HID question

[zeramant86]

I'm looking at installing a HIDkit on my 03 civic. The main headlamp bulb is an h4. The hid kit is bi-xenon 35w 6k system. I have aftermarket headlamps, but they are reflectors.

1) Will a hid kit blind everyone else?
2)Do hid kits have a true hi/lo setting?
3)Are these units street legal? (particularly in the Tennessee/Virginia area)

I'm open to suggestions other than hid, because I do alot of backroad driving and would like increased visibility.

Deer + Honda Civic = Nothing but bad

 

[-Virgil-]

"HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps (any kit, any headlamp, any vehicle) do not work safely or effectively, which is why they are illegal. See here.

Virginia is very particular about car lights -- their vehicle lighting code is a complete mess, but they have inspections and cops who aren't afraid to cite for improper lights.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

objectively, I'd like to point out that it is my opinion that H4 conversion kits are generally worse than most others. There is no legal way to modify your headlamps, but if you want to create a set of HID lamps, there are many helpful people at HIDPlanet.com/forums, and they are all about automotive HID retrofits.

Keep in mind, though, that while these retrofitted headlamps may put out a safer pattern than an HID kit, or even stock halogen, they are still illegal.

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

I have done some research in to it but not have taken the plunge. All my cars have H4 (9003) bulbs. To answer your questions:

1) Will a hid kit blind everyone else? :- Almost certainly! If your car has projector lamps, then it will be little better.

2)Do hid kits have a true hi/lo setting?:- No, what they do is to move the bulb up or down
to adjust the beam. Same 35 watts either goes down the road or up the road.

3)Are these units street legal? (particularly in the Tennessee/Virginia area)
I would be shocked if they are street legal.

Have you tried better bulbs before embarking on the HID route? Couple of recommendations are for Philips X-Treme and Osram Nightbreaker. They run around $40 shipped from UK sites such as powerbulbs.com They uniformly get stellar reviews. I purchased their own private branded bubls which are not as bright as the aforementioned ones but do last lot longer and they were lot cheaper. I have yet to receive them though.

If you still decide to go with HID, look at DDMtuning.com. They have lot of support information and is one of the better site for buying HID kits. They are also dirt cheap. Again this is my research talking and NOT any firsthand experience.

- Vikas

 

[-Virgil-]

You don't have to go overseas for Philips' and Osram's best bulbs; you can get them from Candlepower (in Washington DC)

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

I did not know about that site!

I think the best bulb for this application is going to be Osram Rallye 70/65w +50 H4 bulb which I believe is the same as the highly rated Osram Hyper. These will actually put more light on the road. If you look at the pictures, the Osram is the clear bulb while the XTreme and Nightbreaker do have slight blue tint. Osram is also 70W vs the other two which are 55W bulb.

I wish I had found them earlier. But I got 4 for $35 shipped and the Osrams would cost $51 for 2; so I am happy with my decision.

- Vikas

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

Vikas, make sure to make or buy a relay harness to get the most out of your over-wattage bulbs

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

I helped my brother to install H1 HID kit in his BMW. Fortunately, the car has OEM projector lens. The current price on aftermarket HID kit is dirt cheap and I was shocked at the quality of the kit. It was impeccable. The kit cost under $30. Just the connectors alone would cost you more if you were to buy them separately! Never mind the wires or ballasts or burners!!

With that kind of efficiency, all other countries are doomed. I still can not get over how somebody can sell this under $30 and still make profit.

The conversion went well. This was truly plug-n-play kit and did not need relays. I would recommend it if your car came with projector lens.

I am tempted to purchase one kit along with two 12V spotlights for retrofit and sell the converted HID spotlight on CPF :-)

 

[Random Guy]

I helped my brother to install H1 HID kit in his BMW. Fortunately, the car has OEM projector lens. The current price on aftermarket HID kit is dirt cheap and I was shocked at the quality of the kit. It was impeccable. The kit cost under $30. Just the connectors alone would cost you more if you were to buy them separately! Never mind the wires or ballasts or burners!!

With that kind of efficiency, all other countries are doomed. I still can not get over how somebody can sell this under $30 and still make profit.

The conversion went well. This was truly plug-n-play kit and did not need relays. I would recommend it if your car came with projector lens.

I am tempted to purchase one kit along with two 12V spotlights for retrofit and sell the converted HID spotlight on CPF :-)

Even if the cutoff still has the same shape, a HID burner in a halogen headlamp will still not have the proper distribution of light. See this.

 

[tay]

That being said, it is far from the worst thing people have done here. You'll have more center intensity and less width than a real HID setup, but as long as the cutoff remains intact and there are no squirrel-finders, then you are far better off than if you had dropped a kit into halogen reflectors.

There's shades of grey on this issue. You have decent quality OEM halogen projectors with a HID kit. It's 4300k, right? Better not be higher than 5000k, because that's just plain stupid. FWIW, good +50% or +90% bulbs and a harness would have helped (Powerbulbs +50% H1 is a great buy-one-get-one-free deal) and been street legal, but whatever. You're on the warm and fuzzy end of the illegal HID kit spectrum. You're not putting a 10000k 9004 kit into terrible reflectors on your lifted pickup truck with pitted and yellowed lenses. Is your HID conversion ideal? No. Is it ok? Probably.

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

It is 4300K, I insisted on it even though my brother initially wanted to go "ghetto". I also prevented him from going to 55W and forced to stay with 35W. The cut-off is very good. The OEM dust boot needed to be bored out which was the most difficult part of the installation. The size given was too small and expanding the hole was a nightmare.

Personally, I am going with the Powerbulbs +50%. I already have them and will replace my two cars with them. I just can't get over the fact that HID kit costs less than my bulbs!

