7" sealed beams

[Cubey]

I don't plan to drive my van much at night if possible, but when/if I do, I want the best headlights possible without spending a fortune or wasting money on cheap HID conversion kits that tend to die after a week.

Having 7" round sealed beams, my options are somewhat limited unless I venture into conversion kits which I'd rather not do for this application.

Based on the research I have done, it seems that the Sylvania H6024 XV XtraVision sealed beams may be the best ones you can get in terms of viability.

They do make the H6024 ST SilverStar, but based on their very own examples it seems to be inferior in terms of visibility distance. It generates greater brightness closer but falls short of longer distance visibility. It also seems to create more washout from excessive brightness. (See chart below)

I had a pair of (non-sealed beam) XtraVisions in a 91 Corolla and they helped considerably over the standard bulbs it had when I got it. It was very hard to see at night before I put them in.

 

[eljefino]

Off topic, but have you priced "Autopal" e-codes? $35 for two

I put one in the fog light recess of an old merc w123 and it was easily the best finished light of the four.

They set them up to plug right into your harness (and to screw into your "bucket". Fit and finish is amazing for the price.

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Off topic, but have you priced "Autopal" e-codes? $25 or so including bulb...


You're speaking Greek to me.
~
EDIT: Oh... http://www.amazon.com/AutoPal-H6024-Headlights-Bulbs-Non-Sealed/dp/B006W0QCWC

I wonder how well an H4 bulb would do vs sealed beam 6024... say XtraVision in one or the other?

I don't care for white or blue tinted bulbs. I hate on-coming vehicles with them. They are hard on the eyes. So I am going to be considerate and not use them.

Seems to me XtraVision is probably the best choice. It gives off a normal yellowish light and seems to illuminate the furthest.

 

[eljefino]

H4 would be miles better as well as the reflector and lense were designed on a modern computer.

Sealed beams do a real simple single-hot spot pattern with smudgy edges. Check out some beam pattern shots with the autopals!

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
H4 would be miles better as well as the reflector and lense were designed on a modern computer.

Sealed beams do a real simple single-hot spot pattern with smudgy edges. Check out some beam pattern shots with the autopals!


Maybe so but what about the conversion housings? Combining an H4 into one still does better than a sealed beam?

 

[FFeng7]

We have a International truck at work. They replaced the square sealed beam glass headlights with a sealed beam LED light. If anyone is interested I will try to see who manufactured them. I have not driven the vehicle at night, so not sure how effective they are but they sure look nice during the day. I would think that the LED's would improve the light output but cannot confirm that yet.

 

[NHGUY]

The LED headlights are probably TruckLite.They just announced replacements in LED.They are like $200 a pop.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Cubey
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Off topic, but have you priced "Autopal" e-codes? $25 or so including bulb...


You're speaking Greek to me.
~
EDIT: Oh... http://www.amazon.com/AutoPal-H6024-Headlights-Bulbs-Non-Sealed/dp/B006W0QCWC

I wonder how well an H4 bulb would do vs sealed beam 6024... say XtraVision in one or the other?

I don't care for white or blue tinted bulbs. I hate on-coming vehicles with them. They are hard on the eyes. So I am going to be considerate and not use them.

Seems to me XtraVision is probably the best choice. It gives off a normal yellowish light and seems to illuminate the furthest.


H4 is FAR better than sealed beam. Autopal is the Indian knockoff of the no longer made Cibie/marchal 7" H4. I have all versions as well as Bosch and Hella. All are very good and far better than a sealed beam.

Go for the upgrade.

 

[JHZR2]

FYI from an old post I had made:


I had gotten a set of Indian ripoff e-codes sometime back. Recently one sealed beam went out on my 82, and I had to go on a trip, so I swapped one. The results are interesting.

I have real Marchal (sp?) French-made e-codes on my 240d, had Bosch 7" on my old 83 300D, have Hella 5 3/4" ecodes on my BMW, And all seem to have a more strict cutoff and a bit more aggressive slant up to the right.

Still seems like a pretty good pattern to illuminate as much area without the light concentration of the GE sealed beam on the left.

FYI, both images were taken on low beam, just a different distances from the wall.

Now I need to get the 240D out to compare the real thing...

FYI, real bosch e-codes look like:

 

[Cubey]

Interesting. Having the headlights much higher up on my van than on cars (probably about twice as high from the ground) it might do even better. I know from experience that late 90's Ford full size vans and pickups seem to have better headlight distance than an early 2000's Ford Taurus.

Although, I had people flash their high beams at me when I was driving the Taurus when I was on low beams, as they thought I had high beams on. No idea what bulbs it has in it. What ever was in it when I bought it in 2008 is still in there now, but my mom barely ever drives it since I sold it to her and almost never after dark.

