HID, projector, halo... whats the dif?

[vtown661]

Ok im buying new headlights. I need to know the difference between halos, HID, Xenon, projectors or anything else in that category. Im so confused. Im pretty sure xenon and HID are the same. Are HIDs just the bulbs or are they the whole headlight? Can I have HID halo projectors??? Pretty much I like the HID look and I like the halo look and projector sounds like something I would want so I just need a little clarification here.

Thanks.

 

[Crazyjoker777]

You are almost on the right track

HID- high intensity Discharge- this is the kind of lighting they use on higher end cars look at any new celica, bmw, cadilac. These lights also come in different colours that are determed by the temperature that the light burns at. really there is not many options to use this on our cars as it usually runs 500 dollars for the kit then you still have to worry about getting a housing for it that isn't going to scatter the light.

Projector- Projectors is a style of housing that the light bulb goes in instead of reflecting all the light forward with reflective metal it uses a glass lens to spread the light out.( opposite affect to burning ants with a magnifying glass) most of the aftermarket headlights for our cars are projectors but they use a standard bulb not a hid setup

Halo- A halo has really no use other than looking cool it is a clear tube that runs around the outside of the projector that lights up but doesn't emit very much light.

xenon- its the gas that are in almost all light bulbs now.

now that you know the difference if you wanted to do a hid setup on a eclipse you would have to buy a kit. if you just put them in your stock housing (which is illegal) you would have some VERY bright headlights and everyone on the road would be flashing you and running into polls cause you are blinding them... the proper way would be to get a projector housing and retrofit it into a pair of aftermarket headlights. also with HID lights you don't have high/low you only have one brightness.

hope this helped some and cleared up alot of questions.

 

[vtown661]

Your basically my hero Thanks a bunch!

 

[Jason84]

I have HID projectors i have on my integra VERY expensive and can only get them from japan..or a JDM online shop or something that imports them.. these are about $2500 new from honda or about $1500 or so used

a good thing to do... is take your stock housings or go buy some cheapo aftermarket ones... take the apart and then go to a junkyard find like an audi or something with HIDs and take the whole projector and ballast out.. and install it in yours.. it takes a bit of work to do but it will be really nice.. seen alot of diff people do it on different cars they call this "retrofitting".
my friend has a honda civic with an HID kit... and his are AWSOME but he doesnt have the luxary of high/low beam so he cant really flash people back.. but i get flashed all the time constantly.. ive already had people almost swirv into me already to.

but anyways these are HID projectors. and no you cant just get projector headlights and put an HID kit on them because the projectors are different also..


(big black box is the ballast says warning 25000 volts can kill if cover removed )

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

also some more info... HIDs use very very little power and you can pretty much grab the bulb right after they have been on for 100 hours.. not like a normal bulb they dont get really hot at all.

but id reccomend getting an HID kit in yours itll be nice and bright but itll piss other people off sometimes.. or if you wana go through the work retrofit some in.

 

[EclpzLvr97]

So, say again how and where exactly to get the proper housing for this kit? Can you buy say "projector housing" from some company somewhere?

 

[Jason84]

no the only proper way to get a real true hid projector is to retrofit it from an audio or bmw or something.

 

[vtown661]

Ok so here's the way I understand it...

If you want true HID headlights (meaning legal HID's) the only way you can do it and have it look nice is to buy after market DSM projector headlights (which are headlights that "project" light and dont reflect light from mirrors in the headlight. ex. DSM stock headlights). After you buy the after-market projector headlights you must find some true OEM HID headlights from a BMW or any higher class car that comes with HID from the factory. After you have the HID factory projectors and the after-market DSM projectors you must take the DSM projectors apart and install the entire factory HID projector assembly into the after-market DSM projector housing. This process is called "retro fitting". Here's a link of a company that will do it for you for a heafty price (but still cheaper than buying HID lights straight up): http://www.hidtech.com

If you try to install HID's into your stock headlights (which are not projectors but reflectors) they are not only illegal but will blind other oncoming drivers (very dangerous) and they wont have the cutoff line that makes them true HID's. For an example of what a cutoff line should and should not look like, see this link (also shows why you must retrofit and not just put in HID's to your regular housing): http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164646

Heres a good vfaq on how to retrofit HIDs into after market DSM projector housing: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162142

This is also a good link: http://dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193211&highlight=HID

Heres some more info:
-Use 4100K bulb to 6000K bulbs. 4100K is the brightest and best light but it is more of a white color. 6000K makes that blue/violet color that everyone loves so much but you should not go over 6000K unless you dont care about the brightness but just the color.
-Make sure you dont get reflector HIDs but PROJECTOR from the luxury car. Some cars have reflector HIDs and these will not fit your DSM projector headlights.

If this is too much work and/or too much money and you want to have a nice looking headlight then go with the silverstar bulb. I have heard they are the best and all you have to do is replace the bulbs.

Thanks everyone for your help and I hope this helps other newbs to headlights like me. If anything I said was incorrect please correct me cause I may have made a few mistakes.

Special thanks to:
Crazyjoker777
Everyone who gave info in any of the links.

 

[Jason84]

yup that would be a good route to go.

my headlights are super super bright with a rainbow cutoff just like S2000s but like 10x brighter. i have 6k i think.

 

[suicidal2af]

yup that would be a good route to go.

my headlights are super super bright with a rainbow cutoff just like S2000s but like 10x brighter. i have 6k i think.

6000K will be darker than OEM.

 

[Jason84]

uhh retrofit HID projectors no matter what bulb type they aernt darker then OEM........

 

[siceclipse]

how are you going to say that a measurement of HEAT determins the brightness and intensity of light being produced?