- Vikas

 

[-Virgil-]

The cut-off is very good.

That's good, but it doesn't mean the "conversion" is OK. The light distribution under the cutoff is still wrong.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

I must admit I hear the siren song of the HID conversion -- especially on my motorcycle, with its tiny charging system. Just put a bi-xenon HID conversion in place of the two original H4 bulbs, and have LOTS of light.

BUT... there's no way I can avoid in some way altering the beam pattern. The clean cutoff of the low beam, and its even distribution, are very important to not blinding others and to seeing in fog. If the alteration loses me me that cutoff and good distribution, it's a bad thing. High beam worries me less, because it tends to just "throw lots of light everywhere," and a small alteration probably wouldn't be disastrous. But if I lose my clean low beam, aiming alone will not be enough to fix it. Understand: I don't care at all about legality; I care about functionality.

For now, I'm thinking of blowing $20 or so per bulb, on Philips X-treme Power H4 bulbs, after I install heavy wiring and relays, so I have no voltage drop at the lights. If my shoestring budget improves, my HID dreams would be better realized as a pair of good HID auxiliary lights.

And there's no way I'd ever use any HID "bluer" than 4300K. Being "cool" at the expense of seeing, just is not on my list.

 

[-Virgil-]

I must admit I hear the siren song of the HID conversion -- especially on my motorcycle, with its tiny charging system. Just put a bi-xenon HID conversion in place of the two original H4 bulbs, and have LOTS of light.

...lots of light sent to all the wrong places, yes.

High beam worries me less, because it tends to just "throw lots of light everywhere,"

Not really...you need a concentrated central hot spot and appropriate lateral distribution of light. It's not as difficult a beam to produce because you haven't got glare-control needs conflicting with seeing-light needs, but it is not an uncontrolled beam by any stretch of the imagination. Those "Bi-Xenon H4 kits" really screw up the high beam pattern, not just the low beam pattern.

 

[Hamilton Felix]

Good point. One of my favorite "lights of the past" (still have a brand new pair in storage) was Cibie 5-3/4" curved lens H1 high beam. It put out a heck of a "spot" but still had enough ribbing in the lens to give some "spread" on either side. Worked great with the curved lens H4 High-Low lamps.

I see a lot of positive reviews -- or maybe I should say brags -- on the motorcycle forums, about their HID conversions. These range from the VVME.com super cheapo jobs, through the expensive genuine Philips bulb kits here: http://www.kbcarstuff.com/Xtreme_HID_Kits_Digital_HID_Quality_Proven_since_2001_s/21.htm
and on to the stuff at futurevisionhid.com -- which ranges from conversions to an actual engineered motorcycle HID projector headlight with Philips HID http://www.futurevisionhid.com/prod...s/h6024-bi-xenon-projector-headlight-kit.html

But the conversion posts I see that have before/after pictures and show the beam shining on a wall, always seem to have more light above the cutoff level of the low beam.

I know riders talk a lot about "conspicuity" and worry about being seen. Hell, some of 'em even ride on high beam in the daytime. But I need something that actually works on foggy nights. And the last thing I want to do is blind an approaching truck on one of those nights.

Maybe it's a good thing I can't afford an HID conversion. At least I got a voltmeter mounted. If it turns out I can carry a pair of 55 watt driving lights without flattening the system, I'll have some options (as far as I know, 35 watt halogen bulbs are only available in H3). I have a number of H2 lights, even that pair of H1 high beams, if I can find cheap buckets.

The bike has good coverage; I just want more reach on those long dark straight stretches.

The Philips X-treme Power bulbs are only available in the bulbs with physically large capsules -- H4, H7, H13, etc. not in H3, H1 or H2. But I plan to use 'em where I can.

When I can afford it, a pair of good HID auxiliaries (42 watts in, for a 35 watt light) still seems to ulimate best option.

 

[-Virgil-]

Good point. One of my favorite "lights of the past" (still have a brand new pair in storage) was Cibie 5-3/4" curved lens H1 high beam.

They still make those!

I see a lot of positive reviews -- or maybe I should say brags -- on the motorcycle forums, about their HID conversions.

Well, sure. It's only human nature to want to feel wise and be taken as authoritative, especially when one has just spent money on something.

genuine Philips bulb kits

Nope! Chinese counterfeit junk. Any brand you want knocked off, any packaging design you want imitated so carefully it's very difficult to tell from a genuine product. See here.

I know riders talk a lot about "conspicuity" and worry about being seen.

Yup. It's a real problem for motorcyclists.

Hell, some of 'em even ride on high beam in the daytime.

Yeah, which doesn't help. In fact, it works against the motorcyclist by masking the front turn signals and pissing off other drivers (who then tend to drive vengefully).

I'll have some options (as far as I know, 35 watt halogen bulbs are only available in H3).

H'mmm. I could've sworn there were some low-watt H1s (maybe made by Narva?). But I can't find a p/n anywhere at the moment.

I have a number of H2 lights, even that pair of H1 high beams, if I can find cheap buckets.

Well, you could put those H1 high beams in any housings that will accept a PAR-46 beam unit. They come in chrome, silver, or black. An example is Grote 64021[/quote] chrome, same as Truck-Lite 653H; the silver is Grote #64011 or Truck-Lite #652H. Black is Truck-Lite #657H . You should be able to source these through any supplier of heavy truck/bus lights and other components.

The Philips X-treme Power bulbs are only available in the bulbs with physically large capsules -- H4, H7, H13, etc. not in H3, H1 or H2. But I plan to use 'em where I can.

H1 Xtreme Power is newly available, looks like [url=http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=160]PowerBulbs has them. There's no H3XP, but there's an H3 Narva Rangepower+50 and an H3 Night Breaker.