[Team Fiat]

Note from the Admin: Team-Fiat, this is a headlight discussion that still has some queries open. If you wish to know about an Isuzu engine in your Fiat, please open a second topic OR continue it in an Isuzu engine transplant discussion.

Do remember to keep the topic as focussed as possible

[Jaggu]

first of all, for normal use a regular 55/60 or 90/100 is good and make sure your headlights (reflectors) are in good condition and aligned.

Usage of blue n yellow bulbs are for countries with poor visibility issues, especially during certain seasons, in India it is illegal (RTO can book you) if use anything more than the rating from the manufacturer.

Even placment of additional fog lamps have certain norms, first and formost, it shouldnt be above the height of the OE head lamps.

For a country like our with poor infrastructure (badly lit roads included), people opt for brighter lights, justified if you are doing long distances on highways, even then little road discipline should be maintained as in moving to low beam when you come across on coming traffic.

In cities, i often wonder what pleasure people get by using these colourful bright lights, which blind people and are a traffic hazard also.

Xenons are a very different ball game, and yes mondeo and certain mercs and now Octavia RS have them, they are well focussed and are not very glaring inspite of being bright, and are a costly affair a real xenon fittment can run into a lakh of rupees easily.

The so called aftermarket "xenons" are regular halogen bulbs, but the halogen gas used inside might be different and sometimes comes with these wierd colors also.

I always make it a point to get my head lights aligned the proper way, and keep them clean. It is good to be courteous to others, especially on an Indian highway

and quote spidey unca 'with great power, comes great responsibility'

[aalaap]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Hi aalap, are you planning to install Xenon's in ur car??

Arrey nahi .. i dont want the real xenon thing. I just want lights that are brighter than the stock zen ones. Frankly I've never checked the reflectors or anything so its possible that they are just dirty and need a good cleaning.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]i often wonder what pleasure people get by using these colourful bright lights

Noo I don't want colorful lights. I just need bright white lights, with just that little tiny HINT of blue..

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]even then little road discipline should be maintained as in moving to low beam when you come across on coming traffic.

I hardly use Hi-beam .. im on the regular low-beam and then I just turn it off if there's oncoming traffic.

I need bright lights to show me the crappy road in smaller and darker lanes. Now don't ask me which ones or where



- Aalaap

[Rehaan]

Hey Aalap,
So my understanding is that you want brighter lights (to increase your visibility) with a little tint of white/blue (coz u hate yellow, and its "cool&quot.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]The ones that "imitate" the Xenon effect (let's call them nalla xenons).. do they have any disadvantages? Like too much power consumption? If they consume maybe 10%-20% more power than the regular stocks, i can understand, after all they ARE more powerful lights. But if they pull twice as much power from the batt, well that'll be something to think about.

Two options -
1. blue/white 55/60w bulbs - they wont increase visibility, and also wont take more power
2. overwatt 100/90w bulbs with a tint. (personally i would go for "hyperwhite" over blue looking bulbs). However i would stay away from these bulbs as they are a gamble, but if you are set on them then try and find hyperwhites from a well known manufacturer.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Rehaan, where did you get all this stuff done? I'd like to go and get my lights from a reliable guy who knows the difference between nalla and og xenons...

well thats exactly it.....i believe. "if you want something done right, do it yourself"... lol...atleast where aplicable.. so i picked up a mico relay and some heavy duty wires and did it myself. However make sure u know what your doing and be extra careful with mounting the wires securely coz u dont want em braking loose anytime in the future (into your rotating parts in the enginebay).
However, when buying bulbs just turn a deaf ear to everything the guys say (they are just trying to sell their stuff) and pick up what you think looks of the highest quality. Fitting a new relay and harness is not such a difficult job, so dont worry abt handing it over to some car electricals guy.
Sometimes they say no need for a relay, or your car aldready has a relay (which is true), but the thing is to maximise the output from the overwatt bulbs as well as not overload the stock wires and relay with more amperage its necessary to have a relay and harness IMO.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]'with great power, comes great responsibility'

Lol,,,,couldnt agree with that more!

cya
R

[Shan2nu]

From what i've heard, the max legal wattage for a car head lamp is around 60/55 W, which almost all cars come with as standard.

Using 100/90 W is good for the driver but can cause a lot of trouble for the on-coming fleet of vehicles. I myself have experienced this and trust me, it's horrible being at the recieving end.

Regards...
Shan2nu

[normally_crazy]

hey fellas,

u have fog lamps too....so u change the headlight bulbs to whiter ones ..but then wont the yellow light from the foga clash with the white light from the headlamp unit ?

