Did I read here that someone had problems with the retrofit Halogen bulbs and housings causing wiring issues?

Thought I would ask before I spent the money.

 

Best way to avoid any issues is with the wiring harness upgrade that you can either make following instructions here: Whiter Whites, Brighter Brights .: Articles or you can order one through LMC. Once you upgrade your harness you will notice an immediate improvement in light output, and adding halogen lights will be even more illuminating.

 

Thanks for the link and response.

 

There was an article in "Cars & Parts" magazine recently about "Performance" sealed beam bulbs. I cannot remember if they were Wagner or GE, but they had them at Auto Zone. I bought a pair for my 76 F150. MUCH brighter than regular Halogen bulbs, and there was no requirement to upgrade the harness.

 

Well, you don't "have" to do the wiring harness upgrade for the halogens either, but it is an excellent idea. Truly, you will be astonished at the difference in light you can get from a properly sized set of wires.

 

You are right that it helps to change the harness for the H5 type halogens. The Performance bulbs are regular sealed beams. The magazine article was geared toward folks that have cars that they do not want to make a lot of mods on. I remember the uproar 30 years ago when the AACA stopped deducting points for folks that put safety belts in their antique cars. You would have thought it was the end of the hobby!!

 

Upgrading the headlight harness and installing Hella conversion lens was one of the best things I have done to my truck.

 

Ran across the specs for the Sylvania bulbs.

H6024: Factory bulbs are 3100K Not worth the cash.
H6024XV :Extra Visions are only 3200K and IMHO are not worth the investment at all. ( I sell them btw)
H6024ST SilverStar: 4000K Worth the money.
H6024CB Cool Blue: No spec as yet. Price has dropped at several retailers and are definitely worth the cash.

 

I actually just threw a set of ge nighthawk halogens in my truck last week. Waaay brighter than before and didnt have to mod anything.

 

I put a set of Hella European Spec lenses in my truck with a set of 9003 Halogen bulbs. They are way better than the stock sealed beams but I still wouldn't consider them great. The voltage drop across the stock wiring absolutely kills light output. I could improve it further by installing one of the upgrade harnesses but I am not going to.

Reasoning, upgrade harness costs $30-$40. A set of Bi-Xenon HID's that come with a wiring harness costs $80. If I'm gonna spend the money I'm gonna get HID's! That's the whole reason I bought the housings anyway, money just hasn't allowed me to get the HID's yet.

 

I've seen several headlight threads and I must be in the minority here but all my vehicles with sealed beams (66 Fairlane, 77 F-150, 85 Mustang) have brighter headlights than anything I've ever driven or ridden in with the newer aero style headlights. Dunno.
Example. The headlights on my 77 F-150 are WAY brighter than the lights on my Focus, and yes the housings/lens are in perfect condition, not weathered, yellowed, etc.

 

Hmm... Well when I first got my truck I measured the voltage, engine off at the headlight plug vs the battery and got 11.5v vs 12.8v at the battery (and this didn't even have the current draw to suck the voltage down, this was just a voltmeter). So I knew this wasn't really helping anything. My sealed beams were very old, if not original being that they were WESTINGHOUSE branded.

An upgraded harness would have greatly improved the light output even out of the sealed beams. Halogens would do even better. For me though, actual amount of light output is important, but not nearly so important as the light pattern. The European Spec lenses actually throw light where you need it instead of scattered randomly. Thus you can get by with less actual light output. Being said though I still intend to put HID's in it because the e-spec lens will help keep the light out of the eyes of oncoming traffic AND I can get nearly 5x the light output.

To each their own. If you've never seen the difference in e-spec vs DOT headlight patterns, you owe it to yourself to take a look.

 

Do you have a link? Are they real HID? I haven't looked at any in a really long time, they have come way way way down if that price is for true HIDs.

 

I use Sylvania Xtra Visions and they do great. The Silver Stars are better but they don't last.

 

Yes they are real HID's as I run them in my F-150 and my Camry. They are not a supporting vendor of the forum so I hesitate to post a link. Send me a PM though and I'll be happy to give you the details.