H4 Headlight question
04-07-2004, 02:23 AM
#1
Drifting
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H4 Headlight question
I want to do a basic headlight upgrade to some H4's (unfortuneately I'm not able to take the full boat Iceshark path) but after looking at Paragon's lack of any description of their H4's whatsoever... I need to know if a new harness or any wiring modifications will be needed with an H4 upgrade? I'm hoping the answer will be no, just plug and play... the last thing I want is a cooked harness and a potential 944 inferno 
04-07-2004, 02:33 AM
#2
Three Wheelin'
I believe many of us are running H4's without any modification, I currently have IceShark's full boat, but before that I had some of those "white" H4's. I don't recall the exact wattage of the bulbs but I thinki it was around 90 and I had no problems. FWIW, you should really wait for IceShark's comments...
04-07-2004, 02:46 AM
#3
The Hoffinator
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take out the sealed beam bulb, and put in an h4 unit.. that simple. dont know about wattages and if you need relays b/c im not familiar with 944 electronics. but its as easy as chaning your light bulb. (literally)
04-07-2004, 06:39 AM
#4
Race Director
" I need to know if a new harness or any wiring modifications will be needed with an H4 upgrade? I'm hoping the answer will be no, just plug and play... the last thing I want is a cooked harness and a potential 944 inferno"
The wiring itself is a hindrance to effective lighting. I measured 11.8v at the bulbs with my stock wiring even though 13v was coming out of the alternator. The non-linear response of the bulbs work by hurting you a lot with under-voltage while rewarding you a lot more for over-driving the lights (at the expense of bulb-life). So I made my own wiring-harness to power the lights directly from the back of the alternator with the stock wiring only to activate the relays.
I did this at the same time as the Cibie headlight upgrade, so I couldn't tell which did what. So I stuck back the stock headlights as a test. WOW!!! Just the wiring alone made a HUGE difference! Almost as much as the headlights themselves.
The wiring itself is a hindrance to effective lighting. I measured 11.8v at the bulbs with my stock wiring even though 13v was coming out of the alternator. The non-linear response of the bulbs work by hurting you a lot with under-voltage while rewarding you a lot more for over-driving the lights (at the expense of bulb-life). So I made my own wiring-harness to power the lights directly from the back of the alternator with the stock wiring only to activate the relays.
I did this at the same time as the Cibie headlight upgrade, so I couldn't tell which did what. So I stuck back the stock headlights as a test. WOW!!! Just the wiring alone made a HUGE difference! Almost as much as the headlights themselves.
04-07-2004, 09:29 AM
#5
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TarHeel,
I bought IceShark's H4 Cibie lenses without the wiring harness upgrade. I had the choice of 55/60 watt Philips/Narva 30% boosted at $10 each or the Osram BiLux 50% at $18. I chose the latter. It was a simple 10 - 15 minute job on each car. It will a marked improvement compared with the original Sylvannia halogens:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=headlight
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=109844
Good lighting is important for my commute because it rains quite a lot here in the NW, and I need as much visibility as I can get with the headlights.
I bought IceShark's H4 Cibie lenses without the wiring harness upgrade. I had the choice of 55/60 watt Philips/Narva 30% boosted at $10 each or the Osram BiLux 50% at $18. I chose the latter. It was a simple 10 - 15 minute job on each car. It will a marked improvement compared with the original Sylvannia halogens:
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=headlight
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=109844
Good lighting is important for my commute because it rains quite a lot here in the NW, and I need as much visibility as I can get with the headlights.
04-07-2004, 10:15 AM
#6
Nordschleife Master
You have 2 major issues. The quality of the lenses and bulbs and the wiring/power supply.
If you buy the Hella E-Code lenses from Paragon or whoever you will probably get the model #70472. This is not the best selection. You want Cibie or the Hella Super. Neither of which are very easy to acquire in North America. I've got some Cibies I could sell you which now cost $105 a pair due to the Greenback crashing against the Euro. This is without the H4 bulbs. As far as bulbs, if you are not going to rewire you better stick with some quality 55/60 watt H4s by Philips/Narva or Osram/Sylvania. Get the clear bulbs not the blue tinted "super whites" which are a load of crap so they can charge more money. You have 3 basic choices in the quality H4 bulbs in 55/60 watt. The standard one which will put out 1000 lumens +/- 15%. The boosted 30% bulb that is made to better performance standards and will put out about 1150 lumens, the top of the legal limit for halogen bulbs. You can see where the 30% boosted marketing claim comes from. Then there are the 50% boosted bulb. These use the same gas mix and filament improvements as the 30% but also change the filament winding and location a bit. In simple terms they steal light from the edges of the beam pattern and put it in the central hot spot. So you won't be able to see the shoulders of the road quite as well. Think kids and deer. I've sold some of the 50% bulbs to guys and they seem happy with them so it is one of those things that you need to try out and see if it is good for you.
Then there is wiring. Our cars have horrible wiring, especially after all these years of corrosion. The light output of a halogen bulb varies at the 3.4th power with voltage change. So if your voltage drops 15%, which is a slam dunk in our cars, you lose 50% of the light output. Or the other way around, you could boost light 100% if you could get the volts down to the bulbs. With my wiring kits I have people that are boosting light output over 400% from where they started. It even makes old sealed beams look sort of good, unlikely as that may sound.
What to do? If you are short on cash get the Cibie or Hella Super E-code lenses and some 30% boosted bulbs to tide you over. Then when you get some extra cash go and rewire and run 90/100 watt bulbs. There is a joke going around as to how this saves time and money on soap - no more bugs splatted on your car since the lights fried them to crisps.
If you buy the Hella E-Code lenses from Paragon or whoever you will probably get the model #70472. This is not the best selection. You want Cibie or the Hella Super. Neither of which are very easy to acquire in North America. I've got some Cibies I could sell you which now cost $105 a pair due to the Greenback crashing against the Euro. This is without the H4 bulbs. As far as bulbs, if you are not going to rewire you better stick with some quality 55/60 watt H4s by Philips/Narva or Osram/Sylvania. Get the clear bulbs not the blue tinted "super whites" which are a load of crap so they can charge more money. You have 3 basic choices in the quality H4 bulbs in 55/60 watt. The standard one which will put out 1000 lumens +/- 15%. The boosted 30% bulb that is made to better performance standards and will put out about 1150 lumens, the top of the legal limit for halogen bulbs. You can see where the 30% boosted marketing claim comes from. Then there are the 50% boosted bulb. These use the same gas mix and filament improvements as the 30% but also change the filament winding and location a bit. In simple terms they steal light from the edges of the beam pattern and put it in the central hot spot. So you won't be able to see the shoulders of the road quite as well. Think kids and deer. I've sold some of the 50% bulbs to guys and they seem happy with them so it is one of those things that you need to try out and see if it is good for you.
Then there is wiring. Our cars have horrible wiring, especially after all these years of corrosion. The light output of a halogen bulb varies at the 3.4th power with voltage change. So if your voltage drops 15%, which is a slam dunk in our cars, you lose 50% of the light output. Or the other way around, you could boost light 100% if you could get the volts down to the bulbs. With my wiring kits I have people that are boosting light output over 400% from where they started. It even makes old sealed beams look sort of good, unlikely as that may sound.
What to do? If you are short on cash get the Cibie or Hella Super E-code lenses and some 30% boosted bulbs to tide you over. Then when you get some extra cash go and rewire and run 90/100 watt bulbs. There is a joke going around as to how this saves time and money on soap - no more bugs splatted on your car since the lights fried them to crisps.