Gerhard

5th Gen H1 Bulb Comparison and General Information
by Gerhard

This is the second version of my original article about H1 type bulbs for the 5th Gen Honda Prelude. The original version was posted in August of 2000 on the now defunct icon of Prelude history – HondaPrelude.com. (The actual bulb comparisons are in the second messge, general background is in this one...)

Since then there have been a lot of vendors that have produced H1 type bulbs using newer halogen / noble gas technologies. I can’t really say that everything’s changed, but I can give you a list of updated bulbs and vendors. However, we are going to take a look at some technical facts / background first.

Over the past four years I’ve been looking for a better bulb, particularly for the low beams, so that I can see more clearly at night. The primary reason for this is that the low beams tend to truncate at a certain level to prevent you from blinding on-coming traffic. It’s a great design, unless you want to see a little further down the road. This is further complicated by the fact that the stock bulbs for the car are 55watt Halogen H1s.

Before we get going, first thing first:

Disclaimer:

Use any of my notes here is doing so at your own risk! I make no warranties about the information contained herein. What follows are my observations. Using 100 watt H1 bulbs in the head lamp assembly can be a problem, especially if they are not a brand name!


The 1997-2001 Prelude head lamps:

The headlamp housing in the Prelude was made for 55watt bulbs. If you put an extremely hot bulb in the head lamp, you might damage the fixture. I’ve used 85watt bulbs and I’ve read that other people have as well, so they appear pretty safe. However: I have noticed that some 70watt and 85watt bulbs have started to burn the bulb holders when used in the low beams. This seems to be as a result of continued use over time. Basically, the bulb holders get baked as the higher wattage bulbs warm up the assembly. The most notable signs of the bulb holders getting to hot are the white plastic nubs that level the metal base of the bulb showing signs of melting, and the glue at the base of the holder turning a deep brown. It is also possible in some extreme instances to see brown burning in the gray plastic part of the headlamp assembly where the bulbs plug in.

One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is that putting 100w bulb in the high beams doesn’t seem to damage anything (bulb holders, wiring, etc.). I think this is because the high beams are not used as much and never bake any of the headlamp parts for long periods of time.

What goes into automotive lamps from a technology standpoint?

H1 bulbs are pretty simple in design. There is a simple tungsten filament that is wound at various lengths and runs about 50% the length of the quartz capsule. Aside from the filament, the bulb itself is charged with a halogen gas.

From your high school chemistry class you probably know that the halides are a group of elements with similar properties. Our area of interest is what happens when you charge the charge a gas with electrons. There are two ways to do this:

1) You can arc the electrons from one electrode to another by using extremely high voltages. That flow of electrons through the gas (usually Xenon) causes a broad spectrum white light to be produced. The automotive world uses lamps based on this technology that are called H.I.D. or High Intensity Discharge lamps. These are the cool ass lamps that most folks want.

2) You can also use a tungsten filament attached to the two electrodes, but fill the bulb with a halogen gas (chlorine or fluorine). In this method the filament vaporizes slightly as it heats up and gaseous tungsten flows through the bulb. The halogen gas interacts with tungsten gas / filament combo causing it to “burn� hotter all the while re-depositing the tungsten onto the filament as it vaporized off. This process in turn radiates photons of light in wavelengths directly related to the gas / filament used. For a halogen based bulb the gas is going to be chlorine, or if a solid is used one of the various halides. This setup is known as a normal light bulb, and that is exactly what an H1 bulb is.

Why does any of this matter? Well, it’s helpful because it enables you to better understand one of the options you have to seeing better if you’ve got a 5th gen: Knowing the difference between the many H1 bulbs.

What are the options for better lighting on your 5th Gen?
Well, to get more light, you have several options:

1. Get a higher wattage bulb. I’ve found H1 bulbs in 55w, 70w, 85w and 100w so far.

2. Get a newer technology bulb. (Xenon, xenon/halogen mix, etc.)

3. Install a HID system. (Big bucks, and not generally a do it yourself project.)

4. Install an additional light system. (Fogs or Driving lights)
Higher wattage bulbs:

As you’ve read about there are can be issues with using higher wattage bulbs and their physical placement in the Prelude.
However, there is no doubt that installing a higher wattage bulb will produce a higher output or intensity of light. This can be a big advantage to seeing the road at night, especially when used in the high beams. However, in the low beams very high wattage bulbs tend to blind on coming traffic as they are too intense for the OEM reflector. The one other complication with higher wattage halogen lights is that they burn VERY hot. Hot is not good in the OEM head lamps.

