Before you buy SilverStars...
01-22-2007, 06:57 PM
#16
i dono.... i tries silver stars, they sucked, i tried the "blue" bulbs... not the ones from the parts store with light blue tint... these had a dark blue tint to the glass and were MUCH better than any others i have had. i have now graduated to HID's and will use nothing less than HID's ever again.
01-22-2007, 10:42 PM
#17
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After reading this thread tonight, I had an hour or so to kill, so I had an occasion to go visit 3 different autoparts stores looking specifically at lightbulbs. (PipBoyz, Ottozone and Oh'really's)
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
I noticed that nowhere on ANY of the ST packages does it give anything that pertains to a quantifiable light output value, nor any indication of lamp lifetime
.
The ONLY thing it showed was warnings about pressurized lamp operation and operating Volts and the Watts on High/Low. All repeated in French, Spanish and Lower Slobovian.
I have come to the conclusion that polishing the yellow tint off of my plastic headlight lenses would probably do more to give a much "whiter" appearing light than the one remaining SilverStar bulb that is still burning ever could
.
Never again.
K.
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
I noticed that nowhere on ANY of the ST packages does it give anything that pertains to a quantifiable light output value, nor any indication of lamp lifetime
.The ONLY thing it showed was warnings about pressurized lamp operation and operating Volts and the Watts on High/Low. All repeated in French, Spanish and Lower Slobovian.
I have come to the conclusion that polishing the yellow tint off of my plastic headlight lenses would probably do more to give a much "whiter" appearing light than the one remaining SilverStar bulb that is still burning ever could
. Never again.
K.
01-23-2007, 09:46 PM
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I thought I'd post the response I received from Daniel Stern regarding which SilverStars are sold here in the U.S. You may find his comments interesting.
> What an astoundingly informative article. Can you tell me what I just
> bought? I went to the local parts store and bought Silverstar bulbs
> for my Dodge truck.
I'm afraid the sad answer is...you bought hyped-up junk. Sylvania's Silverstar bulbs are a scam.
Here's manufacturer data, from internal engineering databases, for output and lifespan at 13.2v for H1 bulbs. The numbers here are a composite of values applicable to the products of the big three makers (Osram-Sylvania, Philips-Narva, Tungsram-GE). Each manufacturer's product in each category is slightly different but not significantly so. I picked H1-type bulbs for this comparison, and while the absolute numbers differ with different bulb types, the relative comparison patterns hold good for whatever bulb type you consider. Lifespan is given as Tc, the hour figure at which 63.2 percent of the bulbs have failed.
H1 (regular normal):
1550 lumens, 650 hours
Long Life (or "HalogenPlus+")
1460 lumens, 1200 hours
Plus-30 High Efficacy (Osram Super, Sylvania Xtravision, Narva Rangepower, Candlepower Bright Light, Tungsram High Output, Philips Premium):
1700 lumens, 350 hours
Plus-50 Ultra High Efficacy (Philips VisionPlus, Osram Silverstar, Narva
Rangepower+50, Tungsram Megalicht, but not Sylvania Silverstar):
1750 lumens, 350 hours
Blue coated 'extra white' (Osram CoolBlue, Narva Rangepower Blue, Philips BlueVision or CrystalVision, Tungsram Super Blue or EuroBlue, Sylvania Silverstar or Silverstar Ultra, which is just a rebrand of the Silverstar product, also PIAA, Hoen, Nokya, Polarg, etc):
1380 lumens, 250 hours
Now, looking over these results, which one would you rather:
(a) Buy and drive with?
(b) Sell?
The answer to (a) depends on how well you want to see versus how often to change the bulb. If you want the best possible seeing, you pick the Plus-50. If you don't care as long as it works and you don't want to hassle with it, you pick the long life.
The answer to (b) is determined by how rich your company's shareholders want you to be, and is obvious: You want to sell the bulb with the shortest lifespan, highest promotability and highest price. That'd be the blue unit, e.g. Sylvania Silverstar.
> Realize that Dodge Ram trucks from 1995-2001 have some of the worst
> headlights ever.
Correct!
Put in a set of the '99-'01 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport headlamps, which are
*much* better than the lamps all non-Sport '94-'02 style Rams got. The Sport lamps use two bulbs per side (a 9007 high/low and a 9004 high-only) and produce much more effective, longer and wider, better focused beam patterns. They physically fit right in, but require some wiring adaptation, which is just as well since the factory wiring tends to starve the bulbs.
