OSRAM Night Breaker Bulbs SUCK!

Just got back from giving my car a nice wipe down and so decided to shift it to another lot after doing so. Started the engine, turned on the headlights and poof goes the right headlight... Just 2 weeks back, it was the left headlight. And I had to use the old OEM bulb back and scratched the left headlight lens as a result of having to replace the bulb.

4-weeks... Yes, 4 lousy weeks was all the 2 bulbs lasted... I'm sticking to OEM bulbs. And I'm not too optimistic about the 'new improved' version either. PERIOD.



BR,
w a y

OMG.. u bought it from autobacs or advertiser??

bro, could it be due to mishandling of the bulbs?

Either that or I've been had... Imitation bulbs?

Yes, forum advertiser but another forum. But unless we can really verify their sources... Oh well...

http://www.lchid.com/productlist_60.html - KNNBCCB!

HID - Korean, Germany, Taiwan? My ASS!

http://www.bosch-hid.com/en/product/info.asp?id=144

http://www.hid.com.my/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10391#10391

Now why in the hell would they just sell the packaging??!!

http://www.lchid.com/productView_187.html

tot usually the source will give 3-6mths warranty??

did u buy with warranty?

are LED type better?

Yes, I did. But the hassle just wasn't worth it.

And frankly, after the first first bulb blew, what pissed me off was that after I had installed the original OEM bulb in the left and the alleged Night Breaker still in the right, there wasn't a damned difference!

And btw, I let emotion get the better of me... Night Breakers are from OSRAM. My bad... Litigators from Philips who may be reading this, my apologies!

BR,
w a y

waypoint...
The packaging from Nitebreaker really need improvement
i used 2 pairs for my bike in 6 mths. Thats pretty crap
I got myself Philip Extreme. Pretty well...
You might wanna try....
then again handling is very important too.
DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB when installing. Only the connector part
cos the fingerprint left on contains oil and impurities. As time passes heat will be concentrated on that area causing overheating and thus blow as well

but from you case i guess its a case of Rip Off....
If you want original Philip I can refer u to my fren (he's an engineer in Philips and conducts MassOrder @ regular intervals)

Definitely no mishandling, for sure... No unnecessary vibration and no direct contact on the glass bulb itself. Heck, I always turn-off my headlights when I shut the engine down and make sure the headlights are off before I crank the engine the next time I drive.

So buyers beware... I'm not dissing all advertisers running an accessories business out of their car-boot. But car enthusiasts willing to spend their hard-earned pay deserve genuine goods regardless of the price. And who doesn't love a bargain?

Lesson learnt.

BR,
w a y

I have a pair in the boot. You are most welcome to try them, no, HAVE THEM for free if you want. And please confirm your auto and personal/life insurance premiums are paid up and in-force before you next drive you car out at night with them installed. They're white, look really nice and kind of cool. But for the level of illumination, 'throw' or light projection given the reflector set-up in our cars, can't even illuminate the way ahead for nuts! Save your money.

BR,
w a y

scorpey wrote:are LED type better?

I'll keep your offer in mind... Thanks. But it'll be sometime before the OEM ones go. Regardless, let me know when your friend sets-up a GB again.

BR,
w a y

ano57 wrote:waypoint...
The packaging from Nitebreaker really need improvement
i used 2 pairs for my bike in 6 mths. Thats pretty crap
I got myself Philip Extreme. Pretty well...
You might wanna try....
then again handling is very important too.
DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB when installing. Only the connector part
cos the fingerprint left on contains oil and impurities. As time passes heat will be concentrated on that area causing overheating and thus blow as well

but from you case i guess its a case of Rip Off....
If you want original Philip I can refer u to my fren (he's an engineer in Philips and conducts MassOrder @ regular intervals)

http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133181

I posted this over on www.rs25.com and www.nasioc.com and a lot of people enjoyed it. So I decided to post it over here as well.



