Aston Martin Headlight Bulb Comparison, comparing DB9 headlights on dipped and full beam with different bulbs, shields and against a modern DB9S Bi-LED conversion.
I’ve showed photos of the output in my garage and measure the output in Lux at about 9m distance, Lux is a useful measure of headlight output unlike the useless Lumens measurement.
Lux is light per unit area at a certain distant that is based on what the human eye can see, thus takes into account the bulbs output the spread of the beam and the efficiency of the projector, whilst Lumens is the total output from the bulb, not only visible to the human eye or whether it is actually projected onto the road.
DB9 Dipped Beam
The completely stock dipped HID beam on a DB9 (with the reflector in good condition), poor light output , max brightness is 500 Lux. The cut off to the left is very high and just wasteful.
Stock DB9 dipped HID beam with Osram Super Blue bulb, max brightness is 1300 Lux. the extra brightness above the line is just reflection from the white room not a worse cut off.
DB9 Dipped with an LED bulb, poor cutoff that would dazzle other drivers (rising to the right), but quite even lighting and brighter than stock but not as bright as the Osram bulb, 1100 Lux.
Full Bi-LED Conversion, very clear cut off so no dazzling and substantially brighter, 3030 Lux Single projector.
DB9 full Beam
The stock DB9 has a shield on the full beam to prevent the full beam projector from adding light to the dipped part of the beam, only above it, I have no idea why.
Stock DB9 full beam only, as you can see only has light in the upper part of the beam, max illumination is 1000 Lux
Stock DB9 full beam with shield removed, same maximum brightness but also added light in the foreground.
DB9 Stock full beam only with LED Bulb, shield fitted, max brightness 1600 Lux
Combined Beams
Completely stock DB9 Headlight but with Osram D1S bulb in dipped beam. max brightness 1000 Lux in the hotspot but much dimmer elsewhere.
Stock DB9 dipped beam (Osram bulb) with LED main beam, more even brightness and brighter at 1600 Lux.
DB9S Dual Bi-LED projectors on full beam, good cutoff, more even brightness and much brighter 4800 Lux (3600 Lux with single projector)
What is the cost of the LED PROJECTORS, and turn around time.
Hi,
The cost depends on what configuration you want, more details here, https://db9s.com/aston-martin-headlight-upgrades/
PRICES
All upgrades include polishing the outside of the lenses to remove scratches and crazing and replacing broken mounts (they go brittle with age)
QUAD Bi-LED PROJECTORS £1600
TWIN Bi-LED, TWIN MAIN BEAM £1400
SWITCHBACK INDICATORS +£120
ETCHED LENSES +£60
PAINTED SHIELD/BEZELS £POA
Turn around us about 10 days.
Paul