Best Selective Yellow 55W H3

Lightdoctor

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Feb 21, 2010
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389
I'm looking for a good yellow H3. I'm currently running CPI Gold lamps in my Hella 500 FF Fogs, and would really like something yellower with out the blue throw off.

Thanks in advance.
 
There aren't any good yellow H3 bulbs. All the dichroic ones (like the CPI Gold) have the off-axis blue appearance; that's how these coatings work: they diffract certain wavelengths of light (in this case blue) so they are not contained within the beam. But they don't just go away, they go off at a different angle, which means they will exit the lamp outside the main beam area. The degree of this effect is greater or lesser depending mostly on lamp optic design. You will find the same effect to the same degree whether you try a cheap CPI Gold or an expensive PIAA Ion Crystal bulb. More detail on Stern's site, together with a suggested method of getting selective yellow light by coating the lens. That way's probably preferable, because then you can use a higher-performing clear H3 bulb (Narva Rangepower+50, Osram Night Breaker, Philips Vision Plus).

There are various toy bulbs imported under a dozen different brands and sold usually at very high prices to the "tuner" crowd; the popular marketing catchline at the moment is "JDM yellow". Many of these have a non-dichroic yellow coating and some of them give a yellow light color that's not bad, but the coating isn't optically transparent and so the beam focus suffers -- instead of blue haze above the cutoff you get yellow haze, not much of an improvement.
 
Hey Scheinwerfermann, may be you should create a sticky in the format of:

Best <color> in <socket/type>

Or something of the sort and then list top 2-3 choices for each. As it is, you are doing it all the time, except just one per thread.

You can also right away add explanation on LED bulbs (why not to use them) and voila! you got a quick link for 50% of the posts here. Then you can do the HID sticky and you get another 49% covered :)
 
It's an interesting idea, but I have recently been informed by one of the moderators on this forum that my postings are damaging the forum, which is awful, so I will probably end my participation on this forum rather than expanding it.
 
I've asked SWM about making a sticky before, but it seems like there's enough "sticky" if people just use a search, and disregard 90% of the non-SWM posts.

Back on topic, coating the lens and using a clear bulb is your best bet in maintaining light transmissivity and color saturation without offending artifacts.
 
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It's an interesting idea, but I have recently been informed by one of the moderators on this forum that my postings are damaging the forum, which is awful, so I will probably end my participation on this forum rather than expanding it.

Wow, I didn't realize some moderators were so touchy. I feel purpose-dedicated forums are for sharing knowledge. You have knowledge and information, which you do share. If having to share the same info over and over, and sometimes argue with those who refuse to believe what they don't want to hear, tends to make you a bit testy now and then, so what? I'd hate to see you go.

What you share about yellow H3 bulbs is interesting. I'd been thinking it would be nice to get clear fogs, and just swap bulbs to compare between yellow and white. But it sounds like if I want yellow I should get a selective yellow light (like the Cibie 175's still on my non-running Suburban).

Oh well.

Maybe oneday I'll stumble across one of those old yellow Cibie Bi-Oscars to play with...
 
It's an interesting idea, but I have recently been informed by one of the moderators on this forum that my postings are damaging the forum, which is awful, so I will probably end my participation on this forum rather than expanding it.

Although I understand where the general sentiment is coming from, I think "damaging" is a bit of an overstatement and leaving would be an unfortunate overreaction.

I've asked SWM about making a sticky before, but it seems like there's enough "sticky" if people just use a search, and disregard 90% of the non-SWM posts.

A sticky seems like an easy enough solution that also addresses some of the silly clutter. I don't see a single con, only pros to doing a sticky like that.
 
We ought to just rename the Automotive forum the Scheinwerfermann forum. He's the best source of info on this subforum, and I could care less if he's blatantly truthful sometimes.
 
ilovecpfag2.gif
Let's not get distracted!!! I propose we all do a brainstorm to find a more neutral term for "selective yellow" as it might sound offensive for some readers with limited grasp of technical automotive lighting terms.
 
It's an interesting idea, but I have recently been informed by one of the moderators on this forum that my postings are damaging the forum, which is awful, so I will probably end my participation on this forum rather than expanding it.
Then give me your personal email address or join one of my Jeep forums.

I doubt that I'd visit CPF without your participation on it.
 
There aren't any good yellow H3 bulbs. All the dichroic ones (like the CPI Gold) have the off-axis blue appearance; that's how these coatings work: they diffract certain wavelengths of light (in this case blue) so they are not contained within the beam. But they don't just go away, they go off at a different angle, which means they will exit the lamp outside the main beam area. The degree of this effect is greater or lesser depending mostly on lamp optic design. You will find the same effect to the same degree whether you try a cheap CPI Gold or an expensive PIAA Ion Crystal bulb. More detail on Stern's site, together with a suggested method of getting selective yellow light by coating the lens. That way's probably preferable, because then you can use a higher-performing clear H3 bulb (Narva Rangepower+50, Osram Night Breaker, Philips Vision Plus).

There are various toy bulbs imported under a dozen different brands and sold usually at very high prices to the "tuner" crowd; the popular marketing catchline at the moment is "JDM yellow". Many of these have a non-dichroic yellow coating and some of them give a yellow light color that's not bad, but the coating isn't optically transparent and so the beam focus suffers -- instead of blue haze above the cutoff you get yellow haze, not much of an improvement.

The CPI Gold bulb seems to be the best out there...if you're not going to coat the lense. I've hesitated to color the lense due to not knowing if I'd like the look of yellow...maybe I'll reconsider it.

As to the Narva Rangepower +50, it's a great performer...have them in my aux. high beams :).
 
I've tinted the lenses on my HID lights with great results. Like Schw... says, it gives you the latitude to run your bulb of choice.

Here's the thread.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=254261

It worked well for me and will work even better when I eventually replace the capsules with lower temps.

I went with the Hella yellow vinyl stick-on cover made for the 500. They call it color shieldz, (probably to attract the tuner crowd). The were only $24 for a pair with shipping. Hope they work out.
 
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