I have been asked a lot of questions about automotive lighting, and I
decided to put all my research and information together into one
thread. I want this to be stickyed so people have a place to go to find
out some information about bulbs.

Now, I am no expert about lighting, I just know more than the average
person. I have learned a lot from searching on the internet and trying
different things in my car. The main site that I learned the most from
is www.danielsternlighting.com. This is a fantastic site to learn a bunch about lighting.

The bulbs that I mostly talk about in this thread are the H1 H3 and the
9005. These are the bulbs that the 04-05’s use stock. But the
information is the same for all the bulbs made.




Blue Bulbs or “Xenon” Bulbs-
First thing I want to talk about is blue bulbs or those “xenon” bulbs.
We have all seen the bulbs sold in auto stores and on ebay that say
“XENON” or “HID” on them. What are these bulbs really? And do they even
put out good light?

Well Daniel Stern has some GREAT articles on his website in reference
to these bulbs. Here is a list of suggested reading on those bulbs:
- http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...e/bad/bad.html
- http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html

To save you a bit of reading, basically those bulbs have a blue coating
on the outside of the bulb, to make them a blueish tint. Basically the
blue coating reduces the light output of the bulb. Never will a blue or
purple tint on the bulb “improve” the light output of the bulb.

Here are some stats:
- Standard H1 produces 1550 Lumens at a life rating of 650 hours.
- Blue Bulbs or the “white bulbs” produce 1380 Lumens at a life rating of 250 hours.

I think that’s enough talking about those bulbs.


55w=85w!!!!-
There is another type of fake bulb myth. That is the Extreme White, or
Platinum or Super White bulbs. Those bulbs claim to produce 85 watts of
light with only consuming 55 watts of power.

These claims are a scam. They are simply not true.

Read this to find out why:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...uperwhite.html


Sylvania Silverstars-
Next thing I want to talk about is Sylvania Silverstars (Syl. SS). I am
NOT talking about OSRAM Silverstars from overseas. This is the North
American version of the Silverstar put out by Sylvania. Any auto store
will tell you that the best lights they sell are the Syl. SS’s. All of
North America has gotten into this mindset that Syl. SS are the best
bulbs from very effective advertising from Sylvania.

The one site to take a look at and that I quote from is: http://www.bmwcca.org/members/AM/Tem...6_Light&page=1

Quoted from that site: “The Sylvania 9005 “SilverStar” highbeam bulb is
advertised as making “whiter and 20% brighter” light, and this is
supposed to improve the driver’s ability to use the light….What is
obvious in comparing the “SilverStar” to the standard Sylvania
high-beam bulb is that the SilverStar makes less light than a standard
bulb. The difference at the brightest point in the beam is 77
foot-candles from the SilverStar, and 109 footcandles from the normal
high-beam bulb. This equates to ~23% less light.”

Now yes you’re going to say “well I have them in my car, and they look
brighter.” I had them in my car at one point in time as well. And yes I
agree that they do “look” brighter. But the fact is they are not. The
Syl. SS has a blue coating on the bulb. The blue coating does make the
light look a blueish tint just as those “xenon bulbs.” But, basically
the blue coating reduces the light output of the bulb. Remember, never
will a blue or purple tint on the bulb “improve” the light output.

I will again refer you to read Daniel Stern write up about blue coatings on bulbs: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html

Here is a photo of a Syl. SS next to an OEM Subaru bulb. Note that the blue coating on the Syl. SS:



One of the things about the Syl. SS is they have HORRIBLE manufacturing
defects. I have had 3 bulbs go bad on me in the few months I used them.
One bulb went from the filament breaking off. The next went from the
bracket being crimped onto the bulb to hard, which made the gas escape
from that bulb after the glass cracked. The 3rd bulb just plain died.

Here is a photo of the bulb that cracked:



So to put it nicely, Sylvania Silverstars are one of the worst bulbs you can purchase.


