850 headlight upgrade?

[zhenya]

The 850 actually has really good headlights. The problem is typically that these cars are now 20 years old and the parts are generally going to be in poor repair. @DeathRex is on the right page in his post above - the absolute first thing to check is voltage at the headlight bulb itself. Do a proper voltage drop test and you can isolate on which side of the circuit (+/-) you are losing voltage. 13.15v is good, 13.5v would be better. A bulb rated at 1000 lumens at 12.8v will output 1200 lumens at 13.5v and only 800 lumens at 12v.

Second is to check the aim of the headlamps, the condition of the lenses, and the condition of the reflectors. The condition of all of these pieces will contribute to the overall light output. Don't mix and match e-code lenses with DOT reflectors. The two components are designed to work together as a pair, and each are different. The aftermarket lenses widely available are of very low quality. A comparison of the quality of the fluting on the back side of the lenses tells the story. The OEM Hella parts are sharp and crisp. The aftermarket ridges are soft and poorly defined. This will directly impact the distribution of your limited light source.

If all components are in good shape, the next step is to improve your bulbs. I have owned both OEM e-code and of course, DOT models side by side. The European models are good, but using the H1 bulbs your upgrade path is somewhat limited at about 1500 lumens. With the DOT models you can safely perform the 9005/9006 to HIR1/HIR2 upgrade described here http://store.candlepower.com/mohirbuba.html

This will take your 9006 low beams from 1000 nominal lumens to 1875 lumens and your 9005 high beams from 1700 lumens to 2500 lumens. (That's ~8700 nominal lumens on highs vs. ~6000 from the H1 e-code setup). When all is said and done you will have lights that will rival or exceed many modern cars, in a reliable, safe manner. I drive extensively at night and have found this setup to be more than adequate. On a recent return trip from a job site, driving a couple hundred miles on dark, wet highways, my co-worker in his late 2000's Toyota Tundra was glued to my back bumper because he couldn't see a thing on his own.

[DeathRex]

I just put in replacement Sylvania Xtravision 9006s and the light out put went from 52 with the engine on to 70. I can tell now where the bulbs show on the road, but still not as bright as the Beetle's.
I think I'll try the 9012s.

[DeathRex]

Since the 9012s don't have the ends covered, it says to make sure your car has a glare cover. I wonder if that's what the bracket is for.

[zhenya]

Right, the bracket is there to control glare, and it appears to do this quite well with the 9012's as well. In fact it seems to control it better than the even larger shield on our XC90 I have with the same bulb upgrade. If you aren't comfortable with this, go with the Philips Xtreme Power bulbs for the lows and the HIR's for the highs. I did this for many years and it still provides excellent lighting.

[sleddriver]

Here's a thread with details on the extra headlight wiring harness piece: https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/vie ... hp?t=69223

Every 98 I have look at, has the little extension harness between the socket and the headlight. Volvo put these in because the lights were too bright, the extension increases resistance and purposely dims the lights, although only a little. You can take the extensions out, just unplug both ends and bypass them so the original harness goes right to the headlight.

I've been using H7 65W bulbs for about a year now, they provide slight improvement and do not overheat: http://www.ebay.com/itm/osram-64217-H7- ... 4ac7ca223e

I checked my 98 V70/T5 and found no extra HDL wiring harness. Instead the covered wiring just disappeared into a larger loom/bundle with a few other wires!

I too am a fan of the 65W Osram bulbs. Both have only recently burned out. Far longer than the promised 500hr life. Note that the link from your thread has been replaced with an 80W instead. I wouldn't recommend that as a suitable replacement.

I peeled off the 10+ yr old, yellowing glass lens protecting film I bought from Griot's long ago and cleaned off the adhesive with ethanol. Also replaced an Eiko H7 55W bulb with an Osram H7U 55W. The light is noticeably brighter & whiter. Now both low-beams look the same.

I need to check the HDL wiring V-drops as well as the V at the bulbs themselves. The OEM bulb wire is 1.9mm insulated. The bare wire itself is 1.2mm untinned copper. Not sure what European gauge wire that is. I wouldn't think it's compatible with AWG.

[DeathRex]

Well my passenger light on the 850 has a broken lens, so I took it apart and saw that water got onto the reflector and turned part of it orange, wiping it off removed the reflector and just had plastic behind it. So I'm going to have to replace it. The driver's side reflector is good but looked a bit pitted. I'll see what I get when the replacement comes in.

[DeathRex]

I got the newer headlight assembly in, I was sent the driver's side instead of the passenger side, but I tried it out and the driver's side light intensity went from 70 to 114, so it's OK. You can see that the newer one is clearer. I'm going to take the older driver side headlight to the junk yard and see if I can find a passenger side that's better.

[shiloh51933]

I have a set of these, I wonder why I wanted for so long. Light pattern is 10x better than stock.

http://www.360tuners.com/93-97volvo850h ... fgodZk8HsA

Any pics?

[tryingbe]

I have a set of these, I wonder why I wanted for so long. Light pattern is 10x better than stock.

http://www.360tuners.com/93-97volvo850h ... fgodZk8HsA

Any pics?

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... 13#p423913

[kaneelschep]

That info on the osram lights is very intersting.
The rallye ones are quite uncommon here though. So what about these?
OSRAM Night Breaker Unlimited H1? any experience? Read good tihngs about them.
And do they use the same fitting for hi and low in a volvo 850?