H9 Headlight Photos
- Thread starter SC0TT
- Start date
Hawaiian4runner
New member
Here's some cut off shots ~25' back
Thanks for the cutoff shots. Looks pretty clean to me. Hope you didn't get the impression that I was hating on you. I just wanted what you just delivered. Photos so I can make a somewhat educated decision.
Keemonrunnin
Member
Qjake
New member
Looks fine, maybe a bit high. Did you happen to measure the cutoff height @25'?
I learned about this a while ago from other forums but there were a lot of chatter about 65 watts being hotter and dangerous for your stock housings. It can get pretty hot here in the summer time and that's my concern a little more than the light output. Does anyone have a thermal sensor who can actually get a true reading? This would be great!
If heat is not a problem its much better than paying $50 for a set of Silverstars that last just under a year.
If heat is not a problem its much better than paying $50 for a set of Silverstars that last just under a year.
sandcrawler
Senior Member
A couple weeks ago I ran across the H11 to H9 headlight conversion thread. Seemed like a quick effective upgrade. Purchased Narva bulbs from Candlepower. The installation took about 20 minutes, used a dremmel to grind the tab and plug.
The difference is pretty impressive, especially considering the cost and simplicity. I didn't take a photo with the H9 and H11 side by side, but the H11 looked brown compared to the H9. There is a wider beam overall; traffic signs and road markings illuminate brighter. But honestly, they may bee borderline too bright for oncoming traffic. After two weeks of use, brights have been flashed at me quite a few times.
Anyways, I'll get to the point of the thread. Was bored tonight, so I went out to take some night shots...
i'm pretty sure the OP's photos of the beam pattern (illuminating trees in front of vehicle) are with the Highs ON. H9 or H11, HIR or 9005, you would never approach an oncoming vehicle with that beam pattern.
but, yeah, if you're getting flashed, you should adjust your beams down.
I disagree. By their design, H9's produce more glare that blinds oncoming traffic than that produced by H11's. The tips of H11 bulbs are dipped in an opaque coating which blocks light coming straight out of the tip of the bulb. Most, if not all, of the light beam from a headlight with an H11 bulb emanates from the headlight's reflector. The reflector diffuses the light, reducing glare. But the reflector also reduces the brightness, since every time light is reflected it loses brightness. All of the H9 bulbs that I've seen don't have an opaque coating on their tips. Thus, the H9 bulbs shoot an intense point of light straight at oncoming driver's in addition to diffuse light from the headlight reflector. This intense point of light is what's causing the glare in the eyes of oncoming drivers. The lack of an opaque coating on the tip also results in a brighter light since none of the light from the tip is blocked. The H9's also have a higher wattage than H11's.
A good analogy of the difference between the light cast by H9 vs. H11 bulbs would be a flash mounted on a 35mm camera vs. the a studio flash with an umbrella reflector. The 35mm camera flash creates a blinding point of light, while the studio flash reflects all it's light off the umbrella, diffusing the light.
Attachments
eddiebx
New member
Our low beam positions have glare shields in front of the H11 bulbs so the bare tip of the H9 is not exposed to oncoming traffic...the fog light housings on the other hand do not have this built-in cap, and definitely do produce said glare with the H9s retrofitted into it.
Randyman...
New member
Indeed - the T4R has the internal bulb covers on the Low Beams as I just discovered in doing this swap over the weekend. Also - the H9 and H11 are identical WRT element placement within the reflector and overall size. Thus beam pattern did not seem to change vs the H11's that I could tell.
FWIW - The Fog Lights DON'T have the center covers like the low-beam reflectors - so I opted against swapping the H9's down there as a courtesy for other drivers. I could indeed see that being a nuisance and I'm not about to give myself a small bump in visibility only to annoy fellow drivers...
Overall - I do agree the H9's are noticeably brighter and whiter. I'm not blinding people (might have aimed a bit on the conservative side) - and I haven't had anyone "flash" me...
H9 Low Beams - Awesome $12 mod IMNSHO!!!
FWIW - The Fog Lights DON'T have the center covers like the low-beam reflectors - so I opted against swapping the H9's down there as a courtesy for other drivers. I could indeed see that being a nuisance and I'm not about to give myself a small bump in visibility only to annoy fellow drivers...
Overall - I do agree the H9's are noticeably brighter and whiter. I'm not blinding people (might have aimed a bit on the conservative side) - and I haven't had anyone "flash" me...
H9 Low Beams - Awesome $12 mod IMNSHO!!!
Last edited:
