Light bulbs

The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?

Now, I know that headlights in this country do favour the left, but... I
have never been happy with the headlights on my 156 - for the first 6 years,
when serviced at a proper alfa dealership, the headlights always pointed way
too far left (IMO). They were also so high that I used to drive around with
the dipper setting on 1, otherwise I could see that they were dazzling
people and lighting up all the trees, not the road. The problem was so bad
that on a right hand bend in the dark, you could hardly see the road at all!
Obviously, left hand bends were brilliant and tree spotting was perfect!
After every service, I have mentioned this and asked that they check the
allignment carefully, but they said all is correct, so I just took to
driving round on dipper 1 setting! Got the car serviced locally
(independant) this year and the lights are now lower - seems better, but I
think they are now too low, such that country roads at night are not lit far
enough in front to feel safe.

I can't win! I have driven other cars and feel that the alfa puts out enough
light, its just not in the right place! I know that I can just adjust them
manually (don't know how tho), but then that might dazzle other people too
much! So I figure that fitting a brighter bulb can only help - it can't make
the problem worse.

Comments / suggestions / etc...

"GT" > wrote in message
...
> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?

Addendum - I think the eBay 100w bulbs are xenon, so probably no good?

What is HID?

GT > wrote:

> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?

HID kit, nothing else comes close.
--
SteveH

"SteveH" > wrote in message
. ..
> GT > wrote:
>
>> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
>> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
>> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
>> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
>
> HID kit, nothing else comes close.

Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and new
light cluster?

GT > wrote:

> "SteveH" > wrote in message
> . ..
> > GT > wrote:
> >
> >> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
> >> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
> >> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
> >> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
> >
> > HID kit, nothing else comes close.
>
> Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and new
> light cluster?

Commonly known as Xenon, yes.

The eBay kits cost pennies (well, 50 quid, at the most) and come with
everything you need.

You don't need to replace the lenses / clusters, and the ballast boxes /
bulbs are all plug & play with the existing loom.

Took me around half an hour to fit them to our MkI 156.
--
SteveH

GT wrote:
> "SteveH" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> GT > wrote:
>>
>>> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
>>> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I see
>>> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
>>> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
>> HID kit, nothing else comes close.
>
> Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and new
> light cluster?
>
>

New bulbs, (H7R) and some boxes to plug in. Plus you need to drill some
holes in the back of the bulb holder. Takes about an hour IME

I had them in the 156, Rachel's GTV and on the bike. Rachel had them on
the 145 and immediately demanded them on the GTV.

Many of the bulbs advertised on ebay as Xenon will not be HID (which use
a very high voltage to create an arc between two terminals in a (IIRC
Xenon) gas filled bulb.

I'd go for 6k 35w

I've used these guys before

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H7R-35w-ULTRA-...em5635123ed 5

HTH

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www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

"Catman" > wrote in message
...
> GT wrote:
>> "SteveH" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>>> GT > wrote:
>>>
>>>> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
>>>> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I
>>>> see
>>>> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
>>>> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
>>> HID kit, nothing else comes close.
>>
>> Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and
>> new light cluster?
>
> New bulbs, (H7R) and some boxes to plug in. Plus you need to drill some
> holes in the back of the bulb holder. Takes about an hour IME
>
> I had them in the 156, Rachel's GTV and on the bike. Rachel had them on
> the 145 and immediately demanded them on the GTV.
>
> Many of the bulbs advertised on ebay as Xenon will not be HID (which use a
> very high voltage to create an arc between two terminals in a (IIRC Xenon)
> gas filled bulb.
>
> I'd go for 6k 35w
>
> I've used these guys before
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H7R-35w-ULTRA-...em5635123ed 5
>
> HTH

Sounds great aside from 2 things:
1. why only 35w?
2. the "sold for offroad and show events" bit. What about road legality and
MOTs etc?

Its the dipped beam that I want to improve, but I had thought of also
fitting the halfords 100W main beam bulbs - think they are advertised as
'rally' bulbs. They are not road legal as I presume they are too bright and
could dazzel, but I won't be using main beam when other cars are around so
don't see the big deal. My question is: headlight-wise, what is actually
tested on the MOT?

"SteveH" > wrote in message
.. .
> GT > wrote:
>
>> "SteveH" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>> > GT > wrote:
>> >
>> >> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
>> >> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I
>> >> see
>> >> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
>> >> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
>> >
>> > HID kit, nothing else comes close.
>>
>> Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and
>> new
>> light cluster?
>
> Commonly known as Xenon, yes.
>
> The eBay kits cost pennies (well, 50 quid, at the most) and come with
> everything you need.
>
> You don't need to replace the lenses / clusters, and the ballast boxes /
> bulbs are all plug & play with the existing loom.
>
> Took me around half an hour to fit them to our MkI 156.

30 minutes any how many knuckles?

"Catman" > wrote in message
...
> GT wrote:
>> "SteveH" > wrote in message
>> . ..
>>> GT > wrote:
>>>
>>>> The 156 takes H1 and H7 bulbs, both 55w. Are car headlights like house
>>>> ceiling lights - when not bright enough, can we fit brighter bulbs? I
>>>> see
>>>> some 100w bulbs on eBay, but are there potential heat or fuse or other
>>>> problems associated with the wrong wattage bulbs?
>>> HID kit, nothing else comes close.
>>
>> Is HID the same as Xenon? How much work is involved - wiring, bulbs and
>> new light cluster?
>
> New bulbs, (H7R) and some boxes to plug in. Plus you need to drill some
> holes in the back of the bulb holder. Takes about an hour IME
>
> I had them in the 156, Rachel's GTV and on the bike. Rachel had them on
> the 145 and immediately demanded them on the GTV.
>
> Many of the bulbs advertised on ebay as Xenon will not be HID (which use a
> very high voltage to create an arc between two terminals in a (IIRC Xenon)
> gas filled bulb.
>
> I'd go for 6k 35w
>
> I've used these guys before
>
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H7R-35w-ULTRA-...em5635123ed 5
>
> HTH

Is 50w overkill? :
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/H7-50w-Digital...em4148d9006 7

On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:57:16 -0000, "GT"
> wrote:

>Sounds great aside from 2 things:
>1. why only 35w?

That's only a measure of power consumed (in this case more efficient
and cooler than normal halogen bulbs). The important bit is light
output not power in.

>2. the "sold for offroad and show events" bit. What about road legality and
>MOTs etc?

IIRC, Xenon headlamps are required to have automatic (motorised?)
leveling.

*Potential* hassles:

1/ You might need to find a rather generous MOT station..assuming the
leveling on Xenons is testable.
2/ Avoid having someone crash into you at night. The '..but I was
blinded' excuse by the other party could bring a world of grief your
way. You'd be amazed how poor some old codgers eyesight is at coping
with being dazzled at night..

Anyway, what are you moaning about? Taxi drivers can drive on the
darkest of roads with a couple of candles lit up front! ;-)

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather (sold)
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email must have the word 'Alfa' in the
subject line to get through auto-filtering)