HID CONVERSION

[GLXR2005]

I'am about to get a HID H3 conversion kit to try. My only problem is that my headlights are H4's but my IPF 900 spotties have H3 globes, just throwing out there, but does anyone know if I can convert the IPF halogen ones to HID?
Also is there any heat issues that go with HID ie: not going to crack the glass or melt the insides?

[on4tou]

There shouldn't be a problem converting you IPF. I have supplied & converted them in the past with varying globe types. The HID's will actually put out less heat than the halogens, so there are no issues there. What is the problem with your headlights being H4's?
Steve

[me3@neuralfibre.com]

Mine
http://neuralfibre.com/paul/?p=73[url]

[chimpboy]

I am seriously tempted to go for the Chinese HIDs on the Stag, since it needs a headlight upgrade in any case.

The car has four 5 3/4" round headlights, so I was thinking of getting H1 housings and HIDs for high beam in the inner headlights, and H4 low beam only for the outers.

They also sell "sliding" high/low beam H4s... but the concept seems a bit more failure prone to me.

What do you reckon? Or what would you do with a four headlight setup for best bang for bucks?

Sorry if this is a thread hijack, but it seemed silly to start a separate thread about HIDs.

Oh also, given the lower current draw, do you think a headlight loom upgrade is still justified with HIDs? I am thinking that less voltage drop is still going to help, but don't really know.

Jason

[Ruffy]

I brought two cheapo HID kits off ebay as i didn't want to go to the expense of getting quality ones just to see how well they worked. To date i haven't had any problems with them.
I haven't used the H4 kits because i'm not sure about the whole sliding filament thing. I'd definetly go the H1 inserts in the high beams and a wiring up grade would be a good idea.

[chimpboy]

Good stuff... what colour temperature did you go for? I dislike the blue and was going to go for 4300 degrees, but maybe 6000 is also okay.

[GLXR2005]

There is nothing wrong with my H4's it's just that the kit that I'm getting is a H3 setup. Suppose to be 6500k. I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time to score a free setup. So I'm not complaining. Actually my H4 are the fatboy's that ARB sell.

[me3@neuralfibre.com]

I am seriously tempted to go for the Chinese HIDs on the Stag, since it needs a headlight upgrade in any case.

The car has four 5 3/4" round headlights, so I was thinking of getting H1 housings and HIDs for high beam in the inner headlights, and H4 low beam only for the outers.

They also sell "sliding" high/low beam H4s... but the concept seems a bit more failure prone to me.

What do you reckon? Or what would you do with a four headlight setup for best bang for bucks?

Sorry if this is a thread hijack, but it seemed silly to start a separate thread about HIDs.

Oh also, given the lower current draw, do you think a headlight loom upgrade is still justified with HIDs? I am thinking that less voltage drop is still going to help, but don't really know.

Jason

Don't bother with a loom upgrade.
1. 35w is a pretty low draw, less than factory.
2. The inverter inside gives constant output irrelevent of input voltage. If it's a tad low it draws a tad more current, self compensating.

The colour seems to vary with brand. My opinoin is
1. The bluer they are the less useful - yellow is better for vision, especially in poor weather.
2. My 4300's are far whiter than my Halogen's or my HIR's. Almost too white for a long drive at nite, makes things look "washed" with too dark a shadows. Makes it hard to spot hoppies as everythnig is contrast, it's like overload. Yellow gives a softer sense and seems to be easier for movement. Yellow here is relative, we aren't talking standard 60 series cruiser headlights. My spot beam is too bright, it overloads the front and makes my eye's reduce, meaning I lose the detail off to the sides too.

Little test. Buy one of those blue LED keyring lights, thenj use it at night. You'll see how hard it is to do things. Then try same with red or yellow. Much easier. Something to do with the colour processing in the eye.

The best lights I have had were 4 x Big Bull Narva's on the Rally car with H3 100w in them. Colour was fine. In dust I would slip in the yellow filters, even better.
I need more spread on my setup at the moment.

Paul

[DL]

Hi guys,

Recently put H4 hi/lo HID's in a Rangie. Sliding type, 6000K. Paid $180 odd plus $30 post on ebay. Company said it was in Oz, but the kit came from HK and took a month to get here. Would get them from Bit Distribution in Melb for $290 if I was doing it again. (well I will be - H3's (?) going in Narva spots)

Comments - Came with quality loom that included a relay, and a fuse for each light. 30 minute install. Just uses one of the old H4 sockets as a switch for hi/lo.

Much brighter than halogen. On low beam the roadside is like daylight, which is what I was after. Previously had bad vis at night with oncoming traffic and dipped lights out in the sticks.

Parking lights look like sick candles now. Front of car at night is very bright to look at, but no-one has flashed their lights at me.

Light is a tad bluer than I expected. Will not be good in mist/fog. Will change to 4300K globes at some stage. Other than that they're great!

cheers, DL

[Ruffy]

Good stuff... what colour temperature did you go for? I dislike the blue and was going to go for 4300 degrees, but maybe 6000 is also okay.

