TheRadioFlyer

The Bi-xenon Radioflyer ACA Projector Headlight is the most powerful headlight system for the 97-04 corvette that retains the factory flip-up look. These take the already popular ACA headlights and modify them with a tuned and aligned Bi-xenon main beam projector.



(photo curtsey of "Mr bill")

The "bi-xenon" projector is capable of producing both high and low beam patterns by using a very small 12v current to move the cutoff shield. This allows for instantaneous high beams with a wider pattern and virtually no additional current draw over the normal setup.

The ACA design lights was plagued with an alignment issue where the high beam did not line up correctly with the low beam. Since the housing is a single solid unit, the high and low cold not be independently adjusted. Therefore a car with correctly aimed low beams would find the high beams useless. The projector modification I offer can correct for this by angling the projector to match where the high beam will hit.

The Kit I offer will come with a 55w HID kit. This is the same type of kit used on the now legendary Light cannon and stealth light cannon headlights. With nearly 3 times the luminosity of the factory halogen bulbs, and with a projector housing specifically designed for this bulb, the result is the ability to see further in the dark resulting increased safety and reduced fatigue.

Q: What makes Light Cannons superior to other options?

- OEM: Your OEM headlights have a horrible pattern and the bulb only produces 1000 lumens. It’s almost dangerous to drive on an unlit or poorly lit road.

- Aftermarket halogen bulbs: These draw more wattage and will often fail faster than OEM bulbs. In addition most “blue tinted” bulbs produce less usable light since the tinting eats up the light output.

- HID plug and play kits: The output of the HID bulbs are limited to the poor reflector and lens of the OEM light. There’s often a horrible glare and the output has hotspots that hamper your night vision.

- T84 Euro spec headlights: This kit requires 120 watts of power to get the same amount of output as the light cannon kit and the T84s are not HID friendly housings.

- ACA Original: The second best option, but many have reported the high beams section of the housing is not correctly aligned with the low beams resulting in a high beam that shoots into the sky instead of down the road.

- Modified ACA: This is the ONLY Bi-xenon projector-based HID headlight offered for the C5 that retains the pop-up feature. Superior optics and elegant styling make this the pinnacle of Corvette performance lighting.


Notes on the Modification:

The most noticeable difference was the increase in width of the modified lights. The modified lights had a beam spread of 76 degrees (the full width of a 16' garage door at 10 feet) compared to the original projector's 60 degree width.

ACA projector with 5000K 55w H9 HID bulb:


Modified projector with 5000K 55w HID bulb


The 16 degrees of additional width may not seem like much, but at a distance of 50 feet, the modified projector will illuminate an additional 10+ feet on either side!

You'll also notice that the modified projector focuses the most amount of light at the top of the cutoff while the factory projector has a distinctive hot spot in the center. This results in "tunnel vision" for the ACA projector while the Modified version illuminates in a more uniform pattern making the entire road light up.

Now on to the high beam alignment issue. This seems to be the most common complaint among ACA users. A the housing is a single unit, there's no real way to adjust the high and low beams interdependently. The test shows that the ACA high beam is aimed far to low to be of any use.

ACA low beam:


ACA high beam:


ACA Low and High beam


The High beam should be aimed dead center on the step of the cutoff or slightly higher. The current ACA kit has the high beam aimed below the cutoff which means on the road it will be useless.

The Modified projector solves this problem in 2 ways. First, the projector is tilted down slightly to compensate for the high beam's position:

Modified ACA low beam:


Modified ACA high beam halogen over low beam


The second solution is the bi-xenon mechanism which moves the cutoff shield on the projector down to allow for a full-spread of the light. As you can see most of the light in the high beam pattern comes from the projector. In this kit the halogen bulb will serve mostly as a signaling device to other drivers. Unlike other HID high beam setups, the Bi-xenon mechanism has zero warmup time, draws virtually no additional current and can be flashed repeatedly with no damage to the HID bulb.

Modified ACA High beam with Bi-xenon high beam


The last significant difference is the quality of the beam pattern. The ACA projector is a very simple design with a flat cutoff shield designed to be easy to mass produce. As a result the optics were only focused correctly at a small part of the beam pattern resulting in a skewed cutoff pattern:

ACA cutoff pattern:


The Modified projector has a curved cutoff shield that correctly focuses light across the entire width of the pattern and contributes to the useable width of the beam.

