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Headlight thread

24K views 70 replies 30 participants last post by  GA240D 
#1 ·
I was wondering maybe we could put all our headlight questions and queries here. Some members were PMing me about what headlights to use after I posted images of my car with headlights on at various angles.

For starters, there are three main headlights the W123 chassis uses that include two European versions and the US DOT version.

Early European version:


Late European version:


US DOT version:


Owners of the US DOT cars will have difficulty at night because of the outdated and inadequate sealed beams. They are inadequate for today's needs and driving habits. Most of them barely illuminate the foreground but have good lateral distribution (to an extent). They also have glare above the horizontal cut-off since US standards demand above-facing light in order to illuminate overhead roadsigns. This just adds to glare especially in heavy city traffic. The European conversions are the best solutions for your money because they:

1. Provide European quality illumination and dispersion of light onto the road, roadsigns, and foreground.

2. Don't require throwing away the lenses unlike sealed beams.

3. They usually cost $100 or below for a nice pair that includes bulbs. Some, like Cibie are quite expensive but I've heard are extremely good too.

4. Research has shown (as per Daniel Stern's articles) that an increase in foreground illumination allows less stress for the driver and gives him/her the confidence to look further into the distance rather than focus on the road directly ahead. European conversions have an abundance of foreground illumination compared to sealed beams.

The best feature of European conversions is its light cut-off that shows a distinct __/__/. This indicates that the flat line doesn't glare oncoming traffic while the sharp cut-off provides roadside illumination as well as to road signs. I was driving last night and noticed that the angle of inclination is equivalent to the angle at which you approach the road visually, so all roadsigns from the distance up until the front of the car are illuminated!! That is some engineering right there.

I have Osram bulbs (when I purchased the Bosch ones from the Philippines as spares and also have Hella bulbs from there. So far they're great. H4's are what you need for these Euro conversions and are also known as 9003 bulbs. Fog lamps use H3.

H4:

H3:


Sources for headlight conversions:

7 inch HELLA H4 Euro conversion
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/7in.asp


7 inch CIBIE H4 Euro conversion
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html


7 inch BOSCH H4 Euro conversion
http://www.mercedessource.com/store/item.php?item=Bosch H4 Headlight Upgrade Kit


What bulbs can you use?
Standard H4/9003 60/55W bulbs should work fine with any of them. Make sure the rubber boots fit in snug to get a good seal.

US members who want hassle-free bulbs might want Sylvania Long Life bulbs for really cheap. Others who prefer German/Euro quality might want the German Osram:

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/product...History=cat&strKeywords=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=90
...or Phillips Vision Plus:

http://www.powerbulbs.co.uk/product...eHistory=cat&strKeywords=&SearchFor=&PT_ID=90

Daniel Stern provides a good list of high-quality bulbs too:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html



Wiring harnesses
Many of you might want overwattage bulbs. Susquehanna MotorSports sells wiring harnesses but since I have normall wattage lights on my car, don't know much about rewiring and what connections to use:
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/wiring_harnesses.asp

Daniel Stern has also collaborated with Steve Lacker and David Hueppchen to write a good article on relays and why you should use them:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

Some night shots of my car's headlights with Bosch conversions:





 
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#52 ·
A little late but I also have a 1991 420sel. Did the Depo thing as well. You probably know this but, the drivers side wiper and motor are an exact fit. The passenger side requires redrilling the mounting bar and swaping the positions of the wiper arm and the squirter thingy. Mine fit fine look right and function perfectly. The guys on the forums say the wipers won't fit at all. Pot heads! Any way I'am trying to find a six pin Euro wire connector for the head lights. The Depo way of just plugging on the bare wires is really low rent, and unsafe. Know where I can find them? MB number? Oh, another stupid thing about Depo. The running light bulb socket that comes with them is incorrect. It's only a single element. Re-use your old one and get double filiment amber bulbs. 2057's. That way you will still have running and turn signals, and the wire connector still fits!
 
#54 · (Edited)
Talking aboud headlights... Anybody allready experimented with a Xenon conversion?? And then I don't mean bulbs that have a more white, of Blue glare over them, but the genuine HID Xenon lights.

I know of a friend of mine that converted his motorcycle to Xenon. The conversion didn't imply much. The lightbulb itself is of the same proprotions of a regular H4 bulb. So it is directly convertable in the headlight unit. The bulb is activated by 2 different electric boxes. So wiring has to be changed.

I'm not sure of the road regulations yet. I know that nowadays cars with Xenon all have automatic level control. I'm not sure if this is just luxuary, or that they have to do that by law. Over here motor-cylces don't have an annual mechanical check (like cars do) and so they are free of al lot of road regulations.

