Cheap H4R Bulbs

[speedy231278]

Well, what can I say? For years I ran H4s at the risk of knackering the switchgear. After about the third switch I wrecked through my ignorance, I bought yet another new switch and a pair of Honda labelled H4Rs. I am absolutely adamant that on both low and high beam the output was far better with the H4Rs. I put this down to the beam pattern not being quite right because the lamps had to be modified to fit, or the headlamps not being ideally adjusted (despite usually getting attention from the tester at MOT time). I guess that it is possible the H4s I got were shite. Now I have the low beam on a relay, I have a pair of Nightbreaker H4s in the post as that's what people seem to reckon is the best H4. I will then be able to say for certain which I find better. I'm hoping for all the rewiring effort, there's be a hell of an improvement. In a couple of weeks when I'm back home, I'll find out.

[Neosophist]

Well, what can I say? For years I ran H4s at the risk of knackering the switchgear. After about the third switch I wrecked through my ignorance, I bought yet another new switch and a pair of Honda labelled H4Rs. I am absolutely adamant that on both low and high beam the output was far better with the H4Rs. I put this down to the beam pattern not being quite right because the lamps had to be modified to fit, or the headlamps not being ideally adjusted (despite usually getting attention from the tester at MOT time). I guess that it is possible the H4s I got were shite. Now I have the low beam on a relay, I have a pair of Nightbreaker H4s in the post as that's what people seem to reckon is the best H4. I will then be able to say for certain which I find better. I'm hoping for all the rewiring effort, there's be a hell of an improvement. In a couple of weeks when I'm back home, I'll find out.

Beam pattern will not be affected too much by 1mm or so that they might be thrown out so long as they are level.. much more affected by using the wrong type of filament, like an arc from an HID bulb in a reflector housing.

Also the intesity of the light wont be changed so much more over the angle of the light is too high or too low.

Having tried back to back a new set of H4R from Honda and a set of good H4, the H4s are 100x brighter (well not that much but you get the idea)

Philips Xtreme are my preffered choice of H4 but they are both good

[Davez29]

Sitting in works reception the other day and picked up a "Which" magazine and they had a test of bulbs although the slightly older 80% more light. Both osram and philips came out good but osram pipped the post being cheaper. Interestingly the bosh version gave the best low beam but hi was shite compared to a normal h4. Halfords own brand came out worse than standard astra bulbs they used as a benchmark.

[magg]

Did not the "Which" comparison only test H7 bulbs and high beam performance was weaker for all bulb manufactures. This could be the result of the high beam lamp design, although this was not considered in the comments. One highlight LOL was the poor performance of halfords brand in any form.

The poor performance of halfords is repeated in many of the halogen bulb comparisons from Google while the best are usually from known brads. Some might find the link below interesting, particularly references to consistency between any two bulbs from the same manufacture.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-mainte ... lbs-tested

Another consideration is the voltage actually present at the bulb terminals. Have seen figures that suggest the change in light output when the voltage is increased from 12.8 (an industry test standard) to 13.7 (representing a more realistic real world figure) can be as much as 50%. Relays and heavy gauge wire for everyone!

[Davez29]

Yes magg you may be right about them being h7, unsure as i only read the article quickly, mainly looking at the conclusion. Also i think its right about high beam as i think the high beam on normal Honda bulbs are fine and generally give a better spread of light than the high power lights. Where the high power score is in the low beam performance.

[magg]

A survey of the lighting performance for NC30/35s might prove interesting, as UK NC30s have relays in both hi and low beam whereas non UK NC30s and all NC35s only have a hi beam relay. Do owners of UK NC30s think their std fitment 55/60 W bulbs are weak or is it only NC30/35s fitted with 35/60 W bulbs appear to have a problem.

Speedy231278 appears to be suggesting that his H4 bulbs were not aligned correctly after modification to fit his OEM H4R bases. Could this explain his perception that the H4Rs were brighter than misaligned H4s, a light source not located in the correct position within the headlight surely will give less than optimum pattern and intensity. Also, can adjustment of beam pointing for a MOT correct for incorrectly located bulbs?

[speedy231278]

The thing with the MOT is that they only tend to be worried with the beam height at a certain distance, and that it won't dazzle oncoming road users. The whole spread, while partly related to this is not tested as such. I reckon the modified H4s I was running were probably pointing slightly skyward, although isn't the adjuster meant to compensate for both horizontal and vertical errors in alignment?

Anyway, there's a good chance the old H4s came from a certain mentioned supplier above that got slated. Far too long ago now for me to remember where they came from!

[thunderace]

Did not the "Which" comparison only test H7 bulbs and high beam performance was weaker for all bulb manufactures. This could be the result of the high beam lamp design, although this was not considered in the comments. One highlight LOL was the poor performance of halfords brand in any form.

H7 bulbs are only single filament anyway so main beam performance would be more down to the reflector. So unless you're running a newer bike that has a separate lamp for main beam like those with twin headlights but only one on dipped beam (newer R1/R6, ZX6R, etc.) the Which! test is completely useless to use in a discussion about H4R vs H4.

[magg]

Horizontal and vertical alignment of the beam for MOT does not IMHO correct for a light source located in the wrong place within a reflector, that results in a badly focused beam. In fact I would think that a badly focused beam would cause more dazzling and require aiming that when legal could be almost useless for road use.