Headlight Upgrade 9007 02 Ford Ranger

[GSF1200S]

That would be a large step downward/backward.

I dont know why, but I saw higher lumen output ratings for H4 than 9007 when I looked. Now I see that was wrong looking around (H4 is 9003). In that case, ill just stay with US OEM headlights...

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Wow, I never even realized the lights were so close to the same. They wont fit on my truck.. without modification. Ill have to do research on aiming and decide whether I want to do this.

-Virgil- saved you the research on those lamps with this post.

BTW, what formulas do you guys use to calculate life and output? Id be interested to file that away.

Bulb life changes with changes in voltage to the power of -13, output to the power of 3.4. Wattage changes with increases in voltage to the power of 1.6, the formula is like the two below.
Actual Lumens = Design Lumens*((Actual Voltage/Design Voltage)3.4​)
Actual Life = Design Life*((Actual Voltage/Design Voltage)-13​)

I have it in a spreadsheet I need to polish up and make available on my site, it's a fun tool.

 

[-Virgil-]

Would H4 headlights from a Mexican Ford dealer be obtainable?

That would be a large step downward/backward

I dont know why, but I saw higher lumen output ratings for H4 than 9007 when I looked. Now I see that was wrong looking around (H4 is 9003).

But there's (a lot) more to it than lumen ratings off the bulb. With H4 (HB2, 9003) only a little over 50% of the total reflector area can be used to collect and magnify light on low beam. The Graves Shield under the low beam filament blocks the path of light that would reach the lower part of the reflector. This is how the cutoff is produced. This doesn't mean H4 headlamps are necessarily junk -- with a sufficiently large and well-designed reflector/lens it is possible to get decent-to-good low beam performance. And there is, at least in theory, the advantage of this arrangement reserving part of the optics for high beam, so they can be optimized for that task (an impossibility with 2-filament bulbs like 9004/HB1, 9007/HB5, and H13 that use the whole reflector/lens area for both low and high beam). But given an H4 headlamp and an HB5 headlamp of equal technology and design/build quality, there's going to be a lot more light in the low beam from the HB5 headlamp. It is a very persistent myth that H4 headlamps are necessarily good, or necessarily better than HB5 headlamps, or that European headlamps are necessarily better than US headlamps. This mythology is based on basic misunderstandings (and often a mistaken belief that European car lights are categorically superior).

Of course, there are cases where your options are a poorly-designed, poorly-made HB5 headlamp versus a better-designed, better-made H4 headlamp, then the H4 headlamp could well be the better choice. Or cases where the European-market headlamp uses more advanced technology than the US-market headlamp, then the European headlamp might be the better choice. But in this particular case, the H4 headlamps for that type of Ford Ranger are cheap, poor-quality junk. Stay with the US lamps.

 

[GSF1200S]

-Virgil- saved you the research on those lamps with this post.



Bulb life changes with changes in voltage to the power of -13, output to the power of 3.4. Wattage changes with increases in voltage to the power of 1.6, the formula is like the two below.
Actual Lumens = Design Lumens*((Actual Voltage/Design Voltage)3.4​)
Actual Life = Design Life*((Actual Voltage/Design Voltage)-13​)

I have it in a spreadsheet I need to polish up and make available on my site, it's a fun tool.

Is 12.8vdc the design voltage of these bulbs? Is the design voltage 14vdc as thats what bulbs are rated at in the US?
(Figuring 14.4vdc at the bulb to get worst case life result) 320⋅((14.4/12.8)^−13 = 29.9 hours [!!]
-or- 320⋅((14.4/14)^−13 = 221.87 hours [this seems about right]

But there's (a lot) more to it than lumen ratings off the bulb. With H4 (HB2, 9003) only a little over 50% of the total reflector area can be used to collect and magnify light on low beam. The Graves Shield under the low beam filament blocks the path of light that would reach the lower part of the reflector. This is how the cutoff is produced. This doesn't mean H4 headlamps are necessarily junk -- with a sufficiently large and well-designed reflector/lens it is possible to get decent-to-good low beam performance. And there is, at least in theory, the advantage of this arrangement reserving part of the optics for high beam, so they can be optimized for that task (an impossibility with 2-filament bulbs like 9004/HB1, 9007/HB5, and H13 that use the whole reflector/lens area for both low and high beam). But given an H4 headlamp and an HB5 headlamp of equal technology and design/build quality, there's going to be a lot more light in the low beam from the HB5 headlamp. It is a very persistent myth that H4 headlamps are necessarily good, or necessarily better than HB5 headlamps, or that European headlamps are necessarily better than US headlamps. This mythology is based on basic misunderstandings (and often a mistaken belief that European car lights are categorically superior).

Of course, there are cases where your options are a poorly-designed, poorly-made HB5 headlamp versus a better-designed, better-made H4 headlamp, then the H4 headlamp could well be the better choice. Or cases where the European-market headlamp uses more advanced technology than the US-market headlamp, then the European headlamp might be the better choice. But in this particular case, the H4 headlamps for that type of Ford Ranger are cheap, poor-quality junk. Stay with the US lamps.

Excellent information, thanks. I obviously have a lot of research to do learning about this stuff.

 

[-Virgil-]

Is 12.8vdc the design voltage of these bulbs?

Output is rated at 12.8v in the US regulation, and at 12.0v and 13.2v in the UN ("European", rest of the world) regulation. Lifespan is generally rated at 14.0v in the US and at 13.2v or 13.5v elsewhere, that's not a matter of regulation.