Low profile headlights

[redrocco]

They are glass projectors with a 35 degree beam spread. The projector headlights I looked at had a beam spread of 42 to 50 degrees. I would think that the same 55 watt bulb would have a greater range in a 35 degree beam than in a 50 degree beam. Also due to there small size vs the stock sealed bulbs I have 3 per side. 55Wx3=165W per side, so I have 330 watts total VS 110 watts stock. For the first time in 5 years I can drive at night with out the 2 100W lower fog lights on. The way there aimed is also important. The 3 projectors on each side are not all parallel and dead straight ahead. The inner is turned 10 degrees in the middle is 0 degrees in/out and the outer is 15 degrees out on the drivers side and 20 degrees out on the curb side. Think what you want but I know because I have to drive the car home from work every night and there are many people who have ridden in my car before and after and will back me up on how much better, farther and brighter the new setup is.

 

[shaeff]

When it comes to HIDs on these cars, do it properly or don't do it at all. Use good quality xenon projectors, not halogen housings of any sort. If you're not going to do it right, then spend $30 or less and do a good, proper rewire of the stock setup using 12awg, good quality bulbs (IE: NOT Sylvanias, but Osrams are good. Yes, they're different.) And don't use Hella H4 housings, regardless of whether you're looking at the DOT legal or E-code. Even the pattern on those leaves a lot to be desired. Cibies are the way to go, albeit expensive.

As for a proper HID retofit- I did Infiniti FX35 Bi-xenon projectors with ACURA TSX clear lenses, modded shields (blacked out and removed second shield), and running Matsushita (OEM on the FX35) ballasts. I have yet to see a PnP HID kit that matches the quality of light output that I get from my setup. (Mine's on the M3, but would be the same in modded H4 housings) As far as the reliability? You guessed it, not a single issue since installation. No flickers, they fire with a quickness and warm to full temp before I can even get the car into gear. Oh, and my cutoff. Is. Razor. Sharp.

(Tangent- The high beams are to die for, what with being bixenon, I get the light in the foreground from the top of the bowl, the far-reaching light from the bottom of the bowl when I click the highs on, plus in the factory high beam location on the M3 I rewired it, and run Osram Nightbreaker +90s. It's like a WALL of light)

HIDplanet.com and theretrofitsource.com are your friend. Lots of research will yield long threads with heated debates and valid conclusions.

PS- The kit Poodles makes is quality. If I wasn't a DIY guy I'd buy his kit in a heartbeat. Kudos to you, Poodles, for doing it right.

 

[GrimJack]

PS- The kit Poodles makes is quality. If I wasn't a DIY guy I'd buy his kit in a heartbeat. Kudos to you, Poodles, for doing it right.

I am likewise a DIY guy, and I bought his kit anyway. Damn fine work.

 

[Poodles]

They are glass projectors with a 35 degree beam spread. The projector headlights I looked at had a beam spread of 42 to 50 degrees. I would think that the same 55 watt bulb would have a greater range in a 35 degree beam than in a 50 degree beam. Also due to there small size vs the stock sealed bulbs I have 3 per side. 55Wx3=165W per side, so I have 330 watts total VS 110 watts stock. For the first time in 5 years I can drive at night with out the 2 100W lower fog lights on. The way there aimed is also important. The 3 projectors on each side are not all parallel and dead straight ahead. The inner is turned 10 degrees in the middle is 0 degrees in/out and the outer is 15 degrees out on the drivers side and 20 degrees out on the curb side. Think what you want but I know because I have to drive the car home from work every night and there are many people who have ridden in my car before and after and will back me up on how much better, farther and brighter the new setup is.

The give away is you talking aobut "needing" your fogs. You have an overbright foreground, and no throw, EXACTLY what fog lamps are designed to output. They're made to supply a wide difused light without a hotspot, without said hotspot, you have no throw. Your headlights are downright dangerous.

Of course you won't listen to me, but if you ever get into a wreck at night, have fun with your insurance company covering you.

When it comes to HIDs on these cars, do it properly or don't do it at all. Use good quality xenon projectors, not halogen housings of any sort. If you're not going to do it right, then spend $30 or less and do a good, proper rewire of the stock setup using 12awg, good quality bulbs (IE: NOT Sylvanias, but Osrams are good. Yes, they're different.) And don't use Hella H4 housings, regardless of whether you're looking at the DOT legal or E-code. Even the pattern on those leaves a lot to be desired. Cibies are the way to go, albeit expensive.