One other consideration deals with the wiring harness of your Prelude. When you use the highest wattage bulbs (100 watts) they draw a lot of current (energy). This draw can cause the factory wiring harness to overload and burn up. To be safe, you should not use 100 watt H1 bulbs in all 4 bulb places on the 5th Gen. You should only use them in 2 of the 4 locations (your choice).

Mixed technology bulbs:

There is another gas that has found its way into normal bulb manufacture: Xenon. Xenon’s use in halogen bulbs provides a whiter light than just using the standard filament / halogen method. It also produces a slightly cooler bulb. The neat thing about this is that you get about a 30% increase in light output just by changing the gas mixtures.

The real advantage for someone looking to get rid of that yellowish light look is that Xenon based halogen bulbs produce a white light. This light is closer to the color temperature of a HID system, but brighter enough to produce the equivalent output of a higher wattage bulb.

Krypton, Argon, and Neon are also used in halogen bulbs, but not generally in automotive applications.
One other manner of insuring decently blue / white light is by coating the bulbs in with a light filter. Generally, the coatings are either blue (which creates a more sunlight like white light) or dichroic (which produces the aqua blue head lamp color). The best bulbs usually use a Xenon gas and bulb filter to get a comfortable white color temperature out of a bulb.

Installing a HID system:

It is possible to install a HID system in a Honda Prelude. There are two ways to do this and neither are really cheap.
The first way it to get a H1 bulb replacement kit where HID lamps have been glued into an H1 base. There a huge problems with this method. The worst of them being that you blind every driver on the road because of the tremendous glare generated by the OEM reflectors. The stock Prelude’s headlamp assembly is not made for the intensity of the light produced and scatters the light everywhere. It looks really cool up close, but it also blinds on coming traffic and doesn’t provide enough directed light to see the road well. This method is brighter than H1 bulbs, but not really better per se.

The second way is to have you head lamp housing modified with the reflector from an OEM system made for another car. This is the most successful manner of performing a HID upgrade because it puts the light exactly where it should be by correcting the beam pattern and focusing the light.

Beware: The 1st aftermarket HID install is not DOT approved and can cause problems when you go to have your car inspected.

Installing additional lighting systems:

I finally went out and got the Catz MSX driving lights. These I’ve mounted onto each side of the front license plate. These are not DOT approved, but are much better than fog lamps at producing additional directed light. The other neat thing is that they use a 1 inch thick lens and a normal 85w H3 bulb to produce a light the most people swear is a HID system. So I end up with a set of auxiliary lights that throw really white light out to about 60 ft on the road in front of the car. (I see everything without blinding on coming traffic.) In many respects this type of mod is probably your most cost effective option for adding light for night time driving applications.

 

Gerhard

5th Gen Bulb Comparison (part 2)

[I hate this cheesy 10,000 character limit on messages... We ARE paying you.... ]

Con't:

H1 light bulb evaluations-

So far I’ve tried the following bulbs:

PIAA 85w standard halogen bulbs
PIAA 55w=100w bulbs
PIAA Plasma bulbs
Catz 55w=120w bulbs
Hella HIP (High Intensity Plus) bulbs
Hiper 85w bulbs
GigaLux 55w=110w bulbs
World Light 70w bulbs
Toucan Eurolite 55w bulbs
Toucan Eurolite 100w bulbs
Phillips BlueVision 55w bulbs

The bulbs are rated from 1 to 5 according to:

-Whiteness (external view) [3 on the scale is OEM whiteness]

-Road Illumination (from inside) [3 on the scale is OEM illumination]

-Cost [1 is VERY expensive, 5 is about $13.00 a set or 2]

-Longevity [1 is blow every 6 months, 5 is haven’t blow yet and it’s been years.]

On to the bulbs:

PIAA 85w standard bulbs:

These are normal off-road H1 halogen bulbs. They don’t really look like any sort of improvement on the OEM bulbs. In fact, they are actually yellower. Given that and the fact that they are higher wattage and burn hotter than 55w bulbs, I don’t think they are a good option for the Prelude.

