Anyone using whiter bulbs in newer Explorers?

I would like to use a set in my 07 Explorer, but I would like to know if anyone is using this type of bulbs.

What is the best brand to look for.
Silverstar?

 

Go HID, you'll never look back. (it would be too dark)

Don't go any or much hotter than 4300, that goes for ordinary halogen bulbs too, you lose too much light after that.

I've mentioned on this and other forums that I have H4 130/90 halogen bulbs and have always been asked where to get them.
I'm in Australia, they're all over the place here. Try an Aussie retailer, see if they'll ship them.

HID is still better.

 

Ok, lets clear things up for light bulbs, just the facts. Lets start with HIDs.

If your vehicle did not come with HIDs, does do a conversion of mess around with that HIDs do tend to be brighter, but they also have a very hot color shift which is a bad thing, and is part of the reason the Europeans are changing their regulations on headlights. If your vehicle does use HIDs, go for a bulb that does a warmer color shift. I will explain later.

For halogen bulbs they are naturally warm light i.e. yellow. The hotter the bulb, the brighter and whiter it appears. There is a thermal limit however, and that limit is found with bulbs like the Xtravision. The bulb is still slightly yellow oriented, but is very bright. This is the bulb I use myself because I know the truth about light and the way it is perceived. The Silverstar is an Xtravision bulb with a different gas blend, and a coating on the bulb that removes some of the light in part of the spectrum. The result is a bulb that appears whiter, which the eyes perceive as brighter, but notice how I said that some light is being removed. The Silverstar is in reality, dimmer than the Xtravision.

The details of why light that has more blue in it appears to be whiter is somewhat complicated, but a lot of it has to do with the energy content of blue light, and how much it excites the retina, and how much blue light refracts.

As most of us learned in science, the light we see is part of a spectrum. Each color is a different frequency, and the higher the frequency, the higher the energy of that light. Red has the lowest wavelength and the lowest energy content. Blue has the highest frequency and the highest energy content (technically violet is higher, but that color is not common from light sources.) and as a result, when it strikes the retina, it produces more of a reaction than red light does. This is why red light is used in darkrooms in photography. Red light excites the eyes so little that your ability to see in the dark is not compromised. Yellow light is not far removed from red light, and in many ways is perceived the same way, its light has little effect on the retina, so the eyes can quickly recover from exposure to it and see in dimly lit areas. Blue light on the other hand has a very high energy content and when it strikes the retina, is overwhelms the cells. In order to again become sensitive to low levels of light, they must reset. The high energy content of the blue light makes the eyes perceive it to be brighter, the flooding effect it has on the retina makes it impossible or at least difficult to see that is in more dimly lit areas.

The next problem with higher frequency light has to do with refraction. Low frequency light bends very little when it passes through a prism or passes through a boundary layer. As the frequency gets higher more refraction occurs. This is why a prism casts the colors of the rainbow out in a line where refer to as a color spectrum. Blue light in fact, refracts so much, that it can go where it is not desired. Let me explain a little more about how the eyes work, so you can see where I am going with this.

Inside our eyes are two types of retinal cells. One type is called the cone cell and they are only sensitive to the the brightness or relative brightness of a light source. These cells do not determine color, and are also the primary source of vision in dim lighting. They also have a long chemical rest time, which is why is you go from a lit room to a dark room, it takes several minutes for the eyes to adjusts and you can start to see objects in the room. The other type of cell is the cone cell. The cone cells contain prisms that split the light onto different receptors, allowing us to see different colors. When red light hits the cell it refracts very little, and falls onto the red receptor. When green light hits the cell, it bends somewhat more and lands on the green receptor. But when blue light hits the cell, most of it hits the blue receptor, but the blue refracts so much that some of it also lands on the red and green receptors, and sometimes even neighboring cells. Because blue is perceived across all three cells, the result is the eyes perceive it as somewhat white.

