfully; there's an enormous amount of junk on the bulb market, too. Basically, anything advertised as "extra white" ("superwhite", "hyperwhite", "whiter light", etc.) and/or with colored glass should be avoided; it's a scam.
If you've got a mountain of Money to spend, remove the mountaintop and send it to me
(and then the headlamp you want is the JW Speaker #8700 full-LED headlamp.)
Back to the land of non-mountainous money: see articles on Allpar here and here. The photos of the headlight beams on the road in both articles are very poor (photos are the wrong illustrative tool for the job), but the text is very descriptive and accurate, and although they center around parts I supplied, they were sold at normal price the same as anyone else can buy them -- no "I give you headlights, you write me a puff piece on your site" deal.
Previous threads discussing headlamp upgrades and downgrades are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
filament support lead. of running both filaments at the same time for more than very brief periods during beam changeover or headlight flashing. Doing so carries the very real risk of the bulb grenading inside the headlamp, destroying it. Some people who think they're clever wire it up this way anyhow, and the "Brite Box" people have made a business out of this "clever" (not) modification. Running the lows together with the highs can only be done safely if the lows are
produced by different bulbs than the highs -- it's a common modification on systems that use a single-filament low beam bulb and a single-filament high beam bulb on each side of the vehicle, and which come wired from the factory to turn off the low beams when the high beams are switched on.
The reason why some systems come that way is to do with provisions in the US headlamp beam regulations regarding foreground light -- that is, light striking the road surface relatively close to the vehicle. If the combination of high + low produces more than a certain amount of light at a certain downward angle, then the lows have to be switched off in high beam mode (with certain exceptions, see below). Too much foreground light works against the night driver's distance visual acuity, because the brightly-lit foreground causes the pupils to constrict, reducing the amount of light entering the eye. At the same time, increased foreground light causes the subjective impression of "good" (or "better") lighting.
This is probably the prime example of how the human visual system is a lousy judge of its own performance; it's very easy to create situations in which we think/feel our ability to see is much better or much poorer than it actually is. On the other hand, factory Xenon (HID) systems, which in most cases give very high levels of foreground light, are required to leave the low beams on with the highs. That's because it takes awhile for a Xenon lamp to come up to intensity after it's switched on. If you turn off the Xenons to go to high beam, then you need to switch back to low beam, you've got a dangerous "black hole" until the Xenons come up. There are lots of complaints from owners of cars with single-Xenon headlamps (Xenon low, halogen high) that their high beams are uselessly weak. There's some basis for that complaint, but the bulk of it is because the high beams, no matter their actual performance, are rendered useless for long-distance seeing by the brightly-lit foreground on account of the high-intensity low beams. There's no right answer here, just different compromises on a philosophical continuüm. The better your low beams are, the better your high beams have to be or else the gap in their objective performance will be aggravated.
As for which headlamps to put in your single-headlamp car: Reputable-brand ones, whether you have Money to spend or you don't. If you don't have Money, get GE Night Hawk H6024NH sealed beams, about $20 apiece from amazon.com (put "H6024NH" in the search field). Not the world's best headlamps, and they're still throwaway sealed beams, but they're the world's only decent cheap 7" round headlamp. All other sealed beams are junk (because made on decrepit tooling), as are cheap replaceable-bulb units. Forget the Chinese garbage from APC, Eaglite, Maxtel, Sirius, Pilot, Adjure, and eleventy dozen other brands, and the Indian-made garbage from Autopal and Neolite. They are dangerous headlight-shaped toys that do not produce adequate performance for even creeping along at 25mph, let alone normal road speeds.
If you have Money to spend, pick your equipment carefully even though the field narrows down to about three reputable brands that are practically easy to get (there's a really nice Koito 7" round H4 headlamp, but it's costly and difficult to get). Hella and Bosch are widely available and well made of good quality materials, but their optical efficiency lags pretty severely -- this post is growing long as it is, but if you want detailed discussion and proof on this point, say so. Get Cibié ("C-B-A") replaceable-bulb headlamps, about $150/pair. Feed them properly with relays. And pick your bulbs thoughtfully; there's an enormous amount of junk on the bulb market, too. Basically, anything advertised as "extra white" ("superwhite", "hyperwhite", "whiter light", etc.) and/or with colored glass should be avoided; it's a scam.
If you've got a mountain of Money to spend, remove the mountaintop and send it to me
(and then the headlamp you want is the JW Speaker #8700 full-LED headlamp.)
