Xenon, HID Questions

[91eagle_tsi_awd]

my cuzin has them on his 92 celica and they dont blind other cars ,cuz i see him drive by all the time

 

[UW95GST]

Originally posted by 91eagle_tsi_awd
my cuzin has them on his 92 celica and they dont blind other cars ,cuz i see him drive by all the time

putting a bulb that wasn't designed for the particular housing is going to cause problems. the filament in a bulb is matched the the reflectors in the housing of a headlamp. a h4 has a different point on the bulb where light reflects than a 9005 bulb.

just because it doesnt blind you dosen'tmean it's not blinding other people.

 

[91eagle_tsi_awd]

its bright but nowhere close to hid brightness.

 

[UW95GST]

Originally posted by 91eagle_tsi_awd
its bright but nowhere close to hid brightness.

i don't know what that is supposed to mean

 

[91eagle_tsi_awd]

they are not as bright as cars with hid's.

 

[UW95GST]

Originally posted by 91eagle_tsi_awd
they are not as bright as cars with hid's.

which means:

a. he doesnt have true xenons (read: hyperwhite)
b. he has the wrong bulbs
c. they're aimed improperly

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

Moved to non-performance.

 

[awd4g63]

The gas that ignites inside HID bulbs is Xenon gas.

However, the color temperature doesn't necessarily mean a certain bulb will be brighter than the other. The color temperature (Kelvin) just basically decides basically what color the light will appear. Lumens is actually how bright it will be. A standard halogen bulb has about 1,330 lumens, while a real HID bulb will be around 3,500. If you get a car that has 4300K color temperature at 3,200 lumens, it won't be as bright as a 8000K setup with 3,800 lumens.

The light will always be as bright as the setup makes it. The housing the setup is in can dramatically affect the road light. I've found that clear headlight housings (vs projectors, etc.) are best for most aftermarket HID systems.

 

[DSMJim]

Originally posted by kpt4321
Jim, where are you sourcing the parts to install the HID's in your car?

The setup that is on the first page sitting on my counter is from an Audi A6. THat is the same setup that was in my GTI and my Talon now. I got them from a buddy who works at a dealer owned VW Audi Porsche body shop from a smucked up Audi that came in. Just had to buy one bulb and was good to go.

Here is a newer pic of them. Hard to capture the light from HID on camera really, but they look pimp I'll tell you that.

 

[awd4g63]

Originally posted by DSMJim
Here is a newer pic of them. Hard to capture the light from HID on camera really, but they look pimp I'll tell you that.

Yeah, the camera really doesn't do them justice, they look awesome in real life.

 

[PaulPDX]

Originally posted by UW95GST
what purpose would putting h4 bulbs in a 90 eclipse? none other than to blind oncoming traffic. this is one of the major reasons hid kits were BANNED, because people don't have any idea WTF they are doing.

Have you actually seen the conversion in person?

Wrong. The conversion lamps... at least the ones by Hella are E-code and have far better beam pattern than the stock lights and the cutoffs are very sharp.

The stock sealed beams throws light everywhere but ahead.

The Hella H4 housings have a beam pattern like this:
________/

Horizontal cutoff with a slant to the right. When properly adjusted, they light up the road ahead but does not blind... lights up road signs to the right as well.

Any headlight that is not aimed right will blind. Doesn't matter if it's Halogen or HID.

That isn't the reason HIDs are banned. When HIDs are used with conventional (non E-code) housing they produce a lot of glare, and most poeple are too lazy to aim their lights slightly lower to compensate. How many people actually bother to find a good flat parking lot with a straight wall to use at night to aim their lights? Not many. How about yoruself? Did you aim your huge "rally" lights after you installed them?

The NHTSA and DOT decided to investigate HIDs because of the complaints from the uneducated and mostly seniors who's night time vision aren't all that great to begin with. These people complaint against all sorts of things... even factory equipped cars like BMWs and M-Bs. If you have bad night vision, anything bright will mess up what limited vision you have to begin with.

NHTSA banned HID retrofit kits because it's easier for them to put restrictions on the little guys than big corporations like GM, Ford, BMW, or M-B. As a matter of fact, Fords are notorious for their halogen headlamps to be aimed too high right from the assembly line. Every driven in front of an Explorer or F-150? Light everywhere.

I've seen HID retrofits installed in Hella E-code projector lamps and Hella E-code FF housings. Both produced acceptable results. The FF had more glare than the projectors (which had much sharper cutoff) but it wasn't horrible.

