Definitive HID upgrade

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Ok I think I might be talking myself into a HID upgrade - I've searched the forums and there are multiple threads of successful upgrades, each showing multiple suppliers of HID kits, and also multiple options of replacement (more blue) bulbs, including LED sidelights.

I was just wanting to get in one place the definitive answer of:

1. which HID kit to buy
2. which bluey bulbs to buy (main beam and sidelights)
3. pictures of where people have mounted the ballasts, and how they were affixed
4. confirmation that the HID kits don't cause any problems with the Autocheck functions (or what you need to do to workaround)

I've done a HID install before so reckon I know what to expect, but just want to make sure I do the right purchase. Buy in haste, repent at leisure...
 
The one thing I'll add to this thread is that you should not go for bulbs with a colour temperature any greater than 6000K, as you'll attract unwelcome attention and actually see less than with decent halogens.

Also, if you are expecting to get that shimmery blue-to-white-to-blue effect, forget it - that only comes from projector type headlamps (the ones with a great slig of glass in front of the bulb). Aftermarket HID kits will give you a greater light output than halogen, with 4100K, 5000K and 6000K bulbs and give you a crisp white appearance too.

Here endeth the lesson!

Chhers,

Mike
 
Hi dan
I seem to think H3 main beam HID's are a bit scarce compared to the more common H7 dip beam kits. This is one company I found who does both. If the price does not put you off, you can actually fit the high and low beam kits together. Apparently this is not feasible with most other makes.
Sorry I don't have first hand experience of these kits
http://www.h-i-d.co.uk/products1.shtml

For sidelight bulbs you can get high powered (about 1 watt) LED 501 bulbs which are about as bright as you can get. The A2 autocheck system does not monitor the sidelight bulbs so no resistor packs are required. I think a few club members have the 9 led bulbs fitted.
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/automotive-bulbs-501194t10w5w-10mm-wedge-c-101_129.html


Cheers Spike
 
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One thing I'll add to Spikes comments about H3 main beam HID kits is that if you are the sort of driver who regularly 'flashes' their headlights at other drivers, then you will need to add a bit of circuitry to enable this, as most ballasts actually try to disable this, because momentary illumination of xenon tubes is the quickest way to kill them.

Also, the start up time of the tubes is quite slow - about 3 seconds, so flashing is pretty unfeasible.

If you just fit low beam HIDs and retain the halogen mains, you won;t be disappointed with the results and you'll retain the flashing ability too - the best of both worlds (unless, like me, you fit a bi-xenon projector system AND keep the halogen main beams - now, when I use full headlamps, I have 2 x 55watt H3 bulbs and 2 x 35watt xenon tubes working together to see the road ahead - it's almost up to rally standards!!).

Cheers,

Mike
 
Cheers for this, I hadn't thought of/planned a bi-xenon to include main beam/headlamp flasher - what I meant was replacing the standard yellow filament halogen in the main beam with a more blue-tinted one to more closely match the HIDs on dipped?

I've seen quite a few new cars where the main beam/flash is xenon now as well, I assume the flash is achieved by some nice shuttering mechanism as you'd burn out the ballasts too quickly?

Good point on the colour temperature, certainly don't want to go too "blue"! Have most people gone for 6000Kelvin, or are others running lower K numbers?

Do you have any pictures of where ballasts have been installed in the engine bay, just want to get some idea of location and ease of access, plus where you've secured back cabling etc. Do the kits come with the natty "danger high voltage" stickers these days?!
 
You are right in saying that a number of new cars can now flash their HIDs, but as they can do it from no lights on at all, I suspect that some excessive electronic jiggery pokery is employed.

If you flash whilst the dipped beam is on, then you're right - a simple solenoid controlled flap is allit takes to alter the beam pattern (this is how mine work, so when I flash, the normal halogens come on regardless and the HIDs flaps move regardless).

With respect to colour temperature, 'standard' HIDs are 4100K, so 6000K is about a maximum in terms of going bluer, but staying legal.

Normal halogen is around 3200K, so appears very yellow. For reference, sunlight is 5600K, which is pretty close to pure white. You can get 8000K and 10000K, but these just look completely naff and very Saxo, if you know what I mean;)
 
i adjusted my Silverstars and they were.... extremely high, but great on the motorway. The H3s are suboptimal.

Mike, how have you wired the flash Halogens? The "Flash" and "on" positions of main beam are the same pin, no? If I can't flash, I might well butcher a main light and place the projector in there for dip and add the real high beams in the grill... normally when driving home from the airport at 10 or so, I have to dip 3 times in an hour, so adding real lights on a seperate switch isn't that much hassle, but still.

oh yes, while I remember; the legal requirement is 90% brightness within 2 seconds. Without that, no E mark on the ballast.

Bret
 
bretti_kivi said:
i adjusted my Silverstars and they were.... extremely high, but great on the motorway. The H3s are suboptimal.

Mike, how have you wired the flash Halogens? The "Flash" and "on" positions of main beam are the same pin, no? If I can't flash, I might well butcher a main light and place the projector in there for dip and add the real high beams in the grill... normally when driving home from the airport at 10 or so, I have to dip 3 times in an hour, so adding real lights on a seperate switch isn't that much hassle, but still.

oh yes, while I remember; the legal requirement is 90% brightness within 2 seconds. Without that, no E mark on the ballast.

