I think I might have it figured out. H4 and H7 bulbs are the small insert-&-twist modern bulbs, quartz-halogen in design. The Rampage kit is apparently a reflector and lens that takes the modern bulbs, as opposed to the old sealed-beam incandescent lamps that did not have fused quartz and halide inert gas. Apparently, the unit will accommodate High Intensity Discharge lamps if the buyer chooses to make the conversion, and the kit includes adapters. I’m assuming it doesn’t include the power module (ballast) or HID bulbs, just the physical ability to be adapted.
The quartz halogen bulbs should provide a better/brighter beam, and being a 55W incandescent bulb it requires no modifications electrically. I think the OP is on the right track here.
But, as I mentioned before, first I’d get the battery, charging system, and aim checked out to be sure the apparent dimness isn’t caused by low voltage or improper aiming. If it is, the new bulbs will only offer limited improvement.
Another thing I thought of is if you can’t find an H7 conversion unit and tried to use addtional H4 units for the inner lights they probably wouldn’t fit because the mounting nodes wouldn’t line up. Seems like you’re limited to just doing the outer lights.
Not quite, Luke. It looks like the conversion kit will accept H4 bulbs as replacements for your original sealed-beam lamps. The newer lamps, the H4s, are small bulbs that contain halide gas to allow the filaments to burn hotter without burning up, producing more light, and encapsulate them in small fused-quartz bulbs to survive the increased heat. That’s what “quartz-halogen bulb” actually means.
I haven’t looked up the difference between an H4 and an H7 bulb. It may be just physical. I don’t know.
In reading the description in your link, it looks like the kit also comes with an adapter to physically accept High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps in the reflectors if you choose to make that conversion, but not with the electrical modules and wiring to totally make that conversion. That would be another kit. HID lamps put out more light, but use more power to do so. They use an arc to create the light rather than a heated filament, so their “color temperature” (their visual color, their “spectral curve”) is actually different. They can temporarily blind oncoming drivers, so a lot of people (me included) don’t like them.
By the way, I’m searching for an answer to what you’d use to replace the high beam lights (the OEMs are different lamps for high and low beam). So far I haven’t come up with an answer. Since the modern replacement bulbs are 55W bulbs, as are all of the original seal-beam units, I assume there’s no reason you can’t retain the OEM high beams with the new H4 bulbs for low beams. It may be that once you get the kit you’ll discover that it’s usable for both high and low beam applications.
@"MY 2 CENTS" oh ya your right! when i pulled them up on the site before they must have been different.
@"the same mountainbike" i just looked up the H3, H4, H7 differences and apparently the bulbs are all different with different connections. But as well i read the H4 has 3 prongs and H7 has 2 set up so you can actually fit an H7 into an H4 connection but not the other way around
@"the same mountainbike" I’ve got a feeling that the kit will fit for both the inner and outer lights
and so if an H7 fits in an H4 then i just have to find a bulb right? is there such thing as a strictly high beam bulb anymore? it seams like everything is just hi/low beams
I would do it in two steps. First do the outside lights (high/low, H4) and see how it works. Then go to the inside lights (high, H7) and look around more for available conversion kits. Usually, bulbs are strictly mated to a particular reflector for the correct light pattern.
You may not need to change to a different type of headlight using a mod kit. Over time the bulbs dim. Your headlights may not be bright enough for you simply b/c of that. I’d just buy new bulbs all around, the same kind that are already installed. I’d be surprised if you find it difficult to find them. Toyota trucks, even of that vintage, remain common.
I expect with the replacements installed, you’ll notice the lighting quality and brightness will be considerably better. I purchased a headlight (sealed beam) for my 40 year old Ford truck a couple years ago by simply walking into a big-box auto parts store and asking for one. The staff guy, he didn’t even have to get out of his chair, he pivoted the chair around 180 degrees, grabbed the bulb off the shelve behind him, and offered it up to me. For a 40 year old truck. I think is was $9 or something like that. Two years later it remains noticeably brighter than the other side which hasn’t been replaced.
Just would like to clarify one of my posts. What I meant was the conversion kit itself might not fit the inner headlight mounting cups because the mounting nodes, as I recall, have a different offset than the outer ones. These are the little glass bumps on the back of the sealed beam headlights.
Just some food for thought, but could the reason for the dim lamps be due to the reflector surface of aged lamps degrading? Maybe some new stock lamps would improve things without wading into the unknown.
Increased wattage would also mean more of a current draw.which may not be much but could roughly be in the 3 to 4 amps extra range. That extra load may take a toll on lamp connectors and light switches.
The age of the lights may be a factor, but the old sealed beam headlights simply do not produce the same amount of usable light as the newer headlight systems. My car, '88 Supra, uses the square sealed beam lamps, and I recently purchased the halogen style replacements. The beam pattern is the same and the light is marginally brighter. But, it simply does not compare to the light output from the wife’s '09 Rav4. With the Rav4, it lights up a stretch of road so much better in low beam that I routinely need to use the high beams on my car. Those conversion lights are next on my wish list.
You can order the correct lamps from rockauto.com or autopartswarehouse.com. Both are good places to order from. Toyota did not overspec their wiring for the headlights so going to a higher wattage bulb can actually produce less light than a lower wattage bulb because of the severe voltage drop.
The original bulbs I believe were 4001 and 4006 which are no longer available and they were either 35 or 45 watt bulbs. The 5001 and 5006 halogen bulbs are 55 watts and on those old Toyota’s, only get about 11 volts due to the voltage drop in the wiring, which cuts their light output significantly. Going to a higher wattage bulb will only make matters worse.