Here is an email I got from Daniel Stern I will share with you all
> Daniel, my car is a 1994 Acura Legend LS Sedan
Mm, OK, yes, I can understand why you're in need of help, then.
Your recipe for improved lighting is as follows:
-Custom-made relay harness for your Acura's ground-switched system, $98
(this is not a prefab piece of junk, nor is it a parts kit. The parts kit
would be very difficult and labor-intensive to make work correctly in your
Acura.) This harness is very easy to install (just eight connections, of
which six are simple snap-ins and two are easy ring-terminals).
-HIR1/9011 high beam bulbs and HIR2/9012 low beam bulbs.
The new bulbs are not some tinted or overwattage version of 9005 and 9006,
but rather employ a relatively new technology called HIR, Halogen
Infrared. The mechanical dimensions of the bulb are all virtually
identical to the 9005 and 9006 bulbs, but the bulb glass is spherical
instead of tubular, with the sphere centered around the filament. There is
a "Durable IR Reflective" coating on the spherical glass. Infrared = heat,
so the coating causes heat to be reflected back to the filament at the
center of the sphere. This causes the filament to become much hotter
(producing more light) than it can by passing electricity through it,
*without* the shorter life or greater heat production that comes with
overwattage bulbs (to say nothing of overwattage bulbs' incompatibility
with stock wiring.)
Here's the comparison:
Low beam stock: 9006, 12.8V, 55W, 1000 lumens, 875 hours
Low beam new: HIR2, 12.8V, 55W, 1875 lumens, 875 hours
High beam stock: 9005, 12.8V, 65W, 1700 lumens, 320 hours
High beam new: HIR1, 12.8V, 65W, 2530 lumens, 320 hours
So you're looking at nearly 88 percent more light from the low beams and a
grand total of 137% more light (49% of which from the high beam units, 88%
of which from the low beams, which may be wired to remain on with the high
beams) on high beam. The beam pattern will not change, but there will be
considerably more light within the beam pattern.
Now, it's not a problem to use HIR1 in any high beam that takes 9005. High
beams are by definition difficult to make too intense. If there's anyone
in front of you to object to glare, you should be using LOW beams. There
is a low-beam HIR bulb, but it must be used with discretion. The HIR2 (low
beam bulb) produces 1875 lumens. That's about 88 percent more light than a
9006, so it must only be used in low beams that have, as part of their
design, excellent control of upward stray light. If the low beam pattern
doesn't have a sharp horizontal cutoff at the top of the beam, if there's
appreciable upward stray light above horizontal, you will produce
excessive glare and get excessive backdazzle with HIR2s.
These bulbs are spendy - $26/ea - but their cost is worth considering in
context: Any number of companies will charge you more than this for a
tarted-up 9005 or 9006 with blue colored glass (PIAA and Sylvania
Silverstar come to mind) that doesn't produce more light and has a very
short lifespan.
The HIR bulbs have a double-wide top ear on the plastic bulb base, this is
to comply with the law requiring different bulbs to have different bases.
The extra-wide plastic top ear is easily trimmed or filed to make the bulb
fit your headlamp's bulb receptacle. Once that's done, they go directly
into the headlamp, and the existing sockets snap on.
The low beams are out of stock at the moment; the high beams are in stock
(low beams back in stock in January)
You will need to deactivate your car's factory high-beam Daytime Running
Lamps, because they are not compatible with the relay harness. But, DRLs
are mandatory in Canada, so stop by
www.webelectricproducts.com and pick
up their DRL-1 DRL module. This runs the front turn signals full time as
DRLS (as many present-model vehicles do), thus taking that function off
the headlamp circuit.
> don't want to spend $800 for HIDs
Good, there's no safe and legal way to have HIDs in your present car!
