Philips X-treme Vision +100 vs X-treme Vision +130

-Virgil-

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Pending 3rd-party test results, I'll be sticking with the +100 -- too much blue glass on the +130, which eats into high beam performance.

The life ratings are probably not accurate numbers.

(Those "3350K" and "3700K" figures are mostly bogus)
 

-Virgil-

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I wish AutoExpress would publish bulb tests results like they used to -- they gave the illuminance at the various test points, and a pass/fail on the filament geometry, and generally gave much more info than they do now. My guess is some companies (such as PIAA) were unhappy with how the detailed information revealed their product as junk. Either way, that linked test was done before the +130 Philips bulbs came out.

Bulb life is tested at 14.0V by US industry practice, but in Europe the standard is 13.2v. I'm not seeing an indication on the +100 data sheet you linked that it was life-rated at 12v, can you point it out?
 

Ofelas

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Its under Specifications, electrical characteristics.

Schein - what do those blue bands do?

I see the +100 has one too - I'm surprised that Philips would do this on an otherwise clear, no nonsense bulb.

I wonder if the "3700k" has anything to do with the "20% whiter" that the +130 claims.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Schein - what do those blue bands do?
They bring the total output of the burner to within the maximum specification for their bulb type. The blue is (typically) in the areas of the bulb from where light emitted doesn't contribute to the useful beam part of the beam. The side effect is "style", but I'd prefer a selective yellow tint (even if it has to be extremely deep) so that the "stylish" part isn't obnoxiously blue.
I see the +100 has one too - I'm surprised that Philips would do this on an otherwise clear, no nonsense bulb.
It becomes less surprising when you understand the reasoning.

I wonder if the "3700k" has anything to do with the "20% whiter" that the +130 claims.
But white light is not whiter than white light. White light is white, no matter how hard the marketers try to tell you otherwise.
 

Ofelas

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Right, "whiter" means less yellow, can't add to white light I reckon.

The reasoning for 2 blue bands on the +130 vs the single blue band on the +100 ?

I don't get how the second band may cut down on high beam efficiency, though Im sure theres a valid reason due to focus, reflector etc etc.
 

Alaric Darconville

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Right, "whiter" means less yellow, can't add to white light I reckon.
According to Roy G. Biv, white light is still *white* -- it still contains yellow. Because of the tinting (which is subtractive), it's removing quite a bit of the red and orange along with the yellow. It verges on being *less* white than before because of all the light it's removing.

The reasoning for 2 blue bands on the +130 vs the single blue band on the +100 ?
Marketing!

I don't get how the second band may cut down on high beam efficiency, though Im sure theres a valid reason due to focus, reflector etc etc.
You're getting there. The filament closer to the base is the major filament-- and the band is right around that filament. Notice the minor filament has the bands at the periphery; the center of the filament is unobscured by the band. All the light meant to be directed by the reflector must pass through the filter on the high beam.
 

-Virgil-

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Its under Specifications, electrical characteristics.

No, it isn't. That section is the same on both the +100 and +130 sheets you linked. Remember, "12v 60/55w" is the nominal electrical specification for all standard-wattage H4 bulbs except those that are "6v 60/55w" or "24v 75/70w". The +100 sheet doesn't say (anywhere) the life testing was done at 12v. Nobody life-tests at 12v.

Virgil - what do those blue bands do?

A combination of things: they strategically reduce the amount of light emitted at optically irrelevant angles (lines that don't go from the filament to the reflector) so a bulb that would put out more total light than allowed if it had no bands, puts more light onto the reflector but still meets the total light output limit. That's why there's a clear/untinted band around the low beam filament. The blue glass around the high beam filament on bulbs like the Osram Night Breaker or this Philips +130 is there to give the marketers stuff to jabber about ("Color temperature up to 3700K! 20% whiter light! Crisp! Cool! Clean! Minty Fresh!").
 

Ofelas

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So the blue band at the base affects high beam performance, and the blue band at the tip affects low beams?