Whiteness = 2, Illumination = 3, Cost = 5, Longevity = 4


PIAA 55W=100W bulbs:

These are normal Xenon charged 55w halogen based bulbs with the filament wound a little tighter to produce a whiter light. During my original bulb review these where one of the better bulbs. At this point I doubt they stack up to some of the other competitors, especially at the premium price PIAA charges. They do work well, but are expensive. There is no way these bulb emulate 100w bulbs.

Whiteness = 4, Illumination = 4, Cost = 2, Longevity = 3

PIAA Plasma bulbs (Xtreme White Bulbs):

I haven’t actually installed these myself, just seen them. Well, there really do look just like a HID system. However, I’m told that they burn out quickly and cost about $89.00 a pair. I had not seen a bulb that produces the white light normally seen in a HID system until I saw these bulbs. They’re pretty neat. The problem is that you can’t see a damn thing in the distance because the Prelude’s OEM head lamp reflectors do not work well with that type of light. Good for shows, poor for seeing the roads, very expensive. These bulbs are whiter than anything normal, so they get a 6 out 5. Note: They do blind on coming traffic.

Whiteness = 6, Illumination = 2.5, Cost = 1, Longevity = 2

Catz 55w=120w bulbs:

Ok, these are a scam. There are no way these suckers put out enough light to even be close to 120w in equivalent output. The technology in the bulb isn’t anything fantastic and I suspect that there are almost the same as the PIAA 55w=100w bulbs.

Whiteness = 3, Illumination = 4, Cost = 3, Longevity = 3

Hella HIP (High Intensity Plus) H1 70w bulbs:

Ok, now we find the first bulb I’ve tried that is nice and bright, a little blue/purple, and doesn’t work well in the low beams on the Prelude. Interestingly, if you use a combination, say a xenon 55w bulb in the low beam, things seem to work really well. Here’s what’s neat about them: The low beam’s pattern is to diffuse for such a blue/purple bulb. What happens is that even though the bulb seems bright close up, when you use the bulb in the low beams it’s visually no better than the factory H1 55w Phillips bulb! HOWEVER: When you put these suckers in the high beam, you’d swear you’d installed something akin to a black light!! Anything with reflective material just jumps out at you. Likewise, white road lines and everything else of that nature becomes really visible. I’d recommend using these bulbs in the Prelude’s high beams if you use them at all and can find them.

Whiteness = 3 (aqua blue), Illumination = 3 (5 on reflective materials), Cost = 5, Longevity = 5

Hiper 85Watt Xenon H1 bulbs:

These are the first bulbs that I noticed where not what they seemed. It turns out that their 85w bulb was actually a 100w bulb with a blue coating on the capsule. The lights worked well in the lower beams, until I changed them for another set and found out that they were burning the bulb holders. So I ended up replacing my bulb holders… I did inform the seller of the bulbs and was immediately ignored for telling them. Not bad bulbs, burned out after 8 months or so, mismarked wattage, inexpensive. These are not really brighter than any of the new technology bulbs below.
Whiteness = 4, Illumination = 4, Cost = 3, Longevity = 3

GigaLux 55w=110w bulbs:

Well, these were right off the boat from Japan. I was comped these bulbs by a guy starting a web store. They were ok but nothing about them stood out. As is typical they have a light blue coating on the capsule. What wasn’t typical is that the coating rubbed off if you touched the capsule in any way. For that reason alone I’d stay away from them. Especially for the price of $50.00+

Whiteness = 3, Illumination = 3, Cost = 2, Longevity = 3

World light 70w bulbs:

These are standard bulbs that produced a decent amount of light output at first and then faded over time. Don’t buy them as they also toasted my original bulb holders. (These were the VERY first aftermarket bulbs I tried when I bought my Prelude in 1999.)

Whiteness = 2, Illumination = 4, Cost = 5, Longevity = 3

Phillips BlueVision 55w bulbs:

These were the second OEM spec’ed bulbs that I ran into that worked as advertised. These are a nice white bulb that is fairly inexpensive and an absolutely improvement to roadway vision over the stock OEM bulbs. I’d recommend these bulbs to anyone. I had these in both my low beams and high beams. I suspect these are actually VisionPlus bulbs with a blue filter.

Whiteness = 4.5, Illumination = 4, Cost = 4, Longevity = 5

Phillips VisionPlus 55w bulbs:

These are also pretty good bulbs. I was disappointed that one of them didn’t last more than about 6 months, but it could have been a fluke. When one of them blew I put a BlueVision spare I had in the other head light and noticed a definite difference between the drive’s side and passenger’s side. The BlueVisions where whiter. These bulbs do provide decent light for the road and they cost the same as the BlueVision bulbs.