Regarding the Sport lamps themselves: There is only one proper operational setup for these lamps, and that is as follows-
Low beam mode: Low beam filament of outboard 9007 bulb on, all other filaments off.
High beam mode: High beam filament of outboard 9007 and high beam filament of inboard 9004 on, all other filaments off.
The low beam filament of the inboard 9004 is not used -- these lamps do not have optics to focus the light from it.
In NO case are the low beam and high beam filaments on together!
Two-filament headlight bulbs are pressurized to about 10 atmospheres COLD.
They are not designed to handle the heat (or the current on the common filament support lead) of running both filaments at the same time for more than very brief periods during beam changeover or headlight flashing.
Doing so carries the very real risk of the bulb grenading inside the headlamp, destroying it. Some people who think they're clever wire it up this way anyhow, and the "Brite Box" people have made a business out of this "clever" (not) modification.
Regards,
AJG617
> What an astoundingly informative article. Can you tell me what I just
> bought? I went to the local parts store and bought Silverstar bulbs
> for my Dodge truck.
I'm afraid the sad answer is...you bought hyped-up junk. Sylvania's Silverstar bulbs are a scam.
Here's manufacturer data, from internal engineering databases, for output and lifespan at 13.2v for H1 bulbs. The numbers here are a composite of values applicable to the products of the big three makers (Osram-Sylvania, Philips-Narva, Tungsram-GE). Each manufacturer's product in each category is slightly different but not significantly so. I picked H1-type bulbs for this comparison, and while the absolute numbers differ with different bulb types, the relative comparison patterns hold good for whatever bulb type you consider. Lifespan is given as Tc, the hour figure at which 63.2 percent of the bulbs have failed.
H1 (regular normal):
1550 lumens, 650 hours
Long Life (or "HalogenPlus+")
1460 lumens, 1200 hours
Plus-30 High Efficacy (Osram Super, Sylvania Xtravision, Narva Rangepower, Candlepower Bright Light, Tungsram High Output, Philips Premium):
1700 lumens, 350 hours
Plus-50 Ultra High Efficacy (Philips VisionPlus, Osram Silverstar, Narva
Rangepower+50, Tungsram Megalicht, but not Sylvania Silverstar):
1750 lumens, 350 hours
Blue coated 'extra white' (Osram CoolBlue, Narva Rangepower Blue, Philips BlueVision or CrystalVision, Tungsram Super Blue or EuroBlue, Sylvania Silverstar or Silverstar Ultra, which is just a rebrand of the Silverstar product, also PIAA, Hoen, Nokya, Polarg, etc):
1380 lumens, 250 hours
Now, looking over these results, which one would you rather:
(a) Buy and drive with?
(b) Sell?
The answer to (a) depends on how well you want to see versus how often to change the bulb. If you want the best possible seeing, you pick the Plus-50. If you don't care as long as it works and you don't want to hassle with it, you pick the long life.
The answer to (b) is determined by how rich your company's shareholders want you to be, and is obvious: You want to sell the bulb with the shortest lifespan, highest promotability and highest price. That'd be the blue unit, e.g. Sylvania Silverstar.
> Realize that Dodge Ram trucks from 1995-2001 have some of the worst
> headlights ever.
Correct!
Put in a set of the '99-'01 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport headlamps, which are
*much* better than the lamps all non-Sport '94-'02 style Rams got. The Sport lamps use two bulbs per side (a 9007 high/low and a 9004 high-only) and produce much more effective, longer and wider, better focused beam patterns. They physically fit right in, but require some wiring adaptation, which is just as well since the factory wiring tends to starve the bulbs.
Regarding the Sport lamps themselves: There is only one proper operational setup for these lamps, and that is as follows-
Low beam mode: Low beam filament of outboard 9007 bulb on, all other filaments off.
High beam mode: High beam filament of outboard 9007 and high beam filament of inboard 9004 on, all other filaments off.
The low beam filament of the inboard 9004 is not used -- these lamps do not have optics to focus the light from it.
In NO case are the low beam and high beam filaments on together!
Two-filament headlight bulbs are pressurized to about 10 atmospheres COLD.
