Brighter headlights on Gen-1 explorer

How to increase the headlight brightness on a Generation-1 Explorer:

My Gen-1 1994 explorer uses 9004 halogen bulbs, which only put
out around 700 lumens. I converted it to use 9007 halogen bulbs which
puts out around 1000 lumens.
A bulb swap from the OEM 9004's to the much brighter 9007's has
been discussed in various forums (including here in 2001) and
thought I'd write up a more detailed how-to guide. And determine
whether one needs to upgrade the entire wiring harness or not.
Plus see if the resulting beam pattern is okay with the stock reflectors.

Instructions:
1. Buy:
- New 9007 halogen bulbs.
( I used Silvania 9007XV bulbs. About $20/pair at Autozone. )
- 9004 or 9007 wiring harness. This three wire cable has a male
connector on one end, and a female connector on the other end,
and is about 6" long.
( I bought mine for $20. )

2. Remove existing headlight bulbs. Twist the lightbulb retaining ring
counterclockwise ( on back of headlight housing) about a 1/4 turn
while pulling on it. Pull out old lightbulb. Disconnect the wiring
connector from the bulb. The bulb has three wires going to it, low
beam (red/black), high beam (light green/black) and ground (solid black).
Save the bulbs if you want to go back to factory original. Be careful
not to touch the glass part of the bulb with your fingers as any
oil will dramatically reduce the bulb life.

3. Modify the purchased 9004/9007 wiring harness to reverse the low
beam wire and the ground wire. On the Racing Labs harness these are
the red and black wires. This is the wiring harness already
modified to reverse the red and black wires:

If you'd like to save the $20 for the harness you can either remove the
pins in the existing Ford connector and swap the red/black wire and
the black wire, or cut the two wires and swap them. I preferred to use
the separate adaptor harness so I could go back to factory original
if needed.

4. Cut the two keying tabs on the existing headlight housing - at the
5:00 o'clock position and the 8:00 o'clock position. I used a dremel tool.
You shouldn't have to remove the headlight housings in order to do this,
but may have to remove the battery.

5. Insert new 9007 bulbs. They will only go in one way and shouldn't
rotate around in the housing if you saved the last remaining keying
tab at the 12:00 o'clock position. Be careful not to touch the bulb
surface with your bare oily fingers. Twist on retaining ring. Plug in
adaptor harness. Looks like:

6. Reaim the headlights. The 9007 bulbs have differently oriented filaments
and the beam aim and pattern will be very different than the 9004's.
Especially in the vertical direction. Use a 4mm hex socket, or headlight
adjust tool. The vertical adjust screws are the long black shafts on the
outer edges of the headlight housings. Here's what my new beam pattern
looks like: (Actually better than the very scattered, very dim, original.)

You're done.


The geeky stuff:
The 9007 bulbs use 55 Watts, and the existing 9004 bulbs use only 45 Watts.
Since you're drawing 10 Watts more per headlight, the voltage drop in
the factory wiring is a bit higher. If the voltage drop is too much, the
9007 light output could actually be lower than the factory 9004's.
( A 5% drop in voltage lowers the light output of a halogen bulb by
almost 20%. ) To check this, I measured the voltage at the bulbs
before and after the mod. The voltage was about 2% lower. The 9007's
are still 30% brighter even with the slightly lower voltage at the bulbs.
If you want to go even brighter, you can always modify one or both of
the adaptor harnesses to include a relay and run a separate wire directly
to the battery. I chose not to do this to keep the install as simple as
possible. And, running the full battery/alternator voltage (14.4V) to the bulbs also
dramatically reduces the bulb life since they are spec'd to run at 12.8V.
A 12% increase in bulb voltage would increase the brightness 50%, but
reduce the life by 75%. Since the 9007XV's already have a shorter life than
the regular 9007's, I didn't want to cut that down even further.
Plus the new 9007 headlights are plenty bright now.

