RickyN29
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- San Jose, California
Wait, the bulbs changed?
-
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E-code H4 headlight conversion with comparison pics Cheaper than Silverstars
- Thread starter 1bolt
- Start date
Wait, the bulbs changed?
old_man
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Loveland, Colorado
I did a make an offer and their is a box to modify the offer with additional text.
DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
No, the bulbs are exactly the same. If you look inside the housing now you'll se a little shield in front of the bulb. In other words you're seeing a metal hood, not the light bulb. If you looked on the older models the hood isn't there.
A couple people say that without the hood the width is a little better, but if they changed the design it must have been for a reason.
- Location
- Columbus, In
Re: Search the thread!
Thanks man. I didn't notice it anywhere. The only one i saw was the one for the wiring harness!
Thanks man. I didn't notice it anywhere. The only one i saw was the one for the wiring harness!
TheAlmightySam
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Portland, OR
Re: Search the thread!
Mine arrived today. Shipping was quick, they're packed nicely, and everything is in great condition. Waiting until it's dark to install them so I can have some comparison photos for you kids.
Mine arrived today. Shipping was quick, they're packed nicely, and everything is in great condition. Waiting until it's dark to install them so I can have some comparison photos for you kids.
rag
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- central NJ
Last night i stepped outside to preheat my truck. I turned on the defroster and headlight. As i was cleaning the snow off of the truck i heard the unmistakable noise of glass cracking.
My passenger side autopal headlight cracked. I've had them installed and running for a while now (see quoted post), still running the original 100watt bulbs. I've been satisfied with my lights, when i get some extra cash i will order another pair of autopals.
TwistedFocus
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ohio
I just did the AutoPal E-code conversion this weekend and, as expected, I'm totally pleased. I did the eAutoworks harness upgrade and 55w/100w white bulbs. I didn't end up needing to aim the lights either. They don't seem to shine into oncoming traffic and they lined up perfectly. I almost think I could move them up a hair, so next weekend I'm going to try the Stern adjustment procedure just to check myself.
I can see the edges of the road much better and signs on the side of the road light up well in advance. The high beams are insane. They're amazingly even and will be just the thing for my camping adventures into the middle of nowhere.
I can see the edges of the road much better and signs on the side of the road light up well in advance. The high beams are insane. They're amazingly even and will be just the thing for my camping adventures into the middle of nowhere.
DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
Stock 100watt? Stock are 55 watts...
TwistedFocus
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ohio
I think he's saying he's on the same set of (upgraded) bulbs from way back then.
Care to tell me which 55w/100w bulbs you went with? I just ordered the same harness but wasn't sure what bulbs to upgrade too. I was going to see how well they work f/my Hella 55w/65w bulbs and go f/there.
TwistedFocus
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ohio
My bulbs are Autopal brand also. I just had them sent as an upgrade when I ordered the housings.They seem to work great with that harness even though the wire isn't as big as most guys are making on their own. I haven't run around with the brights on much so I probably haven't loaded them enough to test it fully, but I'm confident it will be fine. I may splice in some fuses before the relays for a few bucks just for added insurance against melting anything down.
Also, I'd bet your existing bulbs will be noticeably brighter just from the harness upgrade. I tried my stock sealed beams out for a day with just the harness upgrade and they were definitely brighter.
don't want anyone thinking I'm a shill for that guy I've had two shipping claims with him from broken housings that DHL punted around the warehouse. He was not fast to respond and took a while to get things rectified... he wanted me to handle the claim which is BS because the first thing any shipper says is the sender is responsible to handle any claim.
That said I have and will buy from him again, the housings are a huge bang for the buck upgrade. I'm ordering another 2 sets soon... I might try removing the metal shield... IMO the metal shield makes the sharp cutoff more hazy and less defined.
That said I have and will buy from him again, the housings are a huge bang for the buck upgrade. I'm ordering another 2 sets soon... I might try removing the metal shield... IMO the metal shield makes the sharp cutoff more hazy and less defined.
TwistedFocus
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Ohio
I was very close to doing this myself. I figured they must have had a good reason to put it on. I reasoned that maybe it would help keep some heat off the glass and resist cracking if rain or snow got on the lens.
