Philips X-treme H4 Headlight Bulbs from murphs

[B.D.F.]

HIDs can be just as precise as tungsten lighting. Both types use the identical process and materials to hold the position of the light source: in a tungsten bulb, the filament is held in position while the glass envelope is closed around it and attached to the base. This positions the filament very accurately in relationship to the base, which locates the filament very accurately in the headlight housing. In HIDs, two electrodes are also held very precisely inside of the arc tube, which in turn is fastened inside the glass envelope which is directly mounted to the base which again locates the lamp (burner more properly) in the headlight housing. If the arc of an HID is held in the same place as the tungsten filament was, the beam, including the cut- off line, will be the same as it was for the filament type lamp.

There is a shield for both lamps that prevents light from being cast downward in the headlight housing when 'low' beams are used. This in turn prevents light from being reflected 'up' above the cut- off line. In H4 lamps, this shield is actually under the low beam filament, inside the bulb itself. Oh HIDs, the shield is external to the lamp itself and is the chromed, sheet metal housing that prevents light from shining down (low beam use only). The fronts of both lamps are also shielded so as not to scatter light forward and blind oncoming drivers: on the H4 the front of the lamp itself is coated with dark gray ceramic paint; on the HID, the front of the shield is solid to prevent light from passing directly forward.


As to the cut- off, there is no cut- off in any bulb of any type; the cut- off line in the beam is created by the shape of the reflector in reflector headlights, or the shield inside the housings of projector headlights. On a C-14, the cut- off is created by the shape of the upper part of the reflector. HIDs maintain a very sharp cut-off, similar to the beam shape when the original type bulb is used.

While HIDs are illegal, they can be used responsibly in a C-14, at least in my opinion. The object is to get better lighting on the road, not in other driver's eyes. The C-14 headlight housing produces a very good HID beam shape and does not scatter excessive light above the cut- off line is they are aligned properly.

Brian

<snip>

From what I can tell, the HID retrofit kits have no precision in the beam and no cutoffs in the bulbs.  Halogen headlight assemblies rely heavily on the EXACT placement of the filament and the cutoffs.  I suspect that would mean the HID retrofit low beams would throw light everywhere and blind oncoming traffic.  Re: legality- changing anything could have a huge negative effect, that might be primary reasoning.

[maxtog]

The X-treme Vision came a few days ago and I installed them last night.  I replaced only one bulb, the left, so I could compare and contrast the two.  Indeed you can replace the bulbs without removing or disassembling any of the bike.

First is a picture (below) showing the two bulbs together- Xtreme Vision vs. OEM.  I did not expect the Xtreme to be tinted- nobody mentioned that, nor in the specs.  It is not fully tinted, just a stripe of light blue.

I didn't expect so much overlap in the beams (I guess it is obvious, I just didn't think about it.)  So any comparison of the beams, photographically is nearly impossible for me.  But I was able to look at the ground, right in front of the bike, and see the separate scatter patterns, one for each side.  I took a picture (attached), although it isn't terribly revealing.

Then I took a towel and covered one light, then the other, back and forth, while looking at the results on a white garage door, about 20 feet away.  The X-treme Vision is definitely brighter, and also whiter, than the OEM.  It is very easy to see the difference.  To my eyes, they appear to be about 20% brighter.  Certainly not inline with the "+100", "100% brighter", or any such bogus marketing claims.

Conclusion:  You get whiter and 20% brighter headlights with this super easy upgrade (took about 5 min).  Have no idea if it will affect the life of the bulbs (and really don't care).  100% legal.  Same beam as OEM so no surprises with glare or scatter.

[Texas Concours14]

Maxtog, thanks for the post.  I just got my Philips X-treme H4 headlight bulbs from Murphs and will install them tomorrow.  You did the tests I was going to do.  Seems like they will be an improvement, but won't light up the night sky.  Nonetheless, I expect to be happy with them.  The OEM lights on low beam are not very good - I can only ride about 50 mph in the dark before running past my braking point.  I don't ride at night much unless I have to (deer, etc.), but I am expecting the new bulbs will project to "70 mph".

[maxtog]

Maxtog, thanks for the post.  I just got my Philips X-treme H4 headlight bulbs from Murphs and will install them tomorrow.  You did the tests I was going to do.  Seems like they will be an improvement, but won't light up the night sky.  Nonetheless, I expect to be happy with them.  The OEM lights on low beam are not very good - I can only ride about 50 mph in the dark before running past my braking point.  I don't ride at night much unless I have to (deer, etc.), but I am expecting the new bulbs will project to "70 mph".