Modified ACA cutoff Pattern


It's also noteworthy that the modified headlights look exactly like they came from the factory in appearance:



For more information on the development of these lights and a review from the owner of the first prototype set, visit:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...onversion.html


To get on the GP, visit one of the 2 links below. I will be offering this product as a complete kit, or as a modification to current ACA owners. The GP will last from Today through Sunday March 25. From there it will be about 2-4 weeks until the kits begin to ship.

Complete kit: $600
http://shop.radioflyerinnovations.co...dlights-15.htm


Modification: $275
http://shop.radioflyerinnovations.co...cation-016.htm


For this first group buy, I will require that those getting the modification to their existing ACA units send me their lights. I will install/aim/test the projectors and the mounts. Once I am satisfied with the consistency of the modification, I will begin offering the upgrade kit with projectors, adapters harness and HID kits for customers to install it themselves.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post.

teebee

I'm in order made.

4GTABODT

Very Interested

Question though...do you have to achieve a certain # of pre-solds for the GP or will you be shipping on an "as ordered" basis? If the latter one, what kind of time frame are we talking...3-4 weeks?

PS: Thanks for the quick response to my PM

Cheers

TheRadioFlyer

there is no requirement for pre order quantity for the GP to be good. At the end of the week, however many have ordered is how ever many will be built. I will order the required quantity of parts at the end of the GP. From the end of the GP on the 26th, it should be between 2-4 weeks before the kits start shipping out.

7LitreC5

I purchased my ACAs many years ago from a place called VetteHID. He supplied a custom/modified harness that allows for the high beams and low beams to be on at the same time. Do you have any idea if this harness will be compatible with your mod?

TheRadioFlyer

Both the Complete kit and the upgrade will come with my Hi-4 harness (which does the same thing yours does) my harness fits in the fusebox area and uses the existing headlight wiring to eliminate the need for running lots of wires.

4GTABODT

Thanks. Done

mre1974

Since I'm sure someone else is wondering I'll go ahead and ask. If someone already has the ACA projectors with an HID conversion installed will they need to replace the bulbs (H9 in my case) they currently have to work in the new bi-xenon projectors or will the rears of the projectors remain thee same?

TheRadioFlyer

You would need new bulbs. If you already have an HID kit in your existing projectors, I can work with you just getting a replacement bulb.

z28punk

order placed!

so these come with 5000k bulbs? I didnt see an option during the ordering process

TheRadioFlyer

ttt

chris723@ptd.net

Always wanted a set of your light cannons with the Bi-Xenon D 25 bulb does the aca use the same bulb and projector witch set gives the most light output im tired of not beihg able to see a night

EvanZR1

Trust me, that will definitely no longer be a problem with these. I just put the prototype pair in, and they are the best headlight upgrade I've ever seen. They are even better than the HIDs that were on my 06 BMW, and those were some really good headlights.

TheRadioFlyer

If you have an HID kit already, you will need different bulbs. I would suggest using the ballasts I provide as well since that is the only way I can guarantee the function as advertized

There was supposed to be a color option chart. I just added it. 5000K is the most popular color option, however If you prefer a different color I can do that as well.

no, the Radioflyer ACA uses a projector that was designed early last year to have a significantly lower profile than most OEM projectors yet have astonishing performance.

LedfootLarry

When I ordered, I also did not see option for color temp. , and I really don`t have a clue which one anyway. Could you please include a copy of invoice with the shipment, and if youcould e-mail me a copy also[printer problems]. thanks

TheRadioFlyer

Will do. I have since added the color temp option (it should have been there, but I'm still learning how to use the website design software. I would suggest 5000K color temp. It has a distinct pure-white that makes it unique on the road without sacrificing output. (cars that come from the factory with HIDs have 4300K)

LedfootLarry

ok 5000k sounds fine, thanks

teebee

5000K is good for me too. I thought about that after I ordered.

teebee

I am so pumped about these lights. Right now I have the HID's in the stock housings, and although they put out a tremendous amount of light, it sprays it everywhere and I get flashed quite often....mostly from trucks, so it must be spraying pretty high. I look forward to this upgrade.

TheRadioFlyer

This will certainly outperform your current setup. You won't be disappointing.