Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
10-13-2020, 11:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-13-2020, 11:28 PM by sternwake.)
Ordered the second Hella Vision plus from Ebay from the cheapest seller same as the first seller, ~ 2$ $ more than Amazon( if I had Prime), and once again it will be arriving in less than 36 hours after placing order, via UPS.
I wont even be ready to install it when it arrives tomorrow.
Considering, without Amazon prime, it is likely my first order would not yet have shipped, and my curiosity still unsatiated, I'll post a link to the e bay seller.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hella-003427291...Sw955feMCt
Amazon does have the best price on the Phillips h4/hb2/9003 Xtreme +130 bulbs @ 18$.
But without prime I paid about 5$ more from an Ebay seller.
Looks like they just bumped up the price 3$ on my IP address, It was 18$ an hour ago
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NMEEOV2/?tag=2402507-20
They've already shipped from this E bay seller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-H4-X-tr...0986128852
I think, I be done, with Amazon entirely, whenever there is the E bay option available.
The Hella 6054 vision + E bay seller linked above , sells two E-code h6054's for ~96$, but the light NaziNerds say the e codes in this size format are not as good, with that high beam being too elevated when adjusted properly for the low beam. and the low beam not as effective as the SAE/DOT version. I cannot confirm this.
E code pair below:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hella-003427811...SwFcdfc3kS
I did not find any place that sells a pair of SAE/DOT Hella vision PLus. Individual lamps only.
I 'think' your Chevy takes this same 6054 size format, Gypsydogs.
Perhaps one day there will be viable drop in LEDs that will not blind oncoming drivers and have a solid well focused beam to place inside these
All the LED designs I see in teh H4/HB2/9003 size, have an external heatsink which sticks out 2+ inches or so, on the backside of the bulb, and would not fit in my Van's passenger side without modifying the Hvac box, and driver's side it would hit the battery, if I had a battery there. Which I might again, someday, maybe.
Whether any existing led drop in bulb works acceptably depends on the reflector and fresnel lens's optics and how all three work together.
I'd be open to trying them, if I did not have to pay for them, but I prefer my headlights not be hyper white/ blueish, especially in the rain.
Looking forward to the Phillips xtreme +130's, and new adjusters, in order to aim them properly.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html
•
Needed fog lights here the other morning. It was kind of a Stephen King scene.
I got up wandered into the kitchen to make coffee. Female monster was doing her homework at the table.
We have a rule. Limited noise, questions and general human sounds, outside of breathing, prior to coffee. She is pretty good at this unlike her mother whom I swear is who George T and the destroyers. Made the song “You talk too much” for.
“Someone erased the world.”
I look. She is pointing. I look outside. The scene is white. I move closer to the window and look for the lights along the Niva River. It is about 50 yards away. Nada! Pure white! I look to the side and the building edge 10 feet is almost not visible. I take a sip of coffee and kick my brain and associated sensors into action. I look again. Fully expecting to see the street, promenade, Niva, streetlights, and cars in the lower secured courtyard. Nothing.
Rechecking the building edge, I am not really sure I see it. I know it is there so is my brain filling in details like a Lidar system.
“Someone erased the whole world while we were sleeping.”
“It would seem so. Perhaps it will be a quieter world.”
She goes back to her studies. I move out to the balcony. The balcony’s below are visible, as is the pavement five stories below. The fog seems to come right up to a few inches from the building and stop. Past that white nothingness. It was very surreal and slightly disconcerting.
The yellow/orange cast of the rising sun starts to allow some distant objects a sense of familiarity but again this wouldn’t be the case without prior knowledge.
Ive seen thick fog before in the Bay Area, and at sea. Sea was the thickest and this at least double that.
In a brain idled by sleep and lack of stimulants; concerned about safety in a Covid new world. If one grabbed at the idea Mother Nature was taking us out...this eraser effect was palatable and foreshadowing.
Hope today is a good one...
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The following 1 user says Thank You to Scott7022 for this post:1 user says Thank You to Scott7022 for this post
• rvpopeye (10-14-2020)
Posts: 1,157
Threads: 29
Thanks Received: 641 in 437 posts
Thanks Given: 108
Joined: Feb 2018
Reputation:
4
10-14-2020, 06:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-14-2020, 06:29 AM by tx2sturgis.)
>MSDOS Ready _
>format world -o -t
>Are you sure? (Y/N) _
>Y
_______________________
Wondering about wandering
•
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
I've been out surfing in an unfamiliar break, in South Africa, Eastern Cape, and Thick fog quickly rolled in.
Could not see land, and the only way to determine which was it was by the sound of breaking waves reverberating off the cliffs.
This surfbreak included a complicated 'rock dance' to safely enter and exit the ocean, which can be stressful when one can see perfectly and has watched it through several tides and swell heights.
There were just two of us out and we waited and waited then tried to find our way in, and heard someone calling.
"Keyhole's over here Bru!"
Over and over in between crashes.
'Keyhole's over here Bru!'
Still gives me huge anxiety thinking about it.
We were lucky the swell was not huge and raw.
That man got a lot of beer bought for him that night.
The location yelling, really helped exit the southern ocean, but it was still difficult.
----------
Blew off working on the boat today. Too freaking hot.
Met the UPS guy at his truck door to grab second Hella.
I did not remove the H4 bulb on the last one, but did on this one.
Its pretty easy to see that both filaments are off center in the bulb, and there is a shield for the Low beam, also not centered over the filament.
