Hi fellows, I am not sure if its the Hellas, but it seems like the headlights are not lighting up the corners like the headlights on my previous vehicle (an older version of the one i drive now). The road home has a lot of deep corners and its in a rural area, which means very few street lights. What type of auxillary lights would one recommend ?
Lights for dark rural winding country roads
- Thread starter Jampatrol
- Start date
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
Lightforce aren't very good for winding roads....
What are you driving? What are the stock lights? Reflector, bulbs, etc.
The best way to start is to get your headlights the best you can and then address supplemental lighting.
For dedicated driving lights on a truck though, I really like the Hella Rallye 4000 with a Euro beam. You can put in a big bulb and get a spectacular spread of light.
But they're too big for some vehicles...
Here's a really good forum for this info, btw.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?87-Automotive
Automotive lighting professionals there. No advertising-hype-driven nonsense.
What are you driving? What are the stock lights? Reflector, bulbs, etc.
The best way to start is to get your headlights the best you can and then address supplemental lighting.
For dedicated driving lights on a truck though, I really like the Hella Rallye 4000 with a Euro beam. You can put in a big bulb and get a spectacular spread of light.
But they're too big for some vehicles...
Here's a really good forum for this info, btw.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?87-Automotive
Automotive lighting professionals there. No advertising-hype-driven nonsense.
HillbillyfromAL
Explorer
I would suggest a good set of fog lights to help light up the corners. Pencil beams are good for farther away but the wide area of a good fog light really helps in the corners. I'm partial to the PIAA crystal ions myself. More for fog, dust, and snow and reducing glare though. Hella makes some nice lights too, just make sure they are wide coverage, fogs; not driving lights and you should be happy with the results.
Fogs sound like a very good idea. Most of the later vehicles, that i see on that road always have on their fogs. Thanks for the suggestion HillbillyfromAL
Sometimes i wonder if the fogs are automatically turned on when the headlight is (lol).
off-roader
Expedition Leader
Fogs definitely. Pencil, Euro Beam, and Driving, not so much unless you also drive fast on long fairly straight stretches of road.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
I'd get rid of the 7" Hellas to start; their beam is too low (and narrow) on lowbeam and too high (and narrow) on highbeam.
If you want to stay with H4, get a set of Cibie reflectors; the spread of light is much wider and without significant peaks/valleys in the LUX.
Look at the photometry reports and compare the Hella:
With the Cibie:
The difference is dramatic. A good set of bulbs like these if you have decent wiring or these if your wiring is suspect ---- helps even more.
Or you can go LED or HID. Any of the lights in my shootout would work for you (except the bad ones like the IPF).
To supplement the lowbeam when driving SLOWLY and/or in very foul weather, a set of foglights will help. Since not all foglights are created equal, choose well.
Daniel Stern sells some good Cibies on his site --- and the Hella Micro DE is a great "stealth" foglight.
To supplement your highbeams, I'll stick with the Hella Rallye 4000 100w halogen, Cibie Oscar, or other quality light. Run them only with highbeams.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
PS --- if that truck came with a PAR 56 sealed beam and you want to improve from the Hellas on the cheap, GE Nighthawks are a very decent sealed beam. In the long run I'd get the Cibies if you plan to keep the truck.
Is it a RHD vehicle, btw? If so, keep that in mind when ordering. Lights from the US or the Continent are backward for you.
Is it a RHD vehicle, btw? If so, keep that in mind when ordering. Lights from the US or the Continent are backward for you.
FellowTraveler
Explorer
HELLA DynaView...........work good.
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
The Dynaview is a neat light; I'd love to test a pair...
I'd get rid of the 7" Hellas to start; their beam is too low (and narrow) on lowbeam and too high (and narrow) on highbeam.
If you want to stay with H4, get a set of Cibie reflectors; the spread of light is much wider and without significant peaks/valleys in the LUX.
Look at the photometry reports and compare the Hella:
With the Cibie:
The difference is dramatic. A good set of bulbs like these if you have decent wiring or these if your wiring is suspect ---- helps even more.
Or you can go LED or HID. Any of the lights in my shootout would work for you (except the bad ones like the IPF).
To supplement the lowbeam when driving SLOWLY and/or in very foul weather, a set of foglights will help. Since not all foglights are created equal, choose well.
Daniel Stern sells some good Cibies on his site --- and the Hella Micro DE is a great "stealth" foglight.
To supplement your highbeams, I'll stick with the Hella Rallye 4000 100w halogen, Cibie Oscar, or other quality light. Run them only with highbeams.
I have read your comparison before. The Cibie are not readily available here but seem like a worthwhile investment if the difference is dramatic enough. I have found the Hellas to be difficult to aim properly as you have either a good low beam and so so high beam or vice versa. The width on low beam though is as you have stated in your tests, not as wide as the Cibies. I think i have been able to get a compromise with the low and high but still not the width of the Cibies. The high beam is almost like a driving light though as it throws light very far and focussed
The Dynaview seems like its just down my road. I believe they are quite price though. Will look into it
stioc
Expedition Leader
I just ordered the Philips Xtreme Power bulbs for my factory headlights and the The Narva Rangepower+50 H3 yellow bulbs for the factory fog lights. Hopefully the improvement over stock will allow me to avoid having to buy aux lights. I got two Hella 500FFs but they didn't look right on my truck so I took them off, they'll probably go up for sale.