Hey all -

My LR3 is fitted with the adaptive HIDs, and I noticed they have been getting dim over the past year, so I decided to replace the bulbs. From what I could tell, OEM spec was the Philips D2S 4300K bulb. So I ordered a set from Amazon (link below).


However, when I installed them, I noticed the color seemed much less blue/more daylight than what I had before (although brighter). So I put one of the old bulbs back in for comparison side-by-side, and the new bulbs are definitely a different shade. More "daylight" and less blue - I was disappointed, as I liked and was used to the color temperature of the old bulbs.

So, does anyone know what color temperature the OEM bulbs are? I am assuming the old bulbs I had were original, because they looked like every other LR3/RRS I've seen at night with HIDs.

Secondly, has anyone used the 6000K Philips Ultinon bulbs? Or any other recommendations for replacements? I'm thinking of trying those.

 

My truck has one blue eye and one yellow eye... I suspect the original was the 4300 but most people like the 6000 better, myself included. Thanx for the reminder to put this on my list of improvements.

 

Per below, the factory Xenon bulbs are 4300K and to my way of thinking, you do not want 6000K - they are blue, not white as advertised.

There are many colours of white but there is more to seeing than just brightness. The word is recognition - the more blue, the less one can make out what is being illuminated. The extreme example of this is in night clubs with the blue lights - you can tell it is a girl but you cannot see what she looks like - detail matters.

Normally, Xenon bulbs with age, turn yellow. I am on my second set as I noticed that at about 10 years, the factory Xenon's had dimmed and yellowed. I wonder what was installed in yours as blue was not what I would have expected with age.

https://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/dis...um=3801&pos=34

 

Interesting information. When I took the bulbs out to change them, the part number was the same as on the new Philips 4300k bulbs I ordered. But they were certainly much bluer. The new philips bulbs almost looked like standard halogens to me.

However, I do agree that 6000K might be too blue and light output would suffer traditionally.

I ended up ordering a set of the OSRAM CBI 5000K bulbs, and was very pleased with them. Although the name is "Cool Blue Intense," there really isn't any blue that I can see. The light color is a very cold, pure white. They put out 3400 lumens, compared to the 3200 lumens of the OEM philips bulb - and they do it at a higher kelvin temperate (i.e. a more pure white in this case compared to the yellowish light of the philips bulbs).


Overall very pleased and would recommend.

Note that OSRAM just released an updated version of this bulb that runs at 6000K, but again with no loss in lumens output compared to the 4300K and 5000K bulb. However, they are about $180/2 bulbs now compared to the $110 I paid for the 5000K ones and I didn't see the need to spend $70 more just for more "blue" and the same lumens.

Side note: bbyer, I also have the PIAA 2500K bulbs for fogs - they really are the best when the snow or rain is coming down hard (or... when it's foggy!). I adjusted them to aim upwards just a bit so that, if the weather is really bad, I can run with just those on and the HIDs turned off. Another highly recommended lighting upgrade.

 

I presume you do not have the Daytime Running Lights function engaged - we do up here.

The one real negative of Daytime Running Lights is that one cannot drive with the headlights off. That is what the "Daytime" means. As such, I cannot run with just my fog lights on, which in a real snow storm driving situation, one wants to. We do not get much rain up here so I have very little experience with rain driving - other than I do not like it - the wet pavement seems to soak up all the light or reflect it back - white light that is - yes, yellow would be better.

Probably if I had my way, all headlights would be yellow all the time. It used to be that way in parts of the world along the sea coast where evening fog was a norm. During a clear evening, it was like everyone was driving on their park lights, except that you could see - the lower yellow illumination level meant your eyes opened wider and hence visibility in darkness was better. Those headlights were also the flat top beam pattern that is finally arriving even in North America.

I think the 5000K probably are good, even better than the 4300K, as perhaps now, 4300K is older technology. The 6000K, I would agree with you are too blue but 5000K is probably now better.

I recall that when HID/Xenon came out, the technology was not there to produce anything but blue bulbs - recall the old Mercedes and BMW vehicles, and then the rice rocket group adopted them - at least that is pretty much over with now. The 4300K colour was really hi tech back in 2005. I just may update my file to make a positive reference to the 5,000K colour now, come to think of it.

Incidentally, I noted the snow in your very good jpg re the above post, and the flat cutoff.

You might post one with just your yellow fog lights - that is a good location for showing off bulb illumination.

 

Checked out the Amazon link... is the D2S the plug interface? Never heard of it before.. I'm used to 9007 or H2 or something like that.

 

First off, if you are looking for replacement bulbs for your 3, the stock bulb depended upon the spec level of your 3 and the year of manufacture.

The SE spec 3's generally used the more normal USA type halogen headlights with 55 watt halogen gas bulbs having number like 9007 or 9006 etc.

