HID or Xenon?

[Mad Myche]

And you never know if there are other "indexes" that would need to be tweaked

[yourgrandma]

On a slightly off topic note, my hir1 highs have been running at 15.2 volts for at least two years and are still going strong. This is surprising because increasing voltage has a logrithmic effect on bulb life and they should really not last long at all.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

High beams are also used for maybe 5% of the car's nighttime driving. There will be exceptions to this, of course. Given that statistic, using a brighter, shorter-lived high beam makes sense.

[rrounds]

Go with the HIR2/9012 for the low beam. The small difference in light output is far outweighed by not replacing expensive HIR1/9011 bulbs every 6 months. And, the HIR2/9012 has the filament in the exact same spot as the 9006, or at least close enough to be unnoticeable. I can't say the same thing about the HIR1/9011.

Philips HIR2/9012's have a lifespan of 1500 hours or something crazy. The HIR1's have a lifespan of 150-200 hours. If you drive a lot, 150 hours is about 6-9 months. At $50 a set, HIR1's in low beams would get expensive really quickly.

This is off of the web site that I posted for the HIR bulbs


Toshiba 9011/HIR1/9005 65W Halogen Infrared Bulb
• 3000 Lumens
• Design life 1400 Hours
• Light Color 3450 Deg. K
Toshiba has discontinued the manufacture of this bulb and sold the technology to Phillips. Supplies of Toshiba Busbs are now exhausted. Phillips has tooling up to produce HIR1 bulbs of a updated technology, which makes them even brighter and longer lived.

So it looks like Phillips made the HIR 1(high beam) last longer than the original Toshiba design.

ROD

[Mad Myche]

On a slightly off topic note, my hir1 highs have been running at 15.2 volts for at least two years and are still going strong. This is surprising because increasing voltage has a logrithmic effect on bulb life and they should really not last long at all.

In general a 5% increase in voltage will translate to a 50% loss of life. On the other hand, the lifespan of a 9006 lamp is based on 14 volts, while the output is based on 12.0 volts

Toshiba has discontinued the manufacture of this bulb and sold the technology to Phillips.
...it looks like Phillips made the HIR 1(high beam) last longer than the original Toshiba design.

I have seen nothing that shows that the Philips 9011/9012 are actually HIR bulbs. I have seen plenty of posts on other forums that say they are nothing more than boosted 9005/9006 bulbs

[yourgrandma]

Yep, phillips 9011/12 barely make the standard for the form factor. they use the maximum power and produce the minimum output.

That is unless something has changed. I wish I would've bought a few pair of 9011 when they were more easily available. When mine burn out my only option will be a quad retro.

[LeSabre in Buffalo]

Toshiba has discontinued the manufacture of this bulb and sold the technology to Phillips.
...it looks like Phillips made the HIR 1(high beam) last longer than the original Toshiba design.

I have seen nothing that shows that the Philips 9011/9012 are actually HIR bulbs. I have seen plenty of posts on other forums that say they are nothing more than boosted 9005/9006 bulbs

I had a set of Philips HIR2 bulbs and a set of Toshiba HIR1 bulbs side by side, and the Philips HIR2's definitely had the HIR coating on the inside.

The Philips HIR1 bulbs are an overboosted 9005, again from what I've read.

[Sadden]

When mine burn out my only option will be a quad retro.

You sound almost disapointed...
But i know otherwise

[yourgrandma]

I only sound disapointed because it would be a huge undertaking for a marginal improvement. I've always fealt that highbeams should involve additional lighting elements to strongly differentiate them from the lowbeams.

[Sadden]

You have a grille , hide some driving lights back there. Leds are getting pretty bright nowadays

[yourgrandma]

I used to have my blazers in there but I didn't like the looks so I mounted them in the stock fogs. I've been considering the possibility of an led highbeam retro. Thermal management would be the biggest issue.

[Sadden]

I havent seen in behind the headlights on an s2k , but most of the guys on hidplanet , are using PC heatsinks i believe.
What are you gonna do for optics?

[yourgrandma]

There are a few options for snap-in lenses or reflectors. Id be most worried about making an aesthetically pleasing setup with good thermal properties while remaining somewhat weather resistant. I cannot recall exactly how much led power it will take to beat my boosted hir's but it will be no small feat.

[Sadden]

I believe the brightest most effecient led right now is the cree XM-L.
Making around 1000LM.

How much light do you figure your HIRs are making?

Ill make an aggressive guess at 4500lm each for a total of 9000lm.
Meaning you would require 10+ LEDS to be brighter.

You could always retro these into your highbeam spot for a clean quad look.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=4258
You would need to boost them , but since they would be highbeams no concern about bulb life anyways. Throw 100watts at them for 18,000 lumens ( with phillips DL-50 bulbs)

[yourgrandma]

4500lm a side is probably about right. The hella driving lights are nice but I don't want hid for the highs. Otherwise id just run a pnp kit in the highs. Warmup time makes them useless for that function though. Even my denso ballasts (the fastest startup that I am aware of) would be too slow for highbeam use.

4 or 5 xmls per side wouldn't be too horrible to manage, so long as I could get rid of all the heat.

[Sadden]

Of course , the real trick being making the install look clean.