headlight bulbs

[SmokennFasTT]

i bought some sylvania bulbs(H7's) last nite and there really white...i want something more of a blueish color, i have seen some on sport bikes and cars around town. was wondering if anyone has any experience with bluish color bulbs and know the brand so i can order some online...thx guys -Smokey

[OreoGaborio]

blue = less light output... period... scientific fact. any light filtered out = less light output.

the only reason why some bulbs are blue is because either they have a blue tint coating on the bulb or they're xenon and that's the temperature that the gas inside the bulb glows at. Since your bike does not have xenon bulbs white is best.

if you want the best sylvanias out there, the silverstars are hands down the best to get... only thing i don't like em is... big suprsise... the blue tint on the glass. Only reason they did that was for marketing. The Osram Silverstars (sylvania and osram are basically the same company) that are found in europe do not have the blue tint since the market doesnt care about it.

[bbhzx10]

blue = less light output... period... scientific fact. any light filtered out = less light output

My light are bluish and they are brighter than your Silverstars.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by bbhzx10
My light are bluish and they are brighter than your Silverstars.

what kinda bulbs?

the blue lights will help light the road in wet weather.....


i run the silverstars and imo they are the best you can get without HID....PIAA's are just as good as well..but twice the price..

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by bbhzx10
My light are bluish and they are brighter than your Silverstars.

But my dick is bigger than yours... scientific fact based on the motorcycles we own jk

I dont even have silverstars... What i'm saying is that if you put a blue tint on a bulb, that bulb will, no argument about it, put less light on the road.

[bigred875]

true but the color contrast may help you make out shapes better thus having a better line of sight....

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by bbhzx10
My light are bluish and they are brighter than your Silverstars.

For a given wattage, Pete is correct, the blue tint acts as a filter which converts certain wavelengths of light to heat. Most of the blue tinted bulbs are higher output to compensate. Standard DOT H4 bulbs draw 55W for low and 60W for high beams. Many of the blue tinted H4s draw 90W for low and 100W for high beams.

The additional power usage, coupled with the heat loss from the tinting, can dramatically decrease bulb lifetime, and in many cases can damage the headlight assembly which was not designed to dissipate that kind of heat. They're also not DOT legal.

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by bigred875
true but the color contrast may help you make out shapes better thus having a better line of sight....

possibly... but i haven't personally seen any info stating that, have u? I know color tinting has been used for a long time on sunglasses & headlights. I know yellow has been used overseas on fog lamps for foggy/rainy conditions, but not blue like u were saying. I know my blue tinted sunglasses don't do much for me in rainy/cloudy conditions.

Not to mention this is on a Motorcycle... how many times a rider typically rides in less than optimal conditions would be a concern, right? Me, I'd rather have perfectly white bulbs if i had a choice since i'm not a big fan of riding in crappy weather.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio
possibly... but i haven't personally seen any info stating that, have u?

I know yellow has been used overseas on fog lamps for foggy/rainy conditions, but not blue.

Not to mention this is on a Motorcycle... how many times a rider typically rides in less than optimal conditions would be a concern, right? Me, I'd rather have perfectly white bulbs if i had a choice since i'm not a big fan of riding in crappy weather.

right...same principle as the yellow...i dont have any specific data...only personal experience.

[OreoGaborio]

anyway... my expert hypothesis () is that the blue color is more beneficial in optimal conditions than rainy/wet ones... although given a choice in optimal conditions, i'd like white.

So... Larry from Manchvegas - I think we can all aggree u should get the silverstars if ya haven't already

[sanfelice]

silverstars burn out VERY quickly. i had some in my cage and they both lasted less than a year. regular old bulbs will last many years, usually.

for lighting info, check this out:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

[bigred875]

Originally posted by sanfelice
silverstars burn out VERY quickly. i had some in my cage and they both lasted less than a year. regular old bulbs will last many years, usually.

for lighting info, check this out:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

i had them in my ranger for 3 years...no problem...

that guy is pushing his own products...

[sanfelice]

Originally posted by bigred875
i had them in my ranger for 3 years...no problem...

that guy is pushing his own products...

maybe, but he has great lighting info. check out the pages under Tech
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/tech.html

[bigred875]

true i went through his stuff when looking at putting HID's on the bike...after reading what he had to say i put the SS's in

[OreoGaborio]

Originally posted by l3uddha
I got silverstars; not bacause of the blue tint, but because they came in the cooler packaging at autozone.... . even if they're not as bright as sylvanias, they're still 10x better than the stock halogens or cheaper halogens at the store. I dont even really notice the blue tint.

.... silverstars are made by sylvania

[benVFR]

I have got some of those blue bulbs sitting in the garage unopened.

The squid who used to rent 1/2 the garage left them there. I don't want them so if someone else wants them you could have them. Pretty sure they're H4s but I can't remember the brand name.

Because there are only 2 they are nearly useless to me, I'm not going to ride my VFR around with 1-2 blue bulbs and the rest white if something burns out.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by OreoGaborio
blue = less light output... period... scientific fact. any light filtered out = less light output.

the only reason why some bulbs are blue is because either they have a blue tint coating on the bulb or they're xenon and that's the temperature that the gas inside the bulb glows at. Since your bike does not have xenon bulbs white is best.

if you want the best sylvanias out there, the silverstars are hands down the best to get... only thing i don't like em is... big suprsise... the blue tint on the glass. Only reason they did that was for marketing. The Osram Silverstars (sylvania and osram are basically the same company) that are found in europe do not have the blue tint since the market doesnt care about it.

I know on the pics on the sylvania website, they show the silverstar as having a blue tint, however when I bought one in a store locally, it does not have a blue tint

nor does it look blueish to look at.

the best value for brighter lighting is probably a Sylvania Xtra Vision

[LuvDog]

I've got SilverStars in the cage and they've outlasted many other brands of bulbs and they're MUCH brighter too... win win.

I've also got them in my 7R and they're marginally brighter than the stock bulbs were.

I'll keep buying them and using them... so far they've given me the best results of any non HID light I've used.

[MsHap]

I like blue

[OreoGaborio]

That's cuz you're a ricer

[LiononaLeash]

Don't ride enough at night to care much.

As a matter of fact... just to prove how much I don't care... I'm going to deny that I posted here.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by LiononaLeash
Don't ride enough at night to care much.

As a matter of fact... just to prove how much I don't care... I'm going to deny that I posted here.

HA! now i have proof you posted here

[SmokennFasTT]

lol, you guys crack me up

[JeffL]

Tell ya what, I bought some $15 cheapos at walmart last week, 55/60w bulbs, as compared to the 35/35w "stock" sized bulbs that were in there, what a fooking improvement, not to mention I aimed the headlights to not point into the sky, I think that helped a little too.

I'll give the Silverstars a shot in a while probably, hopefully they are the cats ass.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by JeffL
Tell ya what, I bought some $15 cheapos at walmart last week, 55/60w bulbs, as compared to the 35/35w "stock" sized bulbs that were in there, what a fooking improvement, not to mention I aimed the headlights to not point into the sky, I think that helped a little too.

I'll give the Silverstars a shot in a while probably, hopefully they are the cats ass.

you may want to be careful putting bigger then stock bulbs on your already feeble electrical system...lol the power draw and heat could be an issue...