Im not happy with the quality of the low/hi beam headlights in my TJ sports. I do a lot of country driving and they are just not good enuff.

Can anyone suggest a quality bulb replacement with decent performance that wont bank the bank and will just slot into the TJ.

Ive seen the $40 ones at Repco but I need some REAL advice from owners about realistic performance improvements.

Any comments are appreciated.

I know what you mean... Light seem sorta dim, but my hi-beams seem pretty decent... better than most even...

Dunno about replacements though.. Anyone?

for better and bright lights you might consider gettign the following H4 bulbs. (H4 if it has the standard lights like exec, advance)

Narva

part number 48951 48951BL Blister Pack 12V 130/ 100W P43t 9

these lights are much more powerfull than your standard 60/55W bulbs.


the main disadvantage in magna is the design of it front Lens. as its very ristrictive. the only clear portion is at the bottom.

where holden imporved the lights on its same looking commos 98-02 mitsu stayed tight ass like always but only with magna's and thats a really pitty as they improved the design for lancers.by clearing the headlight lense.

so want better light upgrade to parabolic as they not only look great but perform well but be ready to to pay top dollor as it might set you back from $500+ for a pair

or go and buy that Narva lamps with 100% brighter and powerfull than original ones and would not cost you more that $75

cheers

Asad

The TJ Sports should already have Parabolics and you will find that the main driving lights are H7's which i belive don't emmit as much light when driving normally as the H4's do. The High beams on the other hand are another story all together.

With parapolics all you have to do is flick the high beams and LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Be careful with bulbs that have increased wattages, increased wattage also increases heat which has been known to melt headlight reflectors. Not nice to see you $1200 parabolic's reflectors melt.

i agree with Blake about high voltage melting the lighs as the new parabolics have plastic lense but

if you have 1st Generation Parabolic or Std headlamps they are pretty much Glass Lense so dont worry as mine hasnt melted in last 6 months :)

cheers

Well thats a good start :D

i agree with Blake about high voltage melting the lighs as the new parabolics have plastic lense but

if you have 1st Generation Parabolic or Std headlamps they are pretty much Glass Lense so dont worry as mine hasnt melted in last 6 months :)

cheers

Its not the glass you have to worry about melting.

Its the Aluminised interior...

Im confused not.

So, I should not be getting the Narva 48951 cause its no good in the sports parabolic assembly???

Im only looking for about 30% more light. Any further suggestions.

Narva 48951 is H4 bulb which i suppose that wont fit in parabolics

you might have to check with blake which type of bulb parabolic takes (i think its H1 but not sure ) then go to narva / hella web site and check it out from there the model number you need.

Narva and hella both have +30% and +50% , they claim its same wattage i.e 60/55 w but 30/50 % more light. No sure though how.

Dont use higher wattages! As blake said they can (and more than likely will) melt the inside of the light.

Also "ultra whites" and "xenon" lights are rubbish.

The only reason they appear whiter is because they have a blue filter in the light (the blue you see at the top of them) and what this does is filters out the yellowish tinge, and we instantly associate brightness with whiteness. Anyway, it's filtering out light, so of course it needs a higher wattage (hence their high wattages) to put out as much light as it did before. I have a post on this from the Diamante Owners Forum if you're interested

Best bet is to stick with what you have, maybe take out your light and clean it out, make sure they're aimed right etc etc

Unless you want to go crazy and install a HID setup..but that's LOTS of money

Spotlights mate!!!

Solves all problems!!! haha

Manual

Parabolics use H7's for the main driving light and H1's for high beams.

Normal magna headlights use H4's for the main driving light and H1's for high beams

As for The White and Blue bulbs, killbilly is right that the white ones use a blue filter and blue ones usually use a different gas or something. However white is brighter than blue so you will get more light with a white bulb than blue. Also the police will hammer you if they see you with blue headlights...

Parabolics use H7's for the main driving light and H1's for high beams.

Normal magna headlights use H4's for the main driving light and H1's for high beams

As for The White and Blue bulbs, killbilly is right that the white ones use a blue filter and blue ones usually use a different gas or something. However white is brighter than blue so you will get more light with a white bulb than blue. Also the police will hammer you if they see you with blue headlights...

ive got blue headlights.. there cool :D

ive never had ne problems.. then again.. i am in the NT.. :lol:

No no no, this is where so many people make the mistake.

The blue FILTER does not make the light blue, it merely makes it whiter as it filters out the yellow...Blue has no yellow in it..therefore it filters out that colour.

This makes the light WHITER, not blue...the blue lights are different again..

And what I was meaning is that it's WHITER, not brighter..it's just that we as people associate whiteness with brightness...it's not true.