I have two sets, one in 6500k and one in 6000k. If you don't like the bluish tinge i'd recommend a 5000k or even 5500k.
4300k is still a bit yellow i reckon. The lightforces are 4300k and i don't like them. Personally i think you'd be disappointed in 4300k.

If you've got a Voltage drop ATM then i'd definitely be doing the wiring up grade, you be crazy not to for the little trouble it is to do.

[NutterGQ]

Why would you upgrade wiring when they dont feed from your existing loom, they plug feed directly of the battery and earth off the body.

The only thing that comes from the factor loom is the trigger signal so you dont have to upgrade a thing.

[DL]

Hi,

I'd already upgraded all wiring putting this RR together. With halogens I had high beam run through a RR starter circuit relay (duck's nuts) and low beam through a 30 amp relay. Now those circuits are just switching.

Don't know if all HID conversion kits come with relay and fuses in a loom like mine did.

Every night I get in it now I'm blown away how better the lights are.

cheers, DL

[chimpboy]

Why would you upgrade wiring when they dont feed from your existing loom, they plug feed directly of the battery and earth off the body.

The only thing that comes from the factor loom is the trigger signal so you dont have to upgrade a thing.

Thanks, I've never seen one so I didn't know that

Do they come with fuses on board or would I be right to go ahead and position those while I wait for the HID gear to arrive..? if I do decide to fork for it... not 100% sure yet given the cost.

Also, what would be the downside of a cheap set like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 0137430471

[Bad JuJu]

I got mine from a seller on sleaze bay called Helen-gg, pretty happy with service, and delivery speed.
Colour temp is a personal preference, I prefer the 4300 bulbs as they give good view of texture and depth perception and do not look blue - neither do they look yellow.
I found the 6000 bulbs (which a mate got for his BMW at the same time) definatly cast a blue-ish light, which I find distracting and a little like being in the snow on a bright day with out goggles - absolutly no contrast and do depth or texture perception.

I could not percieve a difference in light levels between the 4300 and 6000 bulbs.

Over all the HIDs are worth every cent in terms of the VOLUME of light and the range that can be achieved.

The only bad bit is the difference in light levels between spots ON and spots OFF and even more high beam + spots on and just low beam.. Nissan GU Glowworks just dont cut it.

Im definatly getting a kit for my headlights!!

[DL]

Hi Chimpboy,

That kit on ebay is low beam only and doesn't appear to include the loom with relay and fuses. The sliding hi/lo type globes are longer out the back of the reflector.

DL

[chimpboy]

Hi Chimpboy,

That kit on ebay is low beam only and doesn't appear to include the loom with relay and fuses. The sliding hi/lo type globes are longer out the back of the reflector.

DL

Hmm, that could be perfect as I am a bit iffy about the sliding high-low and I would probably rather do my own loom, relays etc anyway.

Might be the go then...

[DL]

Hi,

I suppose the question needs to be asked - has anyone had a prob with sliding hi/lo's?

I went this way because I didn't like the idea of the the ignitor and globe going on and off all the time when dipping lights, either with the xenon lo/halogen hi type or the ones with two separate balls of xenon in the globe for hi/lo.

I am no expert on globes, but I have noticed that household and auto globes tend to fail when first turned on.

The other thing that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that every time the globe is ignited it does momentarily emit a brilliant flash like a speed camera light going off. Not good for other road users when dipping lights. Could also attract 'unwanted attention'.

With the sliding type there isn't this prob because there is only one ball of gas in the globe lit all the time, you just get the flash once when they're first lit.

The sliding hi/lo kit from Bit Distribution is supposedly a bit more advanced (reliable?) than some on the market, but I'm not expecting issues.

Even at $290 from them I would say worth every cent. Cheap HID's going into cheap spots is going to kill the top shelf spotty sellers. When you see HID from inside a car you'll 'see the light' so to speak.

cheers, DL

[chimpboy]

Thanks DL that's the sort of info we really need if we haven't actually owned a set. Never heard of the flash effect when they are switched on.

Of course I have no idea about the globe life from being switched on and off but I would guess it's less of an issue when there's no filament. Still worth considering though.

[chimpboy]

I went this way because I didn't like the idea of the the ignitor and globe going on and off all the time when dipping lights, either with the xenon lo/halogen hi type or the ones with two separate balls of xenon in the globe for hi/lo.

Just on this, after sleeping on it... the deal with a four-headlight system (or at least with mine) is that the low beam outers stay on while the high beams go on/off when you select high beam. So theoretically it's not like a two headlight system where you switch off low to switch on high. Hence low will not be getting switched off any more or less often than it would with a sliding type setup.

So for those who have these lights, how bad is that flash when you first switch them on?