If you do a set with the removed shield it would be great to see some before/after pics to help judge if it's worth removing them. I guess I could take the housings back out and remove the shield fairly easy, so maybe I'll experiment with them on my own if I find the time.
- Location
- Columbus, In
So I had one of theose To Hell With It! moments and ordered me a set a few minutes ago. now i just have to put those in, paint my sliders, and trim my bumper caps by WF!
DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
Well, I came across a potentially ground-breaking discovery tonight. I had 2 burned out lamps sitting around. One silverstar, and one autopal. Instead of doing the sensible thing and selling the autopal and trashing the sealed-beam silverstar, I got curious...
From what I remembered, the silverstars had excellent width, but cutoff was mediocre, and bulb life was awful. The biggest turn off. Others included lack of color temperature choice in bulbs, and and a fixed wattage. Not to mention it's another $20 every time one burns out.
Now the autopals, amazing and economical as they are, have their own weaknesses. The width is less than par. Definitely good, but nothing outstanding. Also, while the "sidewalk illumination optics" are cool, I'm not really a fan of them. This is the little line of light that shoots diagonally upwards towards the right (like this ___/___/ ). It's almost like a wannabe HID projector step-up.
So I decided tonight to mate the two... I took the silverstar, popped it in the oven, and took off the lense. Then did the same with the autopal and removed it's lense. I placed the silverstar glass over the autopal bowl and WOW. The comparisons are shocking. I'm still thinking of a way to make the lense cutoff a bit sharper, but I think with some 130/100 or other high wattage bulbs, the autopal/silverstar combo has some SERIOUS potential. I'll get some pics in the morning when my camera is charged...
From what I remembered, the silverstars had excellent width, but cutoff was mediocre, and bulb life was awful. The biggest turn off. Others included lack of color temperature choice in bulbs, and and a fixed wattage. Not to mention it's another $20 every time one burns out.
Now the autopals, amazing and economical as they are, have their own weaknesses. The width is less than par. Definitely good, but nothing outstanding. Also, while the "sidewalk illumination optics" are cool, I'm not really a fan of them. This is the little line of light that shoots diagonally upwards towards the right (like this ___/___/ ). It's almost like a wannabe HID projector step-up.
So I decided tonight to mate the two... I took the silverstar, popped it in the oven, and took off the lense. Then did the same with the autopal and removed it's lense. I placed the silverstar glass over the autopal bowl and WOW. The comparisons are shocking. I'm still thinking of a way to make the lense cutoff a bit sharper, but I think with some 130/100 or other high wattage bulbs, the autopal/silverstar combo has some SERIOUS potential. I'll get some pics in the morning when my camera is charged...
DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
Got antsy and couldn't wait for the batteries so I stole them from my mouse...
Here they are. I included no glass as well just for kicks. Some people may have never seen it this way
Also, bear in mind these comparisons are extremely primitive. They were taken in my lap, facing the ceiling, so maybe 8 feet max from the background.
First is no-glass. This is the low beam. It's tilted sideways a little. Notice how a little bit of light still escapes above the tiny cutoff shield inside the actual bulb.
Next is no-glass high-beam. Almost a perfect circle. Would definitely be a KILLER pencil beam aux light... if they were slimmer.
Then there's the autopals. Low beam first. Everyone should be familiar with these shots. Notice how the cutoff is better than without the glass, but the width reeealllly isn't that different. Of course at a greater distance it gets exponentiated.
And high beam. Pretty decent, but again lacking width.
Now the silverstars. Again this should be nothing new. Here's the low beam. DESTROYS the autopals in width. Although it does seem to be a little hot in the middle. Still need to find a way diffuse that somehow.
And high's. Once more, excellent width, but a little hot in the middle. It would also be sweet if I could blend the upper and lower lines together a little more. Maybe some filing.
I'm also extremely interested to see what kind of results an HID kit (yuck) would produce through the silverstar's glass?
Here they are. I included no glass as well just for kicks. Some people may have never seen it this way
Also, bear in mind these comparisons are extremely primitive. They were taken in my lap, facing the ceiling, so maybe 8 feet max from the background.First is no-glass. This is the low beam. It's tilted sideways a little. Notice how a little bit of light still escapes above the tiny cutoff shield inside the actual bulb.
