Hella H1 / H4 headlight question

Lotuss7

Lotuss7

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Replacing my corroded Marchal H1 / Cibie H4 headlights. Purchased a H1/H4 Hella package from Classic Car Garage.

The H4 lamp has approximately a 1/2" lens projection. H1 is essentially flat ... no projection.

I am familiar with Hella H4s but these are 7" and no projection. Not sure I am on with the appearance of the different lens profiles.

Price point on the Hella package was good, but perhaps a call to Daniel Stern and a pair of Cibie flat face lamps would be the better visual choice.

Gotta be more than a few H1 / H4 options out there. What are you running???

John
 

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You could convert to the original factory setup used everywhere in the world except the US, where both high and low beams use H1 bulbs. You would need to do some minor re-wiring if your car is a US car. You also then have use of the city light 4W bub found inside the reflector of the main low beam headlamp.
 
John,

They should have sent you both lenses with flat faces. The US H4 has a slightly smaller diameter then the H1, that is the only difference other than lens are unique to low and high beams. As Luis suggested, the euro low beam H1 looks more like the high beam H1 as it fills the grill better and has the city light.
 
Obviously a few different ways to go about this...and it raises a few questions.

I get the H1 / H1 euro set-up...and like the outboard low beam /all four hi beam concept.

This is the first 4 headlamp car I've been around since my Dad's 1972 Ford LTD (awhile ago but similar vintage!). That car did the same thing...outboard low beam /all four hi beam. They were 5.75" dia. and sealed beams.

So...US spec 2800CS. Four 5.75" sealed beam headlights. Were the outboard US sealed beam lights a hi / low or simply low? And did all four run when switched to hi beam?

And...my coupe is currently set up with H1 highs inboard and H4 hi/low outboard. I guess the answer to the question above will answer this ....why not just two H1s???.

Back to the recently purchased Hellas breifly. My original question had to do with the unusual shape(my pespective) of the Hella H4. Instead of having a flat face flush wth housing (as the H1s are) the glass first projects at a slight chamfer about 1/2" beyond the housing, resulting in a flat face, but now smaller a diameter lense. I have seen flat face H4s (Cibie) which are identical in profile as the associated H1...just curious why Hella decided to do this.

OK...thinking I would like to go to the Euro setup (H1 hi / H1 low) and guess I need to know about the switching. Seems it is possible to alter the wiring to make the 2 low / 4 hi setup work with my existing swith and relays? Does anyone have a wiring diagram which would illustrate the modifications

Thanks!

John
 
OK, you have the correct US spec flat face Hellas, the H4 is as you state, a very slightly smaller lens. I went with the euro H1/H1. With the US hi/lo switch turning on hi beams shuts off the outer H1 lamps. That is because when the hi beams are selected the low beam H4 bulb goes off and the hi beam H4 filament turns on. You never have two filaments on in the US H4 configuration so you don't lose any light, in fact I like the H1 low beam pattern better. There is a very simple solution. The six spade white connector plug that leaves the hi/lo switch and terminates near the fuse block can be jumped easily to make all four lamps illuminate. Terry Conners told me how to do it. I think you jump the yellow wire and the yellow/white wire. I pulled each spade from the junction block, it was hard to reach but I used needle nosed pliers and a screwdriver to separate the junction block and kept wiggling them. Then remove and cut off the two existing spades, add the jumper wire between them so each new spade has two wires, the original and the jumper.
 
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Chris

Thanks. Just replaced my hi /lo switch so I am familiar with the 6 pin connection. Sound like a reasonably straight forward mod.

It also occurred to me reading another thread on relays as the low beam does not have a relay a 50w low will have less drag than the 65w hi in the H4. Probably not a bad thing. As the hi beam H1 does have a relay I see no reason not to push it to 100w.

John
 
John,

You will need to re-wire the parking light feed wire from the signal light bulb to the headlight plug to properly activate it. Otherwise the city light will just light up when you flip your high beams on.
 
Luis

Ah...does this mod deactivate the US parking light? And the street light...I assume it is a separate bulb?

Thanks

John
 
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