V @ Batt w/ engine running = 14.4 V
Original 9004, voltage at bulb:
Left = 13.0 V Right = 12.7 V
Estimated light output = 709 Lumens

New 9007 with factory wiring:
Left = 12.7 V Right = 12.4 V
Estimated light output = 935 Lumens

A 30% improvement in light output for less than $50.

 

[Possumz]

Where were the modules located at so I can swap mine out at the same time as that is a great idea.

I'll add my appreciation for this thread. I finished this procedure plus new headlight modules and I can't wait for it to get dark to check it out. If you change out the headlight modules, they are about 30-40 per side. Be sure to keep the old ones and old hardware until you are satisfied. My new ones had the wrong screw clips on top, easy swap out since I didn't toss the old ones yet.

Thanks again!

 

[Naasau]

I think he was referring to the headlight housing as the 'module'.

 

[Anime]

Technical bulletin: 9004 & 9007 bulbs.

9004 and 9007 Bulbs
What are the differences? They look interchangeable— but they’re not.

When should I use 9007 bulbs?
Use 9007 bulbs in headlamps marked “DOT HR HB5” and wherever a 9007 was the original bulb.

When should I use 9004 bulbs?
Use 9004 bulbs in headlamps marked “DOT HR HB1” or “DOT HR” and wherever a 9004 was the original bulb.

The 9004 (HB1) bulb, introduced in 1983, was the first halogen replaceable
headlight bulb available for use in North America. It uses 12 Volts, has a
45 Watt low beam filament producing 700 lumens, and a 65 Watt high beam
filament producing 1200 lumens. These filaments are transverse—if you hold the
bulb upright, they run across the bulb from side to side.

The 9007 (HB5) bulb, introduced in 1992, uses 12 Volts, has a 55 Watt low beam filament
producing 1000 lumens, and a 65 Watt high beam filament producing 1350
lumens. These filaments are axial—if you hold the bulb upright, they run along the
bulb from top to bottom.

9004 and 9007 bulbs are keyed differently, so they can’t be interchanged, but
the higher light output of the 9007 tempts some people to try making 9007 bulbs fit
in headlamps designed for 9004 bulbs.

This is not an upgrade, and it’s unsafe.

It’s important to use the specified bulb.

Each headlamp is designed to use only one type of headlamp bulb. It may be a
9004, a 9007, or some other type. Headlamps are optical instruments, and they
depend on the filament being very precisely oriented and placed exactly how
and where it’s supposed to be, in order to form a beam pattern with the right
amounts of light in the right places.

If the filament is improperly oriented or placed because the wrong kind of bulb
is used, the headlamp’s optics won’t see what they’re expecting to see, and they
won’t be able to do their job. The result will be a damaged beam pattern that
won’t provide safe seeing light for the driver, and will cause blinding glare for other road users.

www.candlepowerinc.com/pdfs/9004_9007.pdf



Please don't use 9007 bulbs in housings designed for 9004 bulbs.

This thread shouldn't even exist, much less be a sticky. The advice it offers is both unsafe and illegal for vehicles used on public roads.

 

[MrWizard]

Just to clarify, "federal law does not regulate installation of lighting equipment by consumers".

If you'd like more information on aftermarket installation of lighting
check out the Specialty Equipment Market Association website:

http://www.sema.org

Or, if you're curious what the exact lighting requirements are, if you were
a manufacturer, google " 571.108 ".
This is the CFR (code of federal regulations) that governs automotive lighting.

On a practical note, since you are changing the filaments from a transverse
orientation to an axial one, the light tends to be more concentrated vertically which reduces the side spread.
Which, should, reduce the glare to oncoming traffic, not increase it.
Assuming, of course, you realign your headlights properly, as recommended.

 

[FIND]

You know... There is a much easier way to make your lights brighter than modifying your headlight to use a different bulb. Buy a higher wattage bulb, add a relay harness so the bulb gets power direct from the battery when the switch is in the on position, instead of through the switch.

