Halogen H18 and H19

[Ceilidh]

Yes. A used filament looks scraggly and may even be wavy in shape rather than perfectly cylindrical.

Interesting (and in an unfortunate way). If you were in my shoes, would you go ahead and replace the bulbs now (especially as the car's parked outdoors, and it's only going to get colder over the next several months)? I was going to wait until the bulbs burned out, but if this means the filament's on its way out...

My Xmas season would be going better if there weren't so many nimrods on the roads at night with no headlights, high beams, DRLs, etc. I also asked Santa Claus for an end to red turn signals, but he just went "Ho-ho-ho!".

Yes, it does seem to be getting worse and worse. Even my wife (who doesn't tend to notice these things) was commenting the other day about how glaring the oncoming traffic has been -- and around here there's no end of cars (very often Priuses, for some reason) driving at dusk and nighttime without any lights at all.

Hope your Christmas gets better soon!

-C

 

[Alaric Darconville]

I also asked Santa Claus for an end to red turn signals, but he just went "Ho-ho-ho!".

Did this also happen?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Interesting (and in an unfortunate way). If you were in my shoes, would you go ahead and replace the bulbs now (especially as the car's parked outdoors, and it's only going to get colder over the next several months)? I was going to wait until the bulbs burned out, but if this means the filament's on its way out...

If you're that sure they're on their way out, just do it now. Especially since we're getting yet shorter days for another two weeks (more headlamp usage) and it'll be a while before they grow longer.

and around here there's no end of cars (very often Priuses, for some reason) driving at dusk and nighttime without any lights at all.

Videogame dashboards, especially in the Prius.

 

[Ceilidh]

If you're that sure they're on their way out, just do it now. Especially since we're getting yet shorter days for another two weeks (more headlamp usage) and it'll be a while before they grow longer.

Actually, I'm not sure at all whether they're on the way out -- but there's suddenly a decided "wave" of light to the left above the cutoff that wasn't there previously (an oncoming car even flashed its headlights at me, which has never happened before), so that can't be good! I'll go order and install the replacement bulbs; many thanks once more to you and Virgil! =)

Videogame dashboards, especially in the Prius.

I've never been in a Prius, so what's happening? Is it that the dashboard's always lit up (even in daytime), so the drivers don't know they're running without lights?

In a related vein, why don't these Priuses have DRLs? Are they trying to conserve electricity? I saw one almost take out an (equally unlit) cyclist the other evening -- both parties seemed invisible to the other...

Cheers,
- C

 

[Alaric Darconville]

I've never been in a Prius, so what's happening? Is it that the dashboard's always lit up (even in daytime), so the drivers don't know they're running without lights?

Lit up like crazy with all kinds of nifty displays.

In a related vein, why don't these Priuses have DRLs? Are they trying to conserve electricity? I saw one almost take out an (equally unlit) cyclist the other evening -- both parties seemed invisible to the other...

Some/most/all do. I notice that the 2017 Prius lets you switch them off, so maybe some drivers switch them off most of the time.

Priuses can be very quiet (not that "loud pipes save lives"!1​); some bicyclists are terrible at bicycling, but your observation of that occurence doesn't necessarily mean anything, of course.

1​And that's all we need to say about that. This is a lighting forum where we deal in facts and data, not a motorcycle forum where we deal in anecdotes, speculation, and slogans.

 

[jzchen]

Having a '12 Prius v (big wagon) in the household, I must say that it does not have DRLs. I'm guessing Toyota did this as a tactic to get customers to trade up to a newer one that does. Strangely most Toyota models did have DRLs for 2012, but for sure the Prius v did not, not sure about the regular Prius, but I believe the Prius c did.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Having a '12 Prius v (big wagon) in the household, I must say that it does not have DRLs. I'm guessing Toyota did this as a tactic to get customers to trade up to a newer one that does.

That's a strange guess, but definitely a guess. Many people don't even WANT DRLs; there are better ways to encourage people to "trade up" than that.

Web Electric has the DRL-2P which appears to be the DRL-1 adapted to be a plug and play kit for those Priuses, so I guess there was something of a market for it.

