The SAE J581 Aux High Beam Thread

That’s disappointing. Was excited

 

I was thinking it would be the release of the Laser pods. Hopefully they have more releases in the new future. I was looking forward to something amazing and then I was just like, meh.

I don't know if they are big in the SX world or if they are trying to get into it? Maybe they are testing the waters because the "Chase Light" setup they showed IMO is not quite enough to be considered a real chase light, at least based off the SSC2 amber backlit that I have. The C1R with the dual function red would be far better or even a couple of their rock lights. I really hope they make something like these below.

-C1A (hi/low output amber, white main beam)
-SSC2 with hi/low output amber and/or red similar to the C1R or even a 5 function SSC1
-SSC2 pod that would have a white main beam with a Red AND Amber hi/low output

I think it'd be cool to see/use auxiliary lights up front that double as a running light and turn signal. While I know it wouldn't be SAE or anything that would stand up to regulatory rules, you can always add more. Plus for the SXS market, having a pod that can function as a turn signal would be AMAZING! Many states allow SXS's and ATV's on city roads and some areas require turn signals. Plus there are many more uses for something like that.

 

betting they are trying to get into that market and more into the desert market too which is $$. however what chase light setup did you see? i havent seen anything and have been bugging them for a year to make one lol. we run all their lights on our desert racer and thats the last piece we need.

 

It was in the video they posted on their Facebook page and Instagram page. The first video on the FB page cut off the last 30sec or so. Go to 1:50ish in this video and he talks about it.

https://fb.watch/mm5UmSziqF/?mibextid=cr9u03

 

ahh went to quick over that part. as yea, thats just ambers with a amber backlight (which is kinda awesome too)
for us, we machined out the covers to accept different color inserts depending on where we race.

 

That's a good point that it is interesting to see a yellow main beam, I missed that too assuming it was just the yellow lens with amber backlight. On the video it appears that the main beam is a Yellow LED in place of the white LED. I wonder what the output intensity is like (just spit balling different lens options) and the actual color temperature? Could it be close to a selective yellow with a clear lens or possibly something that could become selective yellow without as much filtration loss through the lens as the 4000k LED's?? Hmm.... Certainly interesting. If it's a Yellow LED, I'm wondering what's possibly next along those lines??

EDIT: That's a pretty cool setup you have there! I like how you machined that down so a colored lens could be inserted. What do you find best for lens color in those environments?

 

its just for the rear and some fun front lights. for rear we have to run either a blue or green depending on the state we are racing in. we also did some front green to run during the day just to make it easier to see us.

 

Hella 500 vs 500FF vs 700FF.

The Hella halogen lamps are a popular inexpensive driving lamp available in the smaller 500 lamp size with either traditional optics using fluted lenses or free form optics utilizing the reflector only and clear lenses without additional fluting optics. The 700s are a larger lamp size of the same product family.

For the initial round of testing, the included "55w" Hella H3 is used on all lamps.


Except this isn't a 55w bulb. My accurate linear power supplies had trouble supplying the lamps with this bulb, tripping at max power which is 70w. These 55w Hella India bulbs were pulling 5.1A at 13.8v, or 70.4w. So I had to swap to my high power switched power supply units. That might seem exciting, but Hella doesn't have the best reputation for over wattage bulbs, in fact they are often lower performing than stock wattage performance bulbs from better manufactures. But regardless, I pressed on using the default bulb as the baseline.

First the Hella 500s (using fluted lens optics)


What you'll notice is these lamps have a very nice pattern distribution and a wide pattern width compared to later images.

Hella 500


The Hella 500FF (free form optics)


The pattern is much more serrated and non-uniform. However it does a reasonable job of concentrating the majority of the output in the horizontal area where it will be most effective without wasting excess light spill vertically. Focusing more light where it is needed without wasting excess in unnecessary areas leads to higher output intensity for a given source.

Hella 500FF


So how do the Hella 500 and 500FF compare?



The Hella 500 does a better job at delivering a smooth pattern, but the 500FF delivers in peak intensity and prioritizing directing the light where it will be most effective.

So if the 500FF is good, one would think the 700FF would be even better.

Hella 700FF


Impressive area coverage with much more vertical coverage than the 500FF.

Hella 700FF


So how do the Hella 500FFs compare to the 700FF?