Just to clarify, "federal law does not regulate installation of lighting equipment by consumers".

Local laws on the other hand...

 

[Naasau]

... vary locally?

 

[Anime]

Federal law does not regulate installation of lighting equipment by consumers, but Federal, State, and Local laws do regulate whether the headlamps of individual vehicles pose a safety risk to other drivers on the road. You can be pulled over and have your vehicle impounded for driving at night with headlamps that have the effect of blinding other drivers on the road, the same as with driving on public roads with your brights or driving lights on.

You might think because you are changing the filaments from a transverse orientation to an axial one, that the light tends to be more concentrated vertically which reduces the side spread, but you still aren't changing the reflector or the lens, both of which are designed for the transverse filaments of a 9004 bulb.

This is fact. Magical thinking won't change things or make it okay.


Higher wattage 9004 bulbs are also dangerous, they will melt the bulb base and headlamp as they are plastic, though most "higher wattage" 9004 bulbs are just cheap China-made bulbs that burn a little brighter and burn out sooner.

Brighter 9004 bulbs like Sylvania's XtraVision and Philips Hi-Visibility DO give more useable light on the road, but with the stock 45/65 wattage. A relay/harness setup is always a good idea to get the maximum voltage to the bulbs and give the advertised performance.

 

[FIND]

Absolutely right. While the federal government does not regulate what you put on your vehicle, the DOT, and your state and local governments do regulate what kind of lights can be on and in use on your vehicle while they are on public roads. Otherwise, half the people on the road would probably be driving around with a dozen off-road lights on the front of their cars to light up the road like the noon day sun. Some local laws can even regulate what types of lights you CAN put on your car even if you aren't using them.

Higher wattage 9004 bulbs are also dangerous, they will melt the bulb base and headlamp as they are plastic, though most "higher wattage" 9004 bulbs are just cheap China-made bulbs that burn a little brighter and burn out sooner.

Higher wattage bulbs from reputable manufacturers aren't so much of a problem, and they do exist. Obviously one should not go overboard though. Of course, the bulbs you suggested are a good option too.

 

[MrWizard]

Federal law does not regulate installation of lighting equipment by consumers, but Federal, State, and Local laws do regulate whether the headlamps of individual vehicles pose a safety risk to other drivers on the road. You can be pulled over and have your vehicle impounded for driving at night with headlamps that have the effect of blinding other drivers on the road, the same as with driving on public roads with your brights or driving lights on.

Absolute true. Fortunately this mod reduces the amount of side scatter and merely increases the brightness to the same as a
stock gen-2 Explorer - which use 9007 bulbs.
Shouldn't be a glare problem based on the beam pattern shown in the original post.

You might think because you are changing the filaments from a transverse orientation to an axial one, that the light tends to be more concentrated vertically which reduces the side spread, but you still aren't changing the reflector or the lens, both of which are designed for the transverse filaments of a 9004 bulb.

This is fact. Magical thinking won't change things or make it okay.

That's why I measured the actual light spread before and after the mod. No guessing, no magical thinking. Real measurements.
And the 9007 bulbs in the Explorer enclosure did indeed have a narrower spread than the original 9004 bulbs.
This also matches common sense since one is going from a wide transverse source to a narrow axial source. Again, basic geometry and optics, not magic.

 

[FIND]

Absolute true. Fortunately this mod reduces the amount of side scatter and merely increases the brightness to the same as a
stock gen-2 Explorer - which use 9007 bulbs.
Shouldn't be a glare problem based on the beam pattern shown in the original post.

That's why I measured the actual light spread before and after the mod. No guessing, no magical thinking. Real measurements.
And the 9007 bulbs in the Explorer enclosure did indeed have a narrower spread than the original 9004 bulbs.
This also matches common sense since one is going from a wide transverse source to a narrow axial source. Again, basic geometry and optics, not magic.

