Headlight bulb burned out, change both?

[Black Rose]

Long-life bulbs do live long enough to go dim, but the main reason to replace both is that the other one is soon to burn out, too.

You were right on that one. The other bulb burned out last night.

I had purchased two bulbs when the first bulb had burned out, but I was debating taking the second bulb back. It's a good thing I didn't.

 

[John_Galt]

Or you could "spice up" the look of the road like this guy, and replace one stock HID with a much higher *Kelvin HID bulb.
http://www.wikihow.com/Change-the-HID-Headlights-on-a-2007-Prius
:shrug:

 

[tay]

I really don't understand why people think 4300k is "yellow" and 6000k is "white".

I've used all sorts of OEM and aftermarket 4300k bulbs, and none of them have ever looked yellow to me, just white.

 

[-Virgil-]

I really don't understand why people think 4300k is "yellow" and 6000k is "white".

Because that's what the hucksters tell them to think. Same reason why people babble about "yellow" light from halogen headlamps and "clean, crisp, super white" light from HIDs or blue bulbs. "Clean" is not a quality of light, any more than "crunchy" is a taste. Same with "crisp".

 

[Alaric Darconville]

"Clean" is not a quality of light, any more than "crunchy" is a taste. Same with "crisp".

What about meltey? Mmmmmmm, meltey cheese.

Although those 80/100W bulbs can cause crisp wires and meltey lenses...

I suspect what a lot of people are seeing/misinterpreting as "dirty" or "yellow" light is just their bulbs not getting sufficient voltage. The "6000K" bulbs just mask it, and then they go driving at night and "crunch" into something because they couldn't see worth a bean.


Preaching/Choir, I guess.

 

[RedPhive]

Wow this crispy, crunchy, cheesy talk about auto bulbs is making me hungry.
I guess it all depends on how bright you want your lights, what are your opinions on LED?
I'm a simple dude and Im just going with standard sylvania H13, they last longer than any brighter halogen and i don't need to install anything special. And changing both at the same time is a good idea, if one goes the other is probably not far behind.

 

[-Virgil-]

what are your opinions on LED?

What about them? They do not (cannot) replace halogen bulbs, so...what about them?

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I have no idea what RedPhive drives. It may be possible for him to buy and install something like those road legal JW Speaker headlights that Hilldweller has been using in his Jeep. But that's expensive.

Or maybe he just doesn't realize you don't replace a halogen headlight bulb with LED or HID or anything else but the correct type of halogen bulb.

It's my thought that, in general, the legal HID and LED headlights for most cars don't really make sound economic sense as a conversion. The exception would be where you have a very small charging system and really need the efficiency (motorcycles or old cars), so you're willing to pay for it. I confess that buying the expensive aftermarket HID headlamps for my Ford Crown Vic was motivated in large part by curiosity and my general enthusiasm for automotive lighting; even a 12 year old retired police car is definitely not short of electrical output.

I do think that next time I wire a trailer, particularly a big one, I'll use LED tail/signal and marker lights. They're becoming more affordable, and it's worthwhile to reduce the electrical load on the tow vehicle(s).

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

I carry a spare headlight bulb and the tools to change it in the vehicle all the time. Got pulled over once and got out of a fix-it ticket because I was able to show the officer I had the replacement already, right then and there, just wanted to drive home so I could do the work in a safe, warm, dry garage instead of a 7-11 parking lot.

I advocate changing both at once, but usually I get lazy and only change the one that burned out.

Just thought I'd touch on this again, as this thread has come up. Since my quoted post above, I've had a headlight bulb go out, and then had it's mate on the other side of the vehicle also go out within a week. On two separate vehicles.

I now change in pairs. Makes no sense to do it any other way.