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thought too soon,
just the other day I was wondering how old the Accord’s headlight bulbs were
and how soon I could expect to be replacing one. Then one of the Accord’s dipped headlights
failed this week. Typical,
eh? For two days and nights I was
driving a one eyed monster, a pet hate of mine.
And annoying because with the lighter mornings and evenings I’m not
going to be needing the lights to see... Pah!
For the longest time I
believed that bulbs were just bulbs, but then I tried some Philips “Blue Vision” bulbs for the Ka so this would
be an opportunity to upgrade the lights.
Halogen bulbs are not as effective as Xenon gas discharge, but upgrading
to Xenons is going to be expensive. Fortunately the sixth generation Type-R uses
Xenon dipped lights so in theory I’d be able to get some from a scrappy.
The Accord takes H7s for
dipped headlights and H1s for main beam.
A pair of H7s was all that’s required and given the cost of higher
output bulbs I elected just to change dipped beam. I can always upgrade the main beam as and
when I have the opportunity.
The market for
aftermarket upgraded bulbs is vast and every big name (and a bunch of unheard of names too) is in on the act. If you’re no longer content with just
standard 55 watt H7s it’s possible to buy bulbs claiming 20%, 30% or as much as
50% extra light output over and above a normal bulb. It’s also possible to buy higher powered
bulbs that draw more than 55 watts of power, but these are not road legal and
can damage (melt) plastic headlights.
There are a few websites
detailing testing various bulbs and the results can be quite surprising. Generally speaking and just like tyres, the better known brands with the necessary “quality
image” do tend to perform well but sometimes the underdog shines through. Any more bad puns to
come?
Replacing the bulbs was
materially easier than replacing the Ka’s bulbs. There’s more room under the bonnet of the
Accord and getting to the weather seals is easier. It took just a few minutes to replace the
bulbs rather than all evening as it’s taken with the Ka cough.
The
difference on the road? As I alluded to earlier, summer is on the way which means I no longer drive to and from work
in the dark and only occasionally use the headlights. When I do use them, yeah they work well and
are a useful improvement. Of course I
don’t know how long the old bulbs were in the car for.