Category: Product Reviews

Being a keen experimenter and open to new ideas, I decided to try the cheaper HIR bulb option in my ’98 100 Series Landcruiser High Beam as opposed to the HID kits. The ’98 Cruiser runs a traditional glass multi segment fresnel lens with two parabolic reflectors. The reflectors are separate for High and low beam with separate bulbs. The later year cruisers have changed to a faceted reflector with a clear polycarbonate unbreakable lens.

The High Beam bulb in my cruiser is a 9005 HB3, Low beam 9006 HB4. These can be swapped with a HIR 9011 bulb that is very similar in design. A small plastic tab needs to have about 3mm of plastic trimmed to fit in the socket.

I purchased mine from www.finemotoring.com in the US who has plenty of information on HIR bulbs. The bulbs arrived in about 10 days, and I found the service prompt and friendly.

HIR bulbs are brighter than conventional Halogen bulbs, including the high output types, and cheaper than HID. I went for them as they are on instantly (HID needs to warm up),  cost effective, simple drop in, no ballast to mount, and I wanted to see what they were like. There is also less legal concerns running these bulbs than HID’s, but I’ll skirt that issue as it seems to be somewhat murky. Headlight and vehicle modification legality debates are contentious at best.

The HIR’s  draw 65w, meaning there is no need to re-wire the car to get a reasonable voltage to them. Running 100W or 130W halogen’s requires re-wiring in most cars. Failing to do this gives a significant voltage drop through the loom, and low voltage at the bulb. Halogen’s hate low voltages very quickly falling in brightness. A 130w bulb underdriven will produce less effective light then a well driven 55W. I have rewired the headlights in several previous vehicles, but am getting lazy in my old age. I haven’t measured terminal voltage to check the amount of loss, but with the engine running and 13.8v at the battery, they seemed fine.

The bulbs that I removed where Silvania 55w units of unknown age. There was no visible material deposited on the glass and the filaments were in good condition, so I would estimate their output to be well within 90% of new. Bulb’s tend to lose output as they age. High beam doesn’t get as much use as low beam, likely contributing to their good condition.

ARB and IPF are flogging HIR as the next best thing, with prices to match. I don’t know where they are sourcing theirs from, and some of their information seems contradictory with other sources on the web. Well, that’s this new intertechnoweb thingymajig for ya.

Fitting was moderately easy. The sockets for the bulbs are tight and tend to hold dirt, with difficult to remove plugs. They are also require removal of the battery to access the sockets, and lifting 35kg of AGM battery out of the tray is great fun.

The outcome is “acceptable”. The light is whiter and brighter, but not hugely so. These are not HID output colour’s or levels. The photo’s don’t give a good comparison as the camera light metering affects what you see. I would estimate the increase to be in the realm of 30 – 50%. Due to the lens design it doesn’t throw the light that much further, maybe 10 or 20m, but the fringe regions are more clearly lit, and the colour is less yellow, probably about 300K whiter at a guess. The centre area’s have more white light in them, but were acceptable before. There is some colour difference when projected onto the garage door, or when you look at them, however the camera doesn’t capture it. They are NOT blue or purple to look at.

I would score them about 6/10 – acceptable as a quick, simple cost effective upgrade with more, but with the falling price of HID kits, I think I’ll just go HID in everything.

 
Low Beam – Conventional

High Beam – Conventional
(Landcruiser keeps Low Beam lit when High is on)

High Beam – HIR Bulbs

I first saw Hella Predator HID’s back in 2000. I *nearly* managed to steal a set from Possum Bourne’s (RIP) support truck in 2001, but the mechanic got suspicious when I borrowed his spanner to work on his truck. It was a good Rally Qld. Unfortunately at $1200+ / piece they were out of my league.

Then along comes 2007, eBay and the advertising below: “UNVEIL THE NOBLE’ SGASEITY, DISPLAY THE KING’ DEMEANOUR” How could I resist? I love dodgy asian translations to advertise stuff. It was the above eye catching statement that made me decide this had to be the best HID offer on eBay. Oh, and it was the cheapest. The guy said he was in Australia, but the excessive postage cost and long delivery time seemed to put some doubt on that fact. The ratings on the account were good, and the product arrived OK, but he did cancel his account 2 weeks later. Dodgy? I’m still not sure. I did order and pay for extra High Tension cables, and had a longer 12v wiring loom supplied instead, but this could be simple mis-communication.  

So I am now the proud owner of some shiny kit to fit the shiny Hella Rallye 4000’s that came with my cruiser. I went with 4300K (the lowest colour temp) bulbs after doing much research across the web. It’s not a pretty purple colour, but far bluer than a normal Halogen. Whilst it might look cool, blue is very hard to actually see anything by, especially in dust or bad weather. That’s why fog lights are yellow, it penetrates more, and reflects less. I know in the rally car, in bad dust, you could see more with the driving lights off. White light reflects badly. Dull yellow headlights work best. 4300K is not yellow at all, but it is very easy to see by in good weather.

