BULB Information *Please Sticky*
Hi everyone, I thought this email that I recieved would benefit a lot of people information wise on bulb upgrades for the Outback, mainly the 2000-2004 models, but essentially the information can be used for other years I'm sure, but if anyone else wants to contribute for the other years that would be great. This is the email from Daniel Stern from Daniel Stern Lighting, and gave me a wealth of info on lighting. This email is posted word for word, nothing changed from my email.
Hi everyone, I thought this email that I recieved would benefit a lot of people information wise on bulb upgrades for the Outback, mainly the 2000-2004 models, but essentially the information can be used for other years I'm sure, but if anyone else wants to contribute for the other years that would be great. This is the email from Daniel Stern from Daniel Stern Lighting, and gave me a wealth of info on lighting. This email is posted word for word, nothing changed from my email.
> I'm looking to get upgraded bulbs for my 2001 Subaru
> Outback Wagon, I'd like to know what I need and what I can get for
> better and brighter lighting,
Here's manufacturer data, from internal engineering databases, for output and lifespan at 13.2v for H1 bulbs. The numbers here are a composite of values applicable to the products of the big three makers (Osram-Sylvania, Philips-Narva, Tungsram-GE). Each manufacturer's product in each category is slightly different but not significantly so. I picked H1-type bulbs for this comparison, and while the absolute numbers differ with different bulb types, the relative comparison patterns hold good for whatever bulb type you consider. Lifespan is given as Tc, the hour figure at which 63.2 percent of the bulbs have failed.
H1 (regular normal):
1550 lumens, 650 hours
Long Life (or "HalogenPlus+")
1460 lumens, 1200 hours
Plus-30 High Efficacy (Osram Super, Sylvania Xtravision, Narva Rangepower, Candlepower Bright Light, Tungsram High Output, Philips Premium):
1700 lumens, 350 hours
Plus-50 Ultra High Efficacy (Philips VisionPlus, Osram Silverstar, Narva
Rangepower+50, Tungsram Megalicht, but not Sylvania Silverstar):
1750 lumens, 350 hours
Blue coated 'extra white' (Osram CoolBlue, Narva Rangepower Blue, Philips BlueVision or CrystalVision, Tungsram Super Blue or EuroBlue, Sylvania Silverstar or Silverstar Ultra, which is just a rebrand of the Silverstar product, also PIAA, Hoen, Nokya, Polarg, etc):
1380 lumens, 250 hours
Now, looking over these results, which one would you rather:
(a) Buy and drive with?
(b) Sell?
The answer to (a) depends on how well you want to see versus how often to change the bulb. If you want the best possible seeing, you pick the Plus-50. If you don't care as long as it works and you don't want to hassle with it, you pick the long life.
The answer to (b) is determined by how rich your company's shareholders want you to be, and is obvious: You want to sell the bulb with the shortest lifespan, highest promotability and highest price. That'd be the blue unit, e.g. Sylvania Silverstar.
Direct order link for the H1+50 bulb is here:
http://store.candlepower.com/naraulhiou55.html
Your high beams can also be significantly upgraded if you will Replace the existing 9005 bulbs with 9011. The new bulbs are not some tinted or overwattage version of 9005, but rather employ a relatively new technology called HIR, Halogen Infrared Reflection. The mechanical dimensions of the bulb are all virtually identical to the 9005, but the bulb glass is spherical instead of tubular, with the sphere centered around the filament. There is a "Durable IR Reflective" coating on the spherical glass. Infrared = heat, so the coating causes heat to be reflected back to the filament at the center of the sphere. This causes the filament to become much hotter (producing more light) than it can by passing electricity through it, *without* the shorter life or greater heat production that comes with overwattage bulbs (to say nothing of overwattage bulbs' incompatibility with stock wiring.)
Here's the comparison:
stock: 9005, 12.8V, 65W, 1700 lumens, 320 hours
compare: 9005+50, 12.8V, 55W, 1830 lumens, 175 hours
new: HIR1, 12.8V, 65W, 2530 lumens, 320 hours
These bulbs are costly as bulbs go - $29/ea - but their cost is worth considering in context: Any number of companies will charge you more than this for a tarted-up 9005 with blue colored glass (PIAA and Sylvania Silverstar come to mind) that doesn't produce more light and has a very short lifespan.
The HIR bulbs have a double-wide top ear on the plastic bulb base, this is to comply with the law requiring different bulbs to have different bases.
The extra-wide plastic top ear is easily trimmed or filed to make the bulb fit your headlamp's bulb receptacle. Once that's done, they go directly into the headlamp, and the existing sockets snap on. Please see http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/HIRmod.html for details.