The 500FFs put down higher peak intensity numbers, which is surprising initially because larger reflectors are more efficient than smaller ones with all other things being equal. Except they are not equal in this case. You can see the 700 pattern prioritizes a very large circular pattern with lots of vertical coverage whereas the 500FF is more focused on concentrating the light output into an oblong horizontal pattern where it will be most useful, and by concentrating the light output it can drive higher output intensity values which will project further.

Between the 3 with stock bulbs, I'd personally lean toward the 500FF based on this data on what I'd want out of a driving lamp. Now I will also test with upgraded bulbs and report the results, which should really tell which lamps have the best optics since the Hella bulbs seem suspect at best.

For some fun comparisons on how these compare to other lamps in this thread using the sub-par Hella bulbs.

Hella 500FF vs DD SS3 Sport SAE driving


The Hella 500FF come impressively close to the peak output of the highly advanced Diode Dynamics SS3s using TIR optics, within 7%. DD has a larger patten area, but the Hellas are a fraction of the price. I bet some of the performance bulbs for the Hellas to be tested later exceed the performance metrics from Diode Dynamics SS3 sports.

Hella 500FF vs KC Pro6


If looking for that traditional appearing round light, the KC Pro6 is still hard to beat while also being one of the most efficient lights on the market.

The tests of the Hella lamps will be repeated and reported with the various other performance bulbs so that you can see how bulb optimization affects performance.

 

Looking forward to the updates!

 

Nice work - as usual. I am a bit surprised at the results though. (Full Disclosure: The Hella 500's - both models - came from me.) I'd run the 500 Fluted lens versions on my Scion xB for many years and was pretty happy with them. When I finally ran out of replacement lenses (due to stone hits breaking the glass lenses), I found a set of the FF's at a garage sale of all places. Using the exact same bulbs, I installed them in the existing housings, so I had the exact same aiming. I honestly hated them. Even re-aiming them didn't make me happy.

Looking back, I think the biggest difference (in my opinion) was that the fluted lens versions were almost more of a "Pencil beam." The FF's were more of a true Driving beam with a bit more spread. So, I donated both versions to crash for science and converted the xB over to some Hella 550's that I had from a previous truck and had three different lens patterns for. (Driving, Fog and the super rare Mid-Beam.) I'm currently running the Driving pattern lenses and am much happier with them than either of the 500's.

I do have a pair of Diode Dynamics SS3 Pros with Driving and Fog pattern lenses sitting in the basement though ...

 

Great test Crash! Glad to see some real world numbers out there so people can be pointed here when they want a comparison!

Looking forward to further testing with other bukbs as well, that will be good to see as well.

 

To be fair, I wouldn't say there is a decisively clear winner between the 3. The 500s using fluted lenses have a much better central hot spot than the 500FFs. The 500FFs have the poorest beam consistency among the 3, and while they return the highest peak intensity using the Hella bulbs the peak intensity isn't in the very center of the pattern, like the fluted 500s or the 700FFs, which is less than desirable. The 500FFs overall beam shape is most similar to aftermarket LED driving lights like those from Diode Dynamics and KC where the pattern is horizontally oblong vs circular. I think what I found most surprising is that the 700FFs were not significantly better than the 500s in terms of peak intensity output, though they do illuminate a larger area. That and the Hella 500s rival the DD SS3s for driving pattern intensity, and I'm betting will exceed it with better bulbs. It will be interesting to test out the next several sets of bulbs.

 

Hella 500 vs 500FF vs 700FF with upgraded bulbs.

The Hella 500/700 lamp series use H3 bulbs. At the time of this test, the highest efficiency rated H3 bulb on the market is the Osram Night Breaker Laser +150. So for stock wattage (55w) performance bulb testing in the Hella lamps, these were the bulbs selected.



It is worth noting that the Osram Night Breaker Lasers pull slightly less power than the standard Hella bulbs. The Osrams pull 69w, vs the Hellas 70.4w.


Hella 500 with Osram +150


Hella 500 w/ Hella bulbs vs Osrma +150


The Osram +150s give about a +27% performance improvement while consuming just slightly less power and a slightly whiter color temperature.

Hella 500FF with Osram +150


Hella 500FF w/ Hella bulbs vs Osrma +150


Wow. The stock wattage performance Osrams provide about a +47% improvement with the free form optics on the 500FFs.

