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Who wants brighter headlights?

New bulbs are in.
I often get the terms mixed up when identifying these headlights.
The H4 are dual filament. I thought I could just reach behind and replace the bulbs with the lenses in place.
No.
First, the high beam.

IMG_2302.jpeg


I thought I’d see an H1 on the face. I do see an HR.

IMG_2303.jpeg


Like a member mentioned, the ground wire goes to the housing. It was several years ago that I put these in so I did not remember.

IMG_2304.jpeg


Single spade does work. I’m surprised to see 55 watt. I thought these were 60.

IMG_2306.jpeg


The irregular shape ensures it is installed only one way.
The H4s high/low are next.

IMG_2307.jpeg


Looking at how the glass is, you can see the bottom 40% to half has subtle flutes. Above that the vertical flutes are more evident. This results in a light pattern that has a bit of a cutoff as seen in previous pictures.
Typical 3 prong arrangement.

IMG_2308.jpeg


Get your reading glasses for this one.

IMG_2309.jpeg


IMG_2310.jpeg


50 / 55 watt?
I thought these were 55/60.
 
I stowed away the old bulbs just to have spares.

IMG_2313.jpeg


Then the obligatory headlights in action shot.

IMG_2314.jpeg


The low beams will go from 50 watt to 80 the high will go from 55 to 100.
Please note that I do dim the headlights to oncoming traffic. Where I live, there are winding 2 lane rural roads with hills and turns as well as coyotes, deer, skunks and other critters. I like to drive fast so it helps to see further down the road.
 
"Please note that I do dim the headlights to oncoming traffic. Where I live, there are winding 2 lane rural roads with hills and turns as well as coyotes, deer, skunks and other critters. I like to drive fast so it helps to see further down the road."

pretty sad you needed to either put the disclaimer or dig out the asbestos tux
 
With as few classic cars are out on the roads, if I had stock headlights and drove around with all four on at a time, only older people like us would know that my high beams are on. Stock lights are dim compared to new cars today.
These lights I have now are much brighter than stock so I couldn’t get away with running around with all four lit up. I only mentioned that I click back to low beams to let it be known that I’m not the guy that blinds others on the road like some other people do.
 
Kern Dog said:
With as few classic cars are out on the roads, if I had stock headlights and drove around with all four on at a time, only older people like us would know that my high beams are on. Stock lights are dim compared to new cars today.
These lights I have now are much brighter than stock so I couldn’t get away with running around with all four lit up. I only mentioned that I click back to low beams to let it be known that I’m not the guy that blinds others on the road like some other people do.
Click to expand...
I kick down to, I just like having 4 on at all times 4 low beams OR 4 high beams if conditions permit high beams, but I'm just changing the rad support to support buckets out of a later 4 rectangle truck, modding the grill and going with nighthawks or silverstar ultras or such, with the bulbs/wires/donor rad support and grill I'm looking at $150 all in (2 hi/lo ss u's to start, with 2 stock high beam, then 2 more ss u's dtraws when I have another $90)
 
I finally got out to take a few pictures of the lighting with the new bulbs. These are the low beams. I do like the "color" of the light.

9 25 L1.JPG


They do have that cutoff to avoid blinding people coming the other way.

9 25 L2.JPG


9 25 L3.JPG


These do a great job of illuminating street signs.

9 25 L4.JPG


The car rumbles a bit so the pictures get blurry. I'm out here driving a manual trans car taking pictures with one hand...
Here are the high beams:

9 25 H1.JPG


I'm a bit more impressed with the low beams. The light seems concentrated toward the middle even more when the high beams are on.

9 25 H3.JPG


I'm tempted to at least adjust the RH high beam over to the right to light up the right side of the road and shoulder a bit better.

9 25 H4.JPG


More to come...
 
The lights look great. A big improvement over stock sealed beams.
 
Sinitro said:
EZ to calculate...
My Holley retrobrights draw 1.5 amps in low beam and 2.2 amps in high beam, and in my configuration running in quad mode equals 6 amps in low beam and 9 amps in high beam.
A standard H4 halogen headlight bulb typically draws about 4.5 to 5.2 amps, equates to 18-21 amps in either low or high beam. Calculate 6 amps to 20 amps, equals 30% in low beam and 42% in high beam. However note actual current draw for a H4 halogen headlight bulb can vary slightly depending upon brand, bottom line is Holley retrobrights draw significantly less current than H4 halogens...

Just my $0.02... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Finally found some time to take some measurements, it seems your Retrobrights are drawing slightly less current than ones I have. Agreed, when compared to more modern variations of higher wattage halogen lighting the reduction in current can be significant. However, the numbers when comparing to the stock OE sealed beams are much less significant, just 20% reduction for low beams and the exact same number on high beam for a stock 4-lamp OE lighting system. Stock 16-gauge headlight wiring and related components/terminations could barely handle the OE lamps, no reason not to run relays for this reason alone.
Retrobright current comparison.jpg
 
Last edited:
72RoadrunnerGTX said:
Finally found some time to take some measurements, it seems your Retrobrights are drawing slightly less current than ones I have. Agreed, when compared to more modern variations of higher wattage halogen lighting the reduction in current can be significant. However, the numbers when comparing to the stock OE sealed beams are much less significant, just 20% reduction for low beams and the exact same number on high beam for a stock 4-lamp OE lighting system. Stock 16-gauge headlight wiring and related components/terminations could barely handle the OE lamps, no reason not to run relays for this reason alone.
View attachment 1920701
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comparison. :)
Keep in mind current is 1 thing especially for LEDs..
But to me brightness are the key points, for the OE incadscents and Halogens their brightness is directly related to their input voltage.
And considering in our older Mopar legacy cars where the headlight wiring goes through the bulkhead and back out the bubs, just a slightly lower voltage
of 1-2 volts makes a major difference for brightness. Here having a relay wiring setup, eliminating the bulkhead wiring and out scheme makes a major difference.
My Holley retrobrights are now > 2 years old and for me was a big improvement and great investment over the OE incasdcents or halogens without having
to cut up and modify the OE wiring.

Just my $0.02... :thumbsup:
 
The single spade H1 bulbs do have a separate ground strap...

Hella 15.JPG


Hella 14.JPG
 
hunt2elk said:
I bought one of these Hoppy headlight aimers on Ebay several years ago for not alot of money, I think it is from the 70's. It is pretty cheesy, but works surprisingly well.

View attachment 1911975

View attachment 1911976
Click to expand...

I agree with hunt2elk, I also purchased a Hoppy aiming kit real cheap a few years ago on Ebay. I've used it on 3 of my cars, its easy to use and makes a big difference in night time visibility. One heck of a lot better than trying to self aim on a garage door, that doesn't work well at all.
 
That was a picture from 4 years ago. I can't find the current one.
 
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