Brenjen

First off I am nearly completely in the dark (pun intended) about the different bulbs available, secondly I appreciate any help I can get.

I have searched here & googled a bunch, I have gone to Daniel Sterns site & 4crawlers site etc. I know more now than I did but I am still very ignorant on the subject of headlamps & I need to replace the ones in my 1995 4Runner. I just ordered a new headlight assembly for the drivers side because of a stripped mounting screw not allowing proper alignment & a kid with a BB gun shooting two holes in the lens. Since I have it all apart I want to replace the bulbs. I do not go for glitz & gimmicks, blue B.S. & I don't want to foot a huge bill to go H.I.D. (although I'd like to) I'd like to simply buy brighter bulbs & not change anything in the wiring etc. but after I get them together I intend to check the voltage at the bulb under load to be sure it's good, if not I'll get the upgraded harness from 4crawler. I want to be able to see well enough to avoid deer at night & not be overly cruel to my fellow drivers on the road; I also don't give a hang about D.O.T. regulations; in other words I'll use off-road only bulbs that will be plug & play if I knew where to find them.

If I am understanding what I'm reading, 55/65 watt lights are the legal norm? I'm fairly certain that's what I have in the vehicle now & I have trouble seeing at night with lights of that wattage; I bought it used with these bulbs in it & they suck, but so have all the headlights of every vehicle I've ever owned. The ones that are currently in my 4Runner are Sylvania HB1/9004 & what I think would suit my needs are 55/100 Watt bulbs but there are so many that seem too cheap & gimmicky so I figured I'd post here for advice on where to get a decent set & what to get. With all the fake xenon, imitation blue coated H.I.D. wanna be lights out there I don't want to get some crap. I'm currently considering GE Nighthawks or Sylvanis Ultrastars (but I don't want to fall face first into a marketing scam) Could you help an ignorant brother out?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

I usually just pick the bulb without any gimmicky sounding color/name, so just the plain old quartz-halogen bulb, not the blue glow or xenon xyz or whatever. And check the voltage at your headlight bulbs to see how good the stock wiring is doing at getting full voltage to the existing headlights. If not within 0.5 volts of the battery, your light output is being reduced by the wiring:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...ml#VoltageTest

Brenjen

Thanks. Yeah I intend to do that as I mentioned in my rather rambling post. I read your page & if it doesn't test good then I'll be hitting you up for a harness. I am having trouble finding the 55/100 Watt bulbs & the ones I have found seem sketchy at best (J.C. Whitney) I am off to the local auto parts places tomorrow but I doubt I'll find anything other than the Sylvania silverstar & GE Nighthawks. I'm so ignorant all I will be looking for is labeled wattage & if the bulbs are socket 9004 & I'm afraid I'll end up with trash bulbs.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

I run some bulbs I got at JC Whitney, they have held up pretty good. I think I have had one burn out in about 5-6 years. I usually buy an extra bulb or two so I have spares, I think they cost $8-$10/ea.

Another place to check is RallyLights:
- http://www.rallylights.com/hella/bulbs.asp

Brenjen

That's what I need, sources - Thanks again. I figure if I get the 55/100 watt bulbs & the voltage tests low they'll really rock my socks when I get it right.

Edit: Does anyone know where I can get some good brand (GE,Phillips,Hella) 55/100 Watt bulbs from a reputable E-tailer? Everything seems to be 45/65 or 80/100

RobD

You can always plunge into the abyss that is eBay.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

I think the 9004 bulbs have a lot less options available, at least compared to the H4s. I think some folks have gone to the option of swapping in the earlier 2nd gen H4 headlights in place of the 9004s.

Brenjen

O.K. - I was wondering about that. I have also noticed the norm is 65/45 not the 65/55 like I thought as well.

I read somewhere that a buyer should stay away from bulbs that advertise 65/45 = 100/80. I was looking at some PIAA bulbs which I thought was a good brand but that's what they advertised. What if I just went 100/80 Watt?? Will that wattage melt the housing from heat?

I feel so stupid asking these questions but I've read until my eyes feel like they are about to pour out of my head & I'm still sort of floundering. As far as e-Bay goes.....I would but I'm not certain enough of what I'm looking for yet

Edit: Oh yeah, as an after thought....Where can I get some OSRAM bulbs instead of the blue tinted autozone sylvanias?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

I think the 900x bulbs are a more stringent design/standard and are probably restricted to limitations imposed by that, like the 65/45 standard wattage vs. 60/55 for the H4. I thnk the H4 is a little wider open as far as variations, have even run into H4 bulbs where the high and low beam connectiosn are swapped in the bulb (must be that way to make folks think that they are really bright - on the low beam at least).

The real test of the bulbs output would be the actual light energy output (lumens) and not just the electrical energy input (watts), but most vendors don't publish lumen data. Daniel Stern lists some typical data on his page:
- http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ulb_types.html

I think RallyLights carries the Osram bulbs. I have had good luck with Hella bulbs, I have never had one burn out. Have never worked with a plastic housing, so no idea how a higher wattage bulb would affect that.

But the biggest thing to check is that you are getting full voltage to the back side of the bulbs. If that has dropped significantly, you might be surprised at what the existing bulbs can do given full voltage. That is what happened on my VW, I put a relay harness on it and the improvement was enough that I just left the old halogen sealed beams in place.

Brenjen

I have an email off to Stern, waiting for a reply. As far as the lumens go, yeah I understand all that. I am going by wattage because that's what's listed most & more wattage usually = more light output. I wish they would just label X bulb has x,xxx lumen output.

I think in the end I'll just put some cheap clear bulb in & test the voltage. Depending on what I find out there I may just stop worrying about it & deal with the poor lighting. It just bothers me that I can see better with my Sure-Fire flashlight than I can with my headlights on the 4Runner.