Xenon Bulbs on a BOGOF

[Sean Smallman]

Just thought I'd share this with you all:-

I've just been into Halfords for a replacement headlight bulb for the Alfa and they are selling their Super Brilliance range with Xenon gas technology on a buy one get one free. So £20 for the pair. You don't get Trade discount on this offer as well, I tried.

They claim that the bulbs are 50% brighter than standard?

As we all know the 944 and the IB 911's have candles for lights and they stock them up to 1989 models.

[J.J.]

Have you put them in yet? What are they like? Wonder if they are available for driving lamps as well? Could do with something a bit more modern in mine. Cheers

[demonfish]

i've used them in my last few cars \ vans... i think they are great, definate inprovement.

still, £20 is a sixth of an ok HID set...

[Sean Smallman]

I've just been out, wow what a difference.

They are a massive improvement over standard fitment, when I hit high beam the impact was not as noticeable as before.

[J.J.]

Thanks Will pop down to Halfords this weekend!

[NXI20]

It's probably also worth mentioning that they are on offer at aceparts.com for £7.99 a pair - free delivery, too.

[lindsayhbrown]

Just thought I'd share this with you all:-

I've just been into Halfords for a replacement headlight bulb for the Alfa and they are selling their Super Brilliance range with Xenon gas technology on a buy one get one free. So £20 for the pair. You don't get Trade discount on this offer as well, I tried.

They claim that the bulbs are 50% brighter than standard?

As we all know the 944 and the IB 911's have candles for lights and they stock them up to 1989 models.

did you try the discount on each bulb individually as a £1.79 bulb is 42p with discount

[Sean Smallman]

Yep, it came to £25.20????

[village eejit]

I've been looking around for some decent lights for my '97 Boxster 2.5 as I'm significantly unimpressed by the standard ones. I guess I've been spoiled by the Bi-Xenon HIDs in the Saab that convince the local wildlife that the sun has come up.

After hunting round on the web for a bit, I settled on some Philips Xtreme Power lamps that increase the light by up to 80% while still being rated at 55W, so they won't melt the plastic lenses on the headlights. They have been awarded the prestigious Auto Express Magazine "Accessory of the Year 2007", and Auto Express Best Buy in the 2007 Auto Express Auto Bulbs Test, so I'm hoping for big things (don't we all).

Being tighter than a duck's wotsit and a reformed car dealer, I'm allergic to paying the RRP for anything, so a quick browse on ebay found a pair for £17.80 (plus £1.95 P&P). I ordered them yesterday and I'll put them in next week after the MOT as I don't want to burn holes in the retinas of the MOT tester's eyes and there's always a chance of something going tits up when removing and refitting the Boxster headlight assembly which must be done to replace the lamps.

I'll endeavour to post some before and after pictures or at least file a report if my cheapo camera doesn't like the dark.

Steve

[zola1]

Just fitted the H4'S and H3's to the 944 H/Lamps driving and Fog's, got the lot from Aceparts (alround good comapny to deal with, emailed several times to keep you reassured parts were delivered etc)

Here's a couple of pics of the current draw of the bulbs, had look at the circuit no relay for dip so the switch handles 12A (2 off 90watt bulbs =nominal current on dip), not a brilliant design for voltdrop there.

PORSCHE BULD UPGRADE April 08 002.jpg

The wiring is 1.5mm from source to bulb so its current carrying capacity is 20A max cont per wire, (assuming all connections good). Ive upped the fuses to 10A each from the std 7.5A. In rush might blow the 7.5's allbeit for millseconds.

For the cost the difference is night and day (oop's pun intended ), so overall very pleased.

PORSCHE BULD UPGRADE April 08 001.jpg

[thegumeister]

Serious multi-meter you have there Derrik, one of the finest

[zola1]

Serious multi-meter you have there Derrik, one of the finest

Yea, fluke are pretty good, when i grow up i'm gonna get a fluke scope ..big screen beautiful functionality, just makes the job's easier with proper kit.

Nice 964 you got there ..what are h/lights like (look very similar to 928S one's?) ?

cheers

[lindsayhbrown]

Serious multi-meter you have there Derrik, one of the finest

Yea, fluke are pretty good, when i grow up i'm gonna get a fluke scope ..big screen beautiful functionality, just makes the job's easier with proper kit.

Nice 964 you got there ..what are h/lights like (look very similar to 928S one's?) ?

cheers

don't upset him its 968, yes the lights are similar to the 928

[village eejit]

Hi Derrick

What method do you use to measure current draw with the multi meter on the mV range? Are you using a shunt or something?

I know this will bore 99% of the readers, but it will interest me!

Steve

[zola1]

Hi Derrick

What method do you use to measure current draw with the multi meter on the mV range? Are you using a shunt or something?

I know this will bore 99% of the readers, but it will interest me!

Steve

Hi Steve,

I used a "hall effect" current clamp, now the boring bit ,,, basically it uses the magnetic flux created by the current draw of the component,(in this a case the filament of the bulb) to produce a voltage (in this 6.0mV) which is calibrated by some clever maths to result in 1mV equalling 1A. I've got various sizes to give a range of between 0.1A up to 600A.

The jaw sizes of the clamp are the critical bit they have to be totally closed around the one wire in which you are measuring, injectors are very tight to get on some engines as there is very little free wire run to clamp around.
I've always been taught to observe more on current draw (tells you more as the range is bigger)...than the voltage, albeit an operating 12v circuit on a car will only change from say 12.6v (std eng/off) to 14.4v max (eng/run).

Interesting eh

Cheers