Lights, globes, driving lights etc.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I was reading up on what's available in Australia for improving night driving. Many kinds of globes and kits available. Some offer HID (arc, not incandescant) "driving lights" as well as regular halogen globe driving lights. Pencil beam vs. broad beam. There seems to be a lot of interest in colour temperature as well.

Thoughts?

I discovered the high-output globes I used back in Canada (Silverstar Ultra from Sylvannia) were rated at 4100 Kelvin, which puts it at a whiteness comparable to HID. I don't think they are available here. The distance I was able to illuminate was easily double that of my OEM globes. I wonder if it's coincidence, or these globes wouldn't meet Australian standards. They burned a bit hotter too, which was great for melting ice and snow off them quickly.

I might be wanting to change my globes OEM's?) to something with better distance.

I'm intruiged by 35W HID kits, as extreme light intensity on BMW's back in Canada made me initially hate them. There seems to be kits with different colour temperatures, like some around 4000-4300K as well as 6000K. I like the look of the 4000-range and it would be a perk to use less power + have longer globe life.

Pencil beam vs. broad beam? What do you prefer?

My natural preference is for the greater spread, but if it's more of a hazard to other drivers I might not be inclined to use them very often. I suspect that a true pencil beam might not be as much of a hazard for traffic in the opposite direction than regular high beams are. Is it possible to keep your pencil beam driving lights on as other cars pass? Beam width on the Xray website showed they only spread about a car width(ish?)

Are driving lights a common target of theft or vandalism?
I think I heard someone comment he didn't want to install HID driving lights for that reason.

[taza]

I use Phillips Xtreme 80+ globes in my Forester. They are hagogen globes but are atleast 4x better than the stock OEM pieces of crap. I also have two small Hella spot lights just to add somemore light on the open roads, out bush. But I would recommend these globes to start off with. I hate HID's and/or any kind of white head lights or fog lamps, they just annoy the crap out of me and other drivers.

Taza

[tony]

pencil beams (or spotlights as they known) are useless for the simple reason that you like them, ie the narrowness of the beam means that they don't light up enough of the road. for a trial if you have a shooting spotlight try driving with that.
it is also illegal and bloody dangerous to drive with driving lights or spotlights on in built up areas or in the face of traffic.
if you do, you are likely to find a trucky coming the other way with his 4 24volt 300watt driving lights lighting you up like hiroshima leaving you blind for about 10 minutes..and there is the problem that both of you cannot see what you are doing.
if you do fit better ones to the car headlights make sure you run heavier wiring and run thrrough a relay to protect your wiring harness and light switch.had burnt out dipswitches, been there done that!

[GOD]

Step 1 is make sure the headlights are working to their full potential - reflectors not rusty or pitted, lenses clean inside and out, wiring upgrade if you're keen.
Step 2 is upgrade headlight globes to better quality, higher output ones. This is beneficial wherever you drive.
Step 3 is add driving lights. Possibly a waste of time if you're nearly always in traffic or under street lights.
Step 4 is HID kit for headlights and maybe driving lights.

For globe upgrades, go with a big name brand, and look for anything called "Plus XX", like Taza's Phillips ones above, or Narva Plus 50s. Don't go over 55W or you'll have trouble with things getting hot.

When shopping for both globes and HID kits, you'll get a choice of colour temps. I like to go just on the yellow side of white (sorry, can't put a Kelvin number on it). Too yellow just looks dull and shit, too white (close to blue) is for wankers, and it reflects badly off rain and fog. BTW, power (in watts, W) has nothing to do with colour (in Kelvin).

Broad or pencil beam patterns (aka spot or spread) are choices you get when selecting driving lights, and come from the lens design. Good lights often come as a set of one broad and one pencil:
.

Never point anything more than your low beams at another vehicle, regardless of the lens type.

I've never had problems with theft or vandalism of lights, but there aren't many of those sort of miscreants where i live.

Dane.

[El_Freddo]

I'm rather passionate about lighting on the front of my car... No offence intended in my replies below:

I hate HID's and/or any kind of white head lights or fog lamps, they just annoy the crap out of me and other drivers.

Those "Cool blue" or "Artic blue" lights are the same plus they're plain dangerous.

As much as I like a lot of light out the front of my subi HID's are not the way to go and are illegal if you don't have auto adjusting headlights - that rule's out the L series ever having them fitted legally. I'm not sure about auxiliary driving lights though...

pencil beams (or spotlights as they known) are useless for the simple reason that you like them, ie the narrowness of the beam means that they don't light up enough of the road.

Not so. Pencil beams are great for seeing well down the road, sometimes in good conditions and with good light setup 1km can be achieved. Like daylight! Where the spreader is hopeless in seeing distance a pencil beam is used in combination like what Dane has in his pic below - one spotter (driver's side so you're as close to directly above the beam as possible) and one spreader. Great combination.
Some lights are a built in combination like my Hella 100's on the front of Ruby Scoo.

it is also illegal and bloody dangerous to drive with driving lights or spotlights on in built up areas or in the face of traffic.

