H4 blub vs H7 bulb

[Tenrilid]

I didn't know where else to look so I hope one of you gurus can help. Are there any compatability issues with using an H4 bulb on a system that originally called for an H7 blub? they have the same wattages. IIRC the only differences between the bulbs is that the H4 uses 2 filaments, one for hi and one for low, and the H7 has just one for both hi/low and is physically smaller than the H4.

I haven't been able to get a straight answer from my searches. The reason I am asking this is because I got my dad a set of HID lights for his '07 bandit 1250 w/ H4 bulbs and didn't realize until after the fact that the stock bulbs are H7s. I want to know if the H4s will still operate properly (when switching between hi/low)?

[DanTheMan]

Ask these guys: http://store.candlepower.com/ca7inquhhe.html They're happy to answer any lighting questions you may have.

[Tenrilid]

Thanks Dan, I just sent them an e-mail now. I really hope the HID kit will work properly so I don't have to order diff bulbs lol

[bakalorz]

Ask these guys: http://store.candlepower.com/ca7inquhhe.html They're happy to answer any lighting questions you may have.

They are pretty anti HID though ...one of their tech pages: HID Kits: What You Need To Know

Wonder how they reply ...

Tenrilid: I suspect the base won't fit the holder correctly.

[Tenrilid]

They are pretty anti HID though ...one of their tech pages: HID Kits: What You Need To Know

Wonder how they reply ...

Tenrilid: I suspect the base won't fit the holder correctly.

That's basically what has happened. The H4 bulb wont fit the holder. I called the company that I ordered the original kit from and they said the H7 bulb system they sell uses the same ballasts so I just ordered H7 bulbs.

[cal_look_zero]

They are pretty anti HID though ...one of their tech pages: HID Kits: What You Need To Know

Wonder how they reply ...

Tenrilid: I suspect the base won't fit the holder correctly.

Man that write up is a bunch of:



Although I strongly advocate going through http://www.theretrofitsource.com/ and putting projectors on anything with HIDs. I finally snagged a headlight off a drift buddy who smashed his lens but the projectors are in great shape still.

[earlfor]

Man that write up is a bunch of:

It seemed substantiated with logical and reasonable conclusions to me.

Earl

[bakalorz]

It seemed substantiated with logical and reasonable conclusions to me.

Earl

Some more than others ...

The stuff about the different shapes of the light sources is not that convincing. They are both pretty much "cylinders" of light.

Carefully read the three tests they reference ... the first one the pattern is off, I don't know why, but I'd guess that its just a pretty poorly implemented HID bulb that doesn't put the arc in the right place.

But look at the other 2 tests. The pattern is pretty much right, but the HID fails because it is too bright in places where there is a max level ...
but its not too bright there and dim someplace else, its just brighter everywhere ... and note that the color scale changes when they show the HID pattern, which somewhat hides how much brighter the HID is.
If I were cynical I'd think they did that intentionally, but I suspect its just an autoscaling thing ... but either way, to correctly compare the two plots, you need to mentally change the color scale to the same level.

And I don't know about you, but I want my lights bright, perhaps even technically illegally so ... especially the high beam which is my running light during the day. I want the soccer-mom in the mini-van to be startled by the nuclear light-storm of the approaching apocalypse before she left turns in front of me. I don't want to ever have to hear "well I just didn't see him coming, so I thought I could go ..."

[Killer2600]

Some more than others ...

The stuff about the different shapes of the light sources is not that convincing. They are both pretty much "cylinders" of light.

Carefully read the three tests they reference ... the first one the pattern is off, I don't know why, but I'd guess that its just a pretty poorly implemented HID bulb that doesn't put the arc in the right place.

But look at the other 2 tests. The pattern is pretty much right, but the HID fails because it is too bright in places where there is a max level ...
but its not too bright there and dim someplace else, its just brighter everywhere ... and note that the color scale changes when they show the HID pattern, which somewhat hides how much brighter the HID is.
If I were cynical I'd think they did that intentionally, but I suspect its just an autoscaling thing ... but either way, to correctly compare the two plots, you need to mentally change the color scale to the same level.

And I don't know about you, but I want my lights bright, perhaps even technically illegally so ... especially the high beam which is my running light during the day. I want the soccer-mom in the mini-van to be startled by the nuclear light-storm of the approaching apocalypse before she left turns in front of me. I don't want to ever have to hear "well I just didn't see him coming, so I thought I could go ..."

Yeah you just want the "I was blinded and couldn't see so I didn't know I was going to hit him until I heard him hit my car."

I find it irritating and stupid when I see riders or cars with their hi-beam's on during the day or night. Yes I definitely see that your there but I would have seen you otherwise especially since your low-beam or drl is on. But because of your high-beam it hurts to look in your direction so I stop doing so thus making it more dangerous for you since I'm not making sure I'm not on a collision course with the blinding light. It's like the sun, it's bright as hell and you can't miss it's there but do you really wanna look up and try to see where exactly it's at in the sky.

Equally stupid to me is drivers that drive around with their hazard lights on. They just look retarded.

[1_v8_merc]

I actually had some prick in a car turn his high beams ON in my face!

My headlight is extremely bright on Low. So I guess he thought I was riding with my Highs on!

He definitely proved what an idiot he was, not only for the light.
But because there's a lot of biker gangs around here. I could have been some derranged mad-max lookin fool with a .357 in my saddlebags.
(In which, I would laugh my ass off, as I read the newspaper the next day)