Apart of the high price (somewhere around 400/500 Euro) I would seriously consider the conversion. The amount of light with the motor-cycle above was astonishing.. Imagine a classic car, turning on the lights, and they not just "pop" on,... no they flicker softly and after some seconds warming up, they give this enourmous amount of light... I love it.. ;)
 
#55 ·
Haplo said:
Talking aboud headlights... Anybody allready experimented with a Xenon conversion?? And then I don't mean bulbs that have a more white, of Blue glare over them, but the genuine HID Xenon lights.

I know of a friend of mine that converted his motorcycle to Xenon. The conversion didn't imply much. The lightbulb itself is of the same proprotions of a regular H4 bulb. So it is directly convertable in the headlight unit. The bulb is activated by 2 different electric boxes. So wiring has to be changed.

I'm not sure of the road regulations yet. I know that nowadays cars with Xenon all have automatic level control. I'm not sure if this is just luxuary, or that they have to do that by law. Over here motor-cylces don't have an annual mechanical check (like cars do) and so they are free of al lot of road regulations.

Apart of the high price (somewhere around 400/500 Euro) I would seriously consider the conversion. The amount of light with the motor-cycle above was astonishing.. Imagine a classic car, turning on the lights, and they not just "pop" on,... no they flicker softly and after some seconds warming up, they give this enourmous amount of light... I love it.. ;)
You probably want to read this first.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html
 
#56 ·
boadmonger you still want the e-code lights for your turbo?

They have the Hella conversion kit at my work. I can check the price on them tomorrow.
 
#57 ·
H-TownBenzoboy said:
I dont believe everything daniel stern says. From what ive read and leared you can convert your MB to HID xenon without major glare. For one upgrade to euro's. They have a distinctive cut off, second get a old spark plug wire connecter and cut the metal housing into two half circles. Mount the half connector under the HID bulb and install it into the headlight.

That will cut off of the glare problem related to HID conversions. Secondly if youve compared a car with halogen and a HID converion you can see the bigger difference in clarity on the road even if the lense in the headlight wasnt specifically intended for HID.
 
#59 · (Edited)
H-TownBenzoboy said:
With his credentials regarding automotive lighting, it would most likely be wise to follow his precautions.
Im not doubting his creditability, he is a smart guy and all but i know there is safe ways to convert your car to HID.
try reading the HID forums youll learn alot! from real world experiance not just from one guy.
 
#60 ·
greasy_benz said:
Secondly if youve compared a car with halogen and a HID converion you can see the bigger difference in clarity on the road even if the lense in the headlight wasnt specifically intended for HID.
Quoting Daniel Stern..
It's tricky to judge headlamp beam performance without a lot of knowledge, a lot of training and a lot of special equipment, because subjective perceptions are very misleading. Having a lot of strong light in the foreground, that is on the road close to the car and out to the sides, is very comforting and reliably produces a strong impression of "good headlights".

I'm everyting but a trained HID expert, but with some good old logic sense I can see that judging on "what you see" can indeed be very misleading.

Thanks for the article. I now know at least that there are different oppinions on converting to HID. I start to do some reading in the forum mentioned earlier. Still have to find out of it is legal anyway. If it isn't, there is no use doing it anyway. Car is checked every year, and I don't feel like undoing the conversion every year before the anual check...
 
#62 ·
merouby said:
Once again, there is no 'early' vs. 'late' European W123 headlights. It is "low spec" and "high spec" headlights. Ever since the 1976, they have been producing what you would call the 'late' headlights on the top of the line W123 models. Appx 1982, all W123s got the "high spec" headlights, and they did away with the "low spec" for good.

People in North America never seem to get this for some reason.
The 280E's and CE's around here were probably all low spec then. I suspect an error in a parts catalogue.
 
#68 ·
FWIW, I ordered a set of the Bosch H4's from the Bus Depot: $62 bucks shipped (including a pair of H4 bulbs).

Thinking about doing a write-up on the install...
 
#65 ·
I have not yet seen such a collection of headlight specific comments- I know you guys are talking about the differences between different styles and whatnot, but I would like to throw out a question into this collective in hopes that someone might have a direction for me to head.

I had my headlights fry on me. My high beams work just dandy, but my headlights do not work at all; anyone had a suggestion on what to look at? I swapped out the sealed beam units and it wasn't some high/lo difference. The low beams simply don't work.

I hope someone can help me "shed some light" on my situation.

thanks for any help!
 
#71 ·
I use the late model euro housings and a DDM TUNING 55w h4 hi/lo Hid kit. 4500k in color and plenty of light to spare with no glare into the oncoming lanes!
 
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