HID Conversion: New Info 2012

[crazy steve]

The Mustang only uses one bulb for both high and low (according to the manual), so it may be one to look at....

[G60txstyle]

I cant believe how bad the (lack of) cut off line is on those "projectors". I was watching this in hopes of not having to fab something up.

Right now I have some Porsche fog light projectors that have great focus and they are about the same diameter of the one in the ebay light. They use H3 bulbs mounted in sideways. I just need a way to mount and shield it from the elements inside the existing light bucket...

I'm thinking h3 slim xenon kit.

[natemoen]

H3 is only low beam though.

[G60txstyle]

This is true... guess my suggestion for topcat wouldn't work.

They make bi-xenon bulbs but not for the h3 bulb fitment...

Guess I'll have to mount both lights in the bucket.
Back to the drawing board and hopefully pictures to come soon. (probably make my own thread also so that i'm not thread jacking)

[TopCatGr58]

Hey folks,

Okay, I was waiting for my bank to Paypal funds transfer to complete before looking an ordering the MC sized projector. I didn't realize that with my linked bank debt card that paypal could pull those funds directly from the debt card without having to wait the 3-5 business days for a formal funds transfer!

I went ahead and ordered the mini MC projector that SHOULD fit inside these reflectors. G60, you're still only getting Halogen level of light, with this projector, we'll be able to get HID level of light, and being bi-xenon style with the deflector/cut off device, will have a proper hi/low type beam to prevent the blinding glare while in low beam, and still have the power and penetration we are wanting when in hi beam mode....although the HID bulb will actually NOT be changing brightness or position, the deflector will just allow more of the light to get out onto the road ahead.

I also paid for Expedited shipping , so they should arrive just next week, and not in 3-4 weeks, so I can have it done and ready for the SE rally for all to see and evaluate! And I'll be able to complete this thread and make a formal tech tip for all to be able to use as a build/mod guide. There really shouldn't be too much modding, just taking the aftermarket reflector apart, removing the pseudo-projector lens, and mounting the projector inside, putting it back together and into the bucket, connect a few wires and there you go! Legal "LOOKING", none glaring, and fully functional HI/Low operation, AND 35 watt draw instead of the OEM halogen 60/55 watt draw!

The price will be about $15.00 for the reflector housing, and then ~$60.00 for the projector system, complete with ballast, bulb and wiring harness! Less than $100.00 for a quality HID system. Stay tuned.

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

Just some updates, photos for thought.

Okay, just some fun photos to help pass the time until the actual PROJECTORs arrive for both the MC and the SUV, then I'll install them, and show photos of them and their light affects similar to these.

Keep in mind, I have just a relatively cheap point and shoot type digital camera, it has some different modes, but I can NOT set it in full manual control to control both F-stop and exposure time, so I tried to edit the photos later to lighten or darken them to as close a representation of what I actually could see with my own eyes.

I was able to find a DARK section of road, was able to put up distance markers at 50ft, 100ft, 150ft, 200ft, and there was a reflective sign about 300 ft, but there was also a big illuminated building 1/4 mile or so in the background. Also I forgot my TRIPOD, was resting the camera in my hands on the bike headlight, or the hood of the car, so the focus isn't as crisp in some of the shots.

I placed descriptions at the top of every photo, but will describe them as well here in the text. First are my SUV with the Bi-Xenon conversion kit of just HID bulbs.... 55 watt one btw not just the 35 watt HID type mounted in the OEM Halogen Reflectors. Note the bluish/green tint to the light on the road compared later to the WARM halogen lights!




Next are a couple of shots are of the borrowed OEM reflector(Thanks George/GloweVa) with a standard 55/60 watt halogen bulb. The OEM Reflector has a lot of prisms along the front of the lens which spreads the light out across the road, but diminishes the overall brightness as well as distance penetration!




Next is the Clear Lens reflector that I have on my bike, SAME Halogen 55/60 bulb.




Next is the eBay Combo Reflector/Projector unit with the MC 35 Watt HID bulb in it...again notice the dazzle streaks all around the pattern. I just set to the HIGH POSITION, wasn't much difference between high and low!!



Then, just for fun, my Clear Lens, Halogen 55/60 reflector....AND my 2 Aux 55watt Halogen driving lights!!



BTW, along with the 7" round reflector, I'll also be ordering the 7x6" rectangular Combo reflector housing...so I can take it apart and verify and confirm that the 3" long MC HID Projector will be able to fit inside of it as well, so folks with Standards may also be able to perform this mod if they want to with confidence. I'll be reselling the reflector housings, or at least one of them(Cheap...ie $12.00 plus S&H...I do have an old 81 Standard that I may get back on the road some time and will need a light for it!

T.C.

[Eveready1100]

Nice work on the photos, T.C.
They give a very good representation of the differences between the lights. I can't get over the dazzle streaks in the combo projector pics. You've saved a lot of people from wasting their time and money purchasing one of those.

Your SUV pics are the ones my light pattern would most closely represent. I notice there doesn't seem to be too much scatter al all above the cutoff line. Pity you didn't get the 4300k bulbs with that setup. Though the bluish tinge makes the view very crisp, it's amazing the extra actual illumination you get from the more OEM 4300k colour, and they're much better in foggy or rainy weather.

I also tried a 50 watt HID kit for my driving lights (potential for a truly brilliant night riding experience) but couldn't get the thicker plastic bulb bases to fit in the rear of the reflector, where the thin metal Halogen ones would screw straight in. My driving lights are mainly just argument settlers* now, as the light cast from the headlight is plenty enough for all sub 100mph night runs.

