Lights for a Volvo 850

[z_zhenya]

Hi all. I'm interested in maximizing the lights on my Volvo 850 - both for normal driving and because I've recently started competing in our SCCA Winter Rally series which is held entirely on back roads at night.



The car currently has stock bulbs, with e-code glass over the DOT reflectors. This took the lights from awful to acceptable on lows, and incredible on highs. I have heard that lenses/reflectors should not be mixed like this, but to my knowledge, nobody sells the complete, oem e-code assemblies in the US. Almost everyone sells the replacement lenses. The lights do have the expected e-code light pattern, with a very sharp cut-off, especially on the driver's side.



I have checked voltage drop as per Daniel Stern's writeup, and have no more than a 0.55v drop at any bulb. (13.45v at the battery at idle, lows on). Would a harness provide any significant benefit?



For bulbs, I'm thinking the Philips xtreme power for the low beams, which do not have a front shield, and the Toshiba 9011 HIR bulbs for the highs.



In the future, I'd like to add bumper mounted proper fog lights, but I'd like to do what I can with the main lights first.



Thanks a lot!

 

[njshift]

I run a harness on my 98 s70 and I see 13.8-14v at idle. I have an earlier model S70 which shares the older style alternator as the 850. I also run slightly higher wattage bulbs to help solve the mediocre low beam light output.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

The car currently has stock bulbs, with e-code glass over the DOT reflectors. This took the lights from awful to acceptable on lows, and incredible on highs. I have heard that lenses/reflectors should not be mixed like this, but to my knowledge, nobody sells the complete, oem e-code assemblies in the US. Almost everyone sells the replacement lenses. The lights do have the expected e-code light pattern, with a very sharp cut-off, especially on the driver's side.

Take the e-code glass off and put the DOT glass back on. On those lights, the glass is not just protective-- it provides a real optical function (the 'pillow optics' or other patterns in the lens are designed to work with the reflector form). You now have beams do not comply with either standard. The cutoff, however sharp, is not the defining factor-- and the cutoff should be the same for both lamps.

Companies like FCP Groton are doing people no favors by selling e-code lenses for installation on non-ECE headlights.

Bulbs are rated for output at 12.8V (US, 13.2 for ECE)*; for life at 14.0V. Sure, 12.9V is better than 12.8, but there's a LOT of room for improvement. (Also, at idle, the alternator may not be putting out much at all-- retest at about 2000RPM.)

*This can result in confusion at best, marketing fraud at worst (importers claiming the same 9006 bulb from Europe being brighter than the local bulbs, when the ratings were done at the different voltages).

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Here's more information on the bulb voltage/output relationship. The output of the bulb changes to the power of 3.4 with voltage.
I'll declare some variables:
rV = rated voltage
aV = supplied voltage
rL = rated lumens
aL = actual lumens

So: (aV/rV)^3.4 * rL = aL

So, if you have a bulb that is 1000 lumens at 12.8V, but the bulbs are getting 12.9V, then:
(12.9/12.8)^3.4 * 1000 = 1026.81

Get them to 13.35 V with relays, and you'll get (13.35/12.8)^3.4 * 1000 = 1153.78. Pretty decent jump.

As far as the marketing fraud, an importer might import a bulb that in the US is labeled as 1000 lumens (at 12.8V), but the imported bulb has labeling appropriate to the EU. That bulb will be labeled as 1110 lumens (at 13.2V), and the accompanying marketspeak mumbo jumbo on the importer's website will tell of the "superior European engineering" and whatnot.

 

[-Virgil-]

No bulb shield at all in the low beam? Huh! I thought I remembered one there in that '94-'97 Volvo 850 US headlamp. Maybe a tube-style bulb shield with no front cap? If no bulb shield or no front cap, Philips Xtreme Power for low is the good pick. For high beams, get Philips 9011, not Toshiba (no longer made since 2009, last couple of production runs were of inconsistent quality).

That's a fairly good voltage drop result, assuming it's counting + and - sides of the circuit to each bulb.

I'd (still) swap in the '93-'94 single-bulb H4 headlamp setup, even in "good used from the scrapyard" condition.

 

[zhenya]

No bulb shield at all in the low beam? Huh! I thought I remembered one there in that '94-'97 Volvo 850 US headlamp. Maybe a tube-style bulb shield with no front cap? If no bulb shield or no front cap, Philips Xtreme Power for low is the good pick. For high beams, get Philips 9011, not Toshiba (no longer made since 2009, last couple of production runs were of inconsistent quality).

That's a fairly good voltage drop result, assuming it's counting + and - sides of the circuit to each bulb.

I'd (still) swap in the '93-'94 single-bulb H4 headlamp setup, even in "good used from the scrapyard" condition.

Looks like I get to start my thread over again with the new forum. :)

There is a shield on the low beam bulb with no front cap, and the recommended bulbs have a black tip. My understanding was that I should not use an HIR bulb in this kind of application.

Since last I posted here, I have switched back to my DOT lenses, and purchased Philips xtreme power low beam bulbs, HIR high beam bulbs, and re-aimed the lamps. Lighting is certainly decent with this setup. In anything but really wet, damp nights, lighting is excellent. High beams are very good - probably not quite as bright as with the e-code lenses - but more than adequate, and low beams are better.

I went to the local pick-n-pull which had a '93 850, but it had one replica lamp, and the other one was partially broken. It looks like I would need to change the bulb connector with those lamps, which would require some splicing - is there a straightforward part available to make this happen, or would I be splicing the connector from the donor car? Anyhow, I may go this route eventually. Do you think even the high beams would be better with those lamps than with the four lamp system I have now?

Thanks again!

 

[Alaric Darconville]

"Replica" usually means "fake". If you're going to get junkyard parts, at least get the genuine article.

Low beams are used so much more than high beams; if the low beams you have are good, but you feel you need a bit more oomph in the high beams, install a set of auxiliary high beam lamps.

 

[zhenya]

"Replica" usually means "fake". If you're going to get junkyard parts, at least get the genuine article.

Low beams are used so much more than high beams; if the low beams you have are good, but you feel you need a bit more oomph in the high beams, install a set of auxiliary high beam lamps.

Thanks - I know - thats why I left them there. :)

I will probably add some auxiliary lights before buying new oem lamps which are $700 or more. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[-Virgil-]

Yep, if no front cap on the bulb shield, the HIRs are not a good pick (too much glare and stray/flare light).
Avoid the "replica" lamps; get genuine ones. There's a search engine for used auto parts. When you search for lights, the first several listings are often new aftermarket (junk); skip those. You can get connectors to build a clean adaptor pigtail to go from the twin-bulb to the single-bulb socket; I think Candlepower has them and I know Stern has them. Yes, I think the high beams would be better with the single-bulb lamps, owing to the much bigger reflector area.