The SAE J581 Aux High Beam Thread

That makes sense, I have no personal experience with the KC Gravities.

My brother has a pair of 500FFs that he seems to like, I just haven't ever found candela specs for any of Hella's lights, so it's hard to compare. Do you know if those figures are available, or if any of their halogen offerings will outperform the Daylighters? I suppose I could try calling Hella....

Sounds good, I'll start with an pair of spread or driving and consider adding a spot or two later on.

 

Hella 500s will not outperform Daylighters. Daylighters are a very deep reflector which provides better performance (all other things being equal) compared to shallow reflectors. KC specs the spread Daylighters at 800m+ projection distance, the graphs for Hella 500s show just shy of 300m projection distance. Now neither says if that is a 1 lux, or 0.5 lux, so it isn't a very good comparison metric. The 500s also come with a standard 55w bulb (which can be upgraded to a 55w performance bulb, or a 100w bulb) vs the Daylighters 100w bulb. So even with some specs it doesn't tell the full story. If someone wanted to lend me some 500s and some bulbs, I'll include them in this thread as they are a very popular budget/snow driving light option.

 

Thank you for the info, we'll see what I end up with.

If I had a pair I would, or if I had a vehicle that needed them I'd grab a pair. Otherwise I wonder if they could be ordered from Am*zon then returned once testing was complete.

 

I only had the Cibie's in there for a couple of months, then replaced them with Diode Dynamics SS5's - which are waaaay better. As for cleaning, I have had absolutely no issues with either set and am completely happy with the mounting location. Besides, nobody can steal them back there.

 

Crash, so you want some Hella 500's to test? I may have just what you need. Give me a call this weekend and we'll work out the details. Trust me though, the 500's just don't have much punch - particularly the FF (free form optics) variety.

 

If you test a pair of hellas i would at least go with the 700ff with 100watt bulbs. If you dont care ffor mounting behind the grill then you could try the hella 4000s or the kc daylighters. For me the hella 700ff was enough for highway driving along with the h9 low beam upgrade. I have 4 ss3 pro yellows for trail use though.

 

Did you end up switching to spots?

 

Yup.

 

If I'm reading the specs correctly the ss5 spots have a wider throw than my ss3 max driving.

 

They might. They actually have a fairly wide "spot" pattern. Of course, since I have them wired to come on with my high beams, you get some of the factory high beam pattern in this pic. The reach is all SS5 though. The road falls off slightly about 1/2 mile away.

 

Ask and ye shall receive. A pair of Hella 500 driving pattern lights - one regular and one FF - are winging their way to @crashnburn80 for testing. I can tell you from personal experience that the output of the FF version is pathetic compared to the "regular" version though.

 

They both have 55W bulbs?

 

Yes, brand new 55-watt bulbs, but I'm going to let Crash put anything he wants in them.

 

@crashnburn80 if you want different bulbs (good and bad) to test in those Hellas, let me know, I can buy a few sets for the cause. Would be good to see/show what a difference a good bulb can make in a not-so-good lamp, and how poorly a bad lamp performs with a crap bulb.

 

I certainly wouldn’t turn that offer down. I believe the lamps take H3s. Tracking shows them arriving today to confirm. I was going to try the best + efficiency bulb and the 100w Osram Superbright compared to the stock bulb. I think the best performance H3 at the moment is the Philips Racing Vision +150.

 

Would you be willing to test the same bulbs in a 700ff? I could order one lamp on Amazon and send it to you if you think its worth a comparison.

Would you be willing to test the same bulbs in a 700ff? I could order one lamp on amazon and send it to you if you think its worth a comparison.

 

I'll get on that. I'll see if there's any other "interesting" contenders, and DM you if you'd like those as well.

 

I missed responding to this, the 700ffs will be included for comparison as well against the 500s, courtesy of @Aws123 utilizing the same high wattage and performance bulbs used for the 500 testing.

 

@crashnburn80 sent you a PM, powerbulbs processor is not playing nice with me.

 

I order there regularly enough, it isn't an issue for me, the bulbs are on the way. Thanks for covering the cost.