D1S Osram 66140XNB Night Breaker HID upgrade dipped beam lamps

[J44EAG]

I`ve just ordered a pair of these premium grade Osram Night Breaker HID lamps for my X350.

AutoExpress rated the product as their top choice under test conditions. 70% more light and 20 meters further illumination throw when compared against standard OE units.

The lamps have TUV approval and are E-certificated for road legal use in Europe and the UK. £84 for a pair was the lowest price I could find as in this link.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-Xenarc- ... 2342089185

Fitting proceedure and images here in due course.

Mike

[Brakebuster]

great choice

with regard to price etc, be aware , fakes can be sold on eBay and such places that import to the UK , the packet may say so , but the contents are cheap knockoffs ,


so shop around by all means , but ultimately buy from a reputable dealer,

will be great to hear about the results

BB

[poprivet]

The link doesn't work for me Mike, but I was thinking of something similar for my Citroen which has headlights like a gloworm in a beer bottle.
I was thinking of using Opie Oils which I use often and trust.

I do wonder about how long they will last compared with originals, reports are mixed on other forums so I will await your experimentation with interest.

[J44EAG]

Pop, listed as around 2,500 - 3,000hrs which is similar to OE products. Don`t know why that link didn`t work. OK my end.

Vince is absolutely correct about the perils of inadvertently buying fake units. Fortunately, Osram proved this internet checker link and the first thing I`ll be doing when the lamps arrive is to verify originlity is certificated Osram.https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... gVUMwt2M8A

Now waiting for the postman at the yard gate.

Mike

[ptjs1]

Mike,

The link you've posted is your actual order, not the native eBay listing, hence not accessible by others. Try and find the same item from the same seller again and then post that link.

Cheers

Paul

[J44EAG]

Well spotted.

Bad link now removed and the correct one substituted.

Mike

[J44EAG]

It took a week for delivery that implies the delivery may have originated in Germany. No problem though.

Lamps verified as original and not fakes using the Osram online checker. All found good. Most encouraged.

Looks like the car will be in bits again tomorrow.

Images and write up to follow soon.

Mike

[J44EAG]

Job done and working.

A few observations. Best advice has always to be to remove the bumper cover and then three 10mm bolts which secure each headlight unit to the car. This, after my experience today still stands as the easiest and the best way to change ether halogen or HID units.

Armed with my best mate, Mr Dave Rex, we got stuck in. Rex though we could replace both lamps without bumper cover removal. PTJS1 had already said that the near side lamp could be changed without cover removal but that the off side was impossible. As always, he was right. So the cover eventually came off which was fifteen minute work only. Three 10mm bolts secure each headlight unit to the car. Much easier with the lamp units moved forward a couple of inches. Impossible unless that happens. Trying to do it without the cover removed risks dropping sockets and spanners, springs and bolts down onto the undertray...then you do have to take the bumper cover off to recover all the lost bits and tools. Don`t waste your time doing it the hard way. Get the cover off and retain your sanity!!!!

Goof number two was with the off side ground cables. Eight ground cables siamesed onto four cable lugs locate on two soft bolts welded to the bulkhead just aft of the headlights. Cables are short and the lugs can corrode badly. To try to get more space, we removed the nut on the stud and displaced these eight cables. Having changed the off side lamp, the lugs went back on the upper stud for ease of future accessibility and the nut was put back on. Joy of joy, the stud snapped at the bulkhead as I tightened the nut. No brute force used at all. Bugger!

To get the car going again, I managed to pull up the eight cables from the depths and skank a connection to ground from a near by headlight to front frame fastening. A long hex cap head 316 stainless bolt temporarily replaces a rather short steel bolt together with some washers and has a satisfactory enough fixing for a while. My intention is to replace that 6mm threaded bolt with a more suitable 8mm bolt in the near future. I could have done without that stud breakage. I`m certain the stud was aluminium rather than mild steel. 316 at build stage would have been rather more robust and less likely to corrode. Not a good piece of engineering. You wouldn`t have got away with that on an aircraft. Thanks Jaguar for a shoddy piece of detail design.

