Philips X-treme Power lamps: a review - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

compu_85 · #1 12-13-2008, 08:12 PM

I bought a set of headlights for my W126 Mercedes off of German eBay a while back. They use H4 lamps. They came with Philips X-Treme Power lamps in them.

They are not a blue tint bulb. The capsule is somewhat smaller then a usual H4 lamp. I wondered how much, if any, difference these lamps made, so I decided to do a test.

I removed the headlamp assembly from the car, put it on a table, connected it to a regulated 13.8v power supply, turned off all automatic corrections on my camera, and took these photos. FWIW my wall is painted a light brown color.

Up first are some photos of a stock H4 bulb, made by Koito. I got it out of the headlamp of a Toyota in the junkyard. It says 'Made in Japan' on them so I would assume it is a factory bulb. Low then high beam:

Now with the fancy bulbs:

A comparison of the low beams:

Besides being brighter they seem to put out more foreground light.

I don't expect these lamps to last long. I can't say what difference these lamps make on the road because I've never used a stock bulb in that car, but from the pictures at least everything is indeed brighter with the XP bulbs.

For giggles here is the fog beam pattern:

-Jason

babymog · #2 12-13-2008, 08:59 PM

I was considering the top-of-the-line Sylvania silverstar bulbs, checked on-line and the Hella bulbs put out more light (lumens) in the visible spectrum.

compu_85 · #3 12-13-2008, 09:12 PM

IIRC all silverstars are a blue tint bulb

What Hellas did you get? Where did you get the spectral data?

-Jason

babymog · #4 12-13-2008, 09:15 PM

I found the data on Hella's site a while back, was surprised to find it and their site is not easy to navigate. The Sylvania I'm not sure, might've been their site also but from memory I think that the Sylvania data was total lumens only.

gsxr · #5 12-13-2008, 09:29 PM

All of the "plus" bulbs (plus 30, 50, 80, whatever) are all pushing the limit of the 60/55 watt ratings. They do provide more lumens compared to standard 60/55 bulbs, HOWEVER... they mostly all fall short of any decent over-wattage bulb. You can't break the laws of physics, as long as they are limited to 60/55 watts, they can only put out so much light.

The problem with over-wattage bulbs is that you can not safely increase the wattage very much without stressing the stock, dinky wires in the stock wiring harness (and also stressing the headlight switch by running more current through it than it was designed for). The only overwattage H4 bulb I would recommend for stock wiring is the Osram Hyper 70/65 bulb (now re-named "Bi-Lux" for some reason). I have these in my 1993 300D with stock wiring (and Euro lights). Myself and others who have used them are quite happy with them, they do perform better than any of the "plus" 60/55 bulbs (but they're not cheap!).

Anything larger really should have relays and heavy-gague wires. I have relays & heavy wiring on my other two 124's. The absolute best "overwattage" bulb I have found is the Osram Hyper 85/80... it puts out more lumens on low beam than almost anything else, including Philips Rally 100/90 bulb (which I have in my other car at the moment), or even the massive 130/100 bulbs! The 85/80 low beams are staggering, which is what I was most concerned about. They're practically equal to HID's, IMO. The high beams are also fantastic.

Standard 60/55 = 1650/1000 lumens
Good +50 bulbs = 1800/1100
Osram Hyper 70/65 = 2000/1350
Osram Hyper 85/80 = 2400/1750 (more on low beam than standard 60/55 on HIGH beam!)
Rally 100/90 = 2600/1500
Rally 130/100 = 3200/1600

Photos of my one relay installation are at this URL, another is at this URL, scroll to the images titled "relays".

The Osram Hypers are available from Peter Burgeson, seller "pdburg" on eBay (

click here for a direct link). If he doesn't have a current auction for what you want, just email him directly.

An interesting bulb test/review is available at this URL... download the Zip file, and check out the HTML pages with the reviews & ratings. Here's an interesting quote from that review:
...As in previous tests, we have not chosen a blue bulb, as we feel these are purely fashion items which perform significantly worse...

::matthew · #6 12-13-2008, 10:02 PM

I've got the silverstar ultras? and they are not a blue tinted bulb. They put out nice light in my Cibie 7". They do seem more "white" than the standard halogens they replaced.

I considered a higher wattage bulb, but didn't want to get into thicker wire and relays.

MBeige · #7 12-13-2008, 11:42 PM

Where do you get Osram bulbs here? All I find are Sylvania models.

::matthew · #8 12-13-2008, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBeige

Where do you get Osram bulbs here? All I find are Sylvania models.

it has more to do with branding. They market as sylvania here and osram in europe. a sylvania h4 is, generally speaking, the same as a osram h4.

gsxr · #9 12-14-2008, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBeige

Where do you get Osram bulbs here? All I find are Sylvania models.

