Wagner Night Defense?

Has anyone tried these yet? They are driver/passenger specific and have an asymmetric yellow filter. I searched the site but couldn't find anything. These are for 9007's on my pickup.

As someone who hates the glare and color of blue-tinted white lights (yeah I fell for the hype but that was a while ago), these look really interesting, but I wanted to make sure it was not just another gimmick. I'm also interested in how long they last, especially since I do some off-road.

Considering the optics of both your headlights are identical,how can a different "driver vs passenger" side bulb make ANY sense?

They are not driver/passenger specific. They have two square patches of dichroic filter coating on the bulb glass. One is yellow-pass and one is blue-pass. The blue-pass is supposedly for light directed toward the right side of the road, to "light up road signs better" (which is not a valid claim). The yellow-pass is supposedly for light directed toward the left side of the road, for less glare to other drivers (sort of). This was a silly idea when Philips called it "Night Guide" some years ago, and it's a silly idea now that Wagner's calling it "Night Defense". Headlamp optics are not consistent in terms of which part of the reflector is used for what part of the beam pattern, so this "yellow to the left and blue to the right" stuff wouldn't work consistently even if it were a good idea. Also, Wagner's bulbs are not on a quality par with Philips, Osram, GE.

If you're shopping for 9007s, you'll do best with these or these.

They probably don't even whiten your teeth while you drive.

If it ONLY produced the yellow light without trying the stupid blue light, it might almost be OK, but the rest of the quality is still not super.

I've looked at these bulbs in the automotive store and can see obviously that the build quality of these is at the low end. The Philips version was a whole lot better in my subjective opinion. I heard that Philips discontinued manufacturing their version in the recent past (they were nothing to get excited about).

Lightdoctor said:

I've looked at these bulbs in the automotive store and can see obviously that the build quality of these is at the low end. The Philips version was a whole lot better in my subjective opinion.

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If you're referring to how sloppily the filament seems to be placed, that's something I noticed from their *promo* material. They couldn't even scrape up a decent bulb for the photo shoot!

Thanks, everyone. I figured they were gimmicky but thought I'd ask first.

I'd be more interested in those Nighthawks if they didn't have the blue filter band. Just a personal preference, I would like a more bulb with more yellow content, thus the interest. Maybe I should be looking at the Long Life's?

The blue band does not make the beam bluer to any degree; it's not in the path between the filament and the reflector. Long life bulbs produce significantly less light (and much poorer beam focus) than even a standard bulb. Buy one of the two linked in post #3 of this thread.

-Virgil- said:

The blue band does not make the beam bluer to any degree; it's not in the path between the filament and the reflector. Long life bulbs produce significantly less light (and much poorer beam focus) than even a standard bulb. Buy one of the two linked in post #3 of this thread.

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Well, thanks, but I'm not not looking for a brighter bulb. I'm looking for a more yellow Sun-like light without giving up anything or being illegal. I'd be content if it was the same intensity as a standard (high quality) bulb. I'm kicking the idea around of upgrading the wiring harness to relay switched and heavy gage wire, or maybe even a 14V system. But if that ends up creating a brilliant blue/white light it would be pointless. All that does is cause my eyes to adjust to the brightest point and everything else gets darker, kind of self defeating.

hangfire said:

But if that ends up creating a brilliant blue/white light it would be pointless. All that does is cause my eyes to adjust to the brightest point and everything else gets darker, kind of self defeating.

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Your eyes do that anyway.

hangfire said:

Well, thanks, but I'm not not looking for a brighter bulb. I'm looking for a more yellow Sun-like light without giving up anything or being illegal. I'd be content if it was the same intensity as a standard (high quality) bulb. I'm kicking the idea around of upgrading the wiring harness to relay switched and heavy gage wire, or maybe even a 14V system. But if that ends up creating a brilliant blue/white light it would be pointless. All that does is cause my eyes to adjust to the brightest point and everything else gets darker, kind of self defeating.

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If you really want yellowish instead of intense 3200K headlights, go with the Philips (top tier manufacturer) Nightguide. I understand that they're no longer produced, but you can still find them online. Whatever you decide, don't fall for the reverse engineered Far East junk sold on eBay.

hangfire said:

Well, thanks, but I'm not not looking for a brighter bulb. I'm looking for a more yellow Sun-like light

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What do you mean, exactly, by "yellow Sun-like light"? There are many different colors of sunlight, depending on where the sun is in the sky (and other factors). What is it you are hoping to accomplish, and why?

without giving up anything

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You can't get both maximum output and yellower light at the same time.

I'm kicking the idea around of upgrading the wiring harness to relay switched and heavy gage wire, or maybe even a 14V system

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You already have a 14v system. Automotive "12 volt" systems do not run at 12.0 volts. A fully-charged "12 volt" battery gives 12.6 to 12.8 volts, and the charging system must run at a voltage higher than that to keep the battery charged; most charging systems run in the neighborhood of 14v. Also, relays might or might not be warranted, and they might or might not be a smart first step. What kind of truck is this?

