Best low beam insert

[dirk07]

Looking for the best headlight insert for Hella SB19

Needs perfect low beam light.
Will been used with additional high beam, so high beam is not very important.

[jmz]

Looking for the best headlight insert for Hella SB19

Needs perfect low beam light.
Will been used with additional high beam, so high beam is not very important.

I have a set of Audette's LEDs in my '74 that are fantastic. My 68 has the cool looking CIBIE biodes which look great but don't perform like the Audette Led lights (but I haven't updated the bulbs yet)

[dirk07]

Oh, no LED s please.

[jaudette3]

I recommend the Hella kit with our Tungsten Megalite Ultra +120 H4 bulbs. Hard to beat. If we were aware of something better we would sell it.



Why are these bulbs a better choice than +150 bulbs, aren't they brighter? Read Daniel Stern's H4 bulb analysis HERE. There's a lot of complexity involved with bulb design.

Cheers,
John

[Arne]

I've been using E-code 7" round H4 lights in my various cars here in Oregon since 1976. Over that time I've had personal experience with the following - Cibié (standard, Z-Beam and BOBI), Marchal, Bosch, Stanley, Hella, Wipac, Lucas, Autopal, Carrello and maybe one or two others that I can't recall. I prefer the Hella E-code (not the DOT version), glass lens and metal reflector. These lights have always provided the best low beam of the bunch, good range, broad coverage with the least shadows. The Bosch I used back in the '80s was almost as good, but I don't know if those are still available. Most others either lacked range, coverage or had too many shadows in the beam. Cibié for example, have very good range, but lots of shadows in the coverage.

Just my opinion...

[dirk07]

Oh, thanks a lot, John and Arne.

Already using new E-code Hellas inserts in my US cars with sugar scoops for years now. The H4 bulbs are Osram or Philips +20.
Had tried them also in one of my R cars with relais and thicker cables and Osram H4 200 to get a brighter light.
Looks like the Osram H4 200 bulb might be too large/thick to work good with the dimensions of the reflector.
Might try Rallye H4 100/90W and I ll order a set GE+120 and compare.

[jaudette3]

Also, you may need fresh reflectors. Here's what our lighting consultant Daniel Stern, has to say on that topic:

Also, the higher heat output from the high-watt bulbs greatly accelerates the cooking-to-death of the shiny stuff that makes the reflectors reflective. As you know, headlamp reflectors are shiny by dint of a super-thin layer of vapor-deposited aluminum with a super-thin protective clear topcoat. With years of headlamp usage the topcoat eventually breaks down and allows the aluminum to begin oxidizing.

Optical degradation of the reflector is grossly advanced well before you can see it with the naked eye (which is sometimes not possible), though looking at it wouldn’t do you much good; by the time the reflector has degraded enough to be described as “just a little imperfect” the lamp is past dead.

Cheers,
John

[Arne]

The other thing to consider is that the lights on modern cars have spoiled us. Lights that I thought were totally amazing 30 or 40 years ago are just "meh" today, compared to modern LED or bi-Xenon that steer with the car and such. There is no way to duplicate the broad, even beam of a ellipsoid projector lamp.