They are not designed to handle the heat (or the current on the common filament support lead) of running both filaments at the same time for more than very brief periods during beam changeover or headlight flashing.
Doing so carries the very real risk of the bulb grenading inside the headlamp, destroying it. Some people who think they're clever wire it up this way anyhow, and the "Brite Box" people have made a business out of this "clever" (not) modification.
Regards,
AJG617
01-24-2007, 05:40 AM
#19
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Grenading light bulbs
Infidel,
Those guys can count themselves lucky, I went through quite a few bulbs before I gave up.
I sure would like to know what kind of bulb there using so I could try them
on my Homemade brite box.
What I think is that maybe the real "Brite Box" reduces voltage to the bulbs.
Those guys can count themselves lucky, I went through quite a few bulbs before I gave up.
I sure would like to know what kind of bulb there using so I could try them
on my Homemade brite box.
What I think is that maybe the real "Brite Box" reduces voltage to the bulbs.
01-24-2007, 09:42 AM
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After reading this thread tonight, I had an hour or so to kill, so I had an occasion to go visit 3 different autoparts stores looking specifically at lightbulbs. (PipBoyz, Ottozone and Oh'really's)
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
K.
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
K.
I bought a pair of regular clear Wagner 9004's to keep in the truck.
NONE had any indication of how much light output on the packages.
Got a question for those of you that have tried it... Will a 9007 lamp fit in the 9004 headlights???
9007 low beams are higher power than 9004's low beams (55w -vs- 45w)
I looked carefully at the two blubs and, granted they were still in the blister packages, but they sure look like the 9007's will fit in the same hole that the 9004 goes. I know the socket is the same.
Filament configuration is coaxial instead of axial to the quartz envelope but the filament focal point appears to be the same in relation to the base flange.
Notches in the mounting looked the same...
Anyone ever try it ?
K.
01-24-2007, 07:42 PM
#21
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After reading this thread tonight, I had an hour or so to kill, so I had an occasion to go visit 3 different autoparts stores looking specifically at lightbulbs. (PipBoyz, Ottozone and Oh'really's)
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
I noticed that nowhere on ANY of the ST packages does it give anything that pertains to a quantifiable light output value, nor any indication of lamp lifetime .
The ONLY thing it showed was warnings about pressurized lamp operation and operating Volts and the Watts on High/Low. All repeated in French, Spanish and Lower Slobovian.
I have come to the conclusion that polishing the yellow tint off of my plastic headlight lenses would probably do more to give a much "whiter" appearing light than the one remaining SilverStar bulb that is still burning ever could .
Never again.
K.
All three stores ONLY carried SYLVANIA brand bulbs. ( regular, xtravision and those "blue" bulbs). No other brand was in sight. (all Sylvania's mfg'd in Korea!)
I noticed that nowhere on ANY of the ST packages does it give anything that pertains to a quantifiable light output value, nor any indication of lamp lifetime
.The ONLY thing it showed was warnings about pressurized lamp operation and operating Volts and the Watts on High/Low. All repeated in French, Spanish and Lower Slobovian.
I have come to the conclusion that polishing the yellow tint off of my plastic headlight lenses would probably do more to give a much "whiter" appearing light than the one remaining SilverStar bulb that is still burning ever could
. Never again.
K.
A bit expensive if they are going to burn every year.
01-24-2007, 07:48 PM
#22
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UPDATE... Yesterday I went to a different Oh'Really's and they DID have other brands. Eiko(chinese) Wagner(USA) and Sylvania(Korea?)
I bought a pair of regular clear Wagner 9004's to keep in the truck.
NONE had any indication of how much light output on the packages.
Got a question for those of you that have tried it... Will a 9007 lamp fit in the 9004 headlights???
9007 low beams are higher power than 9004's low beams (55w -vs- 45w)
I looked carefully at the two blubs and, granted they were still in the blister packages, but they sure look like the 9007's will fit in the same hole that the 9004 goes. I know the socket is the same.
Filament configuration is coaxial instead of axial to the quartz envelope but the filament focal point appears to be the same in relation to the base flange.
Notches in the mounting looked the same...
Anyone ever try it ?
K.
I bought a pair of regular clear Wagner 9004's to keep in the truck.
NONE had any indication of how much light output on the packages.