[me3@neuralfibre.com]

Don't worry, you wont mistake it for a speed camera :)

It's noticeable, much mroe so when cold than when at operating temp. They take 5 mins approx to cool, so dipping or oncoming doesn't take bugger all time to be back to full brightness. I found they warm up about the same rate as your eyes change.

Paul

[DL]

Hi Chimpboy,

Paul's had his longer than me, so he'd know more. Haven't been on a trip yet. (Good blog by the way Paul).

If the lights on your Stag are set up as described then the single beamers will work fine. I always thought that lo goes out when hi goes on, but that's me.

Let us all know what you think when you get them in.

cheers, DL

[chimpboy]

If the lights on your Stag are set up as described then the single beamers will work fine. I always thought that lo goes out when hi goes on, but that's me.

Actually I'm not 100% sure now, but in any case I can hook them up so they work that way!

[-Scott-]

If the lights on your Stag are set up as described then the single beamers will work fine. I always thought that lo goes out when hi goes on, but that's me.

Actually I'm not 100% sure now, but in any case I can hook them up so they work that way!

In a normal H4 globe the low beam filament switches off for high beam, and vice versa. In a typical 4 light setup the outers are switchable hi/low, and the inners are high beam only. Some people swap the high-only inners for hi/low switchable, and I'm not aware of any reason to NOT do this.

Jason's proposal for constant lows on the outside and switchable highs on the inside should work fine - I think it's a good workable solution.

[on4tou]

Used to sell the sliding type h4 hi/lo-s but found them too unreliable. I think I have replaced just about every set I sold with a twin globe type(cost me a fortune) because they kept sticking. There is a flash on start up, but I wouldn't say it was anything extreme, my wife tells me she doesn't even notice it. The lights start off very blue and then warm up to their temp range. In addition to the std h4 kit, we also sell a 35w double lighting kit where the 35w low beam light stays on all the time and a second 35w high beam globe comes on for high beam giving you 70w but there is no flash when you go to low beam, only when you re-ignite the high beam globe so you won't effect oncoming traffic. I also have a H4 single globe 35w low 50w high beam kit that the stays on all the time. It is just the wattage that changes, so it doesn't flash at all. Temp range comes down to personal preference but pure daylights temp range is 4800 - 5000k so this temp range produces the amount of lumens. We also have the complete kit for 80 / 100 series which has 4 globes and 2 ballasts. All the kits I sell come complete with everything you need to just plug in and go.
Steve

[GUJohnno]

So what do you suggest for a GQ and what sort of $$ are we talking about?

Johnno

[DL]

Steve,

It's obviously the way of the future. Should be a sticky maybe across all forums on OL. No-one has touched on legalities yet. It would be good to get some basics together for the common good.

cheers, DL

[on4tou]

Johnno,

For the GQ my personal recomendation (which I run in my GQ) is the 35 / 70 dual lighting. 35w on low beam which switches up to an additional 35w for high giving you a total of 70w on high beam. It isn't sooo bright you blind the oncoming traffic on low beam but you've got ample light on high beam. I am currently trialing the 6000k because the manufacturer told me that's what everyone uses, (so must be better) but i am definately going to change them back to 5000k as it is a much whiter light the 6000k has a very blue tinge to it. (Tests show the 5000k puts out more lumens (quantity of light) If you are interested and want prices or further info just pm or call me.

Steve

[chimpboy]

Hi Chimpboy,

Paul's had his longer than me, so he'd know more. Haven't been on a trip yet. (Good blog by the way Paul).

If the lights on your Stag are set up as described then the single beamers will work fine. I always thought that lo goes out when hi goes on, but that's me.

Let us all know what you think when you get them in.

cheers, DL

I'm getting a price on 1 pair of H4 lows, and 1 pair of H1 highs. I will set them up so low stays on (in the outers) all the time the headlights are on, and high is extra light in the inner ones.

If it's cheap enough I'll give it a go, one way or another it's gotta be better than the ancient sealed beams!

[GUJohnno]

Johnno,

For the GQ my personal recomendation (which I run in my GQ) is the 35 / 70 dual lighting. 35w on low beam which switches up to an additional 35w for high giving you a total of 70w on high beam. It isn't sooo bright you blind the oncoming traffic on low beam but you've got ample light on high beam. I am currently trialing the 6000k because the manufacturer told me that's what everyone uses, (so must be better) but i am definately going to change them back to 5000k as it is a much whiter light the 6000k has a very blue tinge to it. (Tests show the 5000k puts out more lumens (quantity of light) If you are interested and want prices or further info just pm or call me.

Steve

Thanks for that. When I'm ready I'll get in touch.
Johnno.

[chimpboy]

Driving home from the airport last night, I started to retreat from the HID idea. The legality is a problem, and I noticed a few cars that had HID that really, really stood out from all the other cars, and also found the light quality a bit unpleasant.

Given how noticeable they are does anyone think it's possible there'll be a blitz sooner or later?