Take it from a mathematician who does a lot of research in optics. Everything you just said was wrong. Also, your mod has been done before, ad nauseum. He isn't guessing here when he tells you those things because we have seen them plenty of times. Now, your basic geometry aside, a headlight is a rather complex piece of equipment. You are dealing with a compound reflector and a light source that is a precise distance from it, that is precisely oriented. Now, if light was coming straight forward off the light, then maybe you would be making a salient point, however, ALL the light coming off your bulb is aimed at the compound reflector on the back of your headlight. That is why your bulb has that dark colored tip, to reflect heat and light back toward the filament, and prevent light from coming off the front.

Now, the light is scattered towards precisely oriented curves and flat spots on the back of your headlamp to act as tiny little mirror that reflect small portions of the light out in a specific pattern. The orientation of these points are precisely determined using math that makes your geometry teacher cry at night. The reflected light then passes through the fluting on the front, which causes the beam to diverge to fill the area ahead more evenly, and further shape the beam. If you change the angle even slightly that this light is hitting any of these points or the fluting in the front, the light will be scattered off in undesirable directions, or concentrated in parts of the foreground or background that make seeing where you need to more difficult, which we have observed from pictures and experience with other people who have done these types of swaps with their 9004 headlamps, and which we can observe in small detail in your first post.

BUT... If you really think that you are right and we are wrong, go find yourself a nice big flat wall (not that tiny bit in the first post) where you can measure off and take pictures. I'd be happy to put a first gen in the exact same position, under the same conditions, and take the same kind of exposure of picture. I'll even borrow a light meter from the lab and measure luminous flux at different points in the beam if you still feel like arguing after that.

 

[Anime]

Fortunately this mod reduces the amount of side scatter and merely increases the brightness to the same as a
stock gen-2 Explorer - which use 9007 bulbs.

The amount of light reflected to either side is reduced, and the 'brightness' is increased because the 9007 bulb puts out more lumens than a 9004 due to the extra 10 watts, but the light isn't going where it's supposed to.

Shouldn't be a glare problem based on the beam pattern shown in the original post.

You'd need a light tunnel to really check that out, or at the very least, a test subject in a car (not a truck or SUV) driving towards the vehicle equipped with 9007 bulbs in place of 9004's on a two lane road.

It's pretty much guaranteed that it causes offensive and illegal glare though.

That's why I measured the actual light spread before and after the mod. No guessing, no magical thinking. Real measurements.

With what light tunnel? The only thing in the first post is a pic with two bight spots you can get from any bulb in any headlamp if you park close enough to a wall. You'd need a calibrated light meter and a pitch black area to test in to get anything resembling real measurements.

And the 9007 bulbs in the Explorer enclosure did indeed have a narrower spread than the original 9004 bulbs.

They probably did, which is a BAD thing, and goes to show the 9007 bulbs don't work right with the optics of the 9004 housing and lens.

This also matches common sense since one is going from a wide transverse source to a narrow axial source. Again, basic geometry and optics, not magic.

You're focused on the beam spread side-to-side as if this is all that matters. The effect of glare is caused primarily by the light hitting the lower portion of the reflector, which isn't in the correct location when using a 9007 bulb in a 9004 housing. It's about the same as having the brights on, which uses the whole reflector rather than just the upper portion.

The reflector and lens also isn't designed for the output of the 9007 bulb, even less so with a harness.


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?257219-9004-to-9007-myths-dispelled

we can clearly see that a 9007 "retrofit" into a 9004 headlamp completely destroys beam focus. True, most 9004 headlamps have poor focus to begin with, but that 9007 "low" beam shows a total lack of beam control, basically a flood light with grossly excessive glare regardless of how you would aim the lights.

Yes, it does make the headlights brighter, and give them more throw. Because it's lighting up the highbeams! What do you expect?

 

[MrWizard]

"Everything you just said was wrong"?

Chill out guys. I'm not in competition or arguing with anyone. I go to this forum for the very reason that there are a lot of knowledgeable people on it.
But consider the possibility that I spent 30 years as an engineer, and lawyer, and didn't just fall off the turnip truck either.

