More 9011 Bulb Observations

I probably spend a little too much time playing with 9011 bulbs but I found some interesting things.

I was pulling up on the driveway last night and I noticed that one high-beam appeared to be a bit "brighter" than the other on my garage wall.

I have both a Philips 9011 and a Sylvania (Osram) 9011 in the car.

All my bulbs in this vehicle are hooked up to a heavy duty wiring harness, and I swapped the bulbs from left to right to tease out any voltage drop differences. Nope, no voltage drop differences--the Sylvania/Osram 9011 puts out a slightly "whiter" spot of light on the garage wall.

I noticed that the Osram 9011 has the more modern H7-type filament architecture, while the Philips doesn't. The Osram is also made in Korea, while the Philips is made in Germany. I remember that Candlepower, Inc. used to (or still does) advertise a "3rd gen" Philips/Osram/Vosla 9011 bulb. But it appears that the Osram and Philips 9011 bulbs are different now; they're even made in different countries with different physical characteristics. The Vosla (judging from Google Images) resembles the Philips; the Osram appears to be a unique, separate design.

https://imgur.com/a/W1otS9l

I also noticed that the Osram 9011 has a slightly smaller capsule, almost like a Philips 9012LL capsule. Here are my diameter measurements with a caliper:

Philips 9012LL: 5.45mm
Philips 9011: 5.72mm
Sylvania 9005LL: 5.80mm
Sylvania (Osram) 9011: 5.50mm

Finally, it seems that the Sylvania/Osram 9011 has an iridescent coating, while the Philips 9011 (and the Sylvania 9005) are uncoated. The Sylvania/Osram 9011 exhibits glints of purple when holding it up to the light.

Could this all be explained by a hotter running filament in the Sylvania/Osram 9011? I mean, the bulb capsule is smaller, so that should (slightly) increase filament temperature, correct? Plus, it really does seem like the Sylvania/Osram 9011 has the infrared reflective coating given its iridescence. Could it be that the Sylvania 9011 is superior to the Philips/Vosla 9011?

Finally, on an unrelated note, I found that the Toshiba 9011 has a ring on top of the bulb capsule. What is this, a premonition of bulb failure--some sort of stress on the bulb capsule?

https://imgur.com/a/nJiNtzr

How'd the toshiba compare to the differences you found in the osram vs phillips?

How cool. Interesting findings! There are some very fine bulbs made in Korea. I haven't had time to oogle an Osram HIR1. What did it cost/where'd you get it? Locally in Sylvania packaging? Or did you buy it from abroad in an Osram pack? I like the H7-style architecture better than the HB3/HB4, but the benefits are primarily in low beam. And it's equally as possible to make good or bad examples of either type, so I don't automatically cound this as benefit or drawback, but all things being equal I would rather have the more modern design.

I looked on Amazon and their pic shows the Sylvania 9011 I remember seeing the last time I looked: basically just a pushed 9005, made in Germany or USA. When did you get this Korean bulb?

That ring you see on the Toshiba bulb is one edge of the band of its IR (infrared-reflective) coating. There's an irridescence within the band, and none above/below it, just like you describe for the Osram bulb's envelope.

-Virgil- said:

I haven't had time to oogle an Osram HIR1. What did it cost/where'd you get it? Locally in Sylvania packaging? Or did you buy it from abroad in an Osram pack?

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Locally, in Sylvania packaging, and I purchased 2 of them about 6 months ago (so like April or May 2019).

I like the H7-style architecture better than the HB3/HB4, but the benefits are primarily in low beam. And it's equally as possible to make good or bad examples of either type, so I don't automatically cound this as benefit or drawback, but all things being equal I would rather have the more modern design.

Click to expand...

The benefit of the H7-style architecture is that the reflector sees more of the filament, correct?

I looked on Amazon and their pic shows the Sylvania 9011 I remember seeing the last time I looked: basically just a pushed 9005, made in Germany or USA. When did you get this Korean bulb?

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About 6 months ago, locally at a parts store. I noticed that Amazon is still displaying the "old" picture as well. I got them at a very slow-selling store, so these bulbs might have been out for significantly longer than 6 months.

just like you describe for the Osram bulb's envelope.

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It seems that the Sylvania/Osram 9011 is now a "pushed" 9012.

Are you planning on acquiring a Sylvania/Osram 9011 for testing? It would be interesting to see if there's a new winner among all the 9011 options out there. It's also nice to see Sylvania packaging some legitimately nice bulbs!

Ls400 said:

The benefit of the H7-style architecture is that the reflector sees more of the filament, correct?

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No, it's the no-metal region around the filament, which means fewer sources of uncontrolled stray light/glare -- this matters mostly in reflector low beams and fog lamps.

It seems that the Sylvania/Osram 9011 is now a "pushed" 9012.

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No, I don't think so...how do you figure that?

-Virgil- said:

No, I don't think so...how do you figure that?

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The 9011 capsule is about the same size (or perhaps exactly the same size; my calipers aren't great) as the Philips 9012 capsule, and both are iridescent, and both have similar filament architectures. Other than that, it is no better than a hunch. The evidence is thin!

Ls400 said:

The 9011 capsule is about the same size (or perhaps exactly the same size; my calipers aren't great) as the Philips 9012 capsule, and both are iridescent, and both have similar filament architectures.

Click to expand...

OK, but HIR1 has a max allowable power of 70w at 12.8v, and HIR2 has max 60. Definitely different filaments, so we can't really call this a "pushed HIR2". Just like we couldn't really call an HB3 a "pushed HB4". It's reasonable to say the Osram HIR1 has a similar/same design and architecture as the Philips/Vosla HIR2, though. It's good to see a promising new option in HIR1 bulbs; I hope to get a hold of test data before too long.

I noticed that the Vosla 9012+120 and 9012+30 have capsule diameters of 5.64mm, making them bigger than the Sylvania/Osram 9011 at 5.50mm.

Could this be an advantage for the Osram 9011--smaller capsule, faster initiation of halogen cycle, longer life, hotter filament, etc.?

Might be somewhat of an advantage in vehicles with high beam DRLs, but other than that, probably little or no practical advantage.

Speaking of Sylvania-Osram, I noticed that my local Wal-Mart today had a bunch of Sylvania-branded 9012 bulbs on clearance. Of the numerous 9012 bulbs on clearance, a few were USA-made, Sylvania-branded bulbs with the old filament support architecture, a few were German-made, Osram-branded bulbs with the H7-style architecture, and a few were Korean-made, Osram-branded bulbs with the H7-style architecture. And there was a clearly used and broken OEM Philips 9012LL stuffed into a ripped Sylvania 9012 package.

To an uninformed outsider, it seems that Osram is moving production to Korea, given the abundance of Korean-made 9012 bulbs (in addition to my possession of a Korean-made 9011 bulb). Is this what you've been hearing as well? Is Osram moving all bulb production to Korea, or just the HIR bulbs? Is this a good or bad thing, in your estimation?

Today I pulled the 9011 bulbs out the car.

The newer-style Osram 9011 appears a bit charred for whatever reason. I don't use the high-beam DRLs on the vehicle (DRLs are manually shut off). The older-style Osram 9011 on the opposite side of the vehicle appears perfectly fine. What's causing the blackening, if it isn't continuous and extended operation at a reduced temperature (DRL use)? Could this be indicative of quality issues?

https://imgur.com/a/3Qhs3rj

That's a faulty bulb. Not a good sign, but it's also a sample size of one, and bad bulbs happen (even to good brands).