Hella 700FF with Osram +150


Hella 700FF w/ Hella bulbs vs Osrma +150


Wow, again. The stock wattage performance Osrams provide about a +49% improvement with the free form optics on the 700FFs.

I think what is most interesting here is how the free form optics have almost 2x the performance improvement of the 500 fluted optics. This makes sense as the focus enhancements will be more diluted if using spreader optics on the outer lens vs using the reflector alone.

Recall how I speculated a bulb upgrade would beat out the DD SS3 Sport driving intensity? They beat out the SS3 Sports... and the Pros.

Hella 500FF w/ Osram +150 vs DD SS3 Pro Driving


Hella 500FFs with Osram +150s are +17% higher output intensity than the Diode Dyamics SS3 Pro driving lights. Obviously the Pro has a more uniform circular pattern. But a pair of 500FFs with Osrams +150s are about $90 combined vs $300 for the SS3 Pros. You don't need pricey LEDs to have good lighting. No, the Hellas stand no chance against the SS3 Max.

Hella 700FF w/ Osram +150 vs KC Pro6 Driving


I used the Hella 700FFs for this comparison since their larger pattern area is closer to that of the KC Pro6 than the 500s. The 700FF with Osram +150s is within less than 5% peak output of the KC Pro6. Again like the 500s, the KC have a larger more uniform pattern area. The KC Pro6 costs about $540/pr. The Hella 700FFs with Osram +150s is just over $90/pr. Again, good lighting options exist outside of the expensive LED lamp options.

Next up is the high wattage Osram SuperBrights.

 

That’s pretty badass!

 

Crash, can you give lens temp readings for each of these Hella lamps? Would be interesting to see the difference between 500/700 with both the standard and high wattage bulbs.

I should have sent you/paid you for some wide kapton tape/sheet so you could test the change in lens temps and the effectiveness of filtration. I've used both kapton tape and duplicolor metalcast anodize yellow to fikter for selective yellow with non-tinted halogens before, and both get (visually) very very similar results.

 

Yeah, I can grab some thermal readings from the 55w bulbs tonight. I ordered some heavier power supply leads (14 awg) for the 100w Superbrights, as my current 18 awg leads would definitely hold them back, new leads will be here tomorrow.

For halogen driving lamps, I don't feel as strongly about selective yellow like I do for LED fogs. Benefits though is that the halogen spectrum has so little blue light in it that the filtration losses are very minimal vs LED. Selective yellow is certainly a nice option. For the 500s, Hella offers them with yellow lenses or stick on yellow laminate specifically cut for the 500s. I don't see either of those options for the 700s from Hella. There is also the yellow Osram Fog Breaker +60 bulbs too, they are the only + efficiency yellow bulb I am aware of which on the surface makes them seem more appealing than other standard yellow bulbs. Although they are from Osram China, not Osram Germany. I've not tried them but I'd bet output results would be better with the Osram +150s and a yellow lens or laminate filter.

 

I found selective yellow as a great option for highbeams and driving lights because it doesn't reflect neeearly as much off of reflective road signage as any full spectrum white light does. While you can still see the signage, its not blinding. Let's you get a lot closer before having to dim/cut off driving lights. Not legal, but effective, and easier on the eyes.

 

I hadn't considered signs, that is an interesting point. A while back I was driving on a unlit highway that had a lot of signs and with the ultimate headlight upgrade high beams, the sign reflections were quite annoying to say the least.

 

That's how western PA is. Our roads are absolutely littered with reflectice signage. Lots of stretches of interstate are like that. Even "out in the sticks" of the midwest, it's a helpful trick to reduce eye strain at night. I really like my cibies, but for my next driving lights, I want something that at the very least has a lower color temperature. Im looking for word on the LEP boosted SS5's.

On another front- the luminus sst40 has become available in 3000k 95cri. The die size is smaller that the XM-L chips the LED cibies use, and it is domeless, so the apparent die size is smaller, and the surface intensity is higher - this would translate to a slightly smaller beam pattern, and potentially much higher intensity. I keep considering attempting a swap. Depending on the circuit design, it may also be a simple change to increase the drive current to what the higher output cibie super oscar sees, which should still be well below the limitations of the thermal path.

 

I had the same issue with the KC Pro6 driving lights, was out in the “country” no street lights and the road signage was almost blinding at points.