Headlamp bulbs info please

Andy From Sligo

Hello - couldnt think what category to post this in but I am looking for suggestions please / advice /info about car bulbs .

Here's the score - car has all in one headlight unit housing the Low beam bulb (dipped beam), the High beam bulb, the indicators and then the 5w sidelight bulbs (some people call parking bulbs) Now its the Sidelight bulbs I would like some info on please.

I want to replace the 5w Capless wedge 501w bulbs with something (preferably LED I suppose) that will match exactly (or near as dammit) the colour rendering of the H4 Dipped Beam headlight bulb which is a standard halogen bulb)

You see when the headlights are on you have the H4's halogen one colour and the 5w tungsten sidelight bulbs another colour (i know, first world problems .. and yes I most probably do have too much time on my hands )

So, the Halogen H4's are sort of white, but neither brilliant white nor warm white (I suppose crisp white colour maybe they can be described as) and the 5w wedge 501 sidelights are more yellowy/oranger than the H4 bulbs and this is what looks strange when they are all in one headlamp unit and you have the sidelights on as well as the dipped beam lights on (which is the way all cars are designed to do) and also I find the heat from the 501 5w sidelights eventually burn the holders they are in because of heat issues coming from the 5w bulb (quite amazing how hot they get, you try changing one after its been lit for a while!)

So , LED must be where its at . Running cool and not burning the holder and there are 501 LED replacements out there (I know a lot of them say "for off road use only" - now putting that to one side , I have tried 2 lots of LED bulb now - one was bright white LED and again looked weird with the tungsten halogen H4, it looked whiter than them - so no match there ... so i tried getting some 'warm white' LED's - and again not matching the colour rendering of the halogen H4 bulbs in the headlamp unit.

What am I to do now to try and get all the bulbs (H4 & 501 5w) to look all the same colour, and I dont really want to go to the trouble of upgrading the H4 bulbs to LED or anything - but I really do want to try and find a way so that when all bulbs are on (such as h4 low beam and 5w sidelights) that they all look the same colour /kind of white -

Any ideas or sugeestions?

EDIT: meant to have said that I have tried LED's as well that had 'White LED' on the packet .. but then again they have been more of a 'bluey white' and again didnt look right side by side to the halogen H4 bulb

corks finest

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Hello - couldnt think what category to post this in but I am looking for suggestions please / advice /info about car bulbs .

Here's the score - car has all in one headlight unit housing the Low beam bulb (dipped beam), the High beam bulb, the indicators and then the 5w sidelight bulbs (some people call parking bulbs) Now its the Sidelight bulbs I would like some info on please.

I want to replace the 5w Capless wedge 501w bulbs with something (preferably LED I suppose) that will match exactly (or near as dammit) the colour rendering of the H4 Dipped Beam headlight bulb which is a standard halogen bulb)

You see when the headlights are on you have the H4's halogen one colour and the 5w tungsten sidelight bulbs another colour (i know, first world problems .. and yes I most probably do have too much time on my hands )

So, the Halogen H4's are sort of white, but neither brilliant white nor warm white (I suppose crisp white colour maybe they can be described as) and the 5w wedge 501 sidelights are more yellowy/oranger than the H4 bulbs and this is what looks strange when they are all in one headlamp unit and you have the sidelights on as well as the dipped beam lights on (which is the way all cars are designed to do) and also I find the heat from the 501 5w sidelights eventually burn the holders they are in because of heat issues coming from the 5w bulb (quite amazing how hot they get, you try changing one after its been lit for a while!)

So , LED must be where its at . Running cool and not burning the holder and there are 501 LED replacements out there (I know a lot of them say "for off road use only" - now putting that to one side , I have tried 2 lots of LED bulb now - one was bright white LED and again looked weird with the tungsten halogen H4, it looked whiter than them - so no match there ... so i tried getting some 'warm white' LED's - and again not matching the colour rendering of the halogen H4 bulbs in the headlamp unit.

What am I to do now to try and get all the bulbs (H4 & 501 5w) to look all the same colour, and I dont really want to go to the trouble of upgrading the H4 bulbs to LED or anything - but I really do want to try and find a way so that when all bulbs are on (such as h4 low beam and 5w sidelights) that they all look the same colour /kind of white -

Any ideas or sugeestions?

EDIT: meant to have said that I have tried LED's as well that had 'White LED' on the packet .. but then again they have been more of a 'bluey white' and again didnt look right side by side to the halogen H4 bulb

buy a dog

mickdw

Go with the white led you already tried and swap the main bulb for an ice white or something similar.

Andy From Sligo

corks finest wrote: »

buy a dog

got 2 rescue dogs ...

Andy From Sligo

mickdw wrote: »

Go with the white led you already tried and swap the main bulb for an ice white or something similar.

so, use the white LED sidelight 5w bulbs and change the actual halogen H4 to ice white bulbs to get the colours the same?

mickdw

That's what I would do. Might be some trial and error with colours but I imagine your standard H4 are fairly dated looking so worth changing.

Andy From Sligo

I made a mistake, they are H7's single filament. - I see some LED H7 in halfords today but the problem is they said on the packet they were for off road use or interior use (where would you use a H7 on the interior of the car haha) - I saw some white 501 LED and it said they were 6000k - 14euro per pair, so anyway in theory though If I were to get them and then look for some H7 in 6000k then they should all match , shouldnt they ?

mickdw

I'd be wary of led h7. I'd get a traditional bulb from reputable brand with a white light.
The Led type might be very dodgy in terms of light pattern / focusing and that is likely why they are advertised as for off-road.

Andy From Sligo

mickdw wrote: »

I'd be wary of led h7. I'd get a traditional bulb from reputable brand with a white light.
The Led type might be very dodgy in terms of light pattern / focusing and that is likely why they are advertised as for off-road.

thanks, any suggestions? - recommendations?

mickdw

Something like philips white vision possibly.

Hebegeebee

You could look at Philips X-tremeUltinon gen2 LED H7 bulbs - LEDs from a reputable manufacturer. I believe there is a cut-off so they shouldn’t dazzle other road users but they are very expensive!!

joujoujou

Hebegeebee wrote: »

You could look at Philips X-tremeUltinon gen2 LED H7 bulbs - LEDs from a reputable manufacturer. I believe there is a cut-off so they shouldn’t dazzle other road users but they are very expensive!!

Horrendously expensive and not road legal.

Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited, or Philips WhiteVision.

Del2005

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I made a mistake, they are H7's single filament. - I see some LED H7 in halfords today but the problem is they said on the packet they were for off road use or interior use (where would you use a H7 on the interior of the car haha) - I saw some white 501 LED and it said they were 6000k - 14euro per pair, so anyway in theory though If I were to get them and then look for some H7 in 6000k then they should all match , shouldnt they ?

Ask any painter and they'll tell you white is the hardest colour match. Unless you buy them from a retailer guaranteeing they are the same colour then you will never get a good match for white lights. I had a LED light replaced under warranty and even with only 2 weeks between installation and failure the replacement light was a greener white than the original.

And LEDs do generate heat when packaged, so you can still melt the holder.