Let there be Light : Bike Lighting, HID etc

[Shreeni0403]

@shree- what yar,reflector blackening because lots of slow city ride!!! common man,i would rather walk then not to switch on my headlights all time if that burns it ,just imagine what superb products we are using.

Mine never blackened, but got a bubble when I used 55/60w Osram NB for 15mins in stand still.

@Vineeth - yes, near the dam I saw ur bike

[navnish]

@prince-lots of factors....
from my experience i can tell you that,,,,,,

a pulsars oem reflector blackens out even with its stock halogen in time,a stock p 220 glass with full stock lights can crack from no apparent reason,also a 55/60 can blacken out the reflector as well as a night breaker can melt the reflector.
there is no hifi uv or other things involved other than that the bajaj uses CRAP (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT) to build its products to make it cheaper.it kinda works though.even the hid you are using is from a chinease space age company that may be produsing too much heat.in my opinion,forget the pain and change it when you find noticable difference in the output,make your life easier a bit.any reflector darkens with time,be it a bajaj,be it a beemer.

if you want some thing solid the glass reflector is always at your dispence from the ambassador.

just get a good bulb and clean the reflector ,and start riding,if needed change the reflector,no hi teck drill/thrill/heat sink will provide backup from this problem,always was there,always will be with headlights.

@vineeth----wow,just wow,i will not say anymore wow otherwise sajjit will kill me!

@shree- what yar,reflector blackening because lots of slow city ride!!! common man,i would rather walk then not to switch on my headlights all time if that burns it ,just imagine what superb products we are using.

@prince,again- ia m using hid for quite a long time now,given by good samaritan navnish,i use it as all time safty lights ,more then a year i suppose,no issues till now,same reflector ,same watt hid.

Hey doc whats sup with you what updates on the lighting anything new ?
Will be getting 75w hids soon lets try it out

Guys i have 5 kits of h4 bixenon 6000k with wiring harness and a normal ballast ( a decent one - ballast is without any brand but its of good quality and the bulb and wiring harness is of the highest quality - am willing to give 3 months warranty on the kit ) let me know if anyone wants the kit pm me for the pricing .

[pavanchirmade]

This had happened with me when I was using a 6000K HID in a duplicate pulsar UG3 headlight. The reflector coating started to blister within just a month and slowly started to flake off. It was due to lower quality of the overall headlight assembly.

This never happened with my original Rinder headlight though. I used that for almost a year.


Also, are yaar koi to laal karo mere headlight ki. Projectors and all and no comments?

[princesirohi]

thanks drvmtm and pavanchirmade and others....let me think,....i will wait and use teh existing reflector for some more time....

[harishsangwan]

Hey Guys..could someone tell me about whats the major difference between:
1.Philips Premium
2.Philips X-treme Power and
3.Philips X-treme Vision

All three are 12v 60/55w H4 bulbs, but then what is it that makes them different? Is it the color temperature? If yes, then do mention their colors.
Did some google search but failed to find their color temps.

[Aneesh@4GHz]

Ordinary Bulbs 2700K (Philips Premium)
Philips X-treme Power 3200K
Philips X-treme Vision 4000K

My Quick Findings.

[harishsangwan]

Ordinary Bulbs 2700K (Philips Premium)
Philips X-treme Power 3200K
Philips X-treme Vision 4000K

My Quick Findings.

Found the same charts but couldnt find the temp for the mentioned bulbs.
Thanks.

Any idea about the difference in their throw and spread? And also the intensity.

[Aneesh@4GHz]

Found the same charts but couldnt find the temp for the mentioned bulbs.
Thanks.

Any idea about the difference in their throw and spread? And also the intensity.

Guess throw and intensity will be high for Extreme Power. Premium and Vision will be of same intensity and spread but of different temps. All are my thoughts.

[pankajshirke]

Found the same charts but couldnt find the temp for the mentioned bulbs.
Thanks.

Any idea about the difference in their throw and spread? And also the intensity.

I would recommend bulbs 60/55 watts normal Halogen bulbs
Reason
While driving at nights,we need road visibility rather than glare to oncoming traffic

I have tested 60/55 watts bulbs in all category
Philips Xtreme power
It is good but not the best because the road visibility using this bulb and an normal 60/55 watts halogen bulb is almost same
Plus Philips Xtreme power has lot of glare to oncoming traffic
Only advantage is that in lower beam,Xtreme power gives good beam spread plus it gives a longer beam(but only in lower beam and not in upper beam)

Drawbacks:Almost similiar to Osram nightbreaker due to its whitish beam.Gives lot of strain and glare to the driver himself when driven in upper beam

Osram Night breaker
It is very bright but totally useless in rain and you cant see the wet road in lower beam and in upper beam,you are not able to visualize properly the objects because everything appears whitish

