The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I'm sorry, I had a brain fart when I typed that. I have Osram Bilux 100/90w bulbs. Not sure why I was thinking Hella bulbs but these are definitely what I have.

$15 OSRAM 62204SBP Premium Off-Road Super Bright H4 Headlight Bulb Vibration-Proof Technology, Yellow

https://www.amazon.com/Osram-Premium-Off-Road-Headlight-62204SBPQTY/dp/B00NRA91XM

I edited my original post.

 

The problem is that Hella doesn't actually make bulbs. Other manufactures make the bulbs for Hella, so unless you can identify who that manufacture is, you may be getting a decent product, or you may be getting a poor quality Chinese one. Whats worse, is that the same bulb type may have 2 different manufactures and actually be different products but not clearly be marked any different.

Example:
Hella standard H9, 2 different manufactures
1 bulb is manufactured cheaply in China
1 bulb is manufactured by Osram as a Hyper performance bulb in South Korea <- This bulb is awesome

The other issue here is bulb life. The Osram 100/90w have the best bulb life at 200 hours. Typical of a 100/90w bulb is 150 hours. The Hellas are rated at 100 hours, but I think that must be the high beam rating, as that is pretty poor. I may include the Hella 100/80s in the upcoming bulb comparison, I'm building quite the collection.

Made in Germany Osram 100/90w bulbs
https://www.powerbulbs.com/us/product/osram-super-bright-premium-h4

Source for Hella H4s (likely all Asia):
https://www.rallylights.com/h-412-hella-h4-9003-hb2-12volt-halogen-bulb.html

I'm pretty excited to try the new GEs, I'll probably give them a basic test not long after they arrive. I have really started to appreciate bench testing though, it is so much easier and more repeatable creating standardized comparison measurements that can then be cross referenced against others. I cannot do that in the vehicle. I'm not yet setup to do that for the 2nd gen. I need to get some OEM lighting assemblies and beefier power supplies to handle the high wattage bulbs. Probably $500 or so if I get all decent gear.

As mentioned the 20% off is pretty standard, occasionally it bumps up to 25%.

Fortunately I have the +130s too, so I'll be able to provide you an answer, once I'm set up for 2nd Gen testing.

Graphs are definitely in the plan. I've started doing that in my other threads and it is very useful. Bulb life specs are definitely harder to come by though, some manufactures do not publish them, and others will put it right on the box. The German bulbs are usually really good with their documentation.

 

Thanks. I have two sets of these on the shelf still, guess I'll buy 2 or 3 more sets (I like to keep a few sets on hand so when a bulb gos out I just grab a new set off my shelf). I just put in a set of osram 85/80s that I had on the shelf with them. Iirc these were an early reccomendation from you and I bought 3 sets when I got my harness. @suppra87 thanks for the correction.

 

I don't think anything is going to beat the 85/80w Hyper bulbs you have as those are exceptional and widely regarded as the highest performing H4. Where it gets more fuzzy is in the absence of the availability of those bulbs, what is the next best replacement if not interested in an All Season bulb.

 

I'm kicking myself for not doing this.

 

Just installed Hella H9 65W PGJ19-5's on my right side to compare with standard on the left.
I'll send a vid if I get a good one.

 

Nice! Even side by side output photos would be good. But I think you meant this for the 3rd Gen thread:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

I ordered some too! Hopefully they come soon, and are a closer match to my fog lights after following your FG upgrade. Fog lights are so wide, crisp and focused.

 

This thread just passed 1/4 million views. I thought that was pretty cool.

 

No surprise here. It’s a pretty enlightening thread.

 

@Toy4me,

You amuse me. Since @crashnburn80 already invests so much his valuable time into this, perhaps you could offer to help him out and invest some of your own valuable time to get the spreadsheet started and fill in as much data as you can from reading all the prior posts... That is, if having that spreadsheet and being able to share it with others is important enough to you to invest your own time...