In oncoming traffic yes. Built up areas no - it is perfectly legal (at least in victoria) to use all your high beam lights in built up areas - towns, suburbs, city - so long as there's no on coming traffic. Reason being that more light you can use the better it is for the driver to identify moving hazards ahead (such as dark dressed drunks between overhead street lights). In the 'burbs and the city it is not often that you can use your driving lights or high beams for that matter simply due to the oncoming traffic.

Pet hate are those on the freeways that drive with their high beams on regardless of oncoming traffic.

if you do fit better ones to the car headlights make sure you run heavier wiring and run thrrough a relay to protect your wiring harness and light switch.had burnt out dipswitches, been there done that!

^ The only way to do it!

Step 2 is upgrade headlight globes to better quality, higher output ones. This is beneficial wherever you drive.

So long as your low beams remain 55W for oncoming traffic. Often people upgrade both light wattages only to blind those oncoming due to the higher low beam output. The AU series 1 falcons were notorious for blinding oncoming traffic with their low beams!

Never point anything more than your low beams at another vehicle, regardless of the lens type.

I've never had problems with theft or vandalism of lights, but there aren't many of those sort of miscreants where i live.

Agreed! And agreed. But if you're worried about having your light stolen you can buy locking nuts to help avoid theft of the lights.

If I were to upgrade my lights up front I'd probably look at a set of Light Force lights, something like these. But expect to pay a coulpe of hundred plus another!

Cheers

Bennie

[2nd Hand Yank]

Where can I get an upgraded wiring kit for my 93 L Series?
This will still be beneficial with stock globes?
I find the stock lighting just dim enough,
it's almost like my Subaru is trying to put me to sleep; a visual lullaby.
(after a year of driving with slightly-off-white globes that light up objects at 300m with ease)

Feel free to send me a PM about where to get this.
I'm interested in online shopping if it saves me $,
so long as it's still legal for use in WA.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I generally hate HID's appearance as well,
but with the options that are available; lower wattage, no blue filter...
perhaps the lower wattage wouldn't look so bad to oncoming traffic.

Point taken about no leveling device in a L Series so HID legal conversion unlikely.
Would that still be a problem using HID's for just driving lights?

I actually noticed a big difference in Australia;
I'm never angry at how bright people's low beams are.
Easily 1-5% of all vehicles on the road in Canada and the USA are so strong
it feels like my eyes are bleeding if I get a direct shot from an oncoming car.

I think in North America, there's no law mandating leveling of HID's.
I saw a blokes BMW sedan there where at 100m, his low beams had the optical cut-off line at 1.5m off the ground.
He could probably light up a rearview on a 4x4 from 150m, direct low beam shot!
He followed me for 20 minutes on a rural highway until finally I decided to drive under the limit so maybe he'd pass.

I've heard they have it in Europe though.
Oz follow's Europe's lighting standards?

[2nd Hand Yank]

Okay, so having just pencil beams sounds like a lousy idea.
I totally get the idea of trying to drive with a spotlight.
I've used a spotlight driving around a farm here.

"Hiroshima" if you accidentally get a direct shot?
That makes sense.

Does anyone prefer using two broad beams
instead of a combo pencil & broad?

Adjusting my own hi-output low beams back home,
I found when you had overlapping beam spread it made seeing harder;
you get an extremely bright focused area which your eyes adjust to
then beyond that it appears even darker.
If I do low beam adjustments,
I like to stagger their focus for a broader area of focus.
Like having the driver side max intensity at 30-50m, and passenger side 50-80m?

[2nd Hand Yank]

I figured the smallest sizes,
160-170mm would look best since Subarus have such small nose areas
and for less aerodynamic drag on already-sluggish engines like the EA82.

Has anyone who's installed their own noticed a difference in wind noise in the cabin?
Felt an increase in wind resistance at the throttle, driving around 110km/h? (terrible drag )

[2nd Hand Yank]

Here's a link for what the Silverstar Ultra globes looked like:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl= ... 29,r:0,s:0

[Walts]

has anyone upgraded there lights on a liberty my08 to hids? and if so where did you go? or where did your purchase

[steptoe]

Have read that an upgrade to relays under bonnet for your standard lights helps - with MY. Maybe same for L Series? I have blue ish things in my L and they are hard to see light on the road in low light like first thng in the morning. I also swear people cannot see me coming because they look for light on the road not a car with lights on. Had too many close calls after installing bulbs bought from Kmart - sure they are ADR approved too ?
Light is sharper end line, and better high beams. I also use straight spots left and right and have forgotten how good a flood is. Got cheapy Supercheap offerings 180mm and 100mm on another car. Not much difference in their performance.