Got a question for those of you that have tried it... Will a 9007 lamp fit in the 9004 headlights???
9007 low beams are higher power than 9004's low beams (55w -vs- 45w)
I looked carefully at the two blubs and, granted they were still in the blister packages, but they sure look like the 9007's will fit in the same hole that the 9004 goes. I know the socket is the same.
Filament configuration is coaxial instead of axial to the quartz envelope but the filament focal point appears to be the same in relation to the base flange.
Notches in the mounting looked the same...
Anyone ever try it ?
K.
01-24-2007, 07:52 PM
#23
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Physically the 9004 and 9007 are the same bulb,, but electrically they are not. The plug is the same,, but the ground and the low beam are different in them,, I believe on the 9004 it is looking at the bulb from the back,,, from right to left,, it is Low beam, Ground in the middle, and High beam on the left,,, Now the 9007 is Ground on the right, Low beam middle and high beam left, this is why they wont just swap out,,, you have to do some rewiring first before you can put a 9007 into a factory 9004 light.
01-24-2007, 08:35 PM
#24
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between my wife's truck and mine- i have had four silverstar bulbs blow out in less than a year. i have emailed sylvania everytime and they have replaced the bulbs. they finally admitted to me last week that their silverstar bulbs have an average lifespan of one year!!!!! i am done with them! going back to phillips vision plus.
01-24-2007, 08:53 PM
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silverstars.. :-(
First time I bought Silverstars, one bulb went out 3 months later. I thought that I touched the bulb to cause premature failure, So I bought another. 6 months after that the other one went out! I ended up replacing that bulb with the Sylvania blue bulb (the light isn't blue, just a name), and I can't even tell the difference between the two bulbs. So now I'm running one Silverstar and one Blue. Maybe it's just my eyes, but the Blues were half the price and I like them just as much. Makes me think they sell the same bulb under another name. But I do hear the Osrams are better. Don't know about longevity though.
01-24-2007, 09:43 PM
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Physically the 9004 and 9007 are the same bulb,, but electrically they are not. The plug is the same,, but the ground and the low beam are different in them,, I believe on the 9004 it is looking at the bulb from the back,,, from right to left,, it is Low beam, Ground in the middle, and High beam on the left,,, Now the 9007 is Ground on the right, Low beam middle and high beam left, this is why they wont just swap out,,, you have to do some rewiring first before you can put a 9007 into a factory 9004 light.
But I don't believe the two bulbs are exactly the same.
Yesterday I eyeballed the 9004 and the 9007 very closely and the filaments are mounted differently inside the quartz capsule. The 9007 filaments are mounted coaxially-parallel (lengthwise with the cylindrical capsule).
The 9004's filaments are mounted axially (crossways with the cylindrical capsule. I determined the center of the filaments within the quartz capsule was VERY close to the exact same focal distance from the base flange of the two bulbs.
I haven't searched for the BRITER LITES thread yet, but I went to the junkyard today and asked for '99-'01 Dodge sport headlights and the guy just laughed! Front end parts? yeah right...All gone
.. K.
01-25-2007, 09:51 AM
#27
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The link that was posted at the begining of this post works. Everyone should go read it. It is very interesting. If you really think you are getting great performance out of Silver Stars you are decieved.
01-25-2007, 08:43 PM
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1995-...QQcmdZViewItem
my friend has a pair of these and im in love with them.. but im broke so ill stick with stock
my friend has a pair of these and im in love with them.. but im broke so ill stick with stock
01-30-2007, 07:53 PM
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The notches for the 9004 and 9007 bulb are slightly different, you cannot interchange them, they wont fit. I just finished the sport headlight conversion 2 days ago, and I tried to switch them, just to see if they would swap. They wont.
However, the new lights got a huge double thumbs up from the wife, was very impressed and happy with the improvement on our 1996.
Used the harness from suv, got the lights off ebay. About 375 total for both new light assemblies and harness, but since we needed to replace a broken assembly anyway, we went ahead and did the conversion.
However, the new lights got a huge double thumbs up from the wife, was very impressed and happy with the improvement on our 1996.
Used the harness from suv, got the lights off ebay. About 375 total for both new light assemblies and harness, but since we needed to replace a broken assembly anyway, we went ahead and did the conversion.
