Can't decipher parking bulb choices 194, 168, 2825 (W5W)

I'm replacing the fourth bulb in my 2010 MB C300 so I'm getting good at it. This time it's a parking bulb in the eyelid over the headlights. The OEM bulb is W01333-1969222, which costs around $20. OSCRAM's part number is 2825. I bought a pair of Sylvania 2825LLs (rated at 1,800 hours)but they were too yellow. SilverStar is an whiter option but rated at only 325 hours, too low of exterior lights. Other OSCRAM options are ZEVO and SYL LED but I can't find much about them.

To complicate matters, my overall options include 158 and 168 (which, I think, is the same as 2825). Considering I'm not knowledgeable, this is too many choices.

I'd apppreciate your advice and suggestions on which bulb to choose. I'm looking for a white bulb at around 50 lumens or more with a long life.

Thanks,
TonyP.
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TonyP. said:

I bought a pair of Sylvania 2825LLs (rated at 1,800 hours)but they were too yellow. SilverStar is an whiter option but rated at only 325 hours, too low of exterior lights.

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Both produce white light (it could be said the SilverStar is LESS white because it has blue tinting on the glass). The Long Life bulb will have a more yellow look because the same methods that give it long life give it that yellower-looking (but still white) light.

Get the Osram #2886X. 6W, 85lm, no blue glass.

The silly blue W5W Mercedes specified isn't worth anywhere near $20. There's nothing wrong with the light from the 2825 (W5W without blue glass) is not "too yellow", it's well within the legal specs for front position "parking" lamp color, and it should be easy to get over whatever cosmetic objection you might have to this "too yellow" light, because...psst...don't look now, but exactly nobody cares what color of light your parking lights put out, as long as it's legal.

But if it really bothers you enough to keep you awake at night, you've got a couple of options. You can swap in #2827 (WY5W). Amber is equally as legal for parking lights as white is, and shifting the color of the parking lights away from white will make your headlamps look bluer (if that kind of thing appeals to you for whatever reason); in any event it will remove the brownish-white look you seem to object to.

You could also swap in this (white) or this (amber) which have an extremely long lifespan and will probably work just fine in those particular lamps, though I don't know if the car's bulb outage monitoring system would play along.

Back to incandescents: 2886X would be brighter than any of the others, but (1) why do the parking lights need to be brighter? and (2) its lifespan isn't super ultra long. 3652 is almost as bright as 2886X and has a nice long lifespan.

Alaric / Virgil:

Thanks for your suggestions. I'd like to stay with OSRAM specs and found a GE bulb I think fits my needs for low cost, whiteness, and longevity. I'd appreciate any comments.

The bulb I've found is the GE Nighthawk W5W 168. It's rated at 1,700 hours (which is plenty for me) and color temperature seems fine. Any thoughts?

Tony P.

What does "I'd like to stay with OSRAM specs" mean? especially when followed immediately by your intent to buy a GE (not Osram) bulb).

168 and W5W are not the same bulb. They are similar, and often interchangeable, but not the same.

3652 is still your best incandescent pick. Pretending there's any legitimacy to the idea of "color temperature" from a blue-glass bulb is still both silly and baseless in fact.

Personally I would just use whatever M-B spec'd for this part number wise.

In your owner's manual it might have a bulb chart, but it will likely be ECE bulb types (e.g. W5W, P21W, P21/5W etc.) which you will have to cross to the numbers you can buy in the parts store.

Or, you could remove the original bulb and get the number off of it.

I have been driving German cars for years and have had to make my own bulb charts for many of them. I have spreadsheets with e.g. Osram part numbers, ECE types, and factory part numbers all cross referenced. Unfortunately while I have done this for VW, Porsche, and BMW I have never owned a M-B so that doesn't help you much.

This page may help if your owner's manual lists the ECE types.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_light_bulb_types

N8N said:

Personally I would just use whatever M-B spec'd for this part number wise.

In your owner's manual it might have a bulb chart, but it will likely be ECE bulb types (e.g. W5W, P21W, P21/5W etc.) which you will have to cross to the numbers you can buy in the parts store.

Or, you could remove the original bulb and get the number off of it.

I have been driving German cars for years and have had to make my own bulb charts for many of them. I have spreadsheets with e.g. Osram part numbers, ECE types, and factory part numbers all cross referenced. Unfortunately while I have done this for VW, Porsche, and BMW I have never owned a M-B so that doesn't help you much.

This page may help if your owner's manual lists the ECE types.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_automotive_light_bulb_types

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I was almost going to respond when I first read "Personally I would just use whatever M-B spec's for this part number wise" that you must be a M-B owner, until I read the rest of your post.

Philips has it's own "bulb finder" that may give other options at times.

I wouldn't go over 5W if that was called for, but that is just me/my only criteria.

jzchen said:

I was almost going to respond when I first read "Personally I would just use whatever M-B spec's for this part number wise" that you must be a M-B owner, until I read the rest of your post.

Philips has it's own "bulb finder" that may give other options at times.

I wouldn't go over 5W if that was called for, but that is just me/my only criteria.

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I guess the point that I was trying to make, albeit badly, was that if I were a betting man, I would bet that M-B part no. W01333-1969222 is going to be a W5W. That would be an Osram 2825... if you open up a package bought in the US where the card is labeled "2825" the bulbs themselves will be marked "W5W".

If you look on Osram's bulb finder, it seems that the W5W/2825 is used in a lot of positions around this car

https://www.osram-americas.com/en-u...lbs.aspx?year=2010&qual=100&model=870&make=73

which corroborates my guess.

My only caution would be to look at the old bulb coming out and verify that it is in fact a W5W as I remember there being an error on Osram's bulb finder for I want to say it was my Porsche 944? Rear taillights were R5W and their bulb finder listed an R10W which was way too bright so couldn't really be differentiated from the brake lights (P21W) as well as they should have been. But as I said if I were a betting man I'd say it is a W5W.

N8N said:

I guess the point that I was trying to make, albeit badly, was that if I were a betting man, I would bet that M-B part no. W01333-1969222 is going to be a W5W.

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Kind of. It's a W5W with (pointless, silly) blue-coated glass.

-Virgil- said:

Kind of. It's a W5W with (pointless, silly) blue-coated glass.

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Is it really? Well if that's the case then your advice above is spot on. I have no idea if M-B uses a bulb monitoring system but I'd be willing to bet that they do (every damned bulb it seems in my E92 BMW is monitored) so current draw should remain ~5W