Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: the_Ghosthunter on 02 September 2007, 15:38:20
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hi, my Omega has exnon dipped beams, can i fit exnon bulbs to the main beams? because you get bright dipped and poor main beams....if so? which bulbs are best, and are they H1 bulbs?
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I fitted my 1998 Elite with xenon filled bulbs as main beams. Dipped beams are HIDs. Main beams are H7. Much improved lighting as a result. Easy to fit but a bit of a fiddle!
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thanks dbug... for that info.....may all your ghosts be small ones!!!!
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On the passenger side, either the entire lamp or the battery have to come off to change the bulb... unless you have extremely tiny finders that is.
Easy fit on the drivers side though.
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On the passenger side, either the entire lamp or the battery have to come off to change the bulb... unless you have extremely tiny finders that is.
Easy fit on the drivers side though.
You can get away with just removing the battery clamp and moving the battery as far back as you can on the leads. My mitts are owt but small.
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Just to confirm, YES you can chnge the main beam bulbs easy enough but they will NOT be up to the performance of your factory fit Xenon HID's!
The best I could suggest is a bulb with a colour match as close to the original dipped beam xenons as possible. The ones from the bay that claim to be xenon 'filled' won't match the quality of your dipped beam technology because that invloves a specialist 'ballast' and starter pack with high voltages invloved. The main beam are simple 12V.
An additional retro fit HID system will not work either because as you know, that system takes a couple of seconds to 'settle' - no good for flashing main beam lights!
The advice, don't buy cheap. If you want quality and performance be prepared to spend £30 +. I would recommend some Philips 'X-Treme' power +80% or some PIAA 'Extreme White Plus'. The fitment you require is H7.
Interestingly, my mk4 astra uses H7 for dipped beam! :-?
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Interestingly, my mk4 astra uses H7 for dipped beam! :-?
It's common for the same bulb type to be used for both dip and main beam, the difference is down to the reflector, lens, or deflector plate depending on the light design. Many older cars have H1 for both dip and main, newer ones H7. The exception is HIDs as mentioned, and H4 dual-filament bulbs which have both dipped and main beam functions performed by a single bulb on each side -- these are crap in my experience, although they're common on bikes due to the limited space available for seperate reflectors for dip and main beam.
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Oh, yeah, I get that and understand it is the way the light is projected but just interesting how the high spec omega gets h7 lights for high beam but crappy astra gets them for low beam and even better HB3 bulbs for main beam :o
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Always wondered why my high beam was shite... :-?
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Bit of a noob question,but how do i know if the headlights on my 2000 v6 cdx are xenon?
There is a bit of a lag when i switch them on,maybe half a second or so....?
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Bit of a noob question,but how do i know if the headlights on my 2000 v6 cdx are xenon?
There is a bit of a lag when i switch them on,maybe half a second or so....?
Your headlight switch, does it have a dial for adjust headlights (as well as dial to vary dash brightness)?
If not, you have HIDs.
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Sounds like they are, do you have a beam levelling control on the dash or headlamp washers?
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Pah beaten to it again. ;D
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Sounds like they are, do you have a beam levelling control on the dash or headlamp washers?
Hi,just been out to look (i'v only had the car 4 days),i can't find a levelling control wheel,but i do have headlamp washers....??
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Sounds like they are, do you have a beam levelling control on the dash or headlamp washers?
Hi,just been out to look (i'v only had the car 4 days),i can't find a levelling control wheel,but i do have headlamp washers....??
You have HIDs then :D
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Sounds like they are, do you have a beam levelling control on the dash or headlamp washers?
Hi,just been out to look (i'v only had the car 4 days),i can't find a levelling control wheel,but i do have headlamp washers....??
You have HIDs then :D
Sweet :y
I finally have a car with 21st century light's!
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HID lights are affected much more than halogen by dirty lenses, hence the headlight washers and when factory fitted must be automatically adjusted to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic so the lack of a levelling control is the give away here. :y
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HID lights are affected much more than halogen by dirty lenses, hence the headlight washers and when factory fitted must be automatically adjusted to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic so the lack of a levelling control is the give away here. :y
Thank's for that,when i first used my lights a couple of days ago,i noticed the lag that i mentioned earlier,
it freaked me out a bit to be honest,because i had alternator probs with my other car recently and thought that maybe this
lag might be the alt. not delivering enough amp's.
So,is this the xenon warming up,as it were?
cheers
Iain
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Yup like a flourescent tube coming on. Nothing to worry about, mine do the same.
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Yup like a flourescent tube coming on. Nothing to worry about, mine do the same.
Thank's CaptainZok,and TB as well :)
:y
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Yep, they all take a second to start up :y Can't you tell by the brightness!?! The downside - replacement bulbs are a fair few quid. Hopefully though that won't matter for a good few years yet ;)
CDX, ELITE, MV6 and Sport (I think?) all fitted with Xenon HID's. Only GLS & CD do without. GLS doesn't have front fogs either.
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davelad , i have a 2001 2.2 cd when i took it for a test drive they said it had exnon lights , i thought it ment they were blue to look at ,but driving tonight there was a white car infront about 200 yards and my lights made it look a bit blue . are they exnon ? my head lights are not good until i put the spots on its a bit better,is this what people are talking about ? :)
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If it has HIDs on a CD then they were fitted as an option....again, do you have a headlight level dial on the head light switch....if yes, you dont have HID's
For those interested
HID = High Intensity Discharge lamp....
It works in a similarish way to a flouescent lamp and requires a very high voltage arc to get them to strike (this is way there is a seperate power supply which is sometimes in-correctly refered to as the ballast) and hence the delay and slight flash at turn on, they then run at many hundreds of volts to keep them working.
The plus points are:
1) MUCH greater light output
2) MUCH whiter light
3) MUCH longer life
4) Lower power (they only consume about 30W each compared to 55W for a filament lamp)
The bulbs are more expensive but, the price is always dropping as HID technology is used in more and more places (now even in the homes!).
Bulb life is normaly 10 years+ although the actual life span is related to the number of power cylces (hence not ideal for full beam as it gets turned on and off much more!) and burn time.
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Yep, they all take a second to start up :y Can't you tell by the brightness!?! The downside - replacement bulbs are a fair few quid. Hopefully though that won't matter for a good few years yet ;)
CDX, ELITE, MV6 and Sport (I think?) all fitted with Xenon HID's. Only GLS & CD do without. GLS doesn't have front fogs either.
pretty sure my 98 CDX has normal halogen projectors.. :(
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Yep, HIDs were only standard on CDx's from Facelift on.