HID “Retrofit” Kits-
HID’s we all want em, but we can’t afford em. So we look to the cheaper
HID kits to “retrofit” into our cars that are made for halogen bulbs. I
was thinking about them at once, and then I decided against them. The
fact is, they are NOT safe to use.

PLEASE read this if you are thinking about a HID retrofit into your car:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

To save the lazy ones some reading, HID’s and Halogens require different optics to produce the light in a safe and LEGAL way.

The filament in a bulb produces light in one spot. Lighting engineers
shape the reflector and optics around where that filament is placed.
The reflector and optics will place the light in a pattern in front of
the car so you can see. If you move the location of the filament, the
location of where the light is going changes as well. So when you put
an HID retrofit in one of these halogen housings the light scatters
into places you don’t want it to go. The light will most likely go into
oncoming traffic instead of right in front of your car. So putting
HID’s in a lamp housing made for halogens will not only be unsafe to
you, but they are illegal as well.

The only safe way of putting HID’s in your car is replacing the entire
lighting housing to a housing that is made for HID’s. For the 04-05’s
the STi’s HID’s work great! I have seen people selling these on NASIOC
for around $700.


Osram Silverstars–
So now that you know the truth about the Sylvania Silverstars and all
the BAD ideas with bulbs, its time to hear about the best bulbs you can
buy. They are called the 55W Ultra High Efficacy Plus 50. These bulbs
include the Narva Rangepower+50, Osram Silverstar, Tungsram Megalicht
or Philips VisionPlus.

These bulbs produce the maximum amount of legal light and don’t have any coatings on the outside of the bulb.

- A standard bulb produces 1550 Lumens.
- A Plus +50 bulb produces 1750 lumens.

These bulbs are manufactured with the highest quality standards and are
the best legal bulbs you can put into a car. I have these bulbs in my
car, and I love them. They are the brightest bulbs I have used, and
highly suggest these.


HIR Lighting (Halogen Infrared Reflecting)–
These are a new type of bulb originally created by General Electric. According to www.hirheadlights.com
“It was GE's goal to create a bulb that produced 75% of the light
output of HID headlights at 25% of the cost.” These bulbs are used as
OEM bulbs for the Dodge Viper, BMW Z8, Infiniti I30, Chevy Avalance and
new Nissan Maximas.”

This is a bulb made for the replacement of the 9005 and 9006 bulbs. The
bulbs are similar in the fact that the filaments are the same size and
located in the same place. But the base is a little bit different. The
use of a file or a knife for about 5-10mins will make the HIR bulbs fit
into the socket of the 9005’s or 9006’s. Here is a site in reference to
the minor modification to the base of the bulb that has to be made to
fit into our cars. http://shnu.us/HIR%20Trimming%20Stock.htm

Here is a photo of the Sylvania Silverstars next to the HIR 9011 bulb:



“These bulbs attain light levels 75% to 110% brighter than stock as a
result of an engineering process that deposits multiple, yet almost
invisible, layers of semi-reflective coating on the surface of a
specially shaped quartz bulb. This coating… reflects a portion of the
infrared energy emitted by the filament back onto the filament, causing
it to glow brighter and emit more light from the uncoated forward
portion of the bulb. Although the filament gets hotter, the glass does
not. It generates no more heat than a regular halogen bulb, and it
draws the same wattage and amperage as the stock [9005 and] 9006 bulb
it replaces”

- A standard HB3/9005 bulb produces 1700 lumens of light.
- The HIR1/9011 bulb produces 2500 lumens of light.
(http://www.hirheadlights.com/stats.htm)

The bulbs are made to draw the same amount of amps and voltage, and put out the same amount of heat as a normal 9005 bulb.

Here is a photo of the light output compared to a Sylvania Silverstar.
The HIR light is on the right, and the Silverstar is on the left.
(NOTE: In the picture with the Syl. Silverstars on, the steering wheel
is covering up the indicator for the highbeams.)



