Headlight bulb question
Thread Starter
|
Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 81
Likes: 0
From: Wayne, NJ
Headlight bulb question
Hi forumates, quick question - I am looking to upgrade the headlight bulbs on my wife's '08 Expy, does anyone know the standard wattage that comes with the truck, it's not listed in the manual? I ask since I read somewhere that the H13/9008 series bulbs were real garbage and the connectors are fairly weak, so I don't want to take any chances and want to make sure I stay with the same wattage. Any help appreciated.
KR1
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 10,511
Likes: 10
From: Under the flightpath of old ORD 22R
Take a look at Sylvania's web site, the H13 bulb is a 60/55 W bulb.
Don't know what you mean by:
The bulb is a standard halogen bulb, 60 W on high 55 W on low. Best a close to standard bulb in the 9007 line is a 65W high beam still using a 55 W low beam.
The connector being fairly weak, no clue where this came from. I am running H13 Silver Star bulbs on the facotry harness without issue. These are not 100/80 bulbs, so I am not taxing the system beyond what it is designed for.
I have a replacement harness with larger AWG wire, to install yet, for both the headlamps and for the fog lamps, but this is a resistance item in getting power to the bulb more efficiently, which will decrease the load on the factory harness.
On my 2006 I took the steps from factory Sylvania H13 bulb to the Sylvania XV H13 bulb, and there was a visual increase in light output ( lumen not, color temp ).
Next was the XV H13 to SilverStar H13 replacement, which was another step up. Never did a factory bulb to SS H13 bulb, but I imagine that this has to be a night and day increase.
Keep in mind the thing to care about is Lumen output, not color temp of a bulb. The big thing now seems to be getting 2x the color temp of daylight ( about 3500 K ), without any notation of the lumen output. Seen some systems on teh road that have to be above 4K, and the light output on the pavement looks less then a headlamp from 1974.
Good luck with your bulb choice, and if you decide to go larger then stock wattage, you will need a separate headlamp harness that has relays in it, not just a connector pigtail as some seem to be labeled.
Don't know what you mean by:
H13/9008 series bulbs were real garbage and the connectors are fairly weak,
The connector being fairly weak, no clue where this came from. I am running H13 Silver Star bulbs on the facotry harness without issue. These are not 100/80 bulbs, so I am not taxing the system beyond what it is designed for.
I have a replacement harness with larger AWG wire, to install yet, for both the headlamps and for the fog lamps, but this is a resistance item in getting power to the bulb more efficiently, which will decrease the load on the factory harness.
On my 2006 I took the steps from factory Sylvania H13 bulb to the Sylvania XV H13 bulb, and there was a visual increase in light output ( lumen not, color temp ).
Next was the XV H13 to SilverStar H13 replacement, which was another step up. Never did a factory bulb to SS H13 bulb, but I imagine that this has to be a night and day increase.
Keep in mind the thing to care about is Lumen output, not color temp of a bulb. The big thing now seems to be getting 2x the color temp of daylight ( about 3500 K ), without any notation of the lumen output. Seen some systems on teh road that have to be above 4K, and the light output on the pavement looks less then a headlamp from 1974.
Good luck with your bulb choice, and if you decide to go larger then stock wattage, you will need a separate headlamp harness that has relays in it, not just a connector pigtail as some seem to be labeled.