I'm simply doubting that this particular 9004 -> 9007 conversion is illegal and unsafe. I don't believe this to be the case.
There is no federal law that prohibits an individual from making this modification. And local and state laws are pretty non-quantitative
and basically consist of avoid "glare" (as though that was a hard spec), and regulating the mounting of DOT-approved offroad lights.
Anecdotally, I see plenty of new cars on the road today with fully-legal OEM HID headlights that have much worse "glare" than my old Ford.

I am well aware that if you took a modern headlamp and replaced the bulb with another type it would be extremely unlikely you would get a optimal beam pattern.
That is not the situation here.

The stock Gen-1 headlight design from 1990 is hardly some sophisticated multi-faceted compound reflector design that shouldn't be meddled with.
I did originally measure my Explorer with the stock 9004 bulbs. With a lightmeter from the lab. And if you saw the beam pattern you would seriously doubt
that it was some kind of optimal design. Changing to the 9007 bulbs, the beam pattern was not some even worse chaotic mess.
It was narrower, with less side-scatter, and a decent pattern that would easily meet the criteria of CFR 571.108.
And I did adjust the enclosures down a bit, Anime, to compensate for the lower reflector.

I am also well aware this mod has been tried on numerous other car headlight designs, ad nauseum, and shouldn't be done willy-nilly without evaluating the end result.
Consider the possibility it does yield an acceptable result on some older headlight designs.

p.s. There is a software program called LightTools which allows you to easily see the result of various filament and reflector geometry changes,
instead of manually ray-tracing and calculus any more.

 

[Anime]

Chill out guys. I'm not in competition or arguing with anyone. I go to this forum for the very reason that there are a lot of knowledgeable people on it.
But consider the possibility that I spent 30 years as an engineer, and lawyer, and didn't just fall off the turnip truck either.

Since you've apparently come to the defense of your original post, we're just arguing the case with facts to try and get you to see what the facts are regarding the use of 9007 bulbs in a housing designed for a 9004 bulb.

If you've been an engineer and a lawyer, this should be even easier.

I'm simply doubting that this particular 9004 -> 9007 conversion is illegal and unsafe. I don't believe this to be the case.
There is no federal law that prohibits an individual from making this modification. And local and state laws are pretty non-quantitative
and basically consist of avoid "glare" (as though that was a hard spec), and regulating the mounting of DOT-approved offroad lights.
Anecdotally, I see plenty of new cars on the road today with fully-legal OEM HID headlights that have much worse "glare" than my old Ford.

Just because there is no federal law that deals with individuals using bulbs in headlamps not designed for them doesn't mean it isn't illegal. There are Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and State and local police have the power to remove a vehicle from the public roads that violates those standards. It's certainly true that most law enforcement are absolutely clueless about such things though, and you could probably drive around for years with blue HID bulbs that blind everyone before you'd encounter a cop who would pull you over for it, let alone inspect the bulbs or headlamps.

On some level, this is just about not being a jerk, and caring about your own safety, as well as the others on the road. Even at a selfish level, drivers should have an interest in not having the headlights of their vehicle glare into the eyes of the drivers of oncoming cars, lest they be blinded and drive into the vehicle with the headlights that blinded them.

I am well aware that if you took a modern headlamp and replaced the bulb with another type it would be extremely unlikely you would get a optimal beam pattern. That is not the situation here.

The stock Gen-1 headlight design from 1990 is hardly some sophisticated multi-faceted compound reflector design that shouldn't be meddled with.

The composite headlamp on the Explorer is every bit a modern headlamp. Even headlamp designs from the 1980's, 70's, and a long way back are very sophisticated.

The 1990's were not ancient tech just because newer headlamps use a different reflector and beam design, nor is that any justification for using different bulbs.