It’s hard to tell in the photo but the HIR lights are TONS brighter. I
have the HIR lights in my car. In my personal experience, when I turn
the HIR’s on, they light up the road just like they are made, the
distance that the light it thrown onto the road is amazing.

The website http://www.bmwcca.org/members/AM/Tem...6_Light&page=1 also talks about these and recommends these headlights for use replacing the 9005 and 9006 bulbs.

I would strongly recommend getting these in your car. If you talk to
Daniel Stern, he highly recommends buying these. They are $30 each bulb
and very well worth it. To purchase go to www.hirheadlights.com and go to their ebay link from there.


Selective-Yellow Bulbs-
These are bulbs that produce a yellowish tint mainly produced for use
in fog lights. Please read this article from Daniel Stern:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ght_color.html

These bulbs are recommended for use in fog lamps because they are better for use in rain and weather conditions.

Here is a photo of the Selective-Yellow H3 bulb next to an OEM H3 bulb:



I have these bulbs in my car, and I love them. The yellow brings a very
pleasant look to the road when you are driving with them on. I would
highly recommend these to put in fog lamps.


LED Turn Signals-
I want to pass on a little bit of personal information about these
bulbs. They are awesome when you clear your headlights to give it a
solid clear look inside the reflectors. But honestly, the bulbs are
very annoying.

Here is a photo of an LED bulb next to a normal turn bulb:



When you install the bulbs in your car, and turn your blinker on, your
blinker will blink like crazy. It will blink twice as fast as normal.
The reason being is because the car wants to see a certain “load” or
ohms on the end where the bulb is. When a standard working bulb is
there, the load is correct and the blinker blinks normally. When the
bulb burns out, there is no more load, and the blinker will then blink
twice as fast to show that your bulb is out.

Now, when you put an LED Turn Signal Bulb in there, the load from one
of those is so little that the car will think you have a burnt out
bulb. Which will in turn make your blinker blink twice as fast.

The only way to fix this using LED’s is to purchase a resistor to put
inline with the bulb so the car sees the correct load. This resistor
produces heat and it’s quite a pain.

The other thing that is bad about LED bulbs is it doesn’t produce very
much light. Here is a photo comparing the light output of an LED bulb
vs. a normal turn bulb:



So to bring the LED’s to a close, they are cool, I agree. But I don’t
want the pain of having my blinker blinking twice as fast. So you can
use those if you want, it's totally personal.


Where to buy bulbs?-
It’s easy! Go to http://www.danielsternlighting.com/p.../products.html and send him and e-mail of what you want.

Daniel Also runs out of this place: http://www.candlepowerinc.com/

Quoted from an e-mail from Daniel:
"NEW! Toll-free ordering!

You may now phone-in or fax-in your order toll-free on 1-866-861-8668.
This is an unmanned, recorded order line only; if you wish to speak to a live human, please call 416-766-2327."

Also for the HIR bulbs, go to www.hirheadlights.com.


What I use in my car-
In my car I use:

Low-Beams = H1 55W Ultra High Efficacy Plus 50
High-Beams = HIR 9011
Fogs = H3 55W CPI-Universal Gold
Hella 500 Diving lamps I currently use normal H3’s

In the future, I will be putting 100w bulbs in the Hella 500 Driving lamps and 55w Narva H3’s in the Fog pattern Hella 500’s.


Conclusion-
That wraps up my long thread for automotive lighting. I hope this helps
clear up some things for you guys with buying bulbs. If you have any
questions please feel free to send me a PM.


Drew Brashler

waypoint wrote:http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133181

I posted this over on www.rs25.com and www.nasioc.com and a lot of people enjoyed it. So I decided to post it over here as well.



I have been asked a lot of questions about automotive lighting, and I
decided to put all my research and information together into one
thread. I want this to be stickyed so people have a place to go to find
out some information about bulbs.

Now, I am no expert about lighting, I just know more than the average
person. I have learned a lot from searching on the internet and trying
different things in my car. The main site that I learned the most from
is www.danielsternlighting.com. This is a fantastic site to learn a bunch about lighting.