Enough moans and frustration. Even in bright sunlight, the Osram Night Breakers are noticably brighter than the standard OE Osram original fit units. Fair play...thirteen years old and still in prestine condition when removed. Good lamps in my opinion.

In daylight, the Night Breakers burn with a blue hue once fired up. This turns to bright white light after fifteen seconds or so. Side by side during fitting, the Night Breaker lamps have a very distinct blue tinge to the glass.

A few pics now.

Extra performance offered by Night Breaker in white. Osram OE lamps in red.

Clear white lamp of the OE unitstill in great condition after thirteen years and 88k miles on the road. Performance was sufficient, but not outstanding.

Night Breaker lamp with blue tinge to glass. Performance not yet assessed as the dark has not yet decended.

Detail of the extremely tight working area to the rear of the lamp units. My cable lift temporary mod is clearly seen.

Dave Rex battles with the off side headlight unit on J44. A good fellow is "Wrecks". Ex Ford Daganham commercial PDI trouble shooter with a huge experience and always ready to give me a hand.

The Osram box showing the seven digit number which you enter onto their website to ensure your seller has sent you genuine Osram units. The site asks you to confirm the lamp number then comes back confirming it is a genuine product or a fake. Mine both came back confirmed as genuine. So they should....£42 each!

That`s it for the time being. Its still light so nothing further I can do until dark.
Mike

[J44EAG]

Out last night when the dark arrived to see just how good the Night Breakers were.

I`d say these lamps are just stupendous. What a difference. A Five Star rating doesn`t do them justice. They deserve much larger acclaim. They are not just good but better described as truely exceptional. The Night Breakers blow the standard OE Osram units off the map. Judge for yourselves from my images here. I took a number of pictures before the lamps were changed. The first image as loaded here is always the OE lamp with a similar second image being that of the Night Breakers taken after the lamp change yesterday .

Driving with these new lamps fitted is almost a cultural type shock. The increase in luminosity is quite staggering. Much, much brighter with the road appearing more detailed and with the light being thrown considerably further into the distance. Reflective road signs just seem to pop out at you. I`ve not had any headlight flashing from oncoming motorists.

I`d say these lamps which come for £84 a pair, are probably the best components you could ever fit to an HID car for such a low sum of cash. Yes, £84 is a chunk of cash for "just" headlamps but when you drive with them, the cost drops to insignificance. The gains are all positive with seemingly no cons to spoil the value of the installation. These units make driving a much less difficult experience and I would certainly recommend them. Drivers who are experiencing night time visual problems would find these units a massive additional plus. Indeed the same goes for any perfectly sighted driver who I suspect will like me,will be simply bowled over by the additional lighting advantages. All I can really say now is, go buy a set.

Mike

[Brakebuster]

excellent comparison pictures, and a great writeup as ever

thanks for sharing

BB

[PPV]

Excellent comparison. Thanks for the information.
Regards,

[Bigkid]

Out last night when the dark arrived to see just how good the Night Breakers were.

I`d say these lamps are just stupendous. What a difference. A Five Star rating doesn`t do them justice. They deserve much larger acclaim. They are not just good but better described as truely exceptional. The Night Breakers blow the standard OE Osram units off the map. Judge for yourselves from my images here. I took a number of pictures before the lamps were changed. The first image as loaded here is always the OE lamp with a similar second image being that of the Night Breakers taken after the lamp change yesterday .
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Driving with these new lamps fitted is almost a cultural type shock. The increase in luminosity is quite staggering. Much, much brighter with the road appearing more detailed and with the light being thrown considerably further into the distance. Reflective road signs just seem to pop out at you. I`ve not had any headlight flashing from oncoming motorists.