*This scenario usually arrives when approaching the crest of a hill and you can see the aura of the oncoming vehicles lights filling the sky so I dip my light well before I reach the crest so as not to dazzle them, but they wait till they've actually come over the top of the hill, blinded you with their megawattage spotlights, then dipped their lights, leaving you with very reduced nightvision, so I give them both barrels momentarily to show them that I was being very polite to them. Makes me feel better anyway.

[ExcessiveBiker]

HID Kit, Is this any good?

This ad on EBAY is for two sets of hi/lo HID light units. Are these the ones that are of any worth, or just more junk? The guy said in an email they are indeed hi/lo bulbs, and he mentioned the CITY light capability.
Below is the address for these.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:WNA:US:1123

[TopCatGr58]

Hey ExcessiveBiker,

Those are the same GLARING HID bulbs in Halogen Reflectors, they are just BLACKED OUT, but the pseudo-projector lens isn't really doing anything. Theoretically the blacking out of the reflector would be to cut down on the glare affect of the poorly focused HID bulb, but they would not be good at all!
The Hi/Lo feature is gotten from the bulb moving either in and out/forward-backward, or side to side/up-down, but still ineffective.

Once I receive my real HID Projectors in what should be just a few days now, I'll mount it into the reflector housing and you'll be able to see the difference. I'll provide the ebay vendor, what the pictures of the product I got will look like so everyone will know what to look for in the ads! I've also found a USA located company if you will want to buy that way instead of waiting weeks for them to arrive from CHINA, but they will cost a bit more!

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

I'm so Xcited!!

Well, the Motorcycle single HID projector arrived today...looks like the Priority shipping I paid for was worth it!

Just a few photos, here's the whole kit, the projector housing/bulb, the relay harness, the miniature/slim ballast, and the CFL "Angle Eye" ballast/transformer, along with the box for future reference for folks looking at them on eBay.



I was pleasantly surprised to find that the housing and cover and all was actually METAL, but I guess it needs to be to withstand the heat of the HID bulb! It's an H1 style bulb also. Note the Ruler, it's total length is 4", but the critical length is from front to where the securing and aligning H4 shaped washer sits...and that is ~3".



It's not going to be completely Plug-N-Play because the friggin' silicone washer is way too thick, and it's a little PITA to cut down.



Fortunately I had a very sharp knife so I was able to slowly slice thru it so that it's only ~2mm thick instead of the 8-10mm it was. With it too thick...the projector would hit the front glass of the reflector housing and the front glass would not sit/fit flush into the plastic shell. Once it was cut thin, the projector fit inside just fine.



I test fired it up in the garage just to view the DIM beam cut off line and it was nice and crisp. Once it get it fully assembled, route the wires around the mounting plate area instead of just thru the "City Light" hole, and actually get the wiring, ballast and such mounted on my bike, then I'll take some more photos, garage door, and dark road to compare.

Also, I'm waiting for the 7x6 rectangular housings to arrive to test fit it inside one of them before permanently mounting in my 7" round one. The info I found on the 7x6's show that they are like ~5" deep, surprisingly deeper than the 7" round, so I'm expecting that it will be a better P-N-P mounting for it than the 7" round!

Stay Tuned!
T.C.

[MindWebs]

i know this is slightly off the current topic so please forgive me.

But i think you might be trying to re-invent the wheel, i installed the HID kit in my 81 seca 750 stock headlight and i just got home at 3:30am and took some twisties getting here. i have an extremely sharp cut-off on the top edge of my light pattern, i have hills and valley's and was switching back and forth just trying to spot deer further ahead.

i went on a weekend trip and ran during daytime only, when i got home 780miles later i found my kids had been playing and had flipped the switch to high beam (before i left). no one complained (i was in a 60 bike group, for 140 of those miles)

One of these days i'll have to rewire so the high beam indicator works.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HID-BI-XENON...17%26rk%3D1%26

This is the HID kit Dragontamer and me are running.

Light'em if you got'em

happy trails

[Dragon Tamer]

Webs,
Check your indicator bulb. The wiring should not have changed the high beam indicator when we installed that light!!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Mindwebs,

No, I'm not reinventing the wheel. I also have been using an HID conversion kit in my car, I've been very happy with how well it illuminates the road, but it's not really fully designed to utilize the Halogen style reflector. I looked at that kit, and I've seen that style of bulb on some of the kits, I copied the link for it, we'll see if it will show here.



Okay, preview shows it! The thing I noticed is that this bulb has a prominent metal shrowd around it, and that is probably what provides a low beam cutoff, but I would still feel that it isn't focusing the light as well as a real HID projector, so that's a big part of why I'm doing this.

Other HID conversion kits don't have this style of bulb, it's fully exposed, no shroud around it.

Some folks are looking for the REAL HID Projector performace, and I'm just trying to find a way to get that and retain the OEM headlight bucket and such. And this process may help the Mod to appear more professional so that it may have a better chance of passing a vehicle inspection. And I'm just trying to document the differences in the light patterns and such for folks to have a fair comparison.

Would be nice if you could provide a few photos showing the cutoff against a garage door as well as it's pattern on a dark road, and we'll be happy to include the info about this kit along with what I'm doing for more choices.

T.C.

[MaximPhil]

Hi TC,
I am following along so keep leading the way Your research is very well done and informative as always. Thanks.
Phil

[conquest87tsi]

At least I'm not the only one.

Top Cat,
First off i just want to say I'm sorry for not checking this thread sooner. I bought the black "Midnight Special" lenses you pictured on page one back in March and tried running them with the halogen. I installed the light one night after work and went for a ride. I will never say that my bike is a speed demon, but it took a milisecond to out run the sorry excuse for light that came from that **** lens. like you said, there is no beam at all, just glare. So I boxed them up and let 'em sit. Glad to see you found an alternative. I really liked the look of the black lights, I guess now I may as well try with a different projector. At least I havent bought the HID yet.