The Osram Hypers (as well as other Osram, Philips, Narva, etc bulbs) are available from Peter Burgeson, seller "pdburg" on eBay (

click here for a direct link). If he doesn't have a current auction for what you want, just email him directly.

babymog · #10 12-14-2008, 09:57 AM

I had experimented a good deal with higher wattage bulbs in my UR-quattro lights also. I had gone as high as 80/210watt in the H4, the H1 only up to 100W. It appeared to me that there was a point of diminishing returns in the H4 bulbs, especially considering the bright low-beam could cause a lot of glare to oncoming drivers, especially on wet roads. I settled on stock wattage H4s with 100W driving beams (composite light like the Euro 500E) and seldom used the driving beams just because of how bright they were, I figured I couldn't use them if I saw tail-lamps.

I'm fairly happy with stock wattage in the 124s, sometimes would like to trade the fog-lamp for a driving lamp 500E light, but I use the fog so often for lighting the shoulders that I wouldn't give it up.

gsxr · #11 12-14-2008, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babymog

I had experimented a good deal with higher wattage bulbs in my UR-quattro lights also. I had gone as high as 80/210watt in the H4, the H1 only up to 100W. It appeared to me that there was a point of diminishing returns in the H4 bulbs, especially considering the bright low-beam could cause a lot of glare to oncoming drivers, especially on wet roads. I settled on stock wattage H4s with 100W driving beams (composite light like the Euro 500E) and seldom used the driving beams just because of how bright they were, I figured I couldn't use them if I saw tail-lamps.

I'm fairly happy with stock wattage in the 124s, sometimes would like to trade the fog-lamp for a driving lamp 500E light, but I use the fog so often for lighting the shoulders that I wouldn't give it up.

Same here... I also experimented with various bulbts. But in the 124 Euro lights, there is little problem with glare. And I was NOT impressed with the output of the stock wattage bulbs, including any of the "plus" type Xtremes or 'Stars. I have the vacuum adjust feature on my lights, so I can turn them down a bit with a load in the trunk (or rear passengers) if needed. Still, I only get about 1% of oncoming drivers flashing their lights at me (when I only have low beams on). I also have 100w auxiliary high beams but I didn't want to confuse anyone, lol. With proper lights and aiming, there should be little to no problem with oncoming traffic.

The optimal solution is to mimic the 500E setup, which adds lights in the bumper, and swaps positions to where they SHOULD be. It moves the auxiliary H3 high beam next to the main H4 bulb, and puts the fogs down low in the bumper (to cut underneath fog, and project farther outward instead of having to aim down as much). The problem with this is, the only factory solutions for the W124 are the full 500E front end ($$$$), or an AMG Gen2 front bumper (slightly cheaper, since the fenders don't have to be swapped). I'm not sure about options available on other chassis.

For the record, I have Euro 500E lights on my two W124's with the relays & overwatt bulbs. Those headlamps are only available from Germany these days, via Speed-Autoteile.com (or other Euro vendors).

babymog · #12 12-14-2008, 11:55 AM

Same here with the Euro setup Sixto. The problem I had with the high-wattage low-beams is the reflected light on wet pavement blinding other drivers. The light is very white, and very bright, nice to have. The UR-quattro lights (European/Hella) is exactly the same as the 500E setup, need the Euro bumper for the fogs, but great once set up.

I'd like to get the 500E bumper with fogs, without one has to choose between the 500E lights with driving lights, or the other lights with fogs. I've chosen to stick with (white) fogs at this point, sure would be nice to run both as yours are.

pizzachef · #13 12-14-2008, 09:53 PM

I just got some Hella ecodes from Susquehanna Motorsports. They seemed pretty knowledgeable in the various types of bulbs, and I think they sell the Osram Hypers.

compu_85 · #14 12-14-2008, 10:49 PM

For those that care, here is what the beam pattern looks like if you remove the front lens.

Fog:

Low:

High:

MBeige · #15 12-15-2008, 12:39 AM

Thanks for the link Dave. I know that Sylvania and Osram are from the same parent company but I heard the bulbs are spec'd differently. Not sure what that means but I'd go for the European spec Osrams, the bulbs that are original on the cars are Osrams and not Sylvania. They seem to last longer and are made better.

Thanks for the nice pics Jason, especially the last ones without the lenses. It's not common to see the lights without the lenses. I just swapped new lenses on my Euro lights and cleaned them out nicely as well. Reflectors were all good and corrosion free. Now the light out put is so much better than the pitted and dirty old lenses (which I'll keep as spares).