H7 Bulb upgrade
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 445
Likes: 8
From: Tucson AZ
2010 Mercedes GLK 350, 2001 BMW Z3 3.0 Roadster, 1997 Cherokee XJ
H7 Bulb upgrade
Thinking about a headlight bulb upgrade. MB offers an upgraded H7, p/n A0009980007 which is still a 55w as OEM. Osram offers a 65w Rally bulb & Piaa has a 65w night-tech bulb. Anyone have experience with any of these?
Already thought about heat issues but the aftermarket bulbs mentioned apparently from my research do not cause a problem with the plastic lens & reflectors. TIA!
Already thought about heat issues but the aftermarket bulbs mentioned apparently from my research do not cause a problem with the plastic lens & reflectors. TIA!
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 36
Likes: 6
From: Oregon
2014 ML350 Bluetec
Thinking about a headlight bulb upgrade. MB offers an upgraded H7, p/n A0009980007 which is still a 55w as OEM. Osram offers a 65w Rally bulb & Piaa has a 65w night-tech bulb. Anyone have experience with any of these?
Already thought about heat issues but the aftermarket bulbs mentioned apparently from my research do not cause a problem with the plastic lens & reflectors. TIA!
Already thought about heat issues but the aftermarket bulbs mentioned apparently from my research do not cause a problem with the plastic lens & reflectors. TIA!
pg
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 445
Likes: 8
From: Tucson AZ
2010 Mercedes GLK 350, 2001 BMW Z3 3.0 Roadster, 1997 Cherokee XJ
You choice, a good one, is actually the rally bulb, with about 400lm over the night tech bulbs & way brighter than the OEM. Due to the observatory near where we live, the restrictions on commercial night lighting is the tightest, hence no street lights. It is dark & I see the Milky Way almost every evening. Always on the watch for mule deer & javelina at night but a brighter light will be nice.
Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 137
Likes: 3
From: Denver, CO
2013 GLK 350 4Matic
I see a few people have described converting their halogens to HID. I would like to do this but I'm worried about the light not being focused properly, since it is not designed for HID currently. To confuse me more, I see photos posted with GLK headlamps that don't look like mine that are the stock halogen housings. Mine don't have the circular reflectors. Did the headlights change for 2013? I will do the Osram bulbs if I can't go the HID route, but HID is my preference.
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2016
Posts: 23
Likes: 4
GLK250
I understand the GLK headlights are CANBUS-controlled. This was true of the lights on my VW Passat, also. In the VW, the voltage delivered to the headlights was tightly regulated and under CANBUS control, limited to some fraction of the bulb's max (typically 12.6 or 12.8V) to extend bulb life. Upping the voltage to 13+ (within bulb tolerance) made a notable difference in light output.
Does anyone know if the GLK headlamp voltage is similarly programmable?
Does anyone know if the GLK headlamp voltage is similarly programmable?