I did originally measure my Explorer with the stock 9004 bulbs. With a lightmeter from the lab. And if you saw the beam pattern you would seriously doubt that it was some kind of optimal design. Changing to the 9007 bulbs, the beam pattern was not some even worse chaotic mess.
It was narrower, with less side-scatter, and a decent pattern that would easily meet the criteria of CFR 571.108.

It would have been interesting if you used a light meter, and measured the intensity at several points in front of the vehicle, as well as higher up, 1,2,3 meters off the ground. Then maybe you'd get an idea of where all that extra light is going.

And I did adjust the enclosures down a bit, Anime, to compensate for the lower reflector.

So now the high beams are compromised so they won't be as functional when you need them. Also unsafe.

I am also well aware this mod has been tried on numerous other car headlight designs, ad nauseum, and shouldn't be done willy-nilly without evaluating the end result.
Consider the possibility it does yield an acceptable result on some older headlight designs.

It might be 'acceptable' for off-road use, where beam intensity is the only consideration.

Sure, MAYBE the beam pattern is sort of acceptable, IF you aim the headlights down more, to the right more, and make all sorts of other adjustments to compensate. But having to do those things should tell you something is wrong, that you're doing shadetree modifications to a precision optics system in the hopes of some minor improvement to the brightness of the low beams, regardless of anything else.

If you want to use the increase in brightness of the low beams after adjustment as the sole measure of benefit, sure, maybe you achieved some little tiny bit of increase in beam intensity. But at the cost of the function of the rest of the system.

The misinformation about this sort of bulb swap leads people to simply move wires or use adapters, throw in 9007 bulbs, and then drive while having headlights that glare straight into the eyes of other drivers, not caring since now they have "20% brighter" headlights.

These days, every ricer on the planet has rigged HID bulbs into their halogen housings, and we have the same problem. Glare, glare, glare, all over the place. And they don't care, they just think it looks cool with blue tinted headlights, and they believe they can see better because all the glare everywhere makes it look like there is more light, when what little light there really is, is scattered everywhere but on the road, where it needs to be.


Have you tried using high-output 9004 bulbs with the relay setup instead?

My experience is that 9004 XtraVision or Hi-Visibility bulbs give an improvement, and maintain the benefits of the original headlamp beam pattern. While some people may not consider it optimal like the SAE pattern with a sharp cutoff, I think the much longer throw suits an SUV better. A pair of high output 9004 with a relay setup might even outdo a pair of 9007s with stock wiring.

While the 9007's are "better" bulbs in a lot of ways, with the axial filaments and higher wattage low beam, the 9004 is still decent, and works well for what it was, a compromise for a composite headlamp with long bulb life and lower power consumption.

If they made aftermarket housings for the 91-94's that were designed to be used with a 9007 bulb, that would be an improvement, but they don't, so the easiest, safest thing to do is stick with 9004 bulbs, and use higher output versions and relay harnesses to achieve the maximum potential of the headlamp.

 

[MrWizard]

Unfortunately, being an old engineer and lawyer makes it *more* difficult to accept that
the headlight with the 9004 bulb is some optimum design that can't be messed with.

I can envision the design history like this:

1. Congress decides the U.S. should be a world leader. Thus we can't adopt the current, better,
international lighting standards. We specify a worse SAE headlight standard, just to be different.

2. Back at Ford, Larry, the Mechanical Engineer, who runs the lighting group and doesn't know
anything about Optics, hires his sister's unemployed brother-with-the-physics-degree, Bob.

3. Bob is assigned to twelve projects, one of which is the headlight design for the 1990 Explorer.

4. Bob specifies a 9007 bulb, and designs an appropriate enclosure to meet the U.S. standard.
Bob doesn't know what he is doing and screws up the math.

5. Industrial Design comes back and tells Bob he has a rectangular space of 4" x 2" to fit the headlight.
Too small for the optimal reflector design. Bob compromises the design to fit.

6. Legal comes back and tells Bob he's infringing on a Toyota reflector design patent.
Bob compromises the design to a lesser reflector.

