bright headlights

[Broncodude]

Any ideas on brighter headlights on an 84 BII? Without a lot of expense??

 

[Turbo-T]

Make sure your ground connections are good. That means take them apart and clean all of the contact surfaces. install halogen bulbs. A week alternator can make headlights dim. And wipe the dirt off of them.

 

[Broncodude]

Thanks, I will ck the connections altho there probably ok. Headlights are pretty normal in brightness but I need something a little extra.

 

[MAKG]

Blinding oncoming traffic is considered rude, and doesn't enhance your safety one bit.

Frankly, with no traffic, you can almost drive by moonlight. It's not necessary to have massively bright headlights.

The one detail left out of the suggestions above is to have your headlights aimed. Poor aim can make a lot of difference. Even marginal aim can.

 

[rickcdewitt]

the headlight switches are marginal when it comes to the increased amps of the f'n blue lights also right?my cousin did the i'm brighter than yours bulbs and he had to start fliking to low beams while the other car was in veiw so they would know he was on low beams and not put their high beams on in his face.not worth it to me,but on a sealed beam truck you might want a little more by getting halogens?

 

[krugford]

I agree with MAKG on the headlight aim. If they're aimed too high, then you won't be able to see as well AND you'll be blinding traffic. I disagree about the safety thing though. Where I live, you have to keep an eye out for deer. Brighter lights are going to illuminate a larger area and give you more room to react when you see an animal in the road. What about installing aux driving lamps. That way you won't be increasing the brightness of the low beams, but you'll be able to flip them on when there are no cars coming. I'll admit, if I'm driving at night and I can see there are no cars coming for a couple miles, I'll flip on all four aux lights on the front of my truck and I do shut them off when I see another car. I'd like to think some of the close calls I've had with deer recently were because of the increase in illumination, not just luck.

 

[AllanD]

Cheap headlights need to be bright.
GOOD headlights don't.

I run E-code Hella H4 headlamps.

They DO NOT make a blinding bright blob of light on the ground immediatly in front of the truck.

that blob and/or it's brightness is counterproductive because that ammount
of light right in front of you causes your pupils to contract and makes you able to see less.

With the european type (E-code) headlamps the light is FAR more evenly distributed
and though you might not see the light reflecting back at you from the road surface
under some conditions (like when the road is wet) that is only because there is really nothing to see, so your pupils can dialate and increase your night vision.

E-code lights take a little getitng used to but once you do the crappy SAE standard lamps will never satisfy you.

It's like the difference between Good dark chocolate and crappy milk chocolate.
"Brighter" lights are like sweeter chocolate, except it isn't a matter of taste.

Now that all being said brighter BULBS are available for H4 lamps
but being honest the wiring on your truck simply isn't up to the
increased current drain, even if the switches could handle the current
and being honest about that... the switches aren't capable either.

I run the "stock" 60w/55w bulbs in my lamps.
If I want more light I turn on my 100w driving lights.
If I want a "blob" in front of the truck I also have foglights

But unlike the room temp IQ drivers I see all the time I have
my lamps aimed correctly and dron't drive around with my
foglamps on all the time.

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