The bulbs that I mostly talk about in this thread are the H1 H3 and the
9005. These are the bulbs that the 04-05’s use stock. But the
information is the same for all the bulbs made.




Blue Bulbs or “Xenon” Bulbs-
First thing I want to talk about is blue bulbs or those “xenon” bulbs.
We have all seen the bulbs sold in auto stores and on ebay that say
“XENON” or “HID” on them. What are these bulbs really? And do they even
put out good light?

Well Daniel Stern has some GREAT articles on his website in reference
to these bulbs. Here is a list of suggested reading on those bulbs:
- http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...e/bad/bad.html
- http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html

To save you a bit of reading, basically those bulbs have a blue coating
on the outside of the bulb, to make them a blueish tint. Basically the
blue coating reduces the light output of the bulb. Never will a blue or
purple tint on the bulb “improve” the light output of the bulb.

Here are some stats:
- Standard H1 produces 1550 Lumens at a life rating of 650 hours.
- Blue Bulbs or the “white bulbs” produce 1380 Lumens at a life rating of 250 hours.

I think that’s enough talking about those bulbs.


55w=85w!!!!-
There is another type of fake bulb myth. That is the Extreme White, or
Platinum or Super White bulbs. Those bulbs claim to produce 85 watts of
light with only consuming 55 watts of power.

These claims are a scam. They are simply not true.

Read this to find out why:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...uperwhite.html


Sylvania Silverstars-
Next thing I want to talk about is Sylvania Silverstars (Syl. SS). I am
NOT talking about OSRAM Silverstars from overseas. This is the North
American version of the Silverstar put out by Sylvania. Any auto store
will tell you that the best lights they sell are the Syl. SS’s. All of
North America has gotten into this mindset that Syl. SS are the best
bulbs from very effective advertising from Sylvania.

The one site to take a look at and that I quote from is: http://www.bmwcca.org/members/AM/Tem...6_Light&page=1

Quoted from that site: “The Sylvania 9005 “SilverStar” highbeam bulb is
advertised as making “whiter and 20% brighter” light, and this is
supposed to improve the driver’s ability to use the light….What is
obvious in comparing the “SilverStar” to the standard Sylvania
high-beam bulb is that the SilverStar makes less light than a standard
bulb. The difference at the brightest point in the beam is 77
foot-candles from the SilverStar, and 109 footcandles from the normal
high-beam bulb. This equates to ~23% less light.”

Now yes you’re going to say “well I have them in my car, and they look
brighter.” I had them in my car at one point in time as well. And yes I
agree that they do “look” brighter. But the fact is they are not. The
Syl. SS has a blue coating on the bulb. The blue coating does make the
light look a blueish tint just as those “xenon bulbs.” But, basically
the blue coating reduces the light output of the bulb. Remember, never
will a blue or purple tint on the bulb “improve” the light output.

I will again refer you to read Daniel Stern write up about blue coatings on bulbs: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...good/good.html

Here is a photo of a Syl. SS next to an OEM Subaru bulb. Note that the blue coating on the Syl. SS:



One of the things about the Syl. SS is they have HORRIBLE manufacturing
defects. I have had 3 bulbs go bad on me in the few months I used them.
One bulb went from the filament breaking off. The next went from the
bracket being crimped onto the bulb to hard, which made the gas escape
from that bulb after the glass cracked. The 3rd bulb just plain died.

Here is a photo of the bulb that cracked:



So to put it nicely, Sylvania Silverstars are one of the worst bulbs you can purchase.


HID “Retrofit” Kits-
HID’s we all want em, but we can’t afford em. So we look to the cheaper
HID kits to “retrofit” into our cars that are made for halogen bulbs. I
was thinking about them at once, and then I decided against them. The
fact is, they are NOT safe to use.

PLEASE read this if you are thinking about a HID retrofit into your car:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

To save the lazy ones some reading, HID’s and Halogens require different optics to produce the light in a safe and LEGAL way.