These are 35W units, the most common. There are some suppliers out there with 50W units. After testing, I don’t need the 50w units, these are fine. For those that aren’t aware, colour temperature has NOTHING to do with brightness. There is a large range of what people call “white” light. It is measured in degrees Kelvin. It is based on a block of pure carbon being heated in a vacuum. As is gets hotter it starts to glow. The actual temperature of the carbon is used as a reference to the colour it is glowing, from dull red (1500K), to yellow (2000-3000K), white (4300 – 5000K) , blue (6000K) and purple (7000K) as it gets hotter.  I decided to put them into the driving lights for a number of reasons

1. If they play up it’s no big deal
2. They take 30secs to warm up – not ideal in normal headlights
3. I want these for LONG range, and the driving lights are for that purpose
4. I did always want those Hella Predators

All required equipment and safety gear 🙂

I was not impressed when I pulled the Rallye 4000’s open and found that they were NOT watertight. They are designed to shed water, but there is no ring seal, and no seal near the bulb. The sealed electrical connection at the rear becomes a bit of a waste. So much for the overpriced driving lights. The Lightforce 170’s I put into my brother’s Jeep were far more waterproof than this.  I have had some comments from a friend with one that the reflectors don’t corrode like many lights, even with cracked glass, but I still prefer mine sealed. I was further unimpressed with Hella pricing a replacement lens within $20 of the cost of a whole new light. At $220ea for a light, no clear lens protectors and no reasonable replacement cost, that’s just rude.  I put $40 Lightskinz on mine, having been happy with them before. They don’t collect dirt like normal clear plastic protectors.

 
 I was rather impressed with the top quality silicon High Tension leads, and the silicon rubber seals on all the electrical connections. Cheap chinese perhaps, but very well presented with a high quality feel.  You can see the standard halogen vs the HID bulb. It looks like they simply change the plastic base for the bulb, and keep the capsule the same. When you buy them you generally have a choice of colour temp and base style to suit you vehicle and preference. The short High Tension leads are a problem. You need to put the igniters/ballast unit close to light, possibly where it will get wet. I would prefer well back in the engine bay. Oh well, have to see how waterproof it really is. Mine is mounted inside the bullbar. You can’t extend these leads easily, as they may carry 6000V+ to fire the bulbs. That needs special connectors and insulation, like your spark plugs.

 
The HID Bulb is slightly wider than the standard glass envelope. This makes it a touch fit in the Rallye 4000’s. I am still concerned about the touch fit becoming a break fit when things get hot, but seems OK so far. Ideally I should file the glass reflector a little with a dremel or something, but can’t be bothered. You can see the silicon sealant Hella uses doesn’t go 360 deg around the socket. The reflector is upside down in this pic. It’s only designed to deflect the water, not handle submersion.

 
Round plug (seal) – Square Hole. Bugger. Oh well, silicon fixes all ills, and it’s out of sight when on the car.

 
There are lots of comments on the web debating how HID’s may not work with normal reflectors due to the light coming from a ball as opposed to a filament, or not being at the focal point. They may be correct, but seems to work OK with these lights, and I suspect with most others. You can see the actual glass ball within the main capsule.

 
HID on the right, standard on the left. You can see the colour comparison. Real colours are hard to capture with a camera as the brightness throws it’s metering out badly. Regard it as comparative as opposed to qualitative.

 
HID on the left. I would estimate at least double the standard brightness, and close to triple. The standard High Beam on the outside looks very poor in comparison.

 
Slightly longer shot. The beam is fuller over a larger area, and far more intense.

 
Now for the acid test. This is standard Landcruiser High Beam. That is a 55w low beam and 60w high beam both operating together.

 
Add HID – presto – we have daylight. Again the camera changes it somewhat, but to get the best idea look at 3 things.

1. Colour – far whiter light
2. Distance – You can see the end of the street
3. Spread – that 1/2 circle is very bright in real life.

I don’t particularly love the spread of the Rallye 4000’s – it’s too narrow. They need another pair of spread beams. That said, I had a single Rallye 4000 spread beam with a 100w Halogen in it, and you couldn’t tell the difference with it on / off to the normal headlights. They need a set of spread beams with them. My plan is to HIR the high beams and HID the low beams. That may give me enough spread light to supplement the spotlights. Once warmed up they stay warm for several minutes, so dipping your lights for passing cars doesn’t mean a significant time without bright lights. It takes about 20 seconds from stone cold to get to full brightness. Even when warming up, they produce light, probably as much as a normal headlight, but you notice the difference compared to the photo above.

Conclusion

Rallye 4000 Spots: I don’t particularly love the spread of the Rallye 4000’s, or their waterproofing. I’m tempted to eBay these and buy Lightforce.  – Not recommended 3/5

Chinese HID’s: I do love the 4300K H1 HID’s. I’ll advise how they go in the long term, but for now – highly recommended. 4/5 until I trust them.