Also the ultra white lights arent' good in rain or fog (especially fog)

I'll find the post from the diamante site,...I've also talked to a good auto electrician I know who know heaps about lights...that's pretty much what he said too.

Thats why you install fog lights as well!!

I have the ultra whites and at one stage I had one ultra white and one normal globe - and sorry - but the brightness was better in the ultra white to me!!

But - i agree in fog and rain the yellow tinge is better!!

Manual

Yeah I know what you're saying Manual..but I'm not sure if you're understanding WHY it seems brighter.

It's because the light is more WHITE, it's not actually brighter...so it SEEMS brighter because our brains are "configured" to directly relate brightness to whiteness..

Finally I found the thread, this is what Mike Tomkins had to say about them (The guy who runs the Diamante Owners Forum)

I have now done a lot of research, and can answer this question authoritatively. Almost all of these lights are a bad buy.

First, a primer: Real HID lights do indeed give off a cooler / bluer light than halogens do. The cheap HID-copy lights *all* achieve this effect by putting a blue tint onto the glass. That tint filters out anything that isn't in the appropriate range of the spectrum produced by the light - meaning that some of the light produced by the bulb is thrown away.

Right off the bat, this means that the bulb is not as bright as it would be without the blue tint. There are legal minimum and maximum brightness values for headlights in the US (and, I would guess, most countries). There are also legal values for the amount of power that is allowed to be provided to the headlights.

All available lights end up falling in the following categories:


Light doesn't provide enough brightness: the blue filtration robs the light of its strength. It may have the illusion of "looking" like a more powerful light because we are used to tungsten looking whiter when you increase the wattage, however the lights are actually dimmer. Illegal, and dangerous.

Light provides enough brightness by increasing the power consumption, sometimes as high as 100 watts or more. This makes up for losses in brightness due to the blue coating, and may offer similar or (unlikely) better range than your existing bulbs with a whiter light - however this is illegal, and is likely to damage your car as it was not designed to provide such a heavy power load.

Light provides enough brightness due to careful bulb design, and does not use excessive power. Light still does not offer the same brightness that it would without the blue coating, but light output with the coating is still legal. Light will appear whiter than your halogen bulbs, but will not actually be brighter. It will either be the same strength as your existing bulbs, or slightly weaker. May be dangerous in that it gives you a false sense of security: you feel like you can see further than with your tungsten lights, so you drive faster. However, perfectly legal and safe if you remember that you cannot see any further or better. Only a few manufacturers provide lights in this category - Sylvania's SilverStar and CoolBlue, Philips BlueVision, Narva RangePower Blue and Wagner LazerBlue.

HID conversion kits: These kits allow you to connect a ballast and HID light in place of your existing tungsten light, however since the light assembly itself was not designed for HID, the light pattern will almost certainly be wrong. May give the illusion of brighter light due to the whiteness, and also due to incorrect light scatter making the light flood the road right in front of the car, rather than at a distance where you need it. Dangerous because actual headlight range is probably reduced, and your lights are probably blinding other drivers. All HID conversions are illegal.

HID replacements or addon lights: These consist of either a replacement for an entire headlight assembly (not available for Diamante owners), which is legal and safe since the headlight assembly was designed for HID, or of extra lights which are used in tandem with your tungsten low-beams only (legal, but pointless since when you really need extra light you're going to be using your high beams).

The only lights that may actually be brighter and legal are those which do not have the blue coating, and maximise the legal limit on brightness. Examples are Sylvania XtraVision, GE High Output, Philips High Visibility, Wagner BrightLite and Narva RangePower.


Keep in mind some of the legalities he talks about will be different to us as he's in the US.

Killbilly, hate to say it bud.. But you're wrong... So is the 'Diamante Authority' although he is right in some cases though. Unless you work in the industry you are all making 2nd guess'es using 2nd hand information.

Ill find some slides (powerpoint presentations with data) for you and send you the differencees between 'whiter brighter' lights (Xenon) and your standard Halogen. These are the tests we use in our 10, 20 and 30 metre dark rooms..

Dark rooms: Pitch black rooms (painted black with no light filtering into the rooms) where we set the lights up on geo (something) machines. These are basically machines the can be lined up in any direction to within 1/1000 of a degree to measure the distance light covers and the saturation points.

The Xenon lights do provide a 'brighter' area of coverage aswell as lighting the road up further (longer). They also use a difference gas in the light to make this possible.