The filament in a bulb produces light in one spot. Lighting engineers
shape the reflector and optics around where that filament is placed.
The reflector and optics will place the light in a pattern in front of
the car so you can see. If you move the location of the filament, the
location of where the light is going changes as well. So when you put
an HID retrofit in one of these halogen housings the light scatters
into places you don’t want it to go. The light will most likely go into
oncoming traffic instead of right in front of your car. So putting
HID’s in a lamp housing made for halogens will not only be unsafe to
you, but they are illegal as well.

The only safe way of putting HID’s in your car is replacing the entire
lighting housing to a housing that is made for HID’s. For the 04-05’s
the STi’s HID’s work great! I have seen people selling these on NASIOC
for around $700.


Osram Silverstars–
So now that you know the truth about the Sylvania Silverstars and all
the BAD ideas with bulbs, its time to hear about the best bulbs you can
buy. They are called the 55W Ultra High Efficacy Plus 50. These bulbs
include the Narva Rangepower+50, Osram Silverstar, Tungsram Megalicht
or Philips VisionPlus.

These bulbs produce the maximum amount of legal light and don’t have any coatings on the outside of the bulb.

- A standard bulb produces 1550 Lumens.
- A Plus +50 bulb produces 1750 lumens.

These bulbs are manufactured with the highest quality standards and are
the best legal bulbs you can put into a car. I have these bulbs in my
car, and I love them. They are the brightest bulbs I have used, and
highly suggest these.


HIR Lighting (Halogen Infrared Reflecting)–
These are a new type of bulb originally created by General Electric. According to www.hirheadlights.com
“It was GE's goal to create a bulb that produced 75% of the light
output of HID headlights at 25% of the cost.” These bulbs are used as
OEM bulbs for the Dodge Viper, BMW Z8, Infiniti I30, Chevy Avalance and
new Nissan Maximas.”

This is a bulb made for the replacement of the 9005 and 9006 bulbs. The
bulbs are similar in the fact that the filaments are the same size and
located in the same place. But the base is a little bit different. The
use of a file or a knife for about 5-10mins will make the HIR bulbs fit
into the socket of the 9005’s or 9006’s. Here is a site in reference to
the minor modification to the base of the bulb that has to be made to
fit into our cars. http://shnu.us/HIR%20Trimming%20Stock.htm

Here is a photo of the Sylvania Silverstars next to the HIR 9011 bulb:



“These bulbs attain light levels 75% to 110% brighter than stock as a
result of an engineering process that deposits multiple, yet almost
invisible, layers of semi-reflective coating on the surface of a
specially shaped quartz bulb. This coating… reflects a portion of the
infrared energy emitted by the filament back onto the filament, causing
it to glow brighter and emit more light from the uncoated forward
portion of the bulb. Although the filament gets hotter, the glass does
not. It generates no more heat than a regular halogen bulb, and it
draws the same wattage and amperage as the stock [9005 and] 9006 bulb
it replaces”

- A standard HB3/9005 bulb produces 1700 lumens of light.
- The HIR1/9011 bulb produces 2500 lumens of light.
(http://www.hirheadlights.com/stats.htm)

The bulbs are made to draw the same amount of amps and voltage, and put out the same amount of heat as a normal 9005 bulb.

Here is a photo of the light output compared to a Sylvania Silverstar.
The HIR light is on the right, and the Silverstar is on the left.
(NOTE: In the picture with the Syl. Silverstars on, the steering wheel
is covering up the indicator for the highbeams.)



It’s hard to tell in the photo but the HIR lights are TONS brighter. I
have the HIR lights in my car. In my personal experience, when I turn
the HIR’s on, they light up the road just like they are made, the
distance that the light it thrown onto the road is amazing.

The website http://www.bmwcca.org/members/AM/Tem...6_Light&page=1 also talks about these and recommends these headlights for use replacing the 9005 and 9006 bulbs.