As for a proper HID retofit- I did Infiniti FX35 Bi-xenon projectors with ACURA TSX clear lenses, modded shields (blacked out and removed second shield), and running Matsushita (OEM on the FX35) ballasts. I have yet to see a PnP HID kit that matches the quality of light output that I get from my setup. (Mine's on the M3, but would be the same in modded H4 housings) As far as the reliability? You guessed it, not a single issue since installation. No flickers, they fire with a quickness and warm to full temp before I can even get the car into gear. Oh, and my cutoff. Is. Razor. Sharp.

(Tangent- The high beams are to die for, what with being bixenon, I get the light in the foreground from the top of the bowl, the far-reaching light from the bottom of the bowl when I click the highs on, plus in the factory high beam location on the M3 I rewired it, and run Osram Nightbreaker +90s. It's like a WALL of light)

HIDplanet.com and theretrofitsource.com are your friend. Lots of research will yield long threads with heated debates and valid conclusions.

PS- The kit Poodles makes is quality. If I wasn't a DIY guy I'd buy his kit in a heartbeat. Kudos to you, Poodles, for doing it right.

Yep, I refuse to make inferior products, though I could use the money :rofl: I could probably piece together an HID retro for less than $200 for my cost, but I don't work for free, and it wouldn't last. I could just sell the retroed housings and let people piece together the rest form cheap stuff, but that would come back to bite me when they get crap output and unreliability.

Hella E-codes aren't bad, they're a hell of a lot better than any sealed beam on the market, and a hell of a lot better than any of the POS housings on ebay. No matter what, an HID light put into halogen optics will never be right. You're adding twice the light, and all optics output some light above the cutoff (glare), so you're doubling the glare. Not to mention you cannot align the arc chamber exactly the same as the filament in a halogen (it's literally impossible, see here: http://dastern.torque.net/Photometry/filamentarc.jpg ).

I am likewise a DIY guy, and I bought his kit anyway. Damn fine work.

Thank you sir

 

[redrocco]

The give away is you talking aobut "needing" your fogs. You have an overbright foreground, and no throw, EXACTLY what fog lamps are designed to output. They're made to supply a wide difused light without a hotspot, without said hotspot, you have no throw. Your headlights are downright dangerous.

I don't understand what your trying to say hear exactly. Mabe I miss understood what you said or maby you missunderstood me. I am in no way trying to start some kind of flame war or anything I just want to make shure were on the same page hear. Incase I phrased it wrong before I will try to explane it better.
When I had factory headlights with relitivly new sealed bulbs I could not drive at night without the OEM clear lower fog lights with 100W bulbs being on. Just the factory headlights even on high beem were dangerous as I couldent see much more then 40 or 50 feet out.
After swapping to the hella projectors I have not had to use the factory fog lights more then 2 or 3 times in the past 2 years. I have plenty of light up close as well as far out and the vertical cut off is cleen and not blinding oncomeing cars. Maby there was a problem with the sealed bulbs I got from parts store or a problem with wireing some where. I had to rewire the whole headlight circut for the new lights so I can't go back and check.
If you would like I could take pics of the light patern or an object lit up from a mesured distance. I do my own fab work and in most cases all my own R&D so if there are better 2" projector light houseings I would love to know. I have been thinking about changeing the bulbs out for HID bulbs to reduce power use.

 

[Poodles]

Fog lights will never EVER produce the beam required for a headlight, period. Not to mention you have 6 lights which is illegal as well, and wouldn't pass inspection in most states.

I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm really not, I'd just rather not see someone get hurt. Lighting is safety equipment and people don't take it serious enough IMHO.

Anyway, Hella make 50mm headlight modules (halogen and HID), and there's also the morimoto matchbox Bi-Xenon HID projectors (though these are not sealed and will need some housing to put into): http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/sho...-Projector-amp-Shroud-Sale.-Limited-Time-only Keep in mind such small projectors aren't as powerful or as well performing as their larger counterparts (2.5-3" usually)

 

[redrocco]

Those 50MM hellas look sweet and at around $125 a pair the price is wright. They may find there way into my winter upgrades. As far as houseings for bixenon lights would lexan work? I am planing to build a vacume forming table this winter to make some custom motorcycle fairings and some replica body armor. I should be able to vacume for 1/8 lexan houseings but I haven't looked into that at all yet.

