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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Lazer blue headlights
        
(Message started by: Chad66 on Oct 20^th, 2005, 8:23am)

Title: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Chad66 on Oct 20^th, 2005, 8:23am

Has anyone got any recommendations about changing the headlights to those fancy blue/white lamps as opposed to the normal yellow/white lamps?

I brought a pair of supposedly 'lazer blue' lamps from Halfords which don't appear to be any different from the originals....

I've also seen those "super bright xenon lamps" advertised on e-bay...I don't believe the hype though....

Any advice?

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by martin_rowe on Oct 20^th, 2005, 8:34am

I have tried many different bulb types to try & improve on the very poor performance of the scorp h/lamps, including some of the xennon bulbs in 55 & 100w, small improvements were made with seperate aux relays to each h/lamp, additional earths to the bulb holders, best bulbs to date are Lucas rally blue, I know they are not for road use as they are 100w, but it brings the h/lamps up to what I think is the min acceptable, I do a lot of night driving on unlit country roads, even so they arent even close to the lights on my other car (Rover 827) even if I use standard bulbs in that, in the old days I would just bolt on a pair of super oscars.

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Baz on Oct 20^th, 2005, 9:18am

You could go the whole hog and get a set of proper xenon lamps, ballasts etc. but expect to pay at least £150 for a decent set

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by scorpio_man on Oct 20^th, 2005, 11:21am

hi there

i use these ones (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ford-Scorpio-95-98-Xenon-Superwhite-H-L-Set-H1-H1_W0QQitemZ8008025526QQcategoryZ28644QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

as i said in the past, the biggest lose of light output to the road is worn lenses. if you ever had to drive with one new and one worn lens, you would see want i mean!

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by mr._floppy on Oct 20^th, 2005, 2:02pm

Can lenses wear ? Is it not a dingy reflector that dulls the light output ?

I find that whatever bulb you put in , whether they are advertised as " 50% more light " or " SuperBright Xenon , they are still only rated at 55 watts, which aligned with the inferior H1 bulb size is a pretty poor combination. Dipped beam on country roads can be rather hairy.

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by scorpio_man on Oct 20^th, 2005, 2:31pm

hi mr floopy

the lens is the glass part. all the grit, flys, etc all scratch the glass, a bit like a pair of glasses. when they are all scratched, you can't see very well. same thing, really. it's much easier to see when comparing new for old.

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Advice;action=display;num=1115456481;start=1#1

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by craig on Oct 20^th, 2005, 3:51pm

i tried just about every bulb going including the 100w ones (did quickly take these out though because of the risk of the wiring melting !!!),i now run the halfords super xenon white ones,i do however agree with scorpio_ man that the lenses can make a BIG difference,i replaced the bulbs when i still had the old pre facelift lenses in,and to be honest could only see a small improvement,however since changing the lenes as well to the newer facelift ones,you really do notice the difference,so in my opinion,for the sake of about £90.00 you could have 2 new lenses and the brighter bulbs as well...................

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by mazzy_j on Nov 18^th, 2005, 11:08am

trying out different bulbs on my scorp i found that changing the dipped bulbs to 100w made not much different, but changing the full beam bulbs to 100w items they made quite a big difference. The biggest difference was when last week i fitted a pair of 9inch Hella long range spotlights to my grill, even with 55w bulbs you can see a mile ahead, currently trying to track down some 130w bulbs for a little bit more power :) will see how good they during my rally tonight...

Matt

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by mr._floppy on Nov 18^th, 2005, 2:25pm

130 watt! Am I right in thinking that the wiring is designed for a certain bulb wattage and any upgrading of wattage can overheat the wiring?

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by craig on Nov 18^th, 2005, 2:36pm

yes...... :o

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Chad66 on Nov 18^th, 2005, 3:00pm

Oh dear, this thread seems to going the wrong way....

I don't want to increase the wattage of the existing system....previous threads will spell out the dangers to anyone considering this....I don't think Scorpio electrics respond well to tinkering!!

But, I do like the look of those blue/white lights that BMW/Lexus/Merc have at the moment...even saw a Nissan Primera with them!

Are they a totally different type of light fitment or can we replace bulbs like for like?

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by scorpio_man on Nov 18^th, 2005, 3:20pm

hi there

they are HID lamps. about $350 a set (i think!) not even sure if they fit or not :-/
http://gohid.com/hid-automobile-table_2809.html

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by mazzy_j on Nov 18^th, 2005, 3:55pm

I've read other threads saying that the wiring is most probably not be up to it, so not to tempt fate the spotlights are wired up to a separate relay which is activated when the main beam is switched on, so hopefully no melting of wires. been running 100w dipped bulbs and 100w main beam for a while now and they seem to be ok.

Matt

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Highlander on Nov 18^th, 2005, 8:25pm

I used to have a MK2 Granada with 8 130w spotlights on the front (boy racer days) :D
had to use seperate wires and relays for them but it made a difference at night ;)

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Big_Green_Tank on Nov 30^th, 2005, 2:57pm

Just done some quick maths on the head light wattage.
Remembering that the formula is IxV=W, then W/V=I I is the current drawn!
So with a 55 Watt bulb it is 4.5 amps and with a 100 Watt bulb it is 8.6 amps.
Any one know what the power feed wire to and from the headlight relay is rated at?
Unless they have used less than 10 amp rated wire for it I would think that the 100 watt bulbs probably won't cause a problem.
But don't quote me on it cos maybe the were real "Skinflints" on the headlight wires!

Bob

Title: Re: Lazer blue headlights
Post by Octavian_P on Nov 30^th, 2005, 9:34pm

I think the wires will be the last that burn, first thing will be the light swith that goes, and then the signaling stick .......if they dont the wires will eventualy melt away :P