help! 9006 socket question

[initial-T]

ok, my buddy has lighting problems with his gen3 cam, so he took out his low beams and just put the sockets back in, so at night he just uses his high beams with nothing in his low-beam socket. is that going to hurt anything with his car?

[amerikim]

might get flipped off, ticketed or attacked for all that glare.

[initial-T]

well besides that. will it hurt anything electrically?

[CrawlingEye]

Couldn't see why. Your high-beams were meant to be on. It might wear the bulb a bit quicker, as 9005's are designed for output, not longetivity, but beyond that, it shouldn't matter much.

Why doesn't he just remove the bulb/socket and slide it over to his low-beams so he's at least not blinding people?

[initial-T]

hmm well it does look kinda neat too. reminds me of those cams that have the inner lights that stay on rather than the outer set. but i guess it won't blind people too much. i mean, otherwise why would people modify their sockets to a 9005 configuration.

so...i mean, water shouldnt leak into the headlight as long as the socket is actually in there, and it shouldn't create current issues rite?

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by initial-T
hmm well it does look kinda neat too. reminds me of those cams that have the inner lights that stay on rather than the outer set. but i guess it won't blind people too much. i mean, otherwise why would people modify their sockets to a 9005 configuration.

so...i mean, water shouldnt leak into the headlight as long as the socket is actually in there, and it shouldn't create current issues rite?

Why would it? He's using a high-beam bulb that's rated for the vehichle in the high-beam socket.

I've personally been running 9005's for my lows and highs since a couple weeks after I bought the cam. No problems at all so far. I think the only thing I would do, aside from getting the problem fixed would be to just swap sockets between the highs and the lows, as high-beams aren't very directional, while low-beams are.

[initial-T]

cool. so i guess i'll tell him that he can go ahead with it.

[TakeABao]

Originally posted by initial-T
i mean, otherwise why would people modify their sockets to a 9005 configuration.

Well for starters, if you put a 9005 bulb in a 9006 socket, you're most likely utilizing a reflector shroud or the dithering on the front of your headlamp. This in turn reduces the amount of glare 'caused by the extra output. Look at the stock headlamp assembly of a Gen 3 and you'll notice that the low-beam side has a lot more dithering on the front than the high beam side. Same goes for the 4th gen. If you look at the 5th gen (though, i'm not completely sure on this one), you'll see that the 9005's dont' have any sort of shroud over them to reduce glare. I suppose their whole purpose is to create glare since as someone previously mentioned, you use your highs for flashing at people, telling 'em to get the f*** out've your way, et cetera...

Just some random information I felt like pitching in...

_Ray

[initial-T]

hmm...so are the high beams directional at all?

[CrawlingEye]

Originally posted by initial-T
hmm...so are the high beams directional at all?

Barely. They're not intended to be directional. If you put a high-beam bulb in a low-beam socket, you'll be fine because the directional fins in the front of the headlight will direct the light.

The difference between the 9005 and 9006 bulbs is 10w and quite a few lumens, and the socket itself.

Honestly though, if you put a 9006 in a high-beam socket, it'd still be blinding to opposing traffic, due to the lack of directionality.