80 series headlight upgrade

Just to add to my question, a seller on ebay has Phillips Plus 50 globes for $35 and Phillips EXTREME PLUS 80 globes for $59. It states on the Phillips packaging that the 80% brighter globes still only draw the std 60W/55W but instead of being plus 50 are plus 80. Has anyone used these? For $59 and still only 60W/55W they cant be too bad!

Be very careful upgrading the globes in the standard headlights, they are plastic and will melt with any additional heat generated by higher wattage globes.
You would need 4 globes, two for low beam and two for high beam.
You will probably find that just fitting an upgraded wiring harness which supplies full voltage to the headlights will make a huge improvement even with standard globes.
The harness should be fitted when upgrading globes anyway, waste of money otherwise as you can only get so much power down the very small standard wiring.
Would be cheaper to fit HID's from ebay and they will provide way better light output than any halogen globe with less current draw and would work ok with the standard wiring.
Do search on seller "95soarer" , good fella to deal with.

I picked up the plus 80 Philips globes yesterday for $49 (I was buying a few items and screwed them down to that) from Burson auto parts (used to be Coventry Auto parts).
However i haven't fitted them yet so can't comment on performance.
Cheers

Thanks both for your replies. My earlier search showed a few fellas saying the Plus 50s were fine with std plastic reflectors heatwise, but i have heard nothing about Plus 80s. Either way, no doubt a harness upgrade would be the best safety precaution to do, along with possibly flowing more current to the globes=power. It is a money thing though although i'm sure having burnt out wiring replaced would outweigh any savings by a mile...

Flash, i will look forward to hearing any recommendation or comments from your experience with your plus 80s too.
Thanks!

Plus50 or Plus80 draw the same power as standard globes - no need to worry about the reflectors of housing - no need to upgrade the wiring.

Tippa, I have been through a couple of different globes trying to get better light from the GU headlights and Cibie spotties, without going to HID.

First I put Philips +50% in my spotlights and quickly took them out and put the standard ones back in. I gave them to a mate who has an 80 series. He put them in his hi-beam and is happy with them. They were no good for my Cibie Oscar spotties but work well for the 80 series.

Then I put IPF FatBoys in the headlights and was reasonably impressed with them. Now the low beam is heaps better, the hi beam is a little better. When one of them blew I couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money again so I had a talk to my local auto leccy who recommended the Philips +80% Xtreme. I took his advice and they are every bit as good as the FatBoys but at a fraction of the price.

One thing to remember with the FatBoys is they are not 60/55w. They are a higher wattage which can do funny things to your wiring and hi/lo switch. The ARB salesman will tell you they are standard wattage but they are not.

The final thing I did was upgrade my Cibie Oscars for IPF 900XS spotlights which use an H9 65w globe and I now have great lights for night driving. If I get bored with that I might try a set of Philips +80% in the spotties.

http://www.lcool.org/technical/80_series/lights/80wiring.html

Having a Jackaroo the headlights are woefull, especially on low beam. I grabbed the IPF Fatboy's on sale at one of the 4wd shows and haven't looked back. Low beam is an equivalent 190w (high beam 150w) so for my problem where low beam was terrible, they are an amazing improvement. No problem with wiring etc. or melting reflectors.

In saying that though, haven't tried anything else so you might get just as good improvement for less money with one of the other brands. For me however, the Fatboy's are absolutely brilliant on low beam.

Hi everyone. This is an interesting thread as I am researching what spotties to buy and was given an option of converting headlights. The question I have - Is converting headlights to HID legal or not in WA? I don't want to take the risk of going down this cheaper path and find its illegal. cheers

I did the HID conversion which worked mostly pretty easily - the lights look incredibly brighter... BUT the HID gave me much less reach.

Research after the purchase revealed that the shape of the light source being so different means the light does not work effectively in the 100 series reflectors. I've taken them out and replaced them with +80s and got a significant improvement, particularly noticeable at low beam at without reducing the reach.

Cheers
Andrew.

Well i finally fitted the Phillips Plus 80s into my 80 series.
Im not sure if most people do this, but i decided to... i replaced all 4 lighs with new H4 semi sealed beams, and fitted the Plus 80s into all 4. Yes, the inner headlight globes only use the high beam filament but its a mighty bright filament!
Results are:
* Incredibly white light compared to the old yellowish glow,
* Much brighter low beams which reach noticeably further,
* Alot brighter high beams which light up a good distance and also light up the sides better too.

One thing i'm not sure about is if i have lost center distance on the high beams. I'm not sure if the old H1s (two inner ones) were more of a pencil beam and so fitting H4s may have lost that. I really cant tell because they are so much brighter, but possibly think i have lost some distance...
Testing mine beside a stockie would be the best way i guess...

Either way, low beam is so much better its far from dangerous as it was before, high beam is alot brighter, and they are both a brilliant white light like my previous car's HIDs that i loved.
Great stuff.
Now i just need a good pencil beam spottie and i will burn roos before i hit them ha ha.