Mo Brighta
Well-Known Member
HO (for High Output) - a modern design lamp with Krypton fill gas and modern materials INCLUDING the required nickel plated base shell BMW requires. Improved filament designs make lots more light from a few more watts. More detail - hope it's not too much:Andy--Your tests look great. What is an HO lamp used in your comparison tests?
thanks,
Drew
Tail light - For the tests pictured above -- I use a 5008 / R10W (Narva 17311) lamp. They make 150% more lumens than the 5007 / R5W (67% more than later 5008 / R10W) lamps specified for most vintage BMW cars... 10 cp versus stock 4 or 6 cp (CP = candlepower = mean spherical candela). None of these HO lamps make significantly more heat (watts) than the OEM lamps at 5W or 10W.
Brake Light - Bulbs I use (not widely available) are 3497 for brake/turn/reverse, and 3496 for front turn or 2-filament tail+brake light applications. These bulbs were developed for Honda Motor Company cars back in the day, are a slightly higher wattage (a few watts more than 7506 lamps from BMW). They make 33-34% more lumens that the 7506.
If I were to take and post those pictures, you'd see quite a difference, maybe that would be instructive?
What WILL melt lenses and damage lenses or destroy your lights is the use of a BRAKE lamp in a TAIL LIGHT socket - usually done to boost running light output on an old car with corroded lights. The constant high heat (3 - 5 times more than expected) and the height of the lamp (putting it too close to the lens) are major factors. I see this often, especially in 2002 lights, round and square. It's sad, really, to see a big round divot melted into a lens, and worse if it's yours!
Originally the 3496 & 3497 HO bulbs came from Stanley, a company supplying largely for the Asian market, like Toyota, Honda, and Acura, and probably others. Please pardon my ignorance in that arena, I focus on the European (mostly BMW) market. When you visit an Automotive Recycler (junkyard) and see an older Japanese car, look at the lamps or lights, and you will see 'Stanley' everywhere. Honda sells them for $$$ under their own part numbers, of course. Companies other than Stanley are now making them to the same specs... that's the 'Global Economy.'
Bottom Line- with a properly restored reflective coating (silvering), a good lamp, and good electrical contacts, you will get good light output from an old set of lights, SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY, which is the goal. After all, nobody in a coupe wants to be a speed bump underneath a Hummer or other garden shed-sized living room on wheels, do they?
"Keep those cards and letters coming!"
Andy