Normal Bosch/Osram/Philips Halogen bulbs
These bulbs are best ones with giving value for money
Only you need to do is get these bulbs from a authorized Maruti/Tata Motors or any Bosch retail outlet.These bulbs provide good illumination at nights providing absoloutely no strain while riding at night in any worst condition(Fog and Heavy rain)
Out of these bulbs,I found Bosch/Mico H4 P43t 60/55 watts Halogen bulb to be the best.
You get it for 90 rupees from any Bosch retail outlet/Bosch Car care center hence you are sure that you have purchased a genuine product
Regarding Halonix 60/55 watts halogen bulbs
There are many fakes in market hence if you want these bulbs,buy only from Tata Motors service centers and ask for bulbs of Indica/Indigo/Nano
Also Halonix 60/55 watts bulb are OEM for Bullet Classic 350 and 500 cc hence you also can get original ones from Royal Enfield spare shops
But other than these,please dont buy Halonix bulbs from anywhere

Same about Philips/Osram bulbs
If you want to go for these bulbs,then please purchase from Maruti Genuine Spares shop only


I have been using 60/55 watts bulb from more than 3 years and had done many thousand miles of night riding including hilly areas,thick forests without human settlements for almost 100 kms plus heavy rain and dense fog conditions.With all these conditions,I have done many night trips with all types of 60/55 watts bulbs

Cost of Philips Xtreme power:1100 per pair
Cost of Osram NB:900 rupees per bulb
Cost of Normal Bosch Halogen bulb:90 rupees

Practically I found that Bosch Halogen bulb and Philips Premium bulbs are the best ones

Also remember that the bulbs which claim more light from 60/55 watts(Philips XP and Osram NB) have shorter life than normal Halogen bulbs.Its quite obvious .Just take example of two humans both having capacity to do same work(60/55 watts)
In case 1
By normal workload,that person will live a normal life by giving expected output of his capacity

In case 2
The person having capacity to deliver normal output but he is forced to deliver more output than normal hence due to this abnormal condition,he will die prematurely

This principle applies to bulbs also(Not only bulbs but any particle/body in the whole universe).This is the universal truth

Also these Xtreme power/NB/Xtreme Vision etc are just marketing gimmicks
80% or 90% more light doesnt means that 80 % more light than a Halogen bulb
This more light is in comparison with a normal incandescent bulb hence practically with these bulbs,you get 15 to 20% more light than the Normal halogen bulbs and you are paying almost 10 times cost to that of a normal halogen bulb plus it has very shorter life

I have just given my experience of using these bulbs
Next you decide whether to use it or not.

[harishsangwan]

I have just given my experience of using these bulbs
Next you decide whether to use it or not.

Thanks for the detailed write-up.

I saw pics of light spread by Philips Premium, posted by a member in Karizma's thread, and was very impressed. But wanted to get some more info about various bulbs before finalizing one, which you have provided. Now lies the question of finding a genuine bulb.

What bulb are you using as of now? If its Bosch, then is it possible for you to post a showing the light spread in both the beams.

[Aneesh@4GHz]

Yeah,Excellent write up. Keep it up bro.

Now i think i should go for:

Philips Premium bulb OR Bosch H4 P43t 60/55W Halogen

[navnish]

Yeah,Excellent write up. Keep it up bro.

Now i think i should go for:

Philips Premium bulb OR Bosch H4 P43t 60/55W Halogen

@aneesh i would suggest lot of xbhp members in this thread have upgraded from 60/55 bulb to hid. Check if anyone has a used bulb am sure there will be many here .

[Aneesh@4GHz]

@aneesh i would suggest lot of xbhp members in this thread have upgraded from 60/55 bulb to hid. Check if anyone has a used bulb am sure there will be many here .

Yeah,Thats a good idea,but every one will be from outside kerala,So i will have to pay the same price of the bulb for shipping,So i guess it will be better to buy it from here.

[sajjt]

@prince-lots of factors....
from my experience i can tell you that,,,,,,

a pulsars oem reflector blackens out even with its stock halogen in time,a stock p 220 glass with full stock lights can crack from no apparent reason,also a 55/60 can blacken out the reflector as well as a night breaker can melt the reflector.
there is no hifi uv or other things involved other than that the bajaj uses CRAP (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT) to build its products to make it cheaper.it kinda works though.even the hid you are using is from a chinease space age company that may be produsing too much heat.in my opinion,forget the pain and change it when you find noticable difference in the output,make your life easier a bit.any reflector darkens with time,be it a bajaj,be it a beemer.

Hi Doc, thats not right in case of OE MFR reflectors, if then how many times have you changed in your cars HL assys? I've never changed my cars even after 5 years (Swift) its sporting with a Philips Rallye 90/100. Not even a patch on the HL glass too.