Bret
Click to expand...

I haven't changed the wiring of the H3 halogens Bretti - all I did was install the bi-xenons and have the low beam voltage feed supply the ballast in the usual manner and then take a feed from the high beam voltage and send it to the solenoid controlling the flap which effectively opens up the projector system creating a high beam from the xenon tube.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Ok, back to my 4 questions ;)

This one?
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/h7-abd-digital-hid-conversion-kit-c-622-p-1-pr-17161.html

or this one off ebay?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XENON-HID-KIT...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Sidelight LED bulbs
These?
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/501194t1....html?osCsid=a5b09a4e9175ecc562e664a256c0259a

or these, apparently "even brighter"?
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-led-extreme-power-15w-360-degree-c-885-p-1-pr-17114.html

But to replace my H3 halogens main beams with a less yellow light, any suggestions?

If anyone could show some photos of their ballast installations I'd be grateful too.
 
ULP said:
This is a mod that interests me but I'd be keen to know if those with HID's get flashed by people.

Coming back from the Duxford social in the dark, I had Sir Trevor (Dave) following me with Driveforward (Ian) behind him - Ian's headlights show how weak the normal ones are but at times I found them a bit sharp on the twisting roads, taking a little too-much attention in my rear view mirror!
Click to expand...

Erm, yeah... I noticed a few weeks ago when I cleaned inside, I'd caught the headlight adjustment and they were pointing near skyward.. Sorry for that :rolleyes: :eek:

Your observation is correct though, HID's are a must as the standard lights are awful in comparison
 
Also if anyone has any BTDT tips for re-setting the headlamp aim once the new HIDs are in that would be handy...
 
Hi Dan
The quality of the beam cut-off and light pattern is all down to the accuracy of the re-based HID bulbs. A good quality kit where the focal point of the new bulb is identical to the std halogen unit should mean that only a small ammount of adjustment is needed.
The only way I can think of to do this without a beam setter is to do the final part of the installation at night. Do all the prep work then refit the original bulbs. When dark, park the car about 15ft away from a garage door or wall, cover up one headlamp put the lights on then then mark the beam cut-off and kick-up point with tape. Mark the beam pattern of the second lamp. Switch off, wait till the bulbs cool then hook up the HID's. Check the beam pattern against the tape marks and adjust as needed.

Better still, wait till MOT test time, fit the kit then ask the garage to adjust the lights while its being tested

Cheers Spike
 
dan_b said:
Ok, back to my 4 questions ;)

This one?
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/h7-abd-digital-hid-conversion-kit-c-622-p-1-pr-17161.html

or this one off ebay?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XENON-HID-KIT...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Sidelight LED bulbs
These?
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/501194t1....html?osCsid=a5b09a4e9175ecc562e664a256c0259a

or these, apparently "even brighter"?
http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-led-extreme-power-15w-360-degree-c-885-p-1-pr-17114.html

But to replace my H3 halogens main beams with a less yellow light, any suggestions?

If anyone could show some photos of their ballast installations I'd be grateful too.
Click to expand...
Answers for you Dan:

Forget the Ebay ones and go for the AutoBulbs kit - I've fitted a few now and they are superb quality so far, plus, if you ever need to make a warranty claim, they'll be a lot easier to deal with!

As to LED sidelights, they'll all blow pretty quickly, so if you can get a guarantee, spend as little as possible.

You'll never match the light colour of a xenon tube with a halogen bulb, but Autobulbs do an own brand H3 which is rated at 4500k, so if you can get some 4100k H7 kits, they'll be close (certainly closer than the standard 6000K H7 tubes and also the light output of 4100K is better than 6000K).

As to ballast mounts, I don't want to give away any of my secrets, but there are loads of mounting options, as long as you keep the ballasts vertical and the connectors downmost, so that water ingress is minimised.

Cheers,

Mike
 
TheAutobulbs HID kit only appears to be in a 6000K colour temperature - I'm quite keen on the 4100K output as that seems to give a higher lumen light strength, have I missed something with Autobulbs?
 
The problem with 55watt tubes and ballasts is less of a scatter one but more of a heat issue - with reflector units, all the heat is thrown forwards and you may find that your polycarbonate headlamps actually melt or crazewith the heat.
Can't recommend them at all.

You are right that Autobulbs only stock 6000k tubes - why not run them and see what you think ((they'll still be 2,5 times brighter than halogen) then find some 4100k tubes on eBay if you're unhappy - at least you'll still have good electrics that way.

BTW I am running one headlamp at 6000k and one at 4100k, as one of my 6000k tubes went. I can't say that one is significantly brighter than the other, but the colour rendition of the 6000k is far better.

Cheers

Mike
 
Fair enough issue with the heat, don't want my headlight clusters melting! If only I had a garage...

Right, I'm off to order some kit, enough dithering! Will post my results in due course...
 
HID kit ordered from autobulbs, along with the Osram Nightbreaker H3s, and the Quad White LED 501 sidelight bulbs. Let's hope it all looks respectably matched colour-wise as I don't want the front of my car looking like a Christmas Tree ;)

Looking forward to being able to see in the dark again.
 
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