KC Hilites Cibie E-code clone.

[Mos6502]

Aimlessly clicking around on Amazon as one sometimes does, I came across the KC Hilites #4231 "Halogen Headlight Replacment" which looked, from the photos, like an exact copy of the popular, ever-praised Cibie E code headlamp. So I bought one. I also bought a current production Cibie to compare them. I looked for reviews of the KC product, but couldn't find anything detailed, just the usual "better than my old sealed beam crap" just about any headlamp gets.

Anyway, they both showed up today in the same box so I took a quick look, made some rough measurements, and have a few observations to make.

First thing that struck me was how poorly molded the Cibie is... these molds probably don't have much life left in them. It was stickered for 2017 production, and marked as having come from Belgium. But the shallower fluting in the highbeam section of the lens is getting pretty indistinct compared to what I remember from older production runs. The KC branded version is much more crisply molded - obviously this is a new/newish mold these are coming out of. So I set about comparing them, counting the flutes and making measurements of the various optical blocks on the lenses. It is very nearly an exact copy of the Cibie lens. Took a rough measurement of the inner lens surface to bulb base on both, and this too is identical. When I first saw the ad for the KC version, I suspected this would just be a rebranding of that particular poorly made-in-India Cibie copy (sometimes branded Neolite) that's been around for years - but it's something new, and at least after cursory glance and some rudimentary measurements seems to be a much closer and better finished copy of the Cibie.

That being said, the KC's reflector bucket seems cheaper/cruder than the Cibie's. KC's version also has no DOT, SAE, etc. markings of any kind on it, and the box says (in no small print) "Off Road Only". Also no country of origin is printed on either the box or the lamp itself. The rubber boot does not look like any of the ones that come on cheap H4 housings like the Autopal et. al. - so I have no clue who really makes this.

I will be mounting both lamps on the same car and doing a direct comparison of their performance to draw my own conclusions - but if anybody has used one of these before, or knows where it's actually made/who makes it, I'd be happy to hear your experiences, theories, etc.

 

[trae]

Interesting. So this is just the reflector? You still need the housing and the bulbs? What’s the advantage over LEDs?

Looking forward to your reviews.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mos6502]

Interesting. So this is just the reflector? You still need the housing and the bulbs? What’s the advantage over LEDs?

Looking forward to your reviews.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Cibie is just the reflector + lens unit. The KC version includes a bulb (of unknown quality).

The advantage is these are drop in replacements for old 7" round sealed-beam headlights, no wiring modifications needed.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Please please tell me you are going to use Halogen bulbs in these and not any of the LED conversion bulbs. You seem to have some knowledge of automotive lighting so you probably know already that LED conversion bulbs do not properly work in halogen housings. No matter how they arrange LEDs on a stub there is no way it will ever match the location of the halogen filament.

I would put a Tungsram +120 bulb in either of those.

E code lamps need to be aimed differently than DOT lamps.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

Yes Daniel Stern Lighting is one of the best places to get quality info and products for lighting upgrades. Without all the marketing hype and Chinese garbage flooding the market.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

 

[Mos6502]

I will use halogen bulbs as intended. I collect vintage ancillary lamps (fog, spot, etc.), so when I saw these Cibie clones (KCibies?) and couldn't find any reviews, I knew I had to check them out. The Neolite Cibie clones are terrible, so I don't have very high expectations for these either, but at a glance these appear to be much more exacting copies.

 

[robert]

I had Cibie H4 conversion lights on my last VW and they fogged after a couple of years. I was disappointed as they are highly regarded and realtively expensive. The Hella lights I replaced them with and the replacement lights I had in my '95 Tacoma were better quality (early Tacomas had replaceable glass lights instead of the crap plastic lights almost all vehicle come with now).

 

[Mos6502]

Plugged the lamps into a harness one at a time and aimed that the garage ceiling just for fun. I used the same bulb in both. On low beam they both gave the same ECE pattern, but the authentic Cibie did kick a substantial amount more of the light to the curbside than the KCibie. On high beam, the authentic Cibie gives a bit of a "starburst" effect (in other words, glare), with stray rays radiating away from the center beam, on the KCibie this effect was subdued - the stray light was still there, just not as apparent, in other words, a more focused high beam. Of course this means very little since shining high beams on a close object won't give any idea how they actually perform when they're used how intended.

I probably won't have them mounted in a car until after I take my old car in for inspection later this month, and will mount them in that. Then I can make some more meaningful observations.

I had Cibie H4 conversion lights on my last VW and they fogged after a couple of years. I was disappointed as they are highly regarded and realtively expensive. The Hella lights I replaced them with and the replacement lights I had in my '95 Tacoma were better quality (early Tacomas had replaceable glass lights instead of the crap plastic lights almost all vehicle come with now).

We'll see how they hold up, if I end up keeping them in the car long enough to find out.

 

[(none)]

I ran the Cibies with the integrated city lights and high wattage halogen bulbs on both of my JKs. They work great for what they are. No halogen will get the lighting output of HIDs, but I like the pattern much more than most of the LED offerings.