Interest in brand new Hella Bi-Focus low beams?
TLDR: The best low beam retrofit headlights are Hella Bi-Focus that I want to bulk order from Europe and sell for cheap.
I’ve been looking at low beam replacements for my sealed beams, and the censuses across various vintage car communities that use 5 3/4” sealed beams are that the Hella Bi-Focus are the best available since the Cibie CSR lows were discontinued.
The Bi-Focus was a joint development between BMW and Hella back in the early 80’s. What makes these the best is that they are dedicated low beams that use an H1 bulb, where all other low beams halogen replacements use H4 bulbs with dual filaments. The problem with H4 lows is that they use a reflector within the bulb itself to direct light for the low beam, which inherently makes it a worse performer then the Bi-Focus that uses the undirected H1 bulb, and uses the reflectors and glass in the headlight to direct the light. Someone claimed 55% more output over H4 low beams.
I’ve read some reports that these are better then euro ellipsoids (especially because the reflectors are brand new and not 30 years old) but once I get my hand on some I’ll have to find someone with ellipsoids to do an in person comparison.
Now the problem is they aren’t DOT approved, but no non-sealed headlights are for our cars, so they’re hard to find and expensive in the US. The only place I could find them is at rallylights.com for $105 each! Some of you may know I’ve been buying seat shocks in bulk from Europe and selling them on my website the past few years at www.bmwseatshocks.weebly.com so I’m thinking about buying these lights in bulk from Europe to also sell through the site.
They are a drop in replacement for the sealed beams, just have to wire them to the stock harness. Since the H1s aren’t dual filament the low beam relay has to have a couple pins jumped in order to stay on while the high beams are on, which doesn’t requires any hacking of the wiring harness and is reversible. Of course I’ll have a full installation guide on my website like I do with the seat shocks if I decide to sell them. I think that by buying in bulk I can get them down to $75 per headlight, not including the H1 bulb, but those are readily available in various upgraded high output versions.
If you'd like an email update, I've got a Google Form here.
I’ve been looking at low beam replacements for my sealed beams, and the censuses across various vintage car communities that use 5 3/4” sealed beams are that the Hella Bi-Focus are the best available since the Cibie CSR lows were discontinued.
The Bi-Focus was a joint development between BMW and Hella back in the early 80’s. What makes these the best is that they are dedicated low beams that use an H1 bulb, where all other low beams halogen replacements use H4 bulbs with dual filaments. The problem with H4 lows is that they use a reflector within the bulb itself to direct light for the low beam, which inherently makes it a worse performer then the Bi-Focus that uses the undirected H1 bulb, and uses the reflectors and glass in the headlight to direct the light. Someone claimed 55% more output over H4 low beams.
I’ve read some reports that these are better then euro ellipsoids (especially because the reflectors are brand new and not 30 years old) but once I get my hand on some I’ll have to find someone with ellipsoids to do an in person comparison.
Now the problem is they aren’t DOT approved, but no non-sealed headlights are for our cars, so they’re hard to find and expensive in the US. The only place I could find them is at rallylights.com for $105 each! Some of you may know I’ve been buying seat shocks in bulk from Europe and selling them on my website the past few years at www.bmwseatshocks.weebly.com so I’m thinking about buying these lights in bulk from Europe to also sell through the site.
They are a drop in replacement for the sealed beams, just have to wire them to the stock harness. Since the H1s aren’t dual filament the low beam relay has to have a couple pins jumped in order to stay on while the high beams are on, which doesn’t requires any hacking of the wiring harness and is reversible. Of course I’ll have a full installation guide on my website like I do with the seat shocks if I decide to sell them. I think that by buying in bulk I can get them down to $75 per headlight, not including the H1 bulb, but those are readily available in various upgraded high output versions.
If you'd like an email update, I've got a Google Form here.
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