7. Finance comes back and tells Bob his design is 12 cents per unit over budget.
Bob compromises the design to include less reflector contours.

8. Bob's design is carefully reviewed by the mechanical design team, who doesn't know beans about
Optics. The Team leader likes Bob. The design is approved.

9. Bob releases the design.

10.Manufacturing discovers the headlamp enclosure has an interference fit.
Joe issues an ECO, to shorten the headlamp enclosure, and further compromises the design.

11. Bob is caught smoking crack in the mens room. Bob is allowed to resign with dignity.

12. Larry, hires Ken, his cousin's son, whose last job was selling used cars, to replace Bob.
Clearly qualified. The Team likes Ken. Ken is a team player.

13. Ken discovers the cheaper 9004 bulb can fit in the enclosure. Ken issues an ECO and
replaces the 9007 bulb with the 9004 bulb. Ken saves Ford $0.23 per unit. Ken is a hero.
Ken is nominated to the employee-of-the-month club.

14. Ford profits soar.

15. Ken crashes his company Explorer on a dark rainy night. Glare from oncoming traffic is suspected.
Bob, the oncoming driver, is arrested for illegally modifying his Explorer headlights to use 9007 bulbs.

-
Thought we were getting a little too serious about light bulbs....

 

[FIND]

Well, that couldn't possibly be true, considering the 9007 bulb was introduced in 1992, and this housing was designed in 1987, based on the geometry of earlier housings Ford had used and spent several million dollars designing. And they still spent quite a bit on the design of them. Ford does, and has employed engineers who specialize in optics since long ago, and they fund tons of research grants for designing optics and light sources for automobiles, along with studies about driving with lights, and the effects of such on the human eye or human perception.

But hey, you are a lawyer and an engineer. Obviously you know more than all the other engineers, mathematicians and physicists out there.

Why not just put up or shut up instead of just offering a bunch of supposition about why you think this should work because you are certain there is some underground conspiracy to offer you crappy lighting by not using the lights that hadn't been invented at the time just to save even a fraction of a cent per unit. (by the way, the unit cost of the 9007 bulbs at the time of their introduction was the same as the 9004, and the cost for designing reflectors dropped substantially, since it was easier to design radially for those axial mounted filaments). I offered you a pretty simple test. Measure your light output against a large uniform surface at distance great enough to show the pattern, and I will duplicate your experiment with the unmodified 93 that is sitting right across from my driveway. Heck, if you really want, send me a junk headlight, I'll measure the reflector and lens, and I will do the ray-tracing manually for the filament position on a 9004 and a 9007.

Honestly, I'm finding it pretty hard to believe that you were any kind of decent engineer if you think that they half-assed the design for the headlamps, but magically, the 9007 works perfectly in it. These aren't spot lights. The reason an explorer headlight doesn't meet ECE requirements is because they emit light above the level that European requirements permit, because lights here have to be made to light signs above the road, something you don't find in Europe. Lighting standards in this country aren't THAT bad.

Certainly it is not an optimum design. That is why it was changed. But it wasn't just randomly changed by, "Hey look guys, this new bulb Osram gave us fits if we grind this off and it lights things up better! You suppose we aught to throw this in cars from now on?" It was changed by a complete redesign of reflector optics for all ford vehicles using single beam headlights based on research papers from studies funded by lighting and car manufacturers.

 

[MrWizard]

Ahhh, that whole made-up train of history was a joke, in case that wasn't obvious.
Thought I'd inject a little levity, since we seem to be going off the deep end here.

In any event, I've stated my case. Don't have any particular personal need to add anything else.
Have a good day.

Cheers!

 

[IAmTodd]

1. Congress decides the U.S. should be a world leader. Thus we can't adopt the current, better,
international lighting standards. We specify a worse SAE headlight standard, just to be different..