I would strongly recommend getting these in your car. If you talk to
Daniel Stern, he highly recommends buying these. They are $30 each bulb
and very well worth it. To purchase go to www.hirheadlights.com and go to their ebay link from there.


Selective-Yellow Bulbs-
These are bulbs that produce a yellowish tint mainly produced for use
in fog lights. Please read this article from Daniel Stern:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ght_color.html

These bulbs are recommended for use in fog lamps because they are better for use in rain and weather conditions.

Here is a photo of the Selective-Yellow H3 bulb next to an OEM H3 bulb:



I have these bulbs in my car, and I love them. The yellow brings a very
pleasant look to the road when you are driving with them on. I would
highly recommend these to put in fog lamps.


LED Turn Signals-
I want to pass on a little bit of personal information about these
bulbs. They are awesome when you clear your headlights to give it a
solid clear look inside the reflectors. But honestly, the bulbs are
very annoying.

Here is a photo of an LED bulb next to a normal turn bulb:



When you install the bulbs in your car, and turn your blinker on, your
blinker will blink like crazy. It will blink twice as fast as normal.
The reason being is because the car wants to see a certain “load” or
ohms on the end where the bulb is. When a standard working bulb is
there, the load is correct and the blinker blinks normally. When the
bulb burns out, there is no more load, and the blinker will then blink
twice as fast to show that your bulb is out.

Now, when you put an LED Turn Signal Bulb in there, the load from one
of those is so little that the car will think you have a burnt out
bulb. Which will in turn make your blinker blink twice as fast.

The only way to fix this using LED’s is to purchase a resistor to put
inline with the bulb so the car sees the correct load. This resistor
produces heat and it’s quite a pain.

The other thing that is bad about LED bulbs is it doesn’t produce very
much light. Here is a photo comparing the light output of an LED bulb
vs. a normal turn bulb:



So to bring the LED’s to a close, they are cool, I agree. But I don’t
want the pain of having my blinker blinking twice as fast. So you can
use those if you want, it's totally personal.


Where to buy bulbs?-
It’s easy! Go to http://www.danielsternlighting.com/p.../products.html and send him and e-mail of what you want.

Daniel Also runs out of this place: http://www.candlepowerinc.com/

Quoted from an e-mail from Daniel:
"NEW! Toll-free ordering!

You may now phone-in or fax-in your order toll-free on 1-866-861-8668.
This is an unmanned, recorded order line only; if you wish to speak to a live human, please call 416-766-2327."

Also for the HIR bulbs, go to www.hirheadlights.com.


What I use in my car-
In my car I use:

Low-Beams = H1 55W Ultra High Efficacy Plus 50
High-Beams = HIR 9011
Fogs = H3 55W CPI-Universal Gold
Hella 500 Diving lamps I currently use normal H3’s

In the future, I will be putting 100w bulbs in the Hella 500 Driving lamps and 55w Narva H3’s in the Fog pattern Hella 500’s.


Conclusion-
That wraps up my long thread for automotive lighting. I hope this helps
clear up some things for you guys with buying bulbs. If you have any
questions please feel free to send me a PM.


Drew Brashler

Good research Boss!!!

can read more on HID here too
http://www.ceratoforte.forumotion.com/any-other-accessories-f10/hid-installation-t156.htm
I posted this like some time back

Well... was previously er...... Teaching material for customer...^_^
Now to share...
Wanna try funny stuff... be prepare for the consequences......

was thinking of switching to the osram NB but thanks to this thread.

I'm not necessarily saying that OSRAM NBs SUCK after my initial research... Just make sure you get them from a reputable source. Buy not only the merchandise but the seller as well.

If what you got is off a paper box... then it is ORIGINAL without doubt
and its a packaging problem which another competitor also facing same quality issue. Due to cost cutting they do not seem to understand that the packaging affects the quality or rather the reliability of their premium problem and as a result Their BRAND name is affected...