The HID add on kits are illegal in Australia. They cost $1600 a set (from Hella) They can be used though for non on road use.
To use HID kits and use them legally you need to have a washable light (the new spray jets on audi's, bmw's, porche etc etc) also you then need to have the proper film across the headlight unit to refract the light so it doesnt blind the oncomming traffic.
HID Kits (http://www.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catalogue.pl?flcmd=preview&flmaint=2085)

Anyhow, if you are going to get lights.. For the parabolic lights, go here

http://www.hella.com.au/cgi-bin/catalogue.pl
Click on the Premium Automotive Globe Range

Hmm...If you can show me some independant tests that confirm what you said..not tests that Hella did then I'll believe you....But as it stands for now I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Hella's tests (no offence intended here) mean jack, it's truly independent testing that is what I'll take note of.

I've been in cars with the "whiter" lights and I've seen no visible difference to my lights, even the stock lights my TR had. I don't see them as a great investment, yet.

But I'll admit they're on the right track with trying to squeeze out more without upping the wattage!

Anyway, If you can show me some independent stuff then I'll believe you and take back all I've said, no dramas :)

Cheers

:idea: :idea: im not gonna get into all this mumbo jumbo about colours and watts but all i know is that my ts has the darkest tint legal in nsw and at night i cant tell the difference between my lights and the big ugly ones stuck on the side of the road. thats out of the front windscreen(which aint allowed to be dark). i cant see jack sh*t out the sides and forget about reversing!!!!!! its probably worse coz mines a wagon but the magna reverse light is the most usless piece of equipment on the planet. i literally have to wind the window down and stick my head out to see where im going. im ****d if its raining!!! the high beams kick arse though. just a point of interest. :idea: :idea:

Bain,

So what do I use in the sports TJ?? The H7 series??

Its says something about ADR and plastic headlights. I dont know what Ive got and im confused by this:

***Only UV Cut globes marked with an ADR 51/00 category should be used in plastic lensed headlamp systems. Non ADR 51/00 Category compliance high wattage UV Cut globes should not be used in plastic lensed systems because of damage which may occur due to heat build up.***

WTF does this mean?

Can I fit these lights myself??

Also "xenon" lights are rubbish.


Call me an idiot but i do alot of country night driving too and i was pondering of getting a H4 HID retrofit kit for around $1000 which i beleive is Xenon gass discharge based and there fairly good used on european cars n that. can you explain why there rubbish ? :shock:

just relised suntz you are in canberra :lol: your the guy from OCAU right ? hmm we should get that canberra gokart thing happening one day

hey Widowmaker, the HID xenon lights @ $ 1000 a off course very good ,

on the other hand the rubbish xenons ones are the one by autotechnica/ other no name companies which are normally sold between $30 - $75.

I used to always have those cheapie blue tint bulbs in my old corolla and other cars and while they shone better on low-beam, high beam was crap. These was 90/100 watts too. Sure they look better than normal bulbs that come with your car, but i agree, there not safe for country or driving in rain because i think the light shines everywhere but on the road. Me and my friend have had that many different sets on our cars over the years, but since I got my magna, the low-beam aint that crash hot, but the hi-beam i think is excellent compared to blue tint bulbs.


My 2 bob

No not REAL HID ones...the crappy copies are rubbish.

I've used them before, no noticeable difference hence my opinion they're rubbish.

arhhh k i though you where dissing HID light's and i wanted to know why thanks for clearing that up 8)

just got home..

left my bloody transfer cable at work didnt i!

F(*#$
So the pics will have to wait till i get to work tomorrow.

Just fitted Narva "All Weather" bulbs to my TE. They are the H4 55W/60W.
Cut the crap out of my hands on the body work too!
They appear marginally brighter. When I do a night time country run I will let you know more.

Hella Ones are Good!

Or Check out wtchme's Super Brights..... and it's SERIOUSLY BRIGHT!

I got him that set cheap :P

I have played around with a similar HID kit as shown, it had unacceptable levels of glare as the bulb has no sheilding at all. In a Magna headlamp (what I fitted it to) it is completly unroadworthy - this stuff is designed for mining equipment, not cars.

I have tried also rebased H7 bulbs (see my post ages ago on this with beam pattern shots) and HID retrofits in halogen reflectors are not ever going to be legal.

An illegal (but workable, driveable) solution is the CNC made Caspers H4 adaptors - you get just about an OEM beam pattern from these - just need bulbs and ballasts.

An interesting fact - the HID conversion kits sold on the web etc (not including the hella one, it is for mining vehicles and has a place) in the US, vendors selling these kits have been served with a cease and decist order, pending fines of US $5000 per DAY for no compliance on reciept!!!

I will have an answer in a month or so (as well as prototype) of an ADR legal conversion based on Audi TT projectors. Just waiting on confirmation from an NSW RTA engineering signatory at the moment.

Cheers
Heath Young

I just fitted narva H4 All Weather headlights and Narva H1 Artic Blue High beams. The All waethers are great when I drive through fog - really live up to their selling. The High beams. OMG they are bright!