Next is no-glass high-beam. Almost a perfect circle. Would definitely be a KILLER pencil beam aux light... if they were slimmer.
Then there's the autopals. Low beam first. Everyone should be familiar with these shots. Notice how the cutoff is better than without the glass, but the width reeealllly isn't that different. Of course at a greater distance it gets exponentiated.
And high beam. Pretty decent, but again lacking width.
Now the silverstars. Again this should be nothing new. Here's the low beam. DESTROYS the autopals in width. Although it does seem to be a little hot in the middle. Still need to find a way diffuse that somehow.
And high's. Once more, excellent width, but a little hot in the middle. It would also be sweet if I could blend the upper and lower lines together a little more. Maybe some filing.
I'm also extremely interested to see what kind of results an HID kit (yuck) would produce through the silverstar's glass?
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And I would say, see the blotchy ill defined light patterns with dark banding and way too much light thrown upwards and 90* to the side where it's uselessly wasting energy that could be reflected down at the road?
In my first pics it is very clear that the Autopals illuminate much more of the sides of the road at any reasonable distance and the sealed beams just kind of shoot a hot spot out, and a bunch of light immediately flooding around the front of the car.
Not trying to dog on you, but what you're showing is a huge part of why an E-code light is so much better than a silverstar or any other DOT sealed beam. The sealed beam throws light out at almost 90* to the grille of the car, that light, unless you're going 5mph or something, is pure waste energy. Anything you see that closely is too late to do anything about, at any reasonable speed. Whats even worse is that the sealed beams light this area up and put MUCH less light down the road around 40 yards and further, where seeing a deer or person might actually do you some good.
Speaking as someone who's hit several deer, the ones that would be iluminated by that 80* or 90* fan of light, are also ones you can't do a damn thing about. If they decide to jump into the road you're hitting them... On the other hand if your E-codes (or other good well shapped lights like projectors or HID's) iluminate them in the woods 50 yards ahead, you might actually slow down enough not to ruin anything when one of the buggers decides to Kamakazi.
The superior E-code lens is 1/3rd of whole point of replacing the sealed beam DOT lights IMO The other 2 being the reflector and the ability to use replacable H4 bulbs
Really unless you drive pretty slow or maybe live in the city or have some extremely hairy curves in your daily drive all the light blasting out to the sides immediately in front of the car is wasted energy that could be directed better further down the road.
If you're going even 25 miles an hour anything shown by that wasted side light is going to be irrelevant and past you in hundreths of a second.
If you want to see the whole story back that car up 50 yards or so and see the blotchy hot spoted sealed beams that shed very little light to the sides of the road past 35 or 40 yards, versus the E-codes which shed MOST of their light evenly and smoothly ahead and to the sides and below the sharp horizontal cutoff.
One last thought, if you really want close in lighting of the sides of the road, fog lights do that pretty well.
In my first pics it is very clear that the Autopals illuminate much more of the sides of the road at any reasonable distance and the sealed beams just kind of shoot a hot spot out, and a bunch of light immediately flooding around the front of the car.
Not trying to dog on you, but what you're showing is a huge part of why an E-code light is so much better than a silverstar or any other DOT sealed beam. The sealed beam throws light out at almost 90* to the grille of the car, that light, unless you're going 5mph or something, is pure waste energy. Anything you see that closely is too late to do anything about, at any reasonable speed. Whats even worse is that the sealed beams light this area up and put MUCH less light down the road around 40 yards and further, where seeing a deer or person might actually do you some good.
Speaking as someone who's hit several deer, the ones that would be iluminated by that 80* or 90* fan of light, are also ones you can't do a damn thing about. If they decide to jump into the road you're hitting them... On the other hand if your E-codes (or other good well shapped lights like projectors or HID's) iluminate them in the woods 50 yards ahead, you might actually slow down enough not to ruin anything when one of the buggers decides to Kamakazi.