They came in this exact packaging which I am quite sure the genuine article also does...

waypoint wrote:I have a pair in the boot. You are most welcome to try them, no, HAVE THEM for free if you want. And please confirm your auto and personal/life insurance premiums are paid up and in-force before you next drive you car out at night with them installed. They're white, look really nice and kind of cool. But for the level of illumination, 'throw' or light projection given the reflector set-up in our cars, can't even illuminate the way ahead for nuts! Save your money.

BR,
w a y

scorpey wrote:are LED type better?

stick to stock yellow lights if you want to be clearly illuminated in the front of your car..... IMHO only, all white lights looks nice and nothing else.... it is ok when driving in Singapore, but try on the unlit parts of NSHWay in the night, .......

After some further research, our cars come with Osram SilverStars based on the part numbers etched on the original OEM bulb.

And as stated by Mr. Drew Brashler, the author of the article I posted above -

"Osram Silverstars–
So now that you know the truth about the Sylvania Silverstars and all
the BAD ideas with bulbs, its time to hear about the best bulbs you can buy. They are called the 55W Ultra High Efficacy Plus 50. These bulbs include the Narva Rangepower+50, Osram Silverstar, Tungsram Megalicht or Philips VisionPlus.

These bulbs produce the maximum amount of legal light and don’t have any coatings on the outside of the bulb.

- A standard bulb produces 1550 Lumens.
- A Plus +50 bulb produces 1750 lumens.

These bulbs are manufactured with the highest quality standards and are the best legal bulbs you can put into a car. I have these bulbs in my car, and I love them. They are the brightest bulbs I have used, and highly suggest these."

You think people who install them really give a hoot?

Proper HID Conversion Kits -



How to properly install and adjust them...

http://www.sparkhid.com/xenon-hid-install.html

Free Worldwide Shipping

OSRAM NightBreakers
1 pair of H7
1 pair of H1

Total: UKP 37.68 = SGD 83.85!

http://www.powerbulbs.com/

lolx bro looks like u really had a bad experience man, take it easy, could be happen that the batch of osram may had manufacturing defects which we do not know.

for me , if i were to play safe, i would choose to buy the bulbs off a reputable shop such as autobacs (who give 3 mths warrenty for their philips bulb) or somone who you trust and know.

like ano had mention, we have a common friend working as an engineer in philips and conducts MO once in a while in his free time, i had purchased my bulbs with him as i trust him and he shd be able to do something if the bulbs blow at a ridiculous short period.

Haha. Sorry to dig up such and old thread about HIDs.

But imo, HIDs are really useful in dark situations.. Its dark and dry ah... not dark and rainy..

No doubt they might be glaring at times.. but I had a HID on my motorbike and it was done by one of the above mentioned guy [the one at pandan loop] Well, why would i say he did a good job, is because HE ALIGNED and adjusted the HID accordingly and ENSURE it will not glare anyone on the road.. I have seen some civics with their 10k HID shining all over the place...


A properly aligned HID is really very crucial because it throws the light on the floor, not like all over the place like a splat of mayonnaise.. I rode my bike around SG, with my HID on at night, so far i haven't have any complains... Why because my HID aligned by my fitter is beamed to the ground and will not blind other users.

My dad hates HID users too... I rode behind my dad's car and he didn't complain about my lighting... Till i told him i am on HID and he told to "join the useless ah bengs that uses those kinda bulbs."


Well, to each his own la.. anyway this clarkewen guy who is doing HID is quite good, his pricing V reasonable, and he ALIGNS, and do your bulb properly.... Not to mention great workmanship also... till now my bike's HID is running well...


Now, The reason why i didnt wanna do HID for my forte is because.

1) I no budget.. NSF nia what u expect..
2) Legality issues..
3) I dont tour on by car as i would on my bike..
4) dont think i need HID on my car because i hardly go msia.

eh guys. wads the wattage of our forte h1 & h7 headlamps?