US lighting specs are so far behind other countries it's not even funny. Just because the gov banned HIDs doesn't mean they're no good. It's just means we have always had idiots in government and still do.

Know what you speak of.

 

[PaulPDX]

Originally posted by UW95GST
putting a bulb that wasn't designed for the particular housing is going to cause problems. the filament in a bulb is matched the the reflectors in the housing of a headlamp. a h4 has a different point on the bulb where light reflects than a 9005 bulb.

That's why the lamp used for the conversion is H4 specific and the bulb is an H4. The lamp doesn't take anything other than bulbs with an H4 base. The conversion kit isn't just a bulb with some magical adapters to fit stock lamps.

The 1Gs have sealed beam headlights. The construction of these pieces of shit aren't much different from your average house hold light bulb. If the lamp is cracked, the headlight is as good as dead.

The conversion kits mentioned are lamp housings that have the same dimensions as the stock sealed beam lamps and are designed to accept H4 bulbs.



Good lord...

 

[UW95GST]

I'm well aware that they sell xenon conversion kits for sealed beams. HOWEVER, what I was replying to was the sealed beam H4 replacement sold at the local parts store. They're not e-code, and they don't have a sharp cutoff. And furthermore, you can ONLY have that cutoff if yuo've got projectors.

EVEN with the H4 sealed beam replacement, purchasing and installing a xenon kit made for a NON-XENON application is a TERRIBLE idea.

Sure you'll put more light out, but the housing was NOT designed for a xenon light source. Xenon will throw light incorrectly. You're talking about two different types of light sources.

You're failing to realize the reason the HID retrofits were banned. Not because of stupid people in the government, but because of stupid drivers.

They are banned because they're causing excessive glare from people who aren't aiming them correctly. Complaints fuel policy change. Plain and simple. I understand that all headlights create glare, but when you're creating glare with a pair of xenon lights that output many more times the output of a halogen set up...you're causing problems.

How many people aim their headlights? I'd say a tiny percentage. Did I? Yes, I did. I drew the markings on the wall, I did it on a flat surface, and I did it correctly. Did I aim those fog lights? No, why not? They're not wired!

I've worked with more projector set ups than you could imagine...I know what I speak of. There's no doubt that the US is far far behind in lighting technolgy, but that wasn't what I was aruging was I?

Originally posted by PaulPDX
Have you actually seen the conversion in person?

Wrong. The conversion lamps... at least the ones by Hella are E-code and have far better beam pattern than the stock lights and the cutoffs are very sharp.

The stock sealed beams throws light everywhere but ahead.

The Hella H4 housings have a beam pattern like this:
________/

Horizontal cutoff with a slant to the right. When properly adjusted, they light up the road ahead but does not blind... lights up road signs to the right as well.

Any headlight that is not aimed right will blind. Doesn't matter if it's Halogen or HID.

That isn't the reason HIDs are banned. When HIDs are used with conventional (non E-code) housing they produce a lot of glare, and most poeple are too lazy to aim their lights slightly lower to compensate. How many people actually bother to find a good flat parking lot with a straight wall to use at night to aim their lights? Not many. How about yoruself? Did you aim your huge "rally" lights after you installed them?

The NHTSA and DOT decided to investigate HIDs because of the complaints from the uneducated and mostly seniors who's night time vision aren't all that great to begin with. These people complaint against all sorts of things... even factory equipped cars like BMWs and M-Bs. If you have bad night vision, anything bright will mess up what limited vision you have to begin with.

NHTSA banned HID retrofit kits because it's easier for them to put restrictions on the little guys than big corporations like GM, Ford, BMW, or M-B. As a matter of fact, Fords are notorious for their halogen headlamps to be aimed too high right from the assembly line. Every driven in front of an Explorer or F-150? Light everywhere.

I've seen HID retrofits installed in Hella E-code projector lamps and Hella E-code FF housings. Both produced acceptable results. The FF had more glare than the projectors (which had much sharper cutoff) but it wasn't horrible.

US lighting specs are so far behind other countries it's not even funny. Just because the gov banned HIDs doesn't mean they're no good. It's just means we have always had idiots in government and still do.

Know what you speak of.

 

[UW95GST]

I know what a conversion kit is. Again, xenon is a non xenon application = lose. UNLESS, it's a sealed beam xenon replacement, such as the xenarc kits.

Originally posted by PaulPDX
That's why the lamp used for the conversion is H4 specific and the bulb is an H4. The lamp doesn't take anything other than bulbs with an H4 base. The conversion kit isn't just a bulb with some magical adapters to fit stock lamps.