The superior E-code lens is 1/3rd of whole point of replacing the sealed beam DOT lights IMO The other 2 being the reflector and the ability to use replacable H4 bulbs
Really unless you drive pretty slow or maybe live in the city or have some extremely hairy curves in your daily drive all the light blasting out to the sides immediately in front of the car is wasted energy that could be directed better further down the road.
If you're going even 25 miles an hour anything shown by that wasted side light is going to be irrelevant and past you in hundreths of a second.
If you want to see the whole story back that car up 50 yards or so and see the blotchy hot spoted sealed beams that shed very little light to the sides of the road past 35 or 40 yards, versus the E-codes which shed MOST of their light evenly and smoothly ahead and to the sides and below the sharp horizontal cutoff.
One last thought, if you really want close in lighting of the sides of the road, fog lights do that pretty well.
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DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
Fog lights definitely help, but I think they are credited for a lot more than they really do. The only lights that have REALLY helped me avoid deer on several occasions, are my Hella 500's. But they are mounted to a switchbox on my ceiling, which can get kind of tedious to constantly flip on and off. I too have hit plenty of deer. Here in MD they are as annoying as mosquitos.
I wasn't trying to establish any kind of opinion or bias by saying the silverstars are better than the ecodes pattern. Just messing around with different possibilities and still trying to find the best possible light setup that is still economical. So far, yes, the autopals take the cake. Even if the silverstar lenses, over autopal bowls, with 130watt bulbs DO blow the ecodes out of the water, your still spending a load of cash. silverstar=40, autopal=35ish, bulbs=10-20ish. There's almost $100. Pointless. Just having some fun and sharing my findings
Edit: I have some 140/100watt bulbs on the way. When they get here I'll do a much more controlled comaprison just for kicks. Camera presets, controlled views, flat wall, and a lot further distance.
I wasn't trying to establish any kind of opinion or bias by saying the silverstars are better than the ecodes pattern. Just messing around with different possibilities and still trying to find the best possible light setup that is still economical. So far, yes, the autopals take the cake. Even if the silverstar lenses, over autopal bowls, with 130watt bulbs DO blow the ecodes out of the water, your still spending a load of cash. silverstar=40, autopal=35ish, bulbs=10-20ish. There's almost $100. Pointless. Just having some fun and sharing my findings
Edit: I have some 140/100watt bulbs on the way. When they get here I'll do a much more controlled comaprison just for kicks. Camera presets, controlled views, flat wall, and a lot further distance.
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ert01
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
I just installed my E codes today with the 100/90W bulbs and they are KILLER! I built my own wiring harness with 10 gauge wire and I have absolutely no regrets about this setup at all. I actually bought 3 sets of housings and bulbs and a while whack of connectors and relays so I can make more of these harness/ecode setups for more guys up here.
BTW that article on how to properly aim them was very helpful too! If I wasn't confident that they were aimed right, I'd be worried about blinding other drivers since these are so bright but with the walkthrough in that article I am confident they're aimed correctly and not a hazard to others on the road.
I have a quick question though... to the rest of you guys who installed the Ecodes... did you put that rubber boot onto your connector and onto the back of the housing or did you throw it out? I put them on but I can't see them doing a whole lot unless they were siliconed to the housing. I'd also be worried about that rubber and the heat... can anyone verify if they're necessary or helpuf in keeping the crud away from the connection?
BTW that article on how to properly aim them was very helpful too! If I wasn't confident that they were aimed right, I'd be worried about blinding other drivers since these are so bright but with the walkthrough in that article I am confident they're aimed correctly and not a hazard to others on the road.
I have a quick question though... to the rest of you guys who installed the Ecodes... did you put that rubber boot onto your connector and onto the back of the housing or did you throw it out? I put them on but I can't see them doing a whole lot unless they were siliconed to the housing. I'd also be worried about that rubber and the heat... can anyone verify if they're necessary or helpuf in keeping the crud away from the connection?
DanMan2k06
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Damascus, MD
if you go through water or mud KEEP IT ON!!!!! The first set I had I made the mistake of throwing out the boot, and the back of the connector and bulb got completely covered in dirt and debris. You might not think it does all that much, but you'd be surprised how fast stuff will stick to them.
