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104 Posts
FYI I am a sound and lighting engineer so now a thing or two about lamps. However, I am also skint.
So the question is, have people had success with the ebay "£30 for 2" D2S lamps, or are they nasty chinese copies of GE/Osram/Philips which will kill the ballasts/control gear?
I have spoken to a supplier (I have a direct accounts with all 3 above) but Osram have come back saying £70 + VAT per lamp, in boxes of 10. I'm still waiting on GE/Philips, but expect similar. I'm tempted to get them, but finding 4 others who would trust me with £140 + VAT of there money seems like a long shot.
In my experience, certainly with normal Halogens, chinese copies don't last for 20% of original GE/Osram/Philips.
My lamps are definetly starting to yellow, which is a sure sign that they are coming to end of life. I need to replace them, but I don't want to fit something too cheap that knackers the igniter. Equally poor lamps wont "hot restrike" so easily as proper originals, and add stress to the ballasts.
Given the cost of replacement control gear from Alfa, I'm sure you can understand my fear of too cheap a lamp, but being skint means I'm having to expose my self to the budget end of the market. Any advice is greatly received.
FYI some of the stuff I do -Wilding Sound Ltd
I can't wait for LED headlights to get passed/approved, will make things much easier....As an industry we've moved to LED over the last 5 years, and the performance is now nearly as good as halogen, and improving all the time, both in brightness per watt, and reliability.
So the question is, have people had success with the ebay "£30 for 2" D2S lamps, or are they nasty chinese copies of GE/Osram/Philips which will kill the ballasts/control gear?
I have spoken to a supplier (I have a direct accounts with all 3 above) but Osram have come back saying £70 + VAT per lamp, in boxes of 10. I'm still waiting on GE/Philips, but expect similar. I'm tempted to get them, but finding 4 others who would trust me with £140 + VAT of there money seems like a long shot.
In my experience, certainly with normal Halogens, chinese copies don't last for 20% of original GE/Osram/Philips.
My lamps are definetly starting to yellow, which is a sure sign that they are coming to end of life. I need to replace them, but I don't want to fit something too cheap that knackers the igniter. Equally poor lamps wont "hot restrike" so easily as proper originals, and add stress to the ballasts.
Given the cost of replacement control gear from Alfa, I'm sure you can understand my fear of too cheap a lamp, but being skint means I'm having to expose my self to the budget end of the market. Any advice is greatly received.
FYI some of the stuff I do -Wilding Sound Ltd
I can't wait for LED headlights to get passed/approved, will make things much easier....As an industry we've moved to LED over the last 5 years, and the performance is now nearly as good as halogen, and improving all the time, both in brightness per watt, and reliability.