I wish more drivers were considerate of their headlights like i am. Around here people drive pickups with 4 massively bright headlights so you can't see a [censored] thing and the cops don't do [censored] about it. If you are in a full size truck or semi, it doesn't bother you since you're not in the direct line of sight of the headlights like you are in a car.

That's why I don't want the brightest possible white/blue headlights. I know dang well it'll blind other drivers sure as I'm writing this post. I want the best possible distance view, not the brightest. That seems to be 2 different things based on XtraVision vs SilverStar.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Cubey
Although, I had people flash their high beams at me when I was driving the Taurus when I was on low beams, as they thought I had high beams on. No idea what bulbs it has in it. What ever was in it when I bought it in 2008 is still in there now, but my mom barely ever drives it since I sold it to her and almost never after dark.


The thing is that sealed beams scatter light all over, which has some to do with why folks flash you. The sharp cutoff of H4 setups should help with that.

FYI when I used to run sealed beams, the cool blue were my favorite. They werent stupid ricer blue, but they gave a whiter light which I liked.

 

[typ901]

I replaced the sealed beams on my '95 Range Rover Classic with Hella H4 kit. Plug and play. Much better light pattern, and intensity. Finding a H4 bulb is as simple as hitting Walmart or any auto parts store..

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Cubey
Although, I had people flash their high beams at me when I was driving the Taurus when I was on low beams, as they thought I had high beams on. No idea what bulbs it has in it. What ever was in it when I bought it in 2008 is still in there now, but my mom barely ever drives it since I sold it to her and almost never after dark.


The thing is that sealed beams scatter light all over, which has some to do with why folks flash you. The sharp cutoff of H4 setups should help with that.

FYI when I used to run sealed beams, the cool blue were my favorite. They werent stupid ricer blue, but they gave a whiter light which I liked.


No... it was a 2003 Taurus that people flashed their lights at. No sealed beams. A photo of the car the day I got it:

 

[JHZR2]

yeah... Thats what happens when I multitask

 

[Cubey]

I should point out that I don't think I have driven the van at night at all since I got it over a year ago. So I really have no clue what the headlights are going to be like on it. It has the most basic Sylvania sealed beams right now.

I am still in the preparation stage still of downsizing my belongings and getting the van ready to hit the road this September.

I have added the conversion kit to my list of things to get before I leave. There seems to be several different styles. Some have "city lights" and some don't.

 

[eljefino]

"City lights" are for euro posers. You have "parking lights" for that.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Cubey, get your voltmeter out and take a reading at the headlight prongs with them on. They are super easy to reach on out vans. Looking down at it the terminal on the right is ground, top is low beam, left is high beam.

I found over 2 volt drop. Replacing the wimpy 20 awg ground wire to the body gained me half a volt. Later I made a harness out of 12 awg wire, got new 12 awg h4 plugs from Innova, 30 amp relays activated by the original wiring and now am within .35 volts of battery voltage. The brightness increase is significant!

I used GE 6054 nighthawk sealed beams as they don't use any blue coating and are somewhat respected on the Daniel stern website and candlepower forums, whereas sylvania's are not.

I swapped out a silverstar and a xtravision. The light pattern on the Nighthawks is better. A little wider and a little flatter whereas the sylvanias are dots on the road ahead

I considered the Autopal's. Lots more bulb choices to put in them, higher wattage too, but that makes the headlight harness absolutely necessary. If you got money to burn, Cibie's

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: typ901
I replaced the sealed beams on my '95 Range Rover Classic with Hella H4 kit. Plug and play. Much better light pattern, and intensity. Finding a H4 bulb is as simple as hitting Walmart or any auto parts store..


Agree 100% I paired the 7" Hellas with Osram Night Breaker Plus H4s on my 1999 Wrangler and the results are phenomenal.

 

[bmwjohn]

the autopal and the other Indian brand are both good quality, similar to Cibie in construction but not as good, absolutely better than the 7" on e-bay, I wouldn't call them Rip offs since Cibie really don't try to sell or distribute anything in the US and don't even make the Z beams that the Indians imitate.I just wish the Indians made a "replica" Cibie 45 aux. light. Years ago I put a GE High Output sealed beam - big square - in an F-150 and was impressed with the improvement over a regular halogen sealed beam at very low price. BTW it had a capsule inside the sealed beam which looked like an H4 stuck in and then sealed in.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Apparently the Hella sealed beam replacements for the 6054 cannot be adjusted correctly. When the low beams are adjusted properly, the high beams are too high.

Good to hear they got the 6014 7' round bulbs correct.

If I was sure the Autopal 6054 replacements threw both a good low and high beam I'd consider them.

I can't justify the Cibie's price though.

The 12 awg harness on relays and sealed beam GE Nighthawk 6054's are such a huge improvement over the stock harness and Sylvania 6054's, I am done. For now.

I was impressed with the 12 awg H4/9003 connectors I bought

If I were to do it again, I'd have them attach long enough wires to reach the relays without splices.