Let us know how it goes.  I had planned a 200 mile trip tomorrow to visit Mom, but the forecast is thunderstorms with a heat index of 105 (strange combination), so I hope to go next weekend instead.  So it is likely you will get better "on road" testing before I will.  I did install the second bulb today inbetween the rain.  I noticed that the bulbs only throw light through the partial bluish tint stripe on low beam and not high.  One thing is for sure, after finally figuring out how the bulb hook works last night, today it only took me 60 seconds.... I guess I am a bulb-swapping pro now 

[MAN OF BLUES]

3-1/2 years ago, when Gary first got the Phillips lamps, he shot some to me for a comparo.
I did a 3 way test with them against the stock, and the good old NAPA 80/100 lamps, it is located here:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562934931jTswFo
I'm still running the stock lamps (knock on wood), when I loose one, I'll give the Phiilips a try ...

[maxtog]

3-1/2 years ago, when Gary first got the Phillips lamps, he shot some to me for a comparo.
I did a 3 way test with them against the stock, and the good old NAPA 80/100 lamps, it is located here:[]
I'm still running the stock lamps (knock on wood), when I loose one, I'll give the Phiilips a try ...

Thanks for the pics, but you really can't compare with one lamp of each type in the same bike at the same time because the beams overlap most of the pattern.  And trying to compare from two different shots isn't going to work either, since (most) cameras will adjust the exposure automatically.  It really (unfortunately) requires having two identical bikes, each with a different pair of bulbs, showing their beams in the same photo.  Obviously, that is pretty impractical!

[maxtog]

Hmmm.... well glad I asked, I'm a "headlight rookie", have always just ran stock before but I do like the idea of doing something like Jeremy's setup... Guess I need to do a little more research. 

Scroll back through the other postings in this thread.  My short summary is:

HID +
LOTS of light (and that, of course, is the HUGE + and main purpose)
Longer life (but not necessarily, depends on kit)
Less power load (about half the wattage)

HID -
Expensive (depends on if you get HID low AND high beams)
Could cause lots of glare
Could cause UV degrading of the headlight plastics (and eye damage too)
Illegal (see my previous post)
Several hours to install everything
More components to fail

The point of the replacement, high-performance Halogen bulbs (like the topic/subject of this thread) is to see if you can gain some additional light, legally, with a 5 min install, and costs a lot less.  My conclusion is that you can get more light, but not a lot more... maybe 20%

[Texas Concours14]

Let us know how it goes.  I had planned a 200 mile trip tomorrow to visit Mom, but the forecast is thunderstorms with a heat index of 105 (strange combination), so I hope to go next weekend instead.  So it is likely you will get better "on road" testing before I will.  I did install the second bulb today inbetween the rain.  I noticed that the bulbs only throw light through the partial bluish tint stripe on low beam and not high.  One thing is for sure, after finally figuring out how the bulb hook works last night, today it only took me 60 seconds.... I guess I am a bulb-swapping pro now 

I tested the Phillips H4 +100% bulbs last night.  They are an improvement but not astounding so (i.e., not "+100%", as BDF pointed out).  But I will say that I felt comfortable riding at 70 mph with the low beams vs only 50 mph with the stockers, so my aim was met.  I chose the simpler approach of upgrading the bulbs instead of the complexity, cost and hassle of a HID system.  Swapping bulbs took 5 minutes (Fred's video showed how simple it is).  For $48, I consider this to be a good investment.

[MrPepsi]

Since moving to the Phillips bulbs from Murphs, I seem to have them burn out about one per year. That seems very short to me. It concerns me because I ride during the day, and I don't often notice they are burned out. I am currently down to one bulb. Luckily I always hold on to the OEM bulbs and I can just swap them back in. High beam of course is good since I never use it, always just the low beam.

(Yes I am VERY careful not to get my oils on the bulb glass)

[Conrad]

Since moving to the Phillips bulbs from Murphs, I seem to have them burn out about one per year. That seems very short to me. It concerns me because I ride during the day, and I don't often notice they are burned out. I am currently down to one bulb. Luckily I always hold on to the OEM bulbs and I can just swap them back in. High beam of course is good since I never use it, always just the low beam.

(Yes I am VERY careful not to get my oils on the bulb glass)

I just replaced a set of those Phillips bulbs from Murph myself, the low beam went out on one of em. Mine lasted almost three years. I stuck an old oem bulb in too till I got the replacements delivered.

http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=18000.msg240590#msg240590

[MrPepsi]

Thanks for the link. I feel bad not buying from Murph though.

[Texas Concours14]

I replace one bulb/year on average. Carry extra OEM bulbs when on road trips

[martin_14]

got the Phillips +100 some time ago (I'm not at home so I can't check when exactly, with mileage), and indeed they are an improvement, just not twice the light, for the simple reason that twice the lumens (which I believe they do provide) do not mean twice the light, for a reason: our eyes, just like our hearing, are logarithmic senses. A hearing example: 3 dB mean a bit more volume in any player, but twice the power in the amplifier. Unfortunately, twice the light is only about 15% more perceived light by our eyes.

[Conrad]

Thanks for the link. I feel bad not buying from Murph though.

Truthfully, so did I. But have you noticed that Murph seems to have forgotten us over here on this forum? I see him posting all the time over at the COG site but never here.

Besides, Murph appears to be still selling the older model of these bulbs, the +100% whereas Amazon has the +130%.