It remains a difficult point when replacing a headlight: do you have to have an H4 or an H7 lamp? And what is the difference between the two?
You won’t be the first to mess around in the dark and possibly bad weather to replace the H4 headlight. At least you thought so. It had to be an H7 lamp and you just didn’t have that in the set. How do you know if you need an H4 or an H7 bulb?
Look at your car documentation
It is already determined for your car which lamp you need. So it is simply in the documentation or the manual of the car. You can of course look up the headlight and then check the lamp yourself, but that is usually a difficult job.
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Difference between H4 or an H7 lamp
You really can’t interchange the two lamps that are quite similar in name. The H4 lamp has two filaments where the H7 lamp has one. The H4 bulb has a filament for low beam and one for high beam. When using high beam, the low beam filament goes out briefly. It is still the most popular lamp for a car. It is easy to recognize: the base of the lamp is thick and it has three contacts at the bottom.
The H7 lamp has only one filament. The H7 lamp has been improved compared to the H4 lamp and therefore has a better (brighter) light output. It is used for low beam, high beam or fog light. However, never combined. So you need a separate lamp for low beam and high beam. The cars where these lamps are used therefore have a separate reflector for high beam and low beam. The H7 lamp is somewhat slender than an H4 lamp and you see two contacts at the bottom.
Due to the difference between an H4 and an H7 lamp, you can only mount the correct version in the headlight.
Keep spare bulbs with you
In any case, it is good to check whether you need an H4 or H7 pit in your car. And get a spare bulb kit. You can usually easily lose it with the spare wheel. If a lamp breaks (and you can replace it, that is sometimes a ‘thing’ or you even have to go to the garage for it), then you will be provided with good light again the fastest!
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl