Cibie vs Hella.

First, if you haven't checked out the mass buy thread on the Cibie's lately, there's a new option (potentially).

When talking to a lighting specialist, I told him we may be going with Hella lights instead of Cibies. Here's what he wrote:


take a look at this:



These are isocandela diagrams for Cibie and Hella 7" round H4 headlights.

If you're not familiar with isocandela diagrams, these will look like
random squiggles and lines. Think of it as a topographic or "contour" map
of the correctly-aimed beam pattern. Each differently-colored line
represents the threshold of a particular intensity level, with the color
legend located to the right of the isocandela diagram. The diagram is
plotted on a chart calibrated in degrees. Straight ahead is represented by
(0,0), that is, zero degrees up-down and zero degrees left-right.

To get a mental approximation of the units and amounts under discussion
here:

Parking lamp: About 60 to 100 candela
Front turn signal: About 500 candela
Glaring high-beam daytime running lamps (e.g. Saturn): 8000 candela

The parameters to pay attention to are the luminous flux (total amount of
light within the beam), the maximum intensity and its location within the
beam relative to the axial point (H,V) -- the less downward/rightward
offset, the longer the seeing distance -- stray light outside the beam
pattern and effective beam width (contained within the dark-turquoise 500
candela contour)

Things to notice about these two diagrams:

(1) The Cibie produces a much wider beam pattern than the Hella. The 1000
candela line of the Cibie's beam pattern extends from 25 degrees Left to
25 degrees right, while the 1000 candela line of the Hella extends from 18
degrees Left to 20 degrees Right. At a distance of 50 feet from the car,
this means the 1000 candela-and-brighter portion of the Hella's beam is
10.5 feet narrower than that of the Cibie. The 300 cd contour of the
Cibie's pattern is *far* wider, extending from 43 degrees Left to 50
degrees Right, compared to 26 Left to 25 Right for the Hella. This means
the overall useful width of the beam pattern at 25 feet from the car, as
perceived by the driver, will be 40.7 feet for the Cibie and 22.3 feet for
the Hella.

2) The total luminous flux (overall amount of light) within the beam
pattern is 695 lumens for the Cibie, 463 lumens for the Hella - the Cibie
is 50.1% more efficient. (the TLF data is listed as "Luminous Flux" in the
readings up above the isocandela diagram)

The high beams for these two lamps (isocandela diagrams not yet scanned
in) are very similar in overall performance and amount of light -- the
critical difference is that the Cibie's high beam hot spot is located
closer to (0,0) and closer to its low beam hot spot. The Hella's high beam
and low beam hot spots are separated by a fairly large vertical amount,
such that setting the lows where they belong results in most of the high
beam light going up in the trees, but pulling the high beams down so they
send light straight ahead puts the low beams 10 feet in front of the car.

So we should definitely stick with the Cibies! Excellent presentation, Lowndes! I am sold!

Head Lamps

Which Hella is this a comparison for? The DOT ones or the CE ones? There is a drastic difference between these two pairs and I was curious which your comparison was for?

Thanks John

The Hella is labeled ECE.

so, we get a wider beam and not a longer range? It seems that the hellas on high through light farther down the trail; si this not better? Aux lights can provide "wideness" of lighted path. My Bosch 7" rounds give a flat but wide beam for this.

The way I read it - the hella's may throw the light further out there (maybe not since they are less efficient), but you have to decide if you want a good high beam or good low beam pattern as the focal points are very seperated.

I can vouch for the seperation as I curently have the Hella E codes on my EB and was frustrrated by it. When my low beams are set fora good pattern, my highbeams light up all the street signs and trees really well, but not the road.

well, I guess it is a good thing I am in on the mass buy then.

thanx.



Mick

DAMN ... Now that's a NICE REPORT.

I have used both, and Cibie's are superior ... now I know why. Cibie ... nothing even comes close ... and I have used E-Codes from Bosch, Hella and Marchal.

Now put some 80/100 Watt bulbs in those babies and you can vaporize the car that is approaching with their crappy "DOT Approved" high beams on.

Nice comparison. Do you know how the H4's on the BC Broncos site compare? I think they are made by Delta engr.

Do you know how the H4's on the BC Broncos site compare? I think they are made by Delta engr.

Click to expand...

No. I only received information on these two lights.

jason77 said:

Nice comparison. Do you know how the H4's on the BC Broncos site compare? I think they are made by Delta engr.

Click to expand...

The above report is awesome because it reinforces the fact that it's all about the Lens and Reflector assembly and not the H-4 Bulb ... meaning "Halogen" does not mean jack from a performance standpoint.

Both Cibie and Hella are top notch brands ... with Cibie being 50% more efficient than Hella ... proof that a brighter bulb does not translate to improved light output ... and in many cases just produces more heat. While I have no data to support my next statement, it should be a safe assumption that "Made in China" by a company that does not even specialize in lighting would not be in the same league as companies that have set the industry standard for over 30-years.

If you just want to say you have "Halogens" then save your money and buy Delta. But if you want performance from your lighting, then buy Cibie ... best money you will ever spend.