Whiteness = 4, Illumination = 5, Cost = 4, Longevity = 4

Toucan Eurolite 55w bulbs:

Well, these where the 3rd OEM spec’ed light that I was really impressed with. As much of a difference as there was between the VisionPlus and BlueVision bulbs, there was between the BlueVision and the Toucan 55w bulbs. They are very clean and very white without being so HID white as to prevent you from seeing well. (The whole goal is to get a higher output bulb with a decent color temp so that you can see the road better. These bulbs do exactly that for a low price of $13.50.) I understand that they last pretty long according to the h-p.com member that recommended them to me! They are currently in my low beams.

Whiteness = 5, Illumination = 4, Cost = 5, Longevity = 5

Toucan Eurolite 100w bulbs:

Just like the 55w bulbs, but are just a little brighter. These went into my high beams. Very white. About the same price as the 55w versions. These are currently in my high beams.

Whiteness = 5, Illumination = 4, Cost = 5, Longevity = ?

sharkcohen

That old article is what helped me settle on Philips BlueVision.

__________________

Gerhard

Yeah, they're probably the best.

Most folks don't really understand that color temperature plays a huge role in being able to actually see the road at all.

In some repsects those cheesy yellowish OEM H1 bulbs work better than many others for seeing the road.

I'm a big fan of the Phillips BlueVision and Vision Plus bulbs.

I did like the Hella Optiplex bulbs, but they took them off the market due to quality control issues. (Hense the reason that are not in the review...)

-Gerhard

Akimoto

I dunno I would have to disagree with the evaluation of the Eurolite 55W. I had the Xenon Crystals before and they had terrible road illumination. Colour was great tho a good white. But compared to my stock bulbs and now Vision Plus, I was like driving blind!

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2001 SE. SOLD.
www.vancouverpreludeclub.com

joedaddy

hey...i kinda disagree with your Philips Bluevision review..
the fact they are not really white...

white = Hiper industries or any of the generic bulbs with a lot of blue tint on them...

also...how can oEM bulb be rate a 3 on a scale of 5 in whiteness?
it isn't a BIT white...it should more be like a 1 or 2 MAX...

I used the PIAA 55w -> 100w bulbs (the NON-tinted ones) and
they were just a bit lighter than stock...
if you gave a bulb a rating of 2 on whiteness scale, do you mean
they are REALLY YELLOW?

Gerhard

The Phillips BlueVision are whiter than OEM. In relation to other bulbs bulbs, they are not as intensely white.

Yes, if I gave a bulb a 2, that means they were yellower than OEM.

White = any bulb that produces whiter than OEM bulbs. There are a few bulbs that do not have a blue tinted capsule that are white in light output compared to OEM bulbs.

The OEM bulbs rate a 3 on the scale because their color temp is actually a bit white... especially when compared with other bulbs. 1 on the scale would be a yellow fog light, 5 on the scale would be a normal bulb that didn't have a hint of yellow in it and was intensely white.

So 3 is OEM white... which has a slightly yellow shade to it. 2 Would be something like the 85watt PIAA H1's, which are brighter than OEM, but yellower in appearance.

-Gerhard

prelude2k

This spreadsheet is based on the info provided above by Gerhard. I thought it would be easier to read in tabular format and I added a combined score column. Why did I do this, just because I luv you all.

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joedaddy

took u over half a year..lol

h22 bb6

Where can you get the Toucan Eurolite, if possible?

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fmshaw1971

It depends on what they mean by burning out early. PIAA Xtreme Whites are actually the best of the HID simulated bulbs for longevity from what most people have found. They last a good year or more compared to 1-2 months for other HIDesque bulbs.

__________________

97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.

Gerhard

You can find them all over the place... hell, Crutchfield even sells them!

Some of the bulbs are DOT approved, and others are not.

The ones I've been using are just very white... and they do tend to last so far (about a year for me).

Gerhard

Gerhard

I haven't played around to much with the Xtreme Whites, but the Plasmas were know to not last two long.

Either way, the real issue with the PIAA's is the cost... If they only last a year and set you back $100.00... after a few years it would be more cost effective to do a HID system with projectors.

Gerhard