 

[Poodles]

The main issue is they're not sealed on the outside at all. Couple of people have used PVC piping to seal them off though. The Hella's are fully sealed.

Those matchbox projectors aren't bad (arguably better than most sealed beams), but they're not great either.

 

[85celicasupra]

http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18406&highlight=Pilot+driving+light

 

[Poodles]

No offense to tekdeus, but his setup is mostly for looks and not performance.

 

[jdemara]

Poodles do you still make the projector conversion in the h4 housing? Would love to buy a set from you if you still do them?

 

[GrimJack]

No offense to tekdeus, but his setup is mostly for looks and not performance.

Agreed, I've driven his car at night, and the headlights are awful.

 

[Poodles]

Yes, when I have time. I post them up in the for-sale section when I have a set ready to go.

 

[jdemara]

I have always been a HUGE fan of projectors, leds, and just lights in general. I will keep an eye out for them on the FS section.
If you remember by then, shoot me a PM when your ready to sell a set... I will for sure buy!

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

I drive at night, and when I do, I want the best lighting that I can get as far as me being able to see, and be seen.

For various other reasons, I've looked at how the human eye works, and because of things that I've discovered (And independently verified for myself with experiments) I've determined that the high colour temperature of HIDs is nice if you want to know what colour something is in front of you, but not so good if you just want to be able to see things in front of you and around you.

The human iris reacts to light, contracting so as not to "overexpose" things one might see. It reacts more to higher energy light (IE, blue.) This means that the more blue your light is (Or less yellow = same thing) the more your iris will contract, restricting your ability to see dimmer light, like everything outside of your direct headlight beam. This also means that to get the same effective brightness, you need more total lumens from your lights. This will further restrict your ability to see some semi-suicidal animal on the side of the road before it's right in front of your car where you can't avoid hitting it. (Though you'll know EXACTLY what colour the fur is in the moments before impact.)

This also means that the irises of the drivers in the oncoming lane get subjected to that lovely white light and have their night vision ruined, though for a shorter period of time than you.

In the end, I chalk HID lighting mods up to a cosmetic thing, and have nothing to do with safety, in fact, they really qualify as the exact opposite, even the OEM ones. 4000 Kelvin is already too high for effective lighting for increased visibility.

I've got my Hella E-Codes on the front of the Supra, and I like them. I do like the E-code beam pattern, and the H4 lamps are quite inexpensive to replace. (In 10 years and >300,000km, I've replaced one.)

If you are going to be driving at night, I implore you to get decent lights that put enough light on the road in the correct place, so that you can drive safely for yourself, and the other drivers on the road. Keep the fancy appearance lighting for off-road use. Poodle's adaptation looks to be one that is well done to put correct light on the road. I'd rather see 3200 Kelvin or less lighting in there, but overall that looks to be an aesthetically and functionally excellent mod.

 

[Poodles]

4300 is the kelvin used by OEMs, and it's the closest to sunlight. It's not blue, it's slightly yellow (just like sunlight).

I'm sorry, but the rest of your post is...wrong.

 

[jdemara]

Agree with the 4300k... as I have sold a LOT of HID kits. 4300 is the OEM standard for cars with projector lenses mostly. And as the color temp goes up (eg 6000k, 8000k...) the light output in lumens goes down. However, 6000k seems to be more popular for people converting to HIDs as they want some color out of it just for looks. If one has a good set of projectors on their car with 4300k HIDs, aimed properly, it wont blind drivers.. and will put the light down on the road WAY better than normal halogens in reflective housings.

Bottom line... good quality projectors FTW!

 

[suprarx7nut]

A little picture so everyone can see what the various colors are...

Dan: Sorry man, but you're just plain... wrong. lol. I understand your dislike for blue. That's good, you're not giving in to the hype. But there are plenty of good, sunlight color HID's (4000-5000K) which yield 3X the usable light output of ANY Halogen bulb.

Anything below 4000k is designed for a foglight and not a headlight.

Also, try telling the engineers at Audi, Lexus, Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW, VW, etc.. that HID projectors are only for "Cosmetics"...