Driving Lights

Oldswagon · Dec 6, 2006

I am looking at improving the lighting on my '93 Suburban. I would like to add a set of driving lights to aid my night time visibility on country roads.

I am just looking for a low priced set of lights that I can get a few years out of. Eventually, I will install a grill gauard on the front of the truck, and then I will invest in a set of nice big high quality lights that I will mount on the grill guard. I also plan to evntually install new headlight lenses and HIR bulbs. But for now, without the grill guard, I just want a small set of driving lights that will improve my vision.

Canadian Tire sells "Blazer" branded driving lights. They have several small rectangular lights with the 55W Halogen bulbs (I believe H3?). They also have a set of Bosch lights for much more money that use the same bulbs. Will the Blazer lights be any good? Or, are the Bosch lights worth the extra cost over the cheap lights(I am assuming they have a better lense reflector design). How important is reflector and lense design in a driving light?

Some of the Blazer lights say that they have 55W halogen bulbs, while others say 55W Halogen H3 bulbs? Is there a difference, or are they the same?

G-MAN · Dec 6, 2006

Quote:

Canadian Tire sells "Blazer" branded driving lights. They have several small rectangular lights with the 55W Halogen bulbs (I believe H3?). They also have a set of Bosch lights for much more money that use the same bulbs. Will the Blazer lights be any good? Or, are the Bosch lights worth the extra cost over the cheap lights(I am assuming they have a better lense reflector design). How important is reflector and lense design in a driving light?

I honestly would not waste my time or money on the sort of lights that are sold in places like Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, etc.

If you want driving lights that are actually going to make a difference, you're going to have to go with Cibie, Hella, or SEV Marchal lamps. And while not inexpensive, they offer good value for the money because they offer a marked addition to the effective light output of stock headlights.

Check out the selection of Cibie units over at Daniel Stern's website: www.danielsternlighting.com. You can also do a Google search using "Hella" and "driving lights."

JHZR2 · Dec 6, 2006

the cost and performance is less a function of the bulb, and more a function of the reflector andoptics...

you cna be sure that the wal-mart junk isnt the best in design...

JMH

eljefino · Dec 7, 2006

Optically, the bigger lenses focus better. Walmart sells some real small junk that supposedly look nice on a civic or whatever. Skip 'em. I like a big, round reflector; somehow it seems this would focus better than a squarish one.

Since you mention you want to augment your high beams get something with a good spot you can focus way down the road. You don't want too much light up front as this will cause your eyes to adjust and actually make your vision worse... though you think it's better.

I run the 3 inch round reflector walmart versions with an amber lens but for you get clear. The three inch reflector is an improvement over the egg sized-and-shaped "ricey" lights I've had previously. I would try to find something with an even bigger diameter-- 4 inch or more. There must be a factory in china that makes decent no-name lights.... if you're going cheap, try to go big. I don't think there are many secrets to design... a parabolic reflector is a parabolic reflector... it's the execution that varies in quality.

Most aftermarket lights, cheap and expensive, run 55w H3s. It's also possible to make an H3 so horribly cheap its filament isn't centered correctly so if you have junky lights, try a name brand bulb upgrade.

Finally upgrade the wiring with heavier gauge and a relay; perhaps for your situation you can include the high beams as a signal for the relay so they come on and dim automatically. You can run the other relay signal pin to a dash switch.

Laminar Lou · Dec 7, 2006

Quote:

I don't think there are many secrets to design... a parabolic reflector is a parabolic reflector... it's the execution that varies in quality.

I respectfully disagree. A poorly focused beam with a lamp with poor filament support is going to lose out every time to a properly focused reflector that is matched to the lamp type and filament orientation. The cheaper stuff will have a one size fits all reflector for all lamp/filament shapes. When you think about it, the placement of the filament is critical to correct lighting. And that filament is fairly small in relationship to the size of the reflector.

Just my 2 cents. I work in the automotive lighting industry, but I am not an engineer. My information is from stuff I have picked up from being in the industry for 15 years. I could be splitting hairs here, but that is what we do where we work. You are off a few milimeters because the filament isn't supported correctly and it will trash your light output.

ChrisW · Dec 7, 2006

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Auxiliary_Lamps.asp a good selection of Hella lights.

Oldswagon · Dec 8, 2006

Thanks for all the input. As I suspected, the cheap driving lights aren't really that great. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to spend the money on a good set of lights, but I just wanted a temporary cheap set to get by for now. When I get my grill gaurd I will invest in a set of 6" round driving lights made by Hella or the like and mount them on the brush guard. I don't have any place to mount them without a brush guard unless I drill the bumper, which I don't want to do and I think looks cheap.

Thingfish · Dec 28, 2006

Quote:

http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Auxiliary_Lamps.asp a good selection of Hella lights.

Not only do they have a great selection of Hella, I have delt with them and I do not think I could have been treated better.
Good prices, excellent shipping and the best customer support I have ever had.

slights · Jul 9, 2007

Depending on your budget you can get the Osram Sylvania X1010 HID (uses same bulb & ballast as OE HID headlights). or Hella FF50 or FF75, or Cibie Cesar or Fusion X900 or X950 (can be halogen H1 or HID)

wsm41bn · Aug 4, 2007

I have a set of the blazer driving lights on the 882 and a set of the blazer fog lights and they work just fine. i have them on a rocker switch to switch between off, fog, and driving lights. i reccomend them

Master ACiD · Aug 24, 2007

just fyi, walmart and harbor freight sell reproductions of factory bmw square driving lights for alot cheaper than real ones.
i have a set of real factory driving lights off a bmw i got in a junkyard for $10 a pop. their mounted on my lawnmower as the main lights. i bought a set of the walmart ones for my car and they are the same exact thing as the bmw units, minus the branding.

the brand is hella or bosch, i forget which.

southernjeeper · Aug 27, 2007

IPF, Hella, or Hella HIDS are the way to go as far as driving lights

meep · Sep 6, 2007

I've had $10 big rectangular walmart lamps work well with a sharp upper cutoff and consistent width. They rusted out, looked pretty bad, and couldn't handle higher watt bulbs (heated the chrome off the reflector) but they provided good controlled light. The bigger the reflector (wide and deep), the greater the chances of handling imperfections.

I've found that the reflectors typically focus flat and narrow, the vertical glass ripples spread the light wide. Notice the difference in these between driving (somewhat wide beam) and fog (very wide beam).

Much better success with lamps that shield the bulb from direct view. Uncontrolled light = glare. BIG difference.

Best lower-tier lamps I'd owned were bosch. Plastic housings gave out after 6 years, with help (snow bank), but the bulbs were shielded, the upper cutoff very sharp, and the reflector clean enough for an impressive output with normal bulbs. I'd buy again.

the circular projector type threw gobs of light, but were impossible to aim in a safe manner. "of road use only" was for real - they blinded oncomers and were useless on road, in rain, etc.

Mike

Driving Lights

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