Still, with the Prius having the videogame dashboard, I'm sure a lot of people used to the instrument panel lighting providing a cue as to whether the headlamps are on are stymied by that.

 

[SubLGT]

H18 is not a direct drop-in for H7; its base key (the tab that interrupts the circular shape of the base) is wider than the key on an H7. This could easily be defeated in most cases by widening the slot in the headlamp's bulb holder -- it would also be possible to narrow the tab on the bulb, but it would be difficult because the base is hard stainless steel.

As for availability: yes, they're in production, but as far as I know they're not in general distribution yet; one would have to obtain them directly from Philips or Osram, and they probably are limiting distribution to potential high-volume customers.

Are H18 bulbs in general distribution now, in 2020?

Are they optically superior to the Vosla 65W H7 bulb?

 

[-Virgil-]

Are H18 bulbs in general distribution now, in 2020?

They're not exactly in every snack machine, but yes, it is possible to buy them, at least in some parts of the world.

Are they optically superior to the Vosla 65W H7 bulb?

No, other way around.

 

[SubLGT]

Interesting that a H18 is optically superior to the old Osram 65W H7 (as you stated in post #12 and Alaric stated in post #11) but inferior to the new Vosla 65W H7. So I conclude the Vosla must be a substantial improvement over the discontinued Osram.

 

[-Virgil-]

They don't do it as much any more, but Osram and Philips used to put out limited runs of unusual, non-standard types of bulbs, seemingly as part of their R&D efforts. One of the first was the Philips "H4 turbo" in the 1990s. Strange ratings: 60/55w, 1900/1300 lumens. Red blacktop (redtop?), no ECE type approval. I think this was an R&D item for what eventually became Philips' Premium, then VisionPlus, then X-treme Power, then X-treme Vision lines. Osram released oddball bulbs in the early '00s (65w H7, 70/65w H4...), and I suspect these were sort of commercialized prototypes. Don't know what they were working on, but I'm guessing they meant to learn stuff to apply toward new bulb types that came along in subsequent years -- H15, H18, that DFCS project that eventually became H19, etc. I've seen test data directly comparing the Osram 64217 (65w H7) to the new Vosla 65w H7, and the Vosla beats the Osram in flux, color temperature, and beam focus/intensity. Not by a huge amount, but solid enough to make the Vosla the obvious choice.

 

[SubLGT]

A Google search for "H18 bulb" turned up this new, interesting forum post from hidplanet (post author is "Scheinwerfermann"):

...My sphere test results on H18 match the Russian "Test Lab" dude's results in the video: about the same lumens as a premium H7 but whiter light from the premium H7, while the [Vosla] 65w H7 gives off much more flux -- the 5 of them I put in the sphere....... ran very true to spec, ranging from 2081 to 2137 lumens and 3423K to 3455K color temp.

Interesting part was the results from new/old stock Osram 65w H7s from 2007 (1844 to 1963 lumens, clustered around 3386K, not quite as good as the new-production [Vosla] 65w H7s and Chinese knockoff Osram 65w H7s (1219 to 1503 lumens and clustered around 3160K, probably the same junk the Russian dude tested in another video).

Beam photometry lined up well with the sphere results. Worst to best for intensity + color: Old H7LL, new H7LL, Chinese knockoff Osram 65w H7, standard H7, H18/ premium 55w H7 (tie), real Osram 65w H7, current German 65w H7.....

https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/fo...alogens/1462111-h18-h19-has-anyone-tried-them

 

[jzchen]

A Google search for "H18 bulb" turned up this new, interesting forum post from hidplanet (post author is "Scheinwerfermann"):



https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/fo...alogens/1462111-h18-h19-has-anyone-tried-them

I thought that was Virgil, and went to click the link, but seems like that post is now gone?

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[SubLGT]

The post is still there, as #11. Yes, it sounds like it was written by Virgil, or perhaps D. Stern. But it would be surprising to me if either was a member at hidplanet. That would be like sleeping with the devil.

 

[Random Guy]

The giveaway is that he describes one bulb as being "whiter" than another, but as -Virgil- will tell you, all clear glass halogen bulbs produce white light.

 

[jzchen]

The link goes to a blank page/error. But I think Random Guy noticed the imposter anyways...

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