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Bulb Type Confusion


Moose

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Looking at some posts relating to headlights and they seem to say that dip beam uses H4 and high beam uses H7,

Now my 2008 A8 uses H7 for dipped beam (not sure about hig beam as not yet checked), does that sound right or am i using the wrong bulbs?

What bulbs should i be using for dipped and high beam please?

For what it's worth, i don't seem to have any problems with H7's for dipped

TIA for any help

Moose

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My 03 has H4 for the lows (It's a Hi/Low bulb but only the low is wired and you don't want to use the Hi because the heat will melt your housing and reflector OBTW) and H7s for the Highs

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Found it weird that my service manual lists all 4 as H7's. Called my local dealer and he stated H7 highs and H4 lows. That is what is in my bike stock.

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My 03 has H4 for the lows (It's a Hi/Low bulb but only the low is wired and you don't want to use the Hi because the heat will melt your housing and reflector OBTW) and H7s for the Highs

I've been using the high beam filament on my H-4 for several years without any issues. Do you have first-hand experience with the reflector melting?

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My 03 has H4 for the lows (It's a Hi/Low bulb but only the low is wired and you don't want to use the Hi because the heat will melt your housing and reflector OBTW) and H7s for the Highs

I've been using the high beam filament on my H-4 for several years without any issues. Do you have first-hand experience with the reflector melting?

Yeah. There are probably a couple of hundred people on here who have been using "Fixer's Headlight Mod" for years and years, and years. I've never heard of anyone mentioning a melted housing and reflector.

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/73054-6th-gen-low-beam-mod-ive-thinking-about-this/?p=862700

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So if I'm using h7's in the lows, should I change them to h4's or will I be ok?

Is there a difference in UK and USA models? Not sure where you guys are from

Am I also right in saying the top pair are high beam and bottom pair are dip beam? Just wondering if maybe the plug are fitted wrong

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My 03 has H4 for the lows (It's a Hi/Low bulb but only the low is wired and you don't want to use the Hi because the heat will melt your housing and reflector OBTW) and H7s for the Highs

I've been using the high beam filament on my H-4 for several years without any issues. Do you have first-hand experience with the reflector melting?

I do... I was on an extended trip and was running the Low as a full time low beam and wired the highs up to my headlight modulator. it melted all the shiny off the reflector and the front lexan was starting to droop a bit when I stopped for gas at the 3rd gas stop so ~7hrs or so... Im sure that if you are using only one of the filaments it would be fine. but I think that using both was what caused my issue.

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Never heard of housings melting. What would be different that would cause the low beam housing to melt yet allow for it in the high beam section? Aren't they one piece units?

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Never heard of housings melting. What would be different that would cause the low beam housing to melt yet allow for it in the high beam section? Aren't they one piece units?

I think it was the combination of the 45w Low beam on constantly and the 55w High beam being on for all intents and purposes constantly that created enough heat to start the reflector to start losing the shiny. Once that happened the beam shape and focus changed and cause a hot spot on the lens. It wasn't a huge spot maybe the size of a nickel. I think either filament by itself would probably be fine with ZERO issues.

MY issue was caused by running them both at the same time for an extended period. It was probably 4mos of intermittent use and the one long trip when I noticed the issue.

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So, more accurately stated, this should read:

My 03 has H4 for the lows (It's a Hi/Low bulb but only the low is wired and you don't want to use the Hi in conjunction with the Low because the heat will melt your housing and reflector OBTW) and H7s for the Highs

Many riders have modified their headlights to run the Hi filament in the lower pair of bulbs when Hi beams are selected via "Fixer's Headlight Mod", using a relay so only one filament is powered at a time, with no ill effects. It is possibly the most-done modification to Sixth Gen VFRs.

I'm surprised that the first indication of a problem was the melting housing. Fixer knew that the stock wiring was not stout enough for the combined load of both filaments, which is why he used a relay to power only one filament at a time in the H3 lamps. I don't think he ever considered that the lamps would generate enough heat to melt the lens. I would have thought your first indication of a problem would have been a melted common (ground) wire.

Did you only have the H3 Hi filament powered via the modulator? If the H3 Hi filament was powered on Hi beam, did your lights appear yellow or dim when you were running all six filaments on Hi beam?

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