# What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs?



## vwracer00 (Jan 4, 2004)

I want to put some HID bulbs in my fogs. I am afraid that a standard H3 HID bulb will be to long and not fit the housing. I saw this H3C bulb and I think it will work but is the light output the same?
Here some pics.


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## BrunoVdub (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (vwracer00)*

well the bottem "H3" bulb is a Xenon bulb rebased for H3.
The top picture looks like a standard H3 bulb with heavy wire comming from the base.
Honestly the top bulb cant be a true HID bulb. Maybe it will look like HID and maybe even be a little brighter in terms of being a higher wattage bulb to give some extra output.
Most foglight applications are tough for HID retrofits because many cant get the bulbs to fit.


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## EternalMind (Jun 8, 2005)

_Quote, originally posted by *BrunoVdub* »_well the bottem "H3" bulb is a Xenon bulb rebased for H3.
.

exactly. meaning that in reality, it is NOT an H3 bulb at all. as bruno has said, it is a D2 bulb with a base shaped like an H3 base. no relation otherwise. 
to the OP, you're comparing apples and horses







...what are you trying to accomplish...HID, or just a replacement set of H3s?


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## vwracer00 (Jan 4, 2004)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (EternalMind)*


_Quote, originally posted by *EternalMind* »_exactly. meaning that in reality, it is NOT an H3 bulb at all. as bruno has said, it is a D2 bulb with a base shaped like an H3 base. no relation otherwise. 
to the OP, you're comparing apples and horses







...what are you trying to accomplish...HID, or just a replacement set of H3s?

I am trying to accomplish of putting some HID's in my fogs. Both of those bulbs say that there HID and they both plug into a ballast.


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## BrunoVdub (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (vwracer00)*

the problem with the way people word things when trying to sell lighting products is plastering somthing with "HID" when it only produces slightly better output with more of a whiteish color and not exactly HID lighting.
The top H3 bulb just look like a regular old H3 bulb. I would say that those will not give you true xenon HID. To my knowledge people that have done foglight HID used the rebased H3 HID bulbs like what you have pictured in the second picture. unfortunatly its not an exact science as the H3 mini fog projectors were never intended to use longer D2S style HID bulbs.


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## vwracer00 (Jan 4, 2004)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (BrunoVdub)*

I would think they would be HID especially for $100. Here is the link.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...photo 
Tell me what you think.


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## dennisgli (May 17, 2003)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (vwracer00)*

I thought that the difference between H3 and H3C was just the base?
The bottom picture looks like a D2S capsule rebased to fit into an H3 holder. The top one just looks like some different type of capsule - but it's hard to tell from that photo'. It might have a transverse light source like an H3 bulb which could make it work better. It's all about the positioning of the capsule and how close it can match the filament of the bulb it is replacing.
But why put HIDs in a fog light anyway?


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## BrunoVdub (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: What's the difference between H3 and H3c bulbs? (dennisgli)*

Yeah that H3C is suspicious. The design speaks nothing but halogen to me. If anything maybe the bulb is engineered to be a litle brighter but in no way is it setup to be an actual HID bulb. 
This is however another focus on how some companies misrepresent the performance of their products so that they sell them more. 
Even if the H3C denotes a different base it still shows no properties of any HID xenon bulb I have ever seen.
I would stay away until your fully aware of its potential....especially for $100.


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## rswapp (Jan 13, 2011)

*H3C*

What you want is an H3C small capsule not what you are finding on the web by searching for H3C there is a big difference.
The H3C small capsule has near the same Arc chamber location as a halogen H3 filament position. And the overall capsule length is shorter than the capsule length of a halogen H3.

The small capsule H3C's are difficult to find but I've got an importer that I've purchased 4 from for $18.95 plus shipping and they are 6000K 35W.

I was into the same issue when searching for H3C's because standard H3C's won't fit my Piaa 959's or 510's and ended up ordering H3C small capsule.
As a response to another poster as to why you would want to put HID in place of Halogen is three fold.
1) Increased lighting output
2) Life expectancy
3) Reduced loading on the electrical system

And true there are geniuses out there marketing so called HID lamps that are nothing more than Halogen lamps with a blue coating that actually reduce light output. Advice is to steer clear of this junk.
If you want HID's buy HID's.


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