But if that ends up creating a brilliant blue/white light

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There is no legitimate way to create a brilliant blue/white light from a halogen headlamp.

All that does is cause my eyes to adjust to the brightest point and everything else gets darker, kind of self defeating.

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Your eyes do this in response to light of any color.

If you'll tell in more detail about what you're trying to have, not in terms of "I want yellow light" but in terms of what you are hoping to make your headlamps do (or do better) for you, you will probably get good advice.

-Virgil- said:

What do you mean, exactly, by "yellow Sun-like light"?

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I recall seeing a GE chart comparison between GE Nighthawk (hard to find), Nighthawk Sport (a little easier) and Nighthawk Platinum (I have zero interest in the Platinum), with an indicator on a color temp scale moving from yellow into the white. I am looking for a bulb towards the yellow side, but one that is not actually dim, or very short-lived. That's all.

OK, here it is, "GE Automotive Lighting Comparison", about half-way down on this page: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017OANWI/?tag=cpf0b6-20

-Virgil- said:

There are many different colors of sunlight, depending on where the sun is in the sky (and other factors). What is it you are hoping to accomplish, and why?

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I suppose if you put a prism up to my ideal bulb, you'd get a more intense yellow band than blue. The output Lumens would not be significantly less than a standard bulb. Does that clarify it for you?

Why? I simply find some lamps more pleasant than others, with the modder/"xenon"/"hid-style"/blue-white types being the most odious. This is true whether it's on an oncoming car or my car.

-Virgil- said:

You can't get both maximum output and yellower light at the same time.

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Why are you fixated on the idea I want "maximum output"? Where in this thread did I ever say "maximum output"? :duh2: Perhaps you missed where I said "Well, thanks, but I'm not not looking for a brighter bulb." I just don't want a dim bulb, that's all.

Anyway, it is a fallacy to think that light of any desired intensity can't be created in any color desired. Perhaps the choices and possibilities are very limited for 9007 bulbs, I can accept that, but with control of all the paramaters, yellow lightbulbs could be put on a vehicle that produced more lumens than anything white commonly and legally available. But, that is NOT my goal.

I suppose I could review 20 or 40 lightbulbs, categorize them by color temp and then tell you which ones work best for me... but at that point I would have answered my own question.

I'll just try the Nightguides as Lightdoctor suggested. It's only $18. It's certainly a lot easier than this thread.

Also, all this blather on this site that the human eye reacts the same to glare of all colors, is simply not scientifically true: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7898887 "For both age groups, DG was greatest for the R-G stimulus and least for the B-Y." The study continually quoted here was one of physics, not physiology.

-Virgil- said:

You already have a 14v system. Automotive "12 volt" systems do not run at 12.0 volts. A fully-charged "12 volt" battery gives 12.6 to 12.8 volts, and the charging system must run at a voltage higher than that to keep the battery charged; most charging systems run in the neighborhood of 14v. Also, relays might or might not be warranted, and they might or might not be a smart first step. What kind of truck is this?

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I forgot to address this... I am well aware of the vagaries of the automotive "12 volt" system, and you should know by now our automobiles are no more exactly "a 14v system" then they are a 12 volt system, and that's before getting into line losses.

What I was thinking about was a voltage regulator that could hold a precise voltage that would optimize the color temperature. I've programmed digitally controlled voltage regulator systems in the past for things other than light bulbs, there's no reason that it couldn't be done for auto headlights, 65W each is really not that much in the grand scheme of things.

It's a pickup truck. I like to experiment, by the way. If the headlights won't get me there, I could always muck about with driving lights. I can handle the electronics part. I was looking for guidance on bulb selection.

hangfire said:

Also, all this blather on this site that the human eye reacts the same to glare of all colors, is simply not scientifically true: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7898887 "For both age groups, DG was greatest for the R-G stimulus and least for the B-Y." The study continually quoted here was one of physics, not physiology.

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I'm not aware of blather issues on the site at this time, but thanks for keeping your eyes open for it. Physiology and physics are of course equally integral to vision. But there is a difference between "how does the eye react to glare" and "how does the driver react to glare". I'm not sure where you've seen it argued that the reaction to glare light of all SPDs (or "colors") is the same. In fact it's known (for an example) by rigorous research that bluer light stimulates a significantly greater degree of discomfor glare than yellower light. However, there's not much evidence to be found that bluer light or yellower light of a given intensity stimulates a significantly greater or lesser disability glare. All a different color of light lets us do is somewhat adjust the psychological/discomfort glare levels produced by a headlamp, relative to its level of disability glare that it produces.

I'm sorry you had such a frustrating time with this thread, hangfire.

Hangfire...if you really like those Nightguides, better get some spares being they are no longer produced.