The "Bigfoot" of Headlight Bulbs?

-Virgil-

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I mean H14, the Japanese-designed double-filament headlight bulb. I've never actually seen an H14 bulb, and this Ali Baba listing contains just about the only photos I've found. H14 was listed in UN Regulation 37 for awhile, but as of November 2015 it got moved to the "only as a replacement bulb, no longer authorized for use in lamps submitted for a new type approval" list, along with others including H12, H13A, HIR1, HB3A, and HB4A. I'm told these "dead bulb walking" listings are because nobody was using those bulb types. The major European makers (Osram, Philips and Tungsram) never offered an H14 AFAIK. One of the Japanese major makers (Ichikoh, Stanley or Koito) might have offered them, and used them in a Japan-only vehicle. H14 was never added to the US docket of approved headlight bulb types; the US-designed H13 pretty much dominated alongside its older siblings the HB5 (9007), HB2 (9003, tight-tolerance H4) and HB1 (9004). But if this obscure Chinese company is cranking out H14 bulbs, there must be some car out there somewhere that uses them!

It's not the first unusual 2-filament halogen headlight bulb ever to be put out (and kept in) Japan; a couple of decades ago there was the IH01 (another pic here). That was years before Japan started applying UN ("European") lighting regulations, though, and nobody ever tried to get it into UN R37 or the US docket. And same deal with the 702K.

But the H14 came out after Japan began joining in on the UN rules, which makes it even stranger that it doesn't seem to have gotten off the ground. Seems like the Japanese automakers just stuck with the old H4 for high/low beam halogen headlamps.
 

Alaric Darconville

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That building's sign (on the H14 page) says "HAINING GOLDEN-SUN LIHTING (sic) CO., LTD". Oops :)

The Amazon listing for the IH08 says it's "by STANLEY/BLACK & DECKER". Oops. I mean, it's not outside the realm of possibility that they've started making niche bulbs (they've made some competent hand spotlights in the past, but probably outsourced the arc-discharge capsules or halogen bulbs), but the Stanley that's a Tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry is not the Stanley that makes those screwdriver sets and staple guns.
 
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-Virgil-

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...also, something was bothering me about those H14 pics, and I just snapped to what it was: no obscuration cap (black top) on the H14 bulbs in the Ali Baba link! So now I'm wondering if they actually make these, or if it's vaporware. Guess I'll probably never find out; they have a 100-bulb minimum order, and I sure don't have a use for 100 headlight bulbs, of questionable quality, in a type nobody uses.
 

Alaric Darconville

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...also, something was bothering me about those H14 pics, and I just snapped to what it was: no obscuration cap (black top) on the H14 bulbs in the Ali Baba link!
I completely missed that. So much for my situational awareness!

So now I'm wondering if they actually make these, or if it's vaporware. Guess I'll probably never find out; they have a 100-bulb minimum order, and I sure don't have a use for 100 headlight bulbs, of questionable quality, in a type nobody uses.
Or the mythical vehicle that uses them has a full bulb shield but yeah, no, the H14 spec requires the black top.

What next, they'll have a 3497 with a Graves shield? (Minimum order: 200)
 
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