When it comes to car maintenance, one of the components that many people seem to forget, including myself, too, is the bulbs. Headlights, taillights, your interior lights, and everything in between, we often neglect to do anything about them until the lightbulbs are completely burned out. At which point, a set of burnt bulbs can be quite dangerous! This was something I noticed a while back with our Volkswagen Transporter camper van, as long-time readers will know.
Nevertheless, its headlight bulbs are in serious need of replacing, and since I bought it a couple of years ago, it’s been running with the default OEM halogen bulbs. Not only were these due for a change anyway, but I have noticed that they’re, frankly, downright deadly! It had precious little effect in actually lighting up the road ahead of me, and it was so weak that it was rather hard to make out things that were too far ahead in the dark, grim night. It was something that I had been planning to upgrade for a long time, since I started this project.
And, it was important that I get moving, given that I spend quite a lot of time caravanning and going on camping trips with the VW Transporter, which usually involves driving through many very poorly lit country roads. As such, a good, bright set of headlights is in order. Of all the many headlight bulbs and brands that I could have gotten, I noted that OSRAM recently had just launched their brand-new NIGHT BREAKER line of LED, halogen, and xenon headlight bulbs, so I had to try them out. After a bit of elbow grease, they were fitted in 20 mins or less.
A New Set Of Headlight Bulbs For The Camper
Specifically, the one that I had picked out for our Volkswagen Transporter camper van project is from the OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER 220 series, in particular their ‘H4’ model. As its name might suggest, the ‘220’ stands for the fact that these new headlight bulbs offer up to 220% more brightness than before, or so OSRAM claims. Some other on-paper figures that OSRAM would throw at you in their marketing blurbs would be that these bulbs create up to 20% more white light, and could extend visibility with a far-reaching beam up to 150 metres ahead of you.
In practice, all those claims seem to ring true! As you might be able to tell from these pictures, with these brand-new halogen headlight bulbs in place, the old Transporter now has this very nice, bright white light that lights up the road quite well, especially compared to the mild yellow glimmer from those old bulbs. Which, as you may be able to imagine, was not very visible to my eyes, and I dare say, is exceptionally hazardous! On the other hand, these upgraded OSRAM NIGHT BREAKER headlight bulbs are likely the best halogen bulbs that I’ve seen so far.
All in all, the much-improved illumination is a great little upgrade to make the Transporter camper van that tiny bit better, and safer, too! The only thing I really need to do now is probably adjust the alignment of the bulbs a small bit more. Otherwise, however, swapping out the bulbs alone marks a huge improvement. Ah, and it’s not just the headlight bulbs that I wanted to swap out either, as I had in mind to swap out some of the Transporter’s interior map and dome lights as well, as it is about time I give them a bit more attention.
Swapping Out The Interior Map & Dome Lights
Plus, with it being a camper van, I spend quite a lot of time inside it, cooking, sleeping, or just lounging around, so having some bright lights in the cabin could uplift the caravanning experience that bit more. The ones that I got were also OSRAM bulbs, but these are their LEDriving SL W5W WHITE, not the NIGHT BREAKER bulbs that I used for the headlights. Best of all, the new map and dome lights do as they say on the tin, with their beaming white LED lights that bring out so much life and vibrancy inside the cabin, making it easier to see things.
You can see here how they compare against the old map lights, which I haven’t changed since I bought the old Transporter, with their yellow tint and a much warmer colour temperature, as well as their brightness being a tad dimmer, too. I’m sure the old yellow bulbs might be better and more comfortable for the eyes, but when you’re driving and are spending a lot of time inside a camper van, I’d reckon most would prefer having more visibility, instead. Additionally, not only are they way, way brighter, being an LED bulb, they ought to run way cooler.
Thus far, I’ve only replaced the bulbs on the map lights at the front, but there is also the middle interior one between the map lights, as well as the interior light just above the rear sliding door. Overall, I’m quite pleased with how much more life, brightness, and safety have been added to the Transporter’s ownership experience, all from just a set of bulbs.
