NA6 Headlight upgrade

Captain Scarlet · Postby **Captain Scarlet** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:08 pm

Apart from the Hella 7" kit, has anyone tried Cibie or Marchal?

Capt. Scarlet

aka_juffa · Postby **aka_juffa** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:38 pm

Captain Scarlet wrote:Apart from the Hella 7" kit, has anyone tried Cibie or Marchal?

Capt. Scarlet

While I don't have experience with Hella, Cibie, or Marchal(SP) if you have not already done so investigate getting some upgraded H4 bulbs.... There should be some good posts on the forum.

Another fix that I'm told is a must on NAs is to upgrade the headlight wiring to allow the smoke in the wires to flow into the headlights at a faster rate. I am told that this will increase the light output quite a bit. Not sure if there is a post on this forum but I think I remember seeing something in a past Victorian club mag.

J.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:46 pm

aka_juffa wrote:
Captain Scarlet wrote:Apart from the Hella 7" kit, has anyone tried Cibie or Marchal?

Capt. Scarlet

While I don't have experience with Hella, Cibie, or Marchal(SP) if you have not already done so investigate getting some upgraded H4 bulbs.... There should be some good posts on the forum.

Another fix that I'm told is a must on NAs is to upgrade the headlight wiring to allow the smoke in the wires to flow into the headlights at a faster rate. I am told that this will increase the light output quite a bit. Not sure if there is a post on this forum but I think I remember seeing something in a past Victorian club mag.

J.

Do you have anymore information on this Juffa? Sounds intriguing!

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aka_juffa · Postby **aka_juffa** » Thu May 03, 2012 2:52 pm

Here is one of the more interesting previous posts.

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=30698&hilit=wiring&start=15

J.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Thu May 03, 2012 3:05 pm

Smoke in the wires is an old electrical joke as when the wires are fried they let the smoke "out". I have doubts on how bad the wiring is. But testing to voltage while they are running vs off would give you an idea of the current carry capacity of the wires.

Fyi assuming a 1sq mm cable feed size and 5 meters of cable run. Your looking at .52 volt drop due to cable resistance at 5 amps (normal high beam)

High output globes are generally 100 or 120 watt. 120 is 10 amps which is 1.040 volts on the same cable.

At 2.5 sq mm it is 0.182 volts and 0.364 volts respectively. At that point I'd be checking your contacts are clean first.

Above uses standard cable resistance values for single core cable as manufactured by olex

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wassup · Postby **wassup** » Thu May 03, 2012 3:46 pm

The majority of the 7" H4 headlights that can be purchased on fleabay particularly the crystal clear variety give good results and are noticeably better than the stock sealed units. Playing with the +50/90/100 type H4 bulbs being sold gives marginal improvements that is very difficult to discern from the drivers seat. Over the years ive tried 60 and 65 watt bulbs and the exotic stuff from PIAA but it all amounts to a waste of money, you're pretty much paying for the marketing. These bulbs burn hotter and their life span are much less compared to stock OEM bulbs.

The worse thing you can do is fit a bulb with a blue tint as its fairly well documented that this results in reduced lighting performance... it does look whiter but certainly not brighter.

To obtain a meaningful improvement you'd need to go HID but the trade off is light control and glare which is another hot topic.

Personally i bought a pair of the Crystal clear 7" headlights on Ebay and fitted a pair of Phillips xTreme Vision 100's. Looking at the headlights on a side by side comparison there was a slight difference but to be honest you cant really pic it when driving.

my 2cents

aka_juffa · Postby **aka_juffa** » Thu May 03, 2012 4:50 pm

Found Matty's headlight wiring upgrade on the big forum

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=87156

Similar thread on the big forum, but with links to photos.....

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=95062

J.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Thu May 03, 2012 6:44 pm

The Hella unit ie 7in insert which takes an H4 is still a very good lamp. You can use optimised / high wattage bulbs but the difference is not marked but life always drops off- Wassup picked it pretty well. For a person with good eyesight or wearing glasses new inserts and good quality H4's ( Philips Osram) should be adequate. I agree that checking full voltage to the lamps is worth checking on an older car. I think Wassup is right about HID as well and the car would be not roadworthy.OEM H4's never exceeded 60/55W.

The issue always seems to be about low beam- as high beam can always be supplemented by driving lights.

Products not made by serious lighting companies are not likely to be well engineered products ie poor light distribution.

Jace · Postby **Jace** » Thu May 03, 2012 9:43 pm

i wouldn't mind a bit stronger light output but definitely don't want to lose the warming glow of good ol' fashioned incandescent globes.
still haven't cleaned up any grounds yet but i'll wait for a globe to blow and replace with something brighter.

stupid air brakes, feel like getting some RS active headlights just for less intrusive light lids!

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Fri May 04, 2012 12:24 am

Bit hard to argue with mattys results. Either the runs are pretty long or the extra connections added up.

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Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Fri May 04, 2012 8:56 pm

The H4 is not incandescent its halogen albeit an old lamp. Just as a matter of interest i was reading a note from a mate who remarked that the life of an H4 is about 900 hours but some of the hotter / brighter bulbs is only around 200-300 hours and more costly. The H1 was the first and still popular and the H2 is just about unknown and the H3 is still going strong.