The direct order link for these bulbs is http://store.candlepower.com/9011.html
Can also make your brake lamps (all four of them) 40% brighter:
http://store.candlepower.com/p3496.html
And your reversing (back-up) lamps nearly 100% brighter:
http://store.candlepower.com/reli.html
Fog lamps more effective:
http://store.candlepower.com/naal90hye55w.html
> I also want a whiter color if possible
Naw, ya don't. Unfortunately, the "whiter light" and "high kelvin"
verbiage that's being used to sell lighting is essentially a marketeering scam. There is no light that is "whiter" than that from a properly-powered halogen bulb with colorless clear glass. All of the so-called "extra white" bulbs, including the ones we have, use blue or purple glass to tint the light. This does not make the light "whiter", but it does make it significantly less intense; the colored glass steals a great deal of light that would otherwise reach the road. There is no seeing advantage to so-called "whiter" light from bulbs with colored glass; in fact such bulbs put you at a distinct seeing disadvantage because of the reduced intensity. In addition, these bulbs have a very short lifespan because the filament must be driven very hard to get minimally legal levels of light through the light-stealing colored glass.
There is also no such thing as "cleaner" light. The High Intensity Discharge headlamps available on many European and Japanese vehicles and a few American models produce light by means of a wholly different technology. The colored-glass bulbs imitate the color, but not the performance of the HID ("Xenon") headlamps. There is no advantage to the color of light produced by HID headlamps, it is just an artifact of the technology used to produce the light. So-called "HID kits" with HID bulbs modified so as to fit in place of halogen bulbs are illegal and unsafe; the whole headlamp must be designed for HID usage.
"Color temperature" / "Kelvin rating" (correct terminology: CCT) is a real phenomenon, but its use in the advertisement of automotive lighting products is almost entirely fraudulent. Higher-CCT light, contrary to misinformed and disinformed advertising hype, is not "closer to natural daylight" and does _not_ help you see better in any way, and it produces significantly worse seeing performance in any kind of bad weather. All higher-CCT light does is change the appearance of the operating headlamp and, outside of a very small range created by different surface luminance characteristics of different legitimate bulb designs, increase glare and reduce total and usable light output.
If you are trying to see better, what you need is _more_ light, which will look whiter *because* there's more light (not because it's tinted to try to fool you into thinking there's more).
We've got a 2000 Outback in our family. Same lighting all around as your
'01 model. The headlamp focus is not very good -- that's built into the optics. Put in the better bulbs listed above to make the most of a not-very-good set of headlamps.
Cars like yours with headlamp-based DRLs come equipped with Long Life bulbs. These are exceptionally warranty-friendly and conducive to use as DRLs due to their long life, but their output is low and the beam focus (and resultant beam reach) they produce is poor, due to the filament modifications made to get extra long life out of them -- see above for specifics. This is a bad trade: A very small potential increase in daytime safety for a very large and definite decrease in nighttime safety.
Regardless of bulb variant, using the low beams as daytime running lamps shortens the effective life of the bulb in terms of days' runtime between bulb changes. Not only that, but headlamp-based DRLs are not optimal *as* DRLs in terms of safety performance, and they consume significant fuel.
Using headlamps as DRLs is akin to opening the fridge door, pulling up a chair and using the fridge light to read a book! There are much better-performing and less costly ways of implementing DRLs. If you wish to correct this error on Subaru's part (one of the only errors they made; those are well built and very capable cars), it is neither difficult nor expensive to do. The first step is to deactivate the factory DRLs. This is not a hard job; takes about 2 minutes in the driveway and is non-permanent (easily reversible):
Stick your head under the dash on the driver's side, just to the left of the steering column, and you will see 2 plastic modules about 1" by 2" by 3" held to the lower edge of the dash by a single bolt and mini-bracket.
One has only 1 white connector (seat belt/lights on/key in chime), the other (drl module) will have 2 connectors, one black and one white. Unplug the white connector and bolt the modules back onto the dash -- that's it, you're done, everything else works normally, just no more DRLs.
If for whatever reason you wish to continue to have DRL functionality on your car, you would do well to install a DRL-1 module ($42 here). This module runs the bright amber front turn signals full time as DRLs (except when they are actually flashing as turn signals). See http://dastern.torque.net/Mods/DRL/DRL1.html for installation info. The turn signal DRL is legal under US and Canadian Federal standards, and in all states and provinces. It gives greater conspicuity and wider-angle visibility to the daytime lights, uses less fuel, does not encourage improper nighttime use of DRLs instead of headlamps, and burns bulbs that are considerably longer-lived and less costly than headlamp bulbs.
ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS
Please indicate:
The quantity of each item you wish
The type of shipping you wish
(UPS trackable ground shipping is standard; all UPS service levels are
available)
The address to which you want the items shipped (if different from billing
address)
Whether the UPS driver has permission to leave the parcel at your doorstep if you are not available to accept it in person.
You may voicemail or fax your order toll-free on 1-866-861-8668. Please note this is a recorded orderline only. If you wish to speak to me in person, please use 416-766-2327.
Orders may also be sent via e-mail to: [email protected]
We accept Visa and Mastercard. Orders are processed securely.
Whatever method you use, the following information is required in order to process a credit card order:
Card type
Card number
Expiry date
CVV code (last group of 3 or 4 digits on back of card) Your name as it appears on the card Billing address Phone number
Please don't forget to include a note (such as a printout of our e-mail) stating exactly which items you are ordering, and where you wish them sent.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
DS
