Here is his take on Silverstars. Sorry so freakin long but the guy is wordy..
Thomas Thinkinginpictures wrote:
> Maybe I missed it. What about products like Silverstar halogen light
> replacements. Any opinion on these
They are a scam.
Any of the blue-glass "extra white" bulbs is a nonstarter as
far as seeing better is concerned. Sylvania
Silverstar/Ultra, PIAA, Hoen,
BlueVision, CrystalVision, TruView, Nokya, Polarg, etc. --
all the same scam. They produce _less_ light than ordinary
bulbs and have a very short life due to the light blocked by
the blue glass. All it does is change the beam color, which
doesn't help anything (except arbitrary appearance
fashion/style).
For reference, here's manufacturer data for output and
lifespan at 13.2v for standard-wattage H1 bulbs. The numbers
here are a composite of values applicable to the products of
the big three makers (Osram-Sylvania, Philips-Narva,
Tungsram-GE). Each manufacturer's product in each category
is slightly different but not significantly so. I picked
H1-type bulbs for this comparison, and while the absolute
numbers differ with different bulb types, the relative
comparison patterns hold good for whatever bulb type we
consider (H4, 9006, whatever). Lifespan is given as Tc, the
hour figure at which 63.2 percent of the bulbs have failed.
H1 (regular normal):
1550 lumens, 650 hours
Long Life (or "HalogenPlus+")
1460 lumens, 1200 hours
Ultra Long Life (or "DayLight")
1430 lumens, 3000 hours
Plus-30 High Efficacy (CPI BrightLight, Osram Super,
Sylvania Xtravision, Narva Rangepower, Tungsram High Output,
Philips Premium):
1700 lumens, 350 hours
Plus-50 Ultra High Efficacy (CPI Super Bright Light, Philips
VisionPlus, Osram Silverstar, Narva Rangepower+50, Tungsram
Megalicht, but not Sylvania Silverstar):
1750 lumens, 340 hours
Plus-80/90 Mega High Efficacy (Philips Xtreme Power, Osram
Night Breaker):
1780 lumens, 275 hours
Blue coated 'extra white' (CPI Bright Light Blue, Osram
CoolBlue, Narva Rangepower Blue, Philips BlueVision or
CrystalVision, Tungsram Super Blue or EuroBlue, Sylvania
Silverstar or Silverstar Ultra, also PIAA, Hoen, Nokya,
Polarg, etc):
1380 lumens, 225 hours
So that's the pattern for how lifespan and light output are
related. It's worth noting that the lumen differences are
not the extent of the performance differences. The filament
changes required to make a long-life bulb tend to reduce the
beam focus, which shortens seeing distance. And, the light
color is less white and more brown. But lifespan is
lengthened. The opposite filament changes are made to create
the "Plus" (+30, +50, +80, +90) type bulbs: Lifespan is
reduced, but the beam focus is better so seeing distance is
longer. Light color is whiter and less brown. The takeaway
message here is that even if all the filaments put out
exactly the same amount of light — the same lumens from a
long life, a +30, a +50, a regular, an ultralong-life, etc.
— the headlamp performance and appearance with the long-life
bulb would still be inferior compared to the same headlamp
performance and appearance with a regular, or +30, or +50,
or +80 bulb.
Now, what about the blue ring just below the tip of ultra
high output +80/90/100 bulbs like the Philips Xtreme Power,
GE Night Hawk Platinum, Tungsram Megalicht +100, etc? That's
actually completely different. The marketers say this is
there to make a fashion statement with your headlamps, and
yes, from various off-axis angles as you observe the
headlamp, you do see some blue glint, but that's not the
actual reason it's there. It's really there to cut the mean
spherical output of the bulb down to legal levels as tested
in an integrating sphere (the machine used to measure light
output from a bulb to determine if it falls within the
legally required range). The blue ring filters a part of the
bulb that has nothing to do with beam formation because it's
not located between the filament and the reflector. Gives
the kids a blue flash they can point to from certain angles
without colouring the beam or filtering out any usable
light. Meanwhile, the filament is pumping mad lumens through
the uncoloured glass where the reflector is looking. Clever
trick. It works.
Of course, as the comparison above makes clear, the higher
the output the shorter the bulb life. I tend to stock the
+50 bulbs rather than the +80/+90/+100 because you really do
give up a great deal of lifespan and spend a lot more money
on +80/+90 types, and it gets to the point of being not
really cost-effective. But if you are trying to wring the
absolute maximum possible performance out of a set of
headlamps without increasing bulb wattage, your priorities
may allow for the very frequent bulb replacement entailed
with the +80/+90/+100 types.
What kind of vehicle are you working on?
DS