I would say it will last long untill and unless you change something other than OE. Be it a Bajaj, Honda, TVS, if you change something beyond its capacity, it will give up. I accept that the quality has gone down drastically, I've used a 55/60 halogen on my bike for 2 years without any issues, still am confident of this with the current available OE HLs.

And about beamer: too much of exaggration as every one know its build quality. If the desi Swifti HL can last long then why cant a beamer which is a CBU?

Here I strongly doubt the Capsule is emitting too much of UV else, it should not blacken the reflector. If its emitting too much heat then it must've developed bubbles on it.

Most HID lamps produce significant UV radiation, and require UV-blocking filters to prevent UV-induced degradation of lamp fixture components and fading of dyed items illuminated by the lamp. Exposure to HID lamps operating with faulty or absent UV-blocking filters causes injury to humans and animals, such as sunburn and arc eye. Many HID lamps are designed so as to quickly extinguish if their outer UV-shielding glass envelope is broken.

Source: High-intensity discharge lamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[QUOTE=drvmtm;660209]@vineeth----wow,just wow,i will not say anymore wow otherwise sajjit will kill me!/[Quote]

Nice one there am always worried about the other guy in front of us as he can screw you once you blind him. I had an instinct of using the spots to these high beam morons but now I'll think about the consequences and I will just remind him that am not un armed

Sajit

I checked Pulsar 220 beam and my setup of Tata Ace with Philips extreme power 60/55
Pulsar 220 beam had good spread in upper beam but still it was not able to match the brightness of Philips Xtreme power
And my alternator is of 100 watts with support of 50 watts for headlight plus I have added a dedicated scooter regulator of 80 watts only for headlight along with my stock RR
Hence my bike has 2 RR unit
One for electricals and other scooter regulator of 80 watts only for headlight
I can also go for 100/90 watts bulb if I get a 96 watts regulator of LML scooter but it is not available in market anymore.

BTW I again checked this sunday the comparison between Osram night breaker and an Ordinary Bosch halogen bulb of 60/55 watts
Osram nightbreaker though very bright but still I was not able to see the wet road surface in lower beam and the uupper beam gave me white light which was useless in foggy weather in hilly areas
Almost the same thing with Philips Xtreme power

But in heavy rain with wet surfaces and night time riding in ghats,I found the yellowish white light of Bosch 60/55 H4 Halogen bulb very very pleasant.

I was not at all feeling the strain on eyes during riding in heavy rain and that to in the hilly regions

I am not sure but can anybody explain how this happens
Philips Xtreme power claims to give 80% more light
Osram Night breaker claims to give 90% more light
Both these bulbs are very bright as compared to 60/55 watts bulbs.These bulbs gives light almost like a 100/90 watts bulb but still I have problem whereas with normal Osram/Bosch/Halonix 60/55 watts bulbs,I dont find problem driving at night time.Very pleasant to eyes.With this bulbs,I can ride the whole night irrespective of any weather and around 500 meters of clear view while riding at night time

Very soon,I am changing my battery to 4A/5A from my current 2.5AH

Bigger dome= better spread and throw, smaller the dome throw will be narrow but will be best bet for pencil beam which is essentially required for high beam. U r comparing a 3.5" High beam reflector with 7" dual lamp reflector and I guess its out of comparison.

Yes P Xtreme is considered to the best buy than the ONB. Have a look at this:

Auto Express regularly tests a wide range of headlight bulbs each year. Year after year, because of their high manufacturing standards, Philips and OSRAM top the table. This is indicative of the investment and quality that you’ll find from these manufacturers. At the moment Philips have the prestigious top place – the ‘Best Buy’ award – with Philips X-Treme Power. OSRAM came a close second with OSRAM Night Breaker.

Source:Philips X-Treme Power vs. OSRAM Night Breaker | Power Bulbs

ONB has got white tinge which is getting absorbed when the roads are wet. Where as on the normal tinge of a standard halogen which is close to day light 4-4.3K is the best CT, hence its lighting up the road better. Its the same rule of thumb in colour temp of a HID applicable here. These performance bulbs are meant for FF glass with MFR reflectors and not ideal for normal glass and reflectors like Tata Ace. I guess this could be a reason you find it more better with the standard halogen.

Dude, I really dont understand why you are using another RR and making it complex. I used to lightup 2X55 (55/60W HL+55W Spot lamp) on my old Samurai without any mods. Only down side was, on lower rpms it tends to flicker and will not be in full brightness, once you keep the speed not less than 50KPH it was giving steady brightness from both. And during those times only Philips/Flosser and Halonix were the readily available options.

[Noor]

Thread 'Rewiring Pulsar's Headlight' approved and merged