Silverstar bulbs

[Warren561]

Automotive Lighting consultant Daniel Stern has some good information about bulbs. In particular the difference between the Osram SilverStar bulbs (available in EU) and the Sylvania SilverStar bulbs (available state-side). They are different.

See the bottom section of this page:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... /good.html

The Sylvania SilverStars are fully coated (head to toe) with a slight blue tint.

The Osram SilverStars are only have tint on the tip and base. There is a center section of glass without tint. I personally think the tint is less than the Slyvania's.

I personally do notice a slight difference between the Sylvania's and the Osram's. The Osram's are more "white" than the Sylvanias (which seem white with a touch of blue). The Osram's seem (to me) to have a slightly brighter beam. I don't notice much of a difference between the Sylvania SilverStar and Sylvania SilverStar Ultra though.

The Osrams are available in European H1, H7, H4, etc... sizes only. They're not available in the SAE 9006/9005 sizes.

I get the Osrams from powerbulbs.co.uk. They have a store on eBay that sells at a pretty significant discount (vs. their actual website).

Oh, and yes the Osram's do get eaten. I can get about a 18 months out of them. That's w/o DRL. Compared with the 240, I've never changed the sealed beam in the 10+ years I've had it...

[zhenya]

The only filtering of light that I'm aware of that has any basis in improving vision is yellow bulbs for rain and fog, and even that is considered to be a minimal improvement, if any.

There is a limit to how many lumens can be output by a given bulb design at a given voltage. The filament can be designed for long life (larger mandrel, wider pitch) which reduces luminance and beam focus, and tends to produce a brown-ish light output. Or the opposite filament changes can be made, which is how the 'plus' series bulbs are made - the filament pitch is tighter, beam focus is better, and the light is naturally whiter, and bulb lifespan is reduced.

So, what that means is that the Silverstar bulbs are using the these techniques to produce a brighter bulb, but then they put a coating on them that reduces their luminance to roughly that of a good, un-coated bulb. Then, because the filament is so fragile, you also get a short lifespan. It's brilliant marketing, but not good for the consumer (who gets both reduced output, AND reduced lifespan, for a premium price no less). Buy a bulb instead that uses a similar technique, but with no coating and either a) get the full luminance your are paying for (say a +50) and/or b) get a bulb that is just as bright, but lasts 2-3x as long! (like a +30)

The Philips Xtreme Power bulbs are an excellent alternative to the Silverstar bulbs, utilizing an extremely well designed filament for maximum luminance but with no showy coating. Unfortunately they are only available in 9006 (low beam for the later model 850's). For high beam though, you can use the brilliant HIR1 bulbs with a minimal modification to the mounting tabs. This bulb will give you 2500 lumens at 13.2v - whereas the best 9005 bulbs top out at about 1900 lumens!

[jblackburn]

There is definitely a blue-ish tint to them, but they're nowhere near as annoying as those HID lights at night

[tjts1]

I wouldn't touch those blue painted bulbs with a 10 foot pole. If you need more light get real high wattage bulbs.
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/BulbsMain.aspx

[zhenya]

I wouldn't touch those blue painted bulbs with a 10 foot pole. If you need more light get real high wattage bulbs.
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/BulbsMain.aspx

High wattage bulbs aren't a good idea. While our cars have better than average wiring, they are still not designed for over-wattage bulbs, plus the reflectors and much of the bulb housing is plastic and will likely be damaged by bulbs that get much hotter than the stock ones. It's also very difficult, if not impossible to buy quality over-wattage bulbs from a reputable manufacturer.

[jblackburn]

Some guy tried that with foglight bulbs and kept melting the pigtails every few weeks. Even standard wiring/55W bulbs get HOT when on for a while.

[Red-Arrow]

Marketing beats logic any day of the week it seems.

Um...What? My lights were crap. I did some research and improved them.
Marketing had nothing to do with it. Sure - There's lots of sales hype.
There is also a wealth of user info out there for those willing to look.

Its Logically fallacious to equate vox populi with scientific consensus.

AGAIN - This is a SS thread - Not PIAA. And as a rule of thumb, incandecent lamps are more like 10% efficient.
Not awesome, but very much the norm.

I think you mean incandescent Halogens? which have an Overall luminous efficiency of 2.3%. which is the factor of concern to me.

The future is LED bulbs like the CREE 5 bulbs with zoom lenses. These can turn into spots or flood lights in an instant and consume a small fraction of the power used by normal bulbs.

Sure! Of course LED's are more efficient. And they cost a TON of money at this point...
Now, what was that you were saying about wasting money?

LED technology cost fractions of a penny to produce and still fractions of a penny for bulk buyers to purchase. LED technology is faster to produce, saving time, energy, money, weight. LED have a vastly superior life span with bomb proof build quality. Los Angeles for example, well read the story below.

"The City`s plan includes retrofitting a total of 140,000 high-pressure sodium
(HPS) luminaires to LED technology over the next five years. It`s estimated LED
streetlights will reduce the City`s energy usage by 40 percent and lower carbon
dioxide emissions by 40,500 tons per year or the equivalent of taking 6,700 cars
of the road. The City will save approximately $10 million annually from a
combination of reduced energy usage and lower maintenance costs."

They save $10 million per year running cost? No more toxic Mercury! plus they save some 68,640,000 kWh/per year! Less light pollution and lesser servicing as those LED have a life span of some 11.5 years with a 12 hour duty cycle per day. I guess you haven't kept abreast of this technology.

Do not waste your money on expensive bulbs. Clean your reflectors and lenses.

Lenses? Sure. They're just glass. But the reflectors are front mirrored plastic and will scratch VERY easily.
One that happens, you're looking at new headlight housings. There's that money thing again...

Reflectors over the years begin to fog with a thin misted film. This can be removed with a wet fingertip and a non-caustic soap, not brain surgery I assure you. If one uses wire wool it, then oh well.

The real point here is that talking lighting is a lot like talking speakers.
As stated above, it's a subjective thing. Get what works for YOU.
After all - You're buyin'.

It no a subjective thing at all. It a purely a scientific measurement. As for speakers they are linear transducers. Its one of the first things I learned as an acoustic engineer.

[tjts1]

I wouldn't touch those blue painted bulbs with a 10 foot pole. If you need more light get real high wattage bulbs.
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/BulbsMain.aspx

High wattage bulbs aren't a good idea. While our cars have better than average wiring, they are still not designed for over-wattage bulbs, plus the reflectors and much of the bulb housing is plastic and will likely be damaged by bulbs that get much hotter than the stock ones. It's also very difficult, if not impossible to buy quality over-wattage bulbs from a reputable manufacturer.

I've had 100w H1s in my 850 for years. Never had a problem.

[zhenya]

I've had 100w H1s in my 850 for years. Never had a problem.

H1's? In what lamp? 850's used H4's in the main lamps in '93, 9005/9006 94-97, and H3's in the fog-lights.

The point stands though, over-wattage bulbs are not a safe way to improve lighting.

[tjts1]

I've had 100w H1s in my 850 for years. Never had a problem.

H1's? In what lamp? 850's used H4's in the main lamps in '93, 9005/9006 94-97, and H3's in the fog-lights.

The point stands though, over-wattage bulbs are not a safe way to improve lighting.

Experience says otherwise. Actually I have 100w H1s on the low beams and 130w H1s on the highs without any problem. They burn out more often than regular bulbs but I always carry spares. And contrary to popular belief, real 850 ecode headlights take H1 bulbs.