The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I have the 100/90's I believe 4 of them, should I order some more to have on hand?

 

Of course

 

Hard to say for certain if they will be discontinued. PowerBulbs lists them as in stock. There are other high wattage bulbs, but the ones I’ve referenced in this thread have the best combination of light output vs bulb life. Couldn’t hurt to pick up a few more. But you really should get that harness on there to start.

 

Ordered 6 more since it was 25% off and free shipping.

 

Careful, you’re starting to sound like a bulb hoarder like me. So your set for many years. It’s going to be in the later early 2020s before you need more.

 

Just ordered 4 of the 100/90s from powerbulbs. I tried to order some 85/80s from Candlepower and no more. Ordered some 85/80s from Headlight Services and got a refund email a few minutes later. Oh well.

 

Dang! I just logged on to reference this thread and order all of the stuff. Any ideas as to a similar upgrade?

 

The 100/90w Osrams are still available currently. Any high wattage bulb will work, Osram just had the best balance between output and life that I have found. The harness will still provide increased performance to any bulbs run.

 

I put these in my truck 6 months ago and they have been a huge upgrade over stock. I have currently been running them just on the ceramic adapter harness with no issues. Just ordered my wiring upgrade kit and will be interested to see how much more light I will get out of these. If it does as much and the original post says I will be extremely happy. Plus the bulbs are cheap and I haven’t had any issues yet!

 

They will produce a good output difference with the harness, as that wattage will not be adequately supplied on the factory harness. The nice thing about the harness upgrade is allows one to run a variety of high wattage bulbs, it does not have to be limited to the ones I recommend. But I have done a lot of research in my recommendations and make them on a balance of output vs bulb life.

Compare:
Osram 100/90w: 2900 lumens, 200 hour life
Hella 130/90w: 3400 lumens, 40 hour life

Cost:
Osrams: $14
Hella $9

For about a 17% output improvement, you pay steep penalties in bulb life and will need to buy far more Hellas to match the life of the Osrams, negating the cost savings of buying a cheaper bulb. There is a tipping point of diminishing returns with high wattage halogens, I try to strike the balance between output and life. IMO the Hellas are beyond the tipping point with very short bulb life for marginal gain over the Osrams.

 

This is why i love this page! Thanks for all the info and doing a great write up on this. My only issue with getting those bulbs is no one locally sells them or has access to them. Then trying to order them online and get them shipped to Canada is a killer. I will make an update once the harness is installed

 

I found somewhere that hella has some 100/90 bulbs and they claimed roughly the same lumens and life as the Osram. Personally though the only thing Hella that I have ever been impressed with was the Euro light conversion I did on my old VW GTI

 

Have any links? I’ve seem the Hella 100/90w for sale in 24v but haven’t seen it for sale in 12v, though it is listed on Hellas site.

The more common Hella 100/80w 12v has a 2900 lumen high but only a 100 hour bulb life.

I’ve run the Hella sealed beam 200mm H4 conversion E-code headlights. Those were high quality and outstanding lights.

 

The more
[QUOTE="The more common Hella 100/80w 12v has a 2900 lumen high but only a 100 hour bulb life.[/QUOTE]

This one ok it is lower life I couldn't remember. I found them through several searches and links so I don't have the like offhand but this looks like it. I am planning on doing this eventually but am going with the Osrams

 

Has anyone looked at the Xencn 85/80w H4's out of China?
I note they make several variants uncoated, partially coated and fully coated.

Not interested in hearing Chinese bashing, just want to know if anyone has factual (lumens/durability) experience with them compared to Osram Hyper 85/80w bulbs?

Thanks for any input!

JL

 

Question for anyone who has the 12v 85/80w H4's Hyper bulbs from Osram:

Would you be willing to compare them to these so those of us who don't have the 85/80s from Osram can figure out if the Xencn bulbs are a legitimate alternative?:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/XEN...n-Headlights-12V-H1-H3-H4-H7/32820110641.html

 

Finally got a pic night time just headlights I'm hella impressed doing reverse lights next.

 

I can certainly take a look though I don’t have high expectations. Precision manufacturing is critical in headlights. Im currently working on way to many things, but one of which is what is a good replacement bulb.

Which bulbs did you go with?

 

Sylvania silverstar ultra for now ordered some osram this morning