Back to the land of non-mountainous money: see articles on Allpar here and here. The photos of the headlight beams on the road in both articles are very poor (photos are the wrong illustrative tool for the job), but the text is very descriptive and accurate, and although they center around parts I supplied, they were sold at normal price the same as anyone else can buy them -- no "I give you headlights, you write me a puff piece on your site" deal.
Previous threads discussing headlamp upgrades and downgrades are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
I used to run Cibie euro non-sealed headlights back in the late 60s/early 70s.
Back when they were illegal to run on US roads.
On low beam, you could walk out 75 ft. in front of the car, squat down until the cut-off was on the tip of your nose and the light would not blind you.
On high beams you could light up road reflectors at 1/2 mile.
Got caught with them on my truck in Cal. in 1976. Stupid car refused to dim his lights so after flashing my high beams twice, I left them on.
It was a CHP.
Back when they were illegal to run on US roads.
On low beam, you could walk out 75 ft. in front of the car, squat down until the cut-off was on the tip of your nose and the light would not blind you.
On high beams you could light up road reflectors at 1/2 mile.
Got caught with them on my truck in Cal. in 1976. Stupid car refused to dim his lights so after flashing my high beams twice, I left them on.
It was a CHP.
slantsixdan
=..=
Yeah, the CHP was especially two-faced about it. This was back when they routinely carried out extensive tests of tires, brakes, lights, and other vehicle components. They formally tested Cibié and Marchal E-code headlamps and were very enthusiastic about them, calling them "the most effective headlamps this agency has ever tested" in a detailed report they shared with the Federal DOT. Didn't stop them busting private motorists for daring to install good headlamps on their cars. :roll:
slantsixdan
=..=
Silverstars are hyped-up junk. You may like them, but you overspend and "under-get" if you buy them. The GE Night Hawks really are far and away the best sealed beams on the market.
inkjunkie
Well-Known Member
Put Silver Stars in our Exploder, lasted 5 months or so....
slantsixdan
=..=
The short life has a couple of solid explanations:
1. the blue-tinted glass they use to color the light (it's not "whiter" as claimed; the light blue tint just masks the brownish light color that comes from bulbs starved by cheap OE wiring) blocks a substantial amount of light that would pass through uncolored glass. All bulb types (9006, 9007, 9004, H4, H1, the capsule inside a sealed beam, etc.) have an allowable range of output. Typically it's nominal value ±15%. That means a 30% allowable range, so for a bulb type with a nominal rating of 1000 lumens, such as a 9006 or the low beam of an H4, anything from 850 to 1150 lumens is allowed. (And yes, you can buy bulbs that put out from the low end to the high end of the allowed range. If you drive at night, you want as much light as you can get -- properly focused, of course, but now I'm straying off topic). You color the glass, less light gets through. So you have to put in a high-zoot filament and drive the snot out of it to overcome the filtering losses and get minimum legal levels of light through the colored glass. Such a filament, thus overdriven, has a short life. This is lose/lose/lose: max dollars for min light and short lifespan. Pfft.
2. the short life plus the BS advertisement about "brighter and whiter" etc. makes a lot of money for Sylvania.
1. the blue-tinted glass they use to color the light (it's not "whiter" as claimed; the light blue tint just masks the brownish light color that comes from bulbs starved by cheap OE wiring) blocks a substantial amount of light that would pass through uncolored glass. All bulb types (9006, 9007, 9004, H4, H1, the capsule inside a sealed beam, etc.) have an allowable range of output. Typically it's nominal value ±15%. That means a 30% allowable range, so for a bulb type with a nominal rating of 1000 lumens, such as a 9006 or the low beam of an H4, anything from 850 to 1150 lumens is allowed. (And yes, you can buy bulbs that put out from the low end to the high end of the allowed range. If you drive at night, you want as much light as you can get -- properly focused, of course, but now I'm straying off topic). You color the glass, less light gets through. So you have to put in a high-zoot filament and drive the snot out of it to overcome the filtering losses and get minimum legal levels of light through the colored glass. Such a filament, thus overdriven, has a short life. This is lose/lose/lose: max dollars for min light and short lifespan. Pfft.
2. the short life plus the BS advertisement about "brighter and whiter" etc. makes a lot of money for Sylvania.
than take it
I don't believe my statement was directed at any one person. It was meant as a suggestion for anyone looking for good equipment. If you cant take advice from someone in the business then all hope is lost
cudaman51
Well-Known Member
thanks for the help guys.I got some grate imformation
1969dodgedartgt
Well-Known Member
you know its gonna be a good post when it starts: "Headlight bulbs are pressurized to about 10 atmospheres, cold." bwhhahaha
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