[speedsatya]

Guys,
I had fitted Philips rallye 100/90w bulbs ,with a Lucas cut-out relay .these bulbs were imported from Australia in 2001.the light quality is good . 1 or 2 flashes is enough for the moron coming in front to dip his headlights,
Of late we have been seeing advertisements of Philips Visionplus bulbs claiming to give 50% more light.since these are of 60/55W ,theoeretically they should give an o/p equivalent of 90/82.5 W.
so that means it wud still be giving less light than a 100/90W bulb.
So what I want to know,is whether there would be any improvement in the light quality over my 100/90W bulb if I use the new 60/55W vision plus.
Has anyone used these bulbs .


the 3M experience has made me wiser,better ask before doing anything



speedsatya

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (normally_crazy @ Sep. 04 2004,12:20)]..but then wont the yellow light from the foga clash with the white light from the headlamp unit ?

uummm..clash in what way?

When you put on a tubelight and a tungsten bulb together in your room does it "clash" ?

FYI - some interesting information regarding fog lights>

1. Fog lights are sometimes coloured because the wavelength of certain colours of light can penetrate the fog better.

2. For lights are usually positioned as low to the ground as possible because the fog usually settles about ~3 feet off the ground (as mentioned by GTO in mahableshwar....hadnt heard of this before that!)

(however i think that most cars with the low small foglights in india dont serve any purpose other than being a naam ke vaste value ad, since there is something like a 17watt bulb in there.)

cya
R

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]When you put on a tubelight and a tungsten bulb together in your room does it "clash" ?

yes they do !! the light quality suffers .....does the same thing happen if the headlamps and the fog bulbs are of diff. color?

cheers

[Rudra Sen]

Is there any problem with new plastic reflectors when you put higher watt lamps? Those days it used to be glass with mirror coating. I've 100/130 Flosser lamp (hope the spelling is right) in my Ambyfor last 2 years.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (normally_crazy @ Sep. 05 2004,14:21)]

yes they do !! the light quality suffers .....does the same thing happen if the headlamps and the fog bulbs are of diff. color?

Lol, i still have no clue as to exactly what you mean by "clash".
But chances are this wont happen as the foglamps on indian cars are usually so much dimmer than the headlamps....

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Is there any problem with new plastic reflectors when you put higher watt lamps?

Yes Rudra, thats what people say... but i think that the plastics used are quite heat resistant.
However, i have seen a the plastic plug that plugs into the bulb at the back of the headlamp assembly melted on someone elses car...... the funny thing is i have the same 100/90 bulbs in my car and the plugs are just like new!

cya
R

[v12]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I've 100/130 Flosser lamp (hope the spelling is right) in my Ambyfor last 2 years.

Wow. I guess thats the best availabe in the market. My bro had it on his Dukkar. And the high beam was powerful enough to blind any oncoming traffic.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ](however i think that most cars with the low small foglights in india dont serve any purpose other than being a naam ke vaste value ad, since there is something like a 17watt bulb in there.)

Very true Rehaan, The Santro fog lights just light up the road 1-2 feet ahead of it. Pretty useless.

[chaxy]

-Why do you need to put Relay or Cutout when you change from 60/55W to 100/90W bulbs?
--When you put in a Relay do you need to change any of the wiring??

*-chaxy

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (v12 @ Sep. 06 2004,09:50)]Wow. I guess thats the best availabe in the market. My bro had it on his Dukkar. And the high beam was powerful enough to blind any oncoming traffic.

Hey v12,
I get my beam focusing done from wheel alignment shop where they use some beam focuser kinda contraption. It's a metal box with a lens and centre grid like to adjust the beam focus. It works pretty well though. I'm sure all other shops must be having this. My 100/130 is powerful sure and does not create a blinding effect. Unless I want to keep the beam angle like that.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (chaxy @ Sep. 06 2004,11:12)]-Why do you need to put Relay or Cutout when you change from 60/55W to 100/90W bulbs?

Hey Chaxy,

A relay is basically a switch that lets a small trigger current operate a switch for a much larger current.
In the headlights case, this enables the current switch on your dashboard to go to the relay and switch on and off the much larger current for the headlamps. The advantage of this is that its safer, as well as it needs less(length) of heavy wiring (since very light wires go from the relay to the switch on the steering column)

However, almost all modern cars aldready have a relay for the headlights, but usually a new higher spec relay needs to be put in to handle the increase in ampereage.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]--When you put in a Relay do you need to change any of the wiring??

As we know, almost all cars here are built to a price. This means that the wiring is sufficent to handle the stock components and not really anything more.
It makes sense to get larger wires which can carry higher current more easily for 2 reasons-
1. There will be a slight output increase for your bulbs as the current will be flowing through the thicker wires with less resistance.
2. Its also probably safer, since thinner wires might not be able to handle VERY high ampereages and might burn.

You could get away with running the stock wiring (for 100/90s)...as well as relay..... but you would be sacrificing performance and safety.

For reference -
( Power / Voltage ) = Ampereage
60w/13volts = 4.6A
100w/13volts = 7.6A
130w/13volts = 10A

cya
R