The 1Gs have sealed beam headlights. The construction of these pieces of shit aren't much different from your average house hold light bulb. If the lamp is cracked, the headlight is as good as dead.

The conversion kits mentioned are lamp housings that have the same dimensions as the stock sealed beam lamps and are designed to accept H4 bulbs.



Good lord...

 

[sexehtopper]

what if i want a cheap (college student) way of getting some blue-ish colored bright ass lights for my talon, what should i get? i dont have 400 bucks to drop, or 200 . but i need some that i can flash at ppl and they will be like "ach mein lamen, mi eye" and blind the sons of bithes. kthnx

 

[herovueboi]

you can hit up ebay for that...just search 8000k on ebay, they come blue, but if that's what you want...get it

 

[Attack Eagle]

When the "he double hockey sticks" did HID conversion kits get banned? And by whom. State governments DOT NHTSA?

F150s and their kin suck ass, Those cars blind the hell out of you from behind, in front etc. I actually asked a guy behind me to turn off his headlights a t a long light because it was blinding my 11 month old son in the backseat with the light coming off the mirror. those things are brighter than the lights in my house and almost brighter than a 100 watt spotbeam

As I am rapidly approching my 30s I will say that my night vision is deteriorating, and yes bright bright lights do negatively affect me, but pricipally it is because the older cars like my wifes Saturn don't put out enough light to even see if your head lights are on in town. My 97 is an exception but I run my driving lights all the time to put light out low on the lines.

Any way if I understand we are back to making our own kits out of wrecked cars just like we did in 98-99 when the Mark 8s started coming out with HIDs.

I would ask that if you do run a conversion, instead of running your light out Farther away from the car, that you turn it down a little more towards the ground and off to the right a bit. It does help with the glare a lot for on coming drivers, or those of us ahead of you on the freeway.

 

[PaulPDX]

I am not sure when the ban started. I heard NHTSA was looking into the matter as early as winter of 2002. November 2003 is when I became aware of the ban. NHTSA made the ruling. Many vendors have called it quits. The ones that continue to sell these kits are either unaware of the ruling, are ignoring the ruling, or have moved their operation out of the country (across the border up north).

 

[red_devil]

If my standard projectors have a good cut off using a halogen light does that mean using a xenon light will be the same. I have heard this is false.

I would like to do a Audi retro fit but dont have the money or time, what if I used a 4300k H1 bulb size xenon kit from ebay and had the lights properly adjusted? still too much glare?

 

[PaulPDX]

If my standard projectors have a good cut off using a halogen light does that mean using a xenon light will be the same. I have heard this is false.

Depends. If the capsule from which the HID bulb generates light (installed) is located in the exact location as where the filament (installed) of the halogen bulb, then you should be OK. Obviously, that's a huge "if". Slight offset in any direction could produce unwanted results. In general, a projector meant for halogen bulbs can't compare with HID-specific projectors as the two are optically different.

I would like to do a Audi retro fit but dont have the money or time, what if I used a 4300k H1 bulb size xenon kit from ebay and had the lights properly adjusted? still too much glare?

Then I'd just wait until you have both money and time. If you're going to do anything at all, do it right. Waste of both to half-ass it.

 

[edenTSI]

i plan on using GT Styling Headlight Covers (basically blacked out) on my thin lights on my 1g. then i want to get Xenon Halo Eyes lights for my popup lights, i already have my fog lights removed.. once i get the Halo lights i plan on getting some nice round blue foglights. front end is gonna look sick.

**P.S: anyone have any pics of this? thanks.

 

[kronus]

Uh. I doubt it's gonna look sick; probably cheap rather than sick. But do what you want, and post pics up when you do it.

 

[Talesin]

Really never understood the point of halos around sealed beam lights. Looks ghetto and cheap.
Though I do plan on smoking my shinethroughs and corner markers, and keeping a spare set in case I get popped for them (even though it's legal for a 1Ga, as the shinethrough is not the headlight). Never was a fan of the covers, held on with velcro. :b

Still trying to find a set of the H4 conversion reflectors... can find ones for the 6.5"x??? no problem, but nothing for our 6x4". Everywhere I've been linked has been a dead site... people copying and pasting without checking to see that the link is still there. Bloody annoying. Could buy a Fleabay set, but who really knows what the hell you're actually getting there.

 

[edenTSI]

im just leaving the popup lights stock, i want to set it so that my lights come up just a little bit. ive seen this around but how?