Think theft is related to known value like Cibie Oscars etc. Mine just get knocked out of aim

[2nd Hand Yank]

Have read that an upgrade to relays under bonnet for your standard lights helps - with MY. Maybe same for L Series? I have blue ish things in my L and they are hard to see light on the road in low light like first thng in the morning. I also swear people cannot see me coming because they look for light on the road not a car with lights on. Had too many close calls after installing bulbs bought from Kmart - sure they are ADR approved too ?
Light is sharper end line, and better high beams. I also use straight spots left and right and have forgotten how good a flood is. Got cheapy Supercheap offerings 180mm and 100mm on another car. Not much difference in their performance.

Think theft is related to known value like Cibie Oscars etc. Mine just get knocked out of aim

What kind of lights are you currently running?

So your problem with "vandals" are kids like to knock them out of aim when you leave it parked? Cheeky buggars.

[2nd Hand Yank]

I just installed Philips 100% globes, bought off eBay.
A big improvement over what was there,
but now I can more easily see where the point of focus is.
It seems the factory setting has the point of maximum intensity on low beams
terminating something like 10-20 m in front of the car.
I tried adjusting them to make the beam go further, say terminate 30-40 m ahead,
for a better overall field of view with low beams and a more even light pattern.
but the factory lights won't do that.

I also notice a big difference in reflector style between my 08 Honda Civic and the 93 Subaru.
the 08 Civic has completely a completely clear lens, like found on pencil beam set ups
while the 93 Subaru has a plastic bumpy pattern like found on a broad beam set up.
Looking at the charts on driving light kits,
I can assume that this difference in lens could reduce low beam distance by 50%.

I also liked how on my 08 Civic you could more clearly see the low beam cut off line.
It looked more like a HID set up in that respect.

First things first, I would like better adjustment of my low beams.
Even my high beams don't go parallel, but point of max intensity also terminates somewhere before 50m.

[GOD]

AFAIK the clear lenses of your Civic are just a current fashion thing. The Civic's reflectors will be designed to do the same sort of scattering that the Subaru's lenses do.

Check the condition and mounting of the reflectors inside your Subie's headlights. They are plated steel, so prone to corroding, and I have seen L Series headlights with the reflector half broken off its mounts and just drifting around inside the headlight housing. If you have either of these problems, it'll be a replace the whole assembly job.

Dane.

[2nd Hand Yank]

So I think I need a new reflector/headlight assembly.

Looking at the beam spread of my good headlight,
I still dislike the factory settings, leaving a dark spot about 15-20 m in front,
but off to the left side about 10 degrees or 1-2 m left of the car's left side
so I think I want a set, or sets of driving lights.

Several options are available.
I've seen 55 W driving lights: 100mm, 80mm, mini's and some rectangular ones.
Could set two 55 W driving lights up to use when I have my low beams on?

And then there are the 100W kits in all shapes and sizes.
100W lights are best used with your high beams?

Looking at the packaging at different driving lights,
it seems that getting a bigger reflector with the same wattage globe, you can get further distance.
Is that correct?

Thanks

[steptoe]

Night Vision is what I run on both cars, good enough, affordable etc, plastic bubble at front to protect 'lens' both pencil beams

[steptoe]

I think the shortfall you have is covered by those 'fog light' that come either standard or aftermarket that just flood directly in front of car and fit low down under bumper

[El_Freddo]

I've seen 55 W driving lights: 100mm, 80mm, mini's and some rectangular ones.
Could set two 55 W driving lights up to use when I have my low beams on?

No! You cannot use auxiliary lights with your low beams - the only exception to this is FOG lights (55W yellow lights) that should only be used during times of foggy condition. In Australia there's really no need for them - well, I can't justify them as I'd probably use them 3 times a year for about 5 minutes each time... We're not in europe!

55W driving lights are a waste of time!

And then there are the 100W kits in all shapes and sizes.
100W lights are best used with your high beams?[/QUTOE]

I wouldn't look at anything less than 100watts. I've got 130W globes in my driving lights - an amazing difference that 30W makes!

it seems that getting a bigger reflector with the same wattage globe, you can get further distance.
Is that correct?

I'm not entirely sure about that. I know a better reflector and glass design gives you better distance - but each light is built (generally) for a purpose so you can choose a light setup that best meets your needs. Most of the time the more expensive light means more time in developing the lens and housing for the best light output for a certain type of globe.

Cheers

Bennie

[Alex]

just HID every light on the car.

if your reflectors are okay and dont move around everywhere you will be fine.

HID spotlights are absolutely awesome.

HIDs are the best and WHEN USED CORRECTLY even if illegal are fine.

pretty unlucky for a cop to give you trouble over hids if theyre setup correctly.

i laugh at half the guys on here who convert their cars illegally, lift them illegally and then have a lil whinge about some lights being illegal. LOL

alex