...just sayin'...

;-)

JL

 

I got my new harness in. Definitely more impressed by the quality over the Rallylights harness. We’ll see how long it lasts.

I’m not very impressed with my 1999 headlight pattern. They’re fairly new factory headlight assemblies, but they don’t fan out evenly. Maybe I don’t have them aligned right. There’s a sharp upswing in light pattern towards the passenger side that puts most of the lighting off the roadway

 

Remember, there is a built in "kick up" on the right hand side of most modern headlights by design. It's intended to better illuminate road signs.

You might want to park your truck about 25' away from a clean vertical wall at night with your lights on and snap us a pic. That will go a long way in showing if you have a problem.

 

Illuminati

 

The 98-2000 trucks are a challenge. The 2001 trucks got modern composite lights, and the 97 and earlier trucks used standard 200mm lights with very high quality replacement options available. The 98-2000 don't have quality replacement options available and are the older fluted lens style design. Good condition factory lights are going to be the best available. @Too Stroked is spot on with the kick up on the passenger side. I'd second the suggestion of posting some picks ~25' from a wall and we can help determine if you just have some beam adjustment that needs to be done. You mentioned they are fairly new, were they ever adjusted after being installed?

 

I hate when the person driving behind you has a light bouncing around.

 

I had one follow me yesterday where they had put drop in LEDs in the factory fogs causing all sorts of glare and the driver side one was blinking on and off. Kinda like being constantly flashed. Really obnoxious. LED blinking is typically the result of a failed cooling fan and the LED overheating. Clearly they didn't notice or I would have expected they turn the fogs off, since there was no fog.

 

Speaking of adjustment, I'm sure I need to adjust my headlight and fog lights. The headlight housings have been replaced by the previous owner and I'm sure my passenger side is too high. If I'm parked 25' from a wall, how high from the ground should the hot spot be for the headlights? The fog lights? My truck is lifted so I assume they are too high which might explain why I don't seem to have much usable light on the road. I have the headlight services harness and Phillips Xtreme +130 bulbs but I'm thinking about trying the Super Bright 100/90W bulbs. Some people seem to think that the higher wattage bulbs won't blind oncoming traffic if the proper headlight cut off is maintained. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for all of you input, guidance, protect testing & reviews. I always learn something new from your threads.

 

Some good questions and I'll field a few before letting @crashnburn80 field the balance. First, the most important information in your post is that your truck is lifted. That changes quite a few things about your headlight performance as well as what your available options are. It appears that you have OEM housings and they have some pretty decent optics that react well to higher powered halogen bulbs because the cutoff is maintained. (In fact that's the key to the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade.) But that all depends on the truck riding at least close to the stock / non-lifted height. Once you lift a truck, you lift that cutoff and get it closer to eye level of oncoming drivers. Once you get to eye level, you start ticking folks off.

Now the option that most folks quickly jump to is to "re-aim your headlights down a bit." While this may - depending on how much your truck is lifted - solve the problem of ticking off oncoming drivers, it creates a new problem. Your headlights may no longer have the "reach" they used to since they're aimed into the ground. But, this is probably your best - or maybe only - option right now.

Even if you manage to re-aim your headlights so that they do not bother oncoming drivers, with a lifted truck, you still may have another problem: bounce. Since your cutoff is now closer to eye level, but you've minimized the issue through aiming, you can still run into problems when your truck either hits a bump or you have a load in the bed. That's because you've (temporarily) re-aimed your headlights back up. Again, the joys of a lifted truck.

Personally, I'd recommend staying away from crazy higher wattage headlight bulbs with a lifted truck. The increase in visibility for you is generally out-weighed by the negative effects on other drivers. The best option I can recommend for somebody in your situation is upgrading your fog lights since they're mounted at the lowest level in your grill. Here's a link to a great way to accomplish that:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-foglight-upgrade-h11-not-led-or-hid.435419/