I`d say these lamps which come for £84 a pair, are probably the best components you could ever fit to an HID car for such a low sum of cash. Yes, £84 is a chunk of cash for "just" headlamps but when you drive with them, the cost drops to insignificance. The gains are all positive with seemingly no cons to spoil the value of the installation. These units make driving a much less difficult experience and I would certainly recommend them. Drivers who are experiencing night time visual problems would find these units a massive additional plus. Indeed the same goes for any perfectly sighted driver who I suspect will like me,will be simply bowled over by the additional lighting advantages. All I can really say now is, go buy a set.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I need to replace my os dipped bulb as it failed over the weekend (wellI hope its the xenon bulb thats failed!).
I shall be going with the Osram Night Breakers as per your excellent recommendations
Just a thought though, since I'm taking the bumper cover off, did you look at replacing the main beam bulbs too?

Only I see Osram make a Night Breaker Unlimited for the H7 high beam lamp 110% brighter and 40m longer beam!
or a Night Breaker Laser 130% brighter and unto 20% whiter (so it may actually improve the aesthetics too.

I need to replace my flickering sidelight bulbs (it appears that somebody previously fitted leds), so I'm just thinking take the bumper off once, change all the bulbs for brighter more modern white bulbs and hopefully won't need to do it again for a while!

Cheers
Carl

[J44EAG]

It is imperative that you distinguish whether you have halogen or HID fitted, Carl.

Halogen will be H7 lamps and you might see that molded within the plastic headlight lens. Go for the +130% lamps to get the extra punch. I fitted those in my old S-type. The ones I selected came from Halfords....I recall they were known as Extreme Brilliance. The Night Breaker equivalents will be as good if not better. I bought from the Halfords range because they were cheaper and also readily available from any Halfords branch even on a Sunday afternoon. The choice is yours. In reality, there probably isn`t much to choose between the two different manufacturers. Mine gave excellent light improvement on the S-type.

HID lamps. Osram make the OE HID lamps. Check the headlamp lens to find either DS1 or perhaps DS2. Only buy the correct lamps as DS1 or DS2 units. The uprated Osram Nightbreaker lamps are marked as XNB on the box. You must check XNB appears on any lamps you buy if you want increased illumination.

As explained on a couple of lighting threads, LED sidelights can be problematical. Flickering is the usual issue. I`ve taken the LED units out of my car in exasperation and reverted to normal super-bright halogen lamps...they are a lot less bover!

Happy with that?

Mike

[Bigkid]

It is imperative that you distinguish whether you have halogen or HID fitted, Carl.

As explained on a couple of lighting threads, LED sidelights can be problematical. Flickering is the usual issue. I`ve taken the LED units out of my car in exasperation and reverted to normal super-bright halogen lamps...they are a lot less bover!

I definitely have D1S dipped beam (outer) lamps Mike and have ordered the night breakers to replace them.

https://www.powerbulbs.com/product/osra ... d-d1s-twin

But my Main beam (inner lamps) are H7, so my question was have you replaced those with he H7 version of the night breaker?

I decided against it at the moment as £100 for the D1s was enough of a shock, and TBH my main beam seems bright enough. I may re-visit this decision (if I can be bothered to remove the bumper again later)

Even prior to the o/s dip failing on Sunday the dip beam has been awful, Will at Powerbulbs says the xenons should be a much brighter bulb, but I wasn't impressed, he says they will undoubtedly have degraded over time, my car was 14yrs old on Xmas eve.

So degraded originals may explain why you see such a marked difference with the night breakers, a comparison against new original xenons may not be so staggering.

Anyway since Irishjag replied on another post saying he's had no flickering issues with the Osram LED sidelights I have taken the plunge and ordered those too. I already have flickering LEDs fitted by a previous owner, so need to change them anyway.

Cheers
Carl

[J44EAG]

Sorry, Carl. I missed the bit about main beam lamps.

No, I haven`t replaced main beam lamps as I felt they were powerful enough when combined with the HID XNB Night Breaker dipped beam lamps. I suppose if one were to pop tomorrow, I`d probably up-rate at that point.

I think is is quite feasible that old, perhaps original to the car HID lamps will "go off" a bit as they age. As we often all find, failing equipment usually gets dodgy before it completely gives up the fight. Lamps are probably little different.

Hope I`ve covered everything this time.

Mike