I see the voltage part now; both bulbs are for 12v systems, but the +130 is rated at 450 hrs, and the +100 is rated 400 hours at an unnamed voltage.

What could they have possibly done to increase life 10% - higher gas pressure perhaps?

The +130 has a smaller band near the tip, but adds one at the base...compromises, compromises.

Alaric & Virgil - hope one of you tests out the +130 very soon, so I can see the light.
 
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Alaric Darconville

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So the blue band at the base affects high beam performance, and the blue band at the tip affects low beams?

xtreme130-notes.jpg


Both blue bands affect the minor filament (used for low beams). But notice the broad window through which the filament is visible that is unfiltered. It's that same direct, unfiltered view that is also the source of the bulk of the light the reflector "sees" and reflects.

The major filament (for high beams) is entirely wrapped in blue (albeit not as deeply tinted). It really serves no useful purpose from the driver's perspective. (The "tuner" crowd, on the other hand.... bless their hearts.)

Alaric & Virgil - hope one of you tests out the +130 very soon, so I can see the light.

My "mental" tests of it say the low beam should be as promised, but the high beam is just too far compromised by the tinting. It also seems like they let the marketing team have a bitt too much leeway. I know Philips has to compete with the PIAA crap because the majority of people aren't very clued in -- but you'd think Philips could make a very good case for their superiority based on real science without the buzzwords and the crowd-following.
 
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Ofelas

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That picture made it clear thank you.

On a BOBI H4 and a E-Code Cibie - would you choose the X-treme vision or the Osram 70/65 Rallye ?

Now I gotz to get some spray blue paintz for the bulbz and lower my lifted truckz with bagz to clear the street bumpz.
 

TEEJ

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So the blue band at the base affects high beam performance, and the blue band at the tip affects low beams?

I see the voltage part now; both bulbs are for 12v systems, but the +130 is rated at 450 hrs, and the +100 is rated 400 hours at an unnamed voltage.

What could they have possibly done to increase life 10% - higher gas pressure perhaps?

The +130 has a smaller band near the tip, but adds one at the base...compromises, compromises.

Alaric & Virgil - hope one of you tests out the +130 very soon, so I can see the light.

I think they are limited to total lumen output...so to reduce the lumen output that would not be a position to focus and send OTF, and allow the proportion of total allowed lumens to be allocated towards the OTF, they put bands to filter out the output that would subtract from their total w/o helping OTF.

And to make it minty fresh when not needed for output proportioning reasons.
 
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Ofelas

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Virgil - excellent read thx, looks like I'll go with the X-treme vision.

On a standard Philips H4 or an Xtravision - when the BOBI lamps are correctly focused according to VOL, is it normal for the high beams to shift left?
Aren't they supposed to be centered ?

Probably the Xtreme Vision. See here.
 

-Virgil-

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Yes, if you're looking at the hot spot, it's normal for it to jump left and up when you switch from low to high beam, and jump right and down when you switch from high to low beam.
 

Ofelas

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Understood.
But when the low beams are aligned correctly, the high beam hot spots seems way to the left of the headlamp centerlines.
 

-Virgil-

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Could be -- depending on which version of the Bobi lamps you have, they may have been designed to conform to the photometric requirements of SAE J579a (1965), which was the only allowable headlamp standard in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 until 1978, when J579c (1974) was added. The relevant difference between J579a and J579c is the maximum allowable high beam intensity straight ahead of the lamp (at H/V, on axis). In J579a the limit is 37,500 candela. In J579c the limit is 75,000 candela. Note that this is a maximum allowable at one particular test point (H/V), not "anywhere in the beam". So it is completely possible that a headlamp designed to the older standard might have what appears to be a relatively low intensity in the middle of the beam pattern, with a relatively high intensity offset somewhat in any direction from the middle of the beam pattern. Please note this is an educated guess on my part; I don't have direct firm knowledge that this is the reason. But the BOBI headlamps were being designed at the same time as US headlamp regulations were changing to allow greater high beam intensity on axis (as well as other changes), and there are no other likely explanations for the multiple versions of the BOBI headlamp.
 
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