There are alignment tabs in the base to line up bulb properly. I can rotate the bulb several degrees toward either side, which would also screw with the beam focus.
I can easily see how the smaller more precisely placed filaments of the Phillips Xtreme + 130 bulbs increase headlamp performance.
If those filaments are out of place, then its kind of like wearing someone elses glasses with a far different prescription, you can still see, but cant see very well.
•
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
Ok. These hellas have the best high beams ive ever driven behind..with thenstock bulbs.
No blue tint band though.
Parking lot adjustement . All parking spots have parallel lines. Makes.aiming easy.
Low beams have lots of throw. narrower beam hotspot reaches way further....with junk h4 bulbs.
Shoulda done this long ago.
The following 1 user says Thank You to sternwake for this post:1 user says Thank You to sternwake for this post
• rvpopeye (10-15-2020)
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
My phone typed replies should be obvious, Brief(er) with lots of periods between words regardless of sentence structure.
On my rig 4 screws hold a stainless steel trim ring to the headlamp's bucket.
The headlamp bucket has three points which touch the surface behind, and one spring. Opposite this spring, are the two adjustment screws.
These screws can both push and Pull to adjust the aim.
The three points which touch the surface behind, need to be somewhat slippery. I did not bother lubricating these 3 contact points, and no doubt this contributed to the plastic screw receptacles stripping when trying to adjust aim, and adjustment thereafter impossible.
While i ordered new adjustment screws and plastic receptacles, I did not know when they would arrive. I knew I wanted to drive last night after dark.
Being a Van that can carry wildly different weights, headlamps aim needs to remain easily adjustable.
New adjusters, could easily strip again on adjustment, at the time of murphy's choosing.
The adjusters do not come threaded, the djustment screws are supposed to 'cut' their own threads.
Really it is just a friction fit, and perhaps 8 of the screw threads have any friction.
So what Is a craxy modifier to do, but make their own.
I have a plastic cutting board left over from a project long ago
I ran it through the tablesaw and made a slightly tapered rectangle which would just barely fit into the holes designed for the plastic adjuster receptacles.
I drilled and tapped them and hammered them into the receptacles, which then compressed the cut threads.
There is 1 inch of actual cut threads for the adjustment screw to grab.
Adjustment is now buttery smooth.
The heat of the lamps might prove to be an issue. Time will tell.
If it does, the new adjusters arrived today.
I assume once the H4 Phillips XtraVision +130's arrive some more fine tuning of the aim will be required.
The Lowbeams are quite defined, but those high beams....Next level. I've never been behind more effective high beams.
I have some LED high beam assists, and previously, they were remarkably effective in combination with the Sylvania's. With the Hellas I would not even know they are activated but for some whiter light at the periphery of the Hella's halogen high beam. I guess I should aim the led high beam assists a bit wider.
I'm hoping that blue band surrounding the Xtreme +130's H4 high beam filament do not significantly cut the light output.
If I had these hellas sooner I would never have added the LED high beam assists as no more high beam is required.
•
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
Installed the Phillips extreme +130s H4's a few days ago.
The filaments looks like a coiled spring, are just s shorter spring, not a narrower diameter spring.
The light is a bit whiter, due to the blue bands, and it is certainly focused a bit better, and a bit brighter than teh GE bulbs which came with the Hella's, but the Phillips h4's are not nearly as drastic an improvement over the GE bulbs compared to the Hella vs the Sylvania silverstar beams.
There is a lot of foreground light. Leaning forward getting close to the windshield as if one were navigating backroads trail, there is ample light there, previously this required fog lights to see in this area.
I'd kind of prefer this foreground light be concentrated further ahead extending the reach of the low beam.
The Hella's are a huge improvement, but....The Cibies were likely better, and the JWspeakers at 700$ for the pair are just ridiculous
•
Posts: 1,157
Threads: 29
Thanks Received: 641 in 437 posts
Thanks Given: 108
Joined: Feb 2018
Reputation:
4
Whenever I have installed higher wattage bulbs I have also installed ceramic sockets.
_______________________
Wondering about wandering
•
Posts: 2,118
Threads: 67
Thanks Received: 1,572 in 981 posts
Thanks Given: 40
Joined: Sep 2017
Reputation:
19
Already have ceramic sockets from when I made my own 12awg relayed harness many years ago.
The Phillips extreme are not high wattage bulbs, the filaments are just smaller and more precisely aligned to use the reflector properly.
That circuit upgrade made a huge difference, with ~2.7 more volts reaching the bulbs.
While the factory service manual says they used 14 SAE gauge, it looked like 16 SAE gauge, and SAE is 6 to 12% thinner than AWG.
Also for the low beam the wire first went to drivers side low beam then back around firewall to passenger side so the passenger side had even lower voltage reaching the bulb.
Now I've got 10 AWG feeding relays from alternator cable, and 12awg from relays to headlamps, and old low and high beam wires merely trigger the relays. I did not cut their wires, the original headlamps plugs still work. I have my LED high beam assists hooked to them, and switching them to come on with low beams just requires a thin tool to get in and release the spade terminals and swap them, but this would cause tremendous glare for oncoming drivers, and would be done only offroad or in an emergency.
•
take off some insulation and wrap the new wire around the old? not cut the original harness
i have the stuff to go relays but keep thinking of adding two more inboard high beams headlights but my bumper is so close to the radiator grill i would have to cut it,maybe just have the two inboards wired to a toggle,the difference from my van singles and truck duals is dramatic when the bright are hit or x2 brighter
•
|