Isn't that the truth. Comparing these to an e-code beam does show how inferior they are. I've been looking into swapping to the euro spec light setup but its proving to be pretty pricey. I've considered the 9007 swap but oddly the light output is better than either of my gen 2s. In the end I'll probably fork out the cash for some diamond cuts and retrofit a proper HID/projector setup so that I have comparable output and pattern to that of my Saab.

 

[Kiliona]

If you want to go even brighter, you can always modify one or both of
the adaptor harnesses to include a relay and run a separate wire directly
to the battery. I chose not to do this to keep the install as simple as
possible. And, running the full battery/alternator voltage (14.4V) to the bulbs also
dramatically reduces the bulb life since they are spec'd to run at 12.8V.
A 12% increase in bulb voltage would increase the brightness 50%, but
reduce the life by 75%. Since the 9007XV's already have a shorter life than
the regular 9007's, I didn't want to cut that down even further.
Plus the new 9007 headlights are plenty bright now.

Why not wire a resistor in series with that relay in order to drop the voltage back to 12.8? wouldn't that make them brighter AND last like 30-50 percent longer than putting the full 14 volts from the alternator/battery?

 

[xlt4wd90]

Why not wire a resistor in series with that relay in order to drop the voltage back to 12.8? wouldn't that make them brighter AND last like 30-50 percent longer than putting the full 14 volts from the alternator/battery?

Dragging up an old thread...

Putting resistors in series with the light sort of defeats the purpose of the relays. The point of the relay is to bypass the stock (Christmas tree light) wiring, which has so much resistance that the headlights usually operate at well under specified power levels. That translates to poor visibility, and dangerous driving conditions.

I first installed relays and heavier cables on my 87 Mustang about 20 years ago because the stock wiring was poor, and caused the headlight switch to overheat and trip its thermal breaker. Just that change made the headlights look a lot brighter. It also saves wear on the headlight switch in the dash and the high/low switch in the steering column.

I later converted the 9004 lights to E4 lights made by Bosch, which provided a much more usable pattern even with standard wattage bulbs. Having replaced the H4 bulbs a couple times since then, I noted how sensitive the pattern was to the bulb position. It's a very complex reflector that works with the lens to put either the low or high beams out in specific patterns. And I will never use a Sylvania XV again, as I found the way they achieved the brighter output with the same wattage was by making the filament smaller, so it burns hotter, and therefore lasts about 1/5 the life of ordinary bulbs.

I'm glad someone brought up the incompatibility of transverse vs axial filaments between their respective housings. The perceived increase in brightness you get from installing a 9007 bulb into a 9004 housing comes partly from the greater wattage, and partly from most of the light being too concentrated down the center. If you were going for a spot or "driving" pattern, that's fine. But if you need to maintain the standard low beam pattern, this will not work, as that is supposed to have some spread to the sides.

Having said that, I will admit that the Bosch E4 lights are now on my Aerostar, and I installed HIDs into the Mustang. It also uses E4 housings, so the focus is not perfect even though the HID bulb has an axial arc, similar to but not the same as an H4 axial filament. But that turned out to be not as bad as one might think. One of the problems with modern cars using HID lights in perfectly focused housings is they have this very sharp cut-off pattern at the horizon. When the car is driving on any non-perfect road, the front end will bounce over irregularities. This causes the pattern to also bounce up and down. The horizon cut-off also happens to be where most of the light has been placed, so an on-coming driver will be dazzled by the fast transitions between very bright and very dark headlight pattern. With the poorer focus of the HID arc in the E4 housing, there are no sharp patterns. The transition from bright to dark is more gentle, so as my car bounces along the road, the light seen by oncoming drivers is not as dazzling as it would be if it was sharply focused. Otherwise, the pattern provides plenty of light to the sides. I did have to install driving lights to make it look like I have "high beams". Here are some pictures:

https://plus.google.com/photos/115552367774490549511/albums/5468586410101143089?banner=pwa

 

[nkfroth]

Rockauto.com carries a 9007 100/80 currently in their warehouse for $3.22/ea.