The HSE 3's or at least upgraded 3's with what are called projector headlights, (the bullet type glass lens with the Fresnel lines engraved within), used what are called 35 watt Xenon gas bulbs. These bulbs were called up by Land Rover as D2S bulbs and by Phillips as both D2S and 85122 and variations of that. I think the Osram number is 66240 for their D2S.

Year of vehicle manufacture matters as by the time the LR4 appeared, the projector headlight bulbs were called up as D3S as they had the ballast built into the bulb where as the ballast was separate in the D2S bulbs.

I think this had something to do with EMI shielding or at least keeping radio noise at bay. Below is a link to the LR4 bulbs and note that Osram also had a more normal looking part number 66340 for them as well.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Pair-2pcs-OSR...45871380&rt=nc

Just a comment regarding 35 watt and 55 watt. My view is that for our 3's with the spec 35 watt bulbs, there are 55 watt bulbs out there, but given that nothing is free, and that the ballast assembly's were designed for a 35 watt draw, I think overloading the ballasts would reincarnate the Prince of Darkness plus put a pretty good size hole in ones wallet within a short period of time.

The ballasts raise the voltage the D2S bulb sees to around 85VAC and that is why shielding matters - also that the ballast is discharged before one removes the bulb. It is not the hair stands on its end kind of experience but there can be wallet concerns.

Also any Xenon costing less than a hundred dollars is probably worth about what it costs. The link I used amuses me as the bulb is cheap but the shipping, a hundred dollars - makes bitcoin look rational.

 

Yes, I've read that before about the Daytime Running Lights configuration. Is that a legal requirement for all of Canada or only certain provinces? It's really a shame that leaving the Xenons on all the time is the best solution LR could come up with to meet that requirement. I'm assuming with the newer LR4s, the LEDs serve as the DRLs instead of having the Xenons on all the time. That would annoy me for heavy snow/rain situations as you said, as well as just the annoyance of going through expensive Xenon bulbs more often. To my knowledge, no states in the US require DRLs. I know Illinois does not.

From what I understand, the 5000K bulbs I purchased were developed and released around 2013. I don't understand the chemistry/engineering behind it, but they claim there were advances in technology that allowed for the higher lumens output along with the higher K. Perhaps a different combination of gases in the bulb. So I would agree that the 4300K Philips bulbs, once industry standard, are now a bit outdated just based on my own non-scientific comparison here.

And thanks, that picture was just taken quickly in my driveway. The only thing it doesn't capture well is that the beam pattern now seems wider with these bulbs than before. I might find an empty parking lot tonight to try and show that.

I will also take a picture in the same driveway location with just the fogs on as a comparison tonight.

 

Yes, DRL are the law for all of Canada, hence all vehicles have some version of the DRL. As to what constitutes DRL, that is a bit of a question. Initially, back in say 1990, for GM, it meant a slight dimming of the halogen low beams; over the years, the LED decorative lights on the front of newer vehicles are now presumed to be the DRL.

For the most part, I like the effect where the DRL are real headlights as one can see vehicles coming from a long way away. It is of particular use in cloudy conditions on lonely winding hilly roads - you might get a hint of something in the distance and hence are a bit more vigilant when broaching hills or lane straddling.

As to the lights burning out more often, I suppose so, but the Xenon's last so long, I do not know if it really matters - but they do age quicker and hence one should replace them probably every five years regardless.

In my time, I have had one burn out and one blow up; on my second set now and I suppose I should be looking at new ones again - probably will for next fall. Here in the land of the midnight sun, headlights do not matter much in our two "summer" months.

Re your picture location, what one does see is the nice flat cutoff of our headlight focusing projectors - with the internal Fresnel etching, they are real class units and why they cost so much.

 

Good point about seeing traffic a ways off - I suppose you may have more inclement/extreme weather there where headlights really should be on all the time.

Agreed about the cutoff - it is striking to see all alongside the house.

I took a few more photos as I mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, my iPhone's camera didn't pick up the true color of the 2500K fog bulbs very well. They are much more yellow in person - I would say almost like the yellow in a traffic signal. The closest I could get to capturing the true color is if you look on the cut-off line on the house in the third photo, you can see it just in the beginning.

The first photo is just the fog lights on. Second is a view facing the truck, again with just the fogs on. Third photo is with fogs and Xenons on, low-beam (the lights appear dim here as the camera was focused on the house to capture the cut-off of the fogs/low beams more in focus). The last photo is with the high beams on. Here you can really see the benefits of the bi-xenon setup, as the clean cut-off line is angled much higher. I have 6000K philips halogen bulbs in for the supplementary high-beams that I think I will change to a 5000K bulb from PIAA - still looking into this.