Osram 65W hyper and BMW E91

[raj55]

Please advise! I plan to install Osram Hyper 65 W (low beam) in my new BMW E91 (instead of the original Philips Long life H7, in the low beam) but I am worried if the wire (original harness) can handle the increased ampere and if the lamp reflector can manage the extra heat. Our lights are always on here in Sweden. It is the law. It has a ZKW complex reflector I think. How big is the gain in light throw distance and quality with 65W compared to the original H7 55W?. Thank you in advance.

I am new to this forum but I allready like its contents! Thank you.

 

[-Virgil-]

The improvement is quite large; you have 2100 lumens from the 65w H7 instead of ~1400 from a 55w bulb. The wiring will be fine. There is a little extra heat, but it should not be enough to damage the polyetherimide reflector in the ZKW headlamps (it is the same material used with various ZKW headlamps that take an H9 bulb, which has the same burner as the 65w H7 bulb). Theoretically the extra heat will accelerate the normal age/use-related degradation of the headlamp, but this probably will not translate to practical disadvantage (or at least, the improved safety will be relatively cheap insurance even if you have to renew the headlamps a year or two earlier than you otherwise would).

 

[raj55]

Thank you for a very comprehensive reply. I will definitely change to a osram 65W H7 bulb when the current vision plus H7 dies out. I had unfortunately changed to a Philips vision plus in a haste while waiting for the reply! Besides it was easily available. I must say that the improvement from the original philips long life to Philips vision plus was not much as I had imagined. The light is slightly whiter from vision plus compared to the longlife but the intensity and throw is about the same. That just goes to show how good the Philips long life actually is. Next step up will definitely be the Osram 65 w. I am a sort of "light hungry guy". It is never enough!

 

[mds82]

Wll your high beams are only high beam flashers correct? I have an E90 and i know that the center lights are for flashers and the DRL's. your high beams are the xenon's since they are the bi-xenon D1s auto adjusting lights.

 

[raj55]

Wll your high beams are only high beam flashers correct? I have an E90 and i know that the center lights are for flashers and the DRL's. your high beams are the xenon's since they are the bi-xenon D1s auto adjusting lights.

No my BMW 320i E91 (europe) does not have HID /xenon lights. It has two pairs of H7 head lamps. One pair being the low beam and the other a high beam pair. The angel eyes function as parking lights. DRL in Sweden means low beam on all the time.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

raj, I have noticed on some bmw housings, that they specify that the headlamps were designed for H7/D2R bulbs. Perhaps check yours too.

 

[raj55]

raj, I have noticed on some bmw housings, that they specify that the headlamps were designed for H7/D2R bulbs. Perhaps check yours too.

Thanks, but how do I check that? Is it written some where on the head lamp?
raj.

 

[-Virgil-]

raj, I have noticed on some bmw housings, that they specify that the headlamps were designed for H7/D2R bulbs.

No, you're misunderstanding the markings. Many headlamp designs share a lot of components among the various versions. Generally these include the brackets, the outer lenses, the bezels, and other non-optical components, with only the functional parts such as optics and aim adjustors being different for different versions (halogen, Xenon, USA, ECE with right traffic, ECE with left traffic, Japan; with levelling, without levelling). So, you will often find the fiducial markings for all different variants of the headlamp on each individual headlamp -- you find for example the ECE type approval markings for halogen and Xenon versions for left and right traffic, plus the USA DOT marking, and you might find the Japanese JIS marking as well, and the Chinese CCC mark. This does not mean the one headlamp you're looking at meets all those requirements. It's a real problem because it's no longer possible in many cases to determine which of the many markings apply to the particular headlamp being examined; there are various proposals to simplify and clarify the markings, but for now the trouble is that worldwide regulations say that as long as the applicable markings are present, any other markings are also permitted. This was not a problem when there was technically no possibility to share components among significantly different lamps, but now it is. The important thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as an optic that's compatible with either a halogen or a Xenon bulb, and the differences are far more extensive than just a different bulb holder.

 

[mds82]

Oh ok, so you have a 2009+ model, the new LCI Version.
I would also check out E90post.com for a lot of info about these cars. There is a dedicated forum for lighting changes etc.

If you wanted to, you could even do a retrofit for the xenon headlights. its not that hard i've done it for a few people before. Contact "E90 Andy" on e90post to get more info.

 

[raj55]

Oh ok, so you have a 2009+ model, the new LCI Version.
I would also check out E90post.com for a lot of info about these cars. There is a dedicated forum for lighting changes etc.

If you wanted to, you could even do a retrofit for the xenon headlights. its not that hard i've done it for a few people before. Contact "E90 Andy" on e90post to get more info.

Thanks for the suggestion but having read umpteen posts regarding head lights etc. I get the impression that converting to HID on original reflectors is almost impossible. You have to design a shield that takes care of the glare factor and that is not easy or 100 percent successful. Besides, I don't mind the slightly yellow light. It is soothing to the eye while driving long distances at night. The white light demands too much attention tiring you after a while (IMHO). I just want a more powerful light with better coverage and throw. Thank you any way.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

No, you're misunderstanding the markings.

Figures Makes sense, since I tried to fit a d2s based bulb in there and there wasn't any way that it looked like it was seated properly... For the record, the marking was on the front lens, which has nothing to do with the actual optics of the headlamp (besides protecting them).

Thanks for jumping in and clarifying this, Scheinwerfermann