Head lamp - Xenon (?) bulbs

[Nick]

Anyone fitted those Xenon / Zeon / whatever bulbs? Not the ones painted blue, but the ones which give a blueish light and are claimed to be wonderful.

 

Any good, or is it all down to the lens and reflector?

[I.Mupferit]

Yes I fitted them but to be perfectly honest I could see very little, if any, improvement so maybe the reflector does play a bigger part than I thought. I would say it was one of my less successful 'improvements' but hey what would life be like if you couldn't spend money on your most prized possession?

[S33VEN]

They are good, but only good. The advantage is that they consume no more power than the standard bulbs. They are also bloody expensive. If you really want some serious light at a good price, use 100/80 watt bulbs but you will need rewire your headlights! You can do it before you fit the bulbs, which will save the rotten smell of burniung and acrid fumes, followed by total darkenss, or be really adventurous!!

 

Tony Stattersfield

[Mike Bees]

Beware, you can't just fit new bulbs (whatever they're branded) to convert to the same purply-blue-twinkly lighting that you see on an increasing number of new cars - it's a completely different system (arc discharge), and is very expensive (not just the bulb!).

 

Some good sources of info:

 

http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/info/blue_bulbs/

http://www.overboost.com/story.asp?id=102

 

Mike

 

[Nick]

Mike - thanks for the links. I knew I couldn't go twinkly but had heard that Xenon were supposed to be good. I used to have twin 130/80 watts on my bike but to tell the truth, I couldn't tell much difference. I think the lens/reflector is more important.

 

Edited by - Nick on 7 Jul 2000 13:13:44

[W4RPD]

I've fitted the blue xenon bulbs (from Lucas at 100/80w) to my Scooby Doo and whilst there was no brightness improvement compared to the same wattage of normal bulbs, the reflection from signposts, fog etc is much much easier on the eye.

 

If you don't want to re-wire the entire lighting system, then look at the demon tweeks catalogue which sell PIA bulbs (over 150w in some cases) that consume the same the same power as normal bulbs.

 

They are used by WRC teams and are damned dear (over £20 each) but they are supposed to be the dog's danglies and are cheaper than a headlight conversion.

 

If you like the idea, get the details from Demon Tweeks and then buy them from someone else (i.e. cheaper!).

 

Does anyone know what the maximum power of bulb is that can be fitted to the existing lighting system on a factory built caterham ?

 

Cheers,

 

Robin.

[Nick Green]

I was pretty surprised to find last weekend when changing a blown headlight bulb on my 7, that 60/55 Xenon bulbs were fitted as standard...

 

I'd agree about the 100/80 bulbs though. I've got them on my Golf, with relayed uprated loom and they are stonking.