This should make it fairly clear that the blue light being brighter is only and illusion. But then one might ask, if the eyes perceive this light to be brighter, then shouldn't it still help you see better? Seeing in the dark, which is why you even use headlights, is more dependent upon contrast than brightness. Since blue light floods the eye, it reduces the contrast. Also because blue is highly refractive, it makes things indistinct. If you get a chance, here is a simple test to confirm this. If you can see a distant blue neon sign, observe the edges of it. Thy appear sort of fuzzy don't they? In fact you can't read blue neon from nearly as far as you can other color neon signs. This is because of the refraction, the light is bending so much both inside the eye, but also as it passes through the air. This is why the sky appears to be blue. This blue light is also what makes many HIDs and blue tinted lights dangerous. The blind oncoming traffic, and the effect can endanger the driver of the vehicle in adverse weather conditions. When you drive in snow, fog, or rain low frequency light such as reds and yellows cut through those things fairly well, allowing you to see the road, signs, and other objects and markings. But blue light refracts so much that is scatters inside the water droplets of rain, and fog, and inside the crystals of snow. This scattering prevents you from seeing what you need to see. Worse yet, it can send much of this light right back at you, creating the same effect for you as the headlights would otherwise cause oncoming traffic. It blinds and dazzles the drivers of vehicles.

HID lights are legal, but laws are being revised because DOT councils are recognizing that these cars are a problem. The European safety boards are also revising there standards, in an effort to limit the color temperature of the bulbs. HIDs are the biggest offenders, though warm HID lights which are closer in color to halogens are available. Silverstars are considered safe and legal, but they have no benefits over regular bulbs. Bulbs such as Xtravision are within the legal limits for brightness without a blue color shift, making them ideal. They also cost less than Silverstars, and technically last longer, since the color filters on the Silverstars trap more heat inside reducing the life of the filament. i use Xtravision myself, and am pleased, especially when I drive in adverse weather. I know that HIDs are terrible in fog, because when I pass one of them, all you can see in front of them is this big white cone of light, but you can't see much road. All you can see is the fog.

Sorry that this post is a little long, I just want to make sure you know which bulbs are really better and know why. Information is key.

 

Unfortunately, HID conversions for street use are illegal here in the US. Lots of vendors DO sell them, so I guess it's pay your $$$ and take your chances...............

If your '07 uses 9005/9006 bulbs there are lotsa halogen upgrades made by PIAA, GE and Sylvania; take your pick. I like Silverstar Ultras but some folks have had good luck with the others.

Steve

 

Everything Bear River said is correct.

I find the hotter (bluer) HID lights to very irritating and have wondered how they were allowed.
They flash blue and it looks like a police light.

4300 it's as hot as that.

I keep forgetting that you guys have to take weather into consideration.
The fog hardly ever gets that thick here and it never snows.

Something else about the very blue lights, the seem to render the landscape 2 dimensionally so that would cause a problem with depth perception.
I'm only guessing there, I haven't driven with anything as hot as 6500.

 

I took a look at some bulbs today that were "yellow". I still have to do more research to see if spending 40.00 on these bulbs will be worth the money.

I still would like to look for bulbs that put out more light. Similar to the intensity of HIDs.

I'll keep you posted.

http://www.nokyausa.com/headlights.html

 

I haven't upgraded my headlights but absolutely prefer yellow fog lights. With the yellow I can see much better at night when it's raining or foggy ....... for sure.

 

Theres an additional thing I learned about light color too. The light also refracts as it passes through the lens. Red light ends up focusing slightly behind the retina, making red objects appear to be closer to you, or to move towards you. This is why red is often used in advertising or as a warning color. Blue has the opposite effect, it appears to be farther away from you, perhaps that is part of the perception that you can see farther. Yellow is right in the middle and properly focuses on the retina. So yellow gives you your clearest vision.

 

I've looked for yellow fog/driving bulbs to go in my F150 and my Mustang but have been wary of the yellow coated ones. Anyone tried any yellows that put out a real yellow light?

 

Anyone thinking about changing headlight/foglight bulbs should also consider installing a harness (Harness Relay) to make sure full voltage is getting to the new bulbs.

Steve

 

Good suggestion. Actually my Mustang's are on a stand alone harness ran off of the power distribution supply and actuated by the parking lights. My F150 hasn't been wired up yet but will also be on a separate harness.

 

Make sure you've got a good earth too.

On other cars I've had I've used the headlight power wire to trip a relay that was very close to the bulb. The relay was fed power from a 6mm wire running along the radiator support panel and the wire from relay to bulb was as short as possible.