[Z06] ***Bi-xenon ACA projector headlight by Radioflyer: GP1!!***
03-19-2012, 09:44 AM
#1
Supporting Vendor
Thread Starter
***Bi-xenon ACA projector headlight by Radioflyer: GP1!!***
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.
(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.
03-19-2012, 02:11 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
Very interested in this!
Just can't decide whether to send you my ACA lights or wait for the kit...
Since my Z06 is no longer my DD, I might just have you do it so I know it's done right. Just not thrilled with packaging and sending them...
Just can't decide whether to send you my ACA lights or wait for the kit...
Since my Z06 is no longer my DD, I might just have you do it so I know it's done right. Just not thrilled with packaging and sending them...
03-19-2012, 09:14 PM
#3
Race Director
Member Since: Dec 2010
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 10,426
Received 1,261 Likes
on
1,056 Posts
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
C5 of Year Winner (performance mods) 2019
I might be interested once you start sending the conversion kits out... if I already have an hid kit for the aca's will it transfer over to the bi-xenon projectors?... do you modify the cutoff shield or is it left as is from the manufacturer?
03-19-2012, 09:35 PM
#5
Supporting Vendor
Thread Starter
You will need new HID bulbs (which i can provide). no modification to the projectors will be needed.
03-19-2012, 11:25 PM
#6
Supporting Vendor
Thread Starter
03-20-2012, 01:26 PM
#8
This is very cool. Complete plug and play housing. Although I like the way your light cannons look, this looks like a much easier install.
03-20-2012, 04:31 PM
#10
Supporting Vendor
Thread Starter
03-22-2012, 08:47 AM
#12
Burning Brakes
03-22-2012, 10:13 AM
#13
Supporting Vendor
Thread Starter
No, I'm using entirely new projectors that have significantly better performance. The ones that came with the ACA kit were generic and easy to mass-produce, but lacked critical elements like a compound-contoured reflector bowl or curved cutoff shield. This is what makes the patten from the modified ACAs so much wider and better focused.
03-22-2012, 11:21 AM
#14
Burning Brakes
No, I'm using entirely new projectors that have significantly better performance. The ones that came with the ACA kit were generic and easy to mass-produce, but lacked critical elements like a compound-contoured reflector bowl or curved cutoff shield. This is what makes the patten from the modified ACAs so much wider and better focused.
03-22-2012, 11:40 PM
#17
Drifting
Ordered.
You know when your car is getting old when you have to order Bi-focals for it.
Hell, I'v been wearing them for a number of years so why not the car.
Mark
You know when your car is getting old when you have to order Bi-focals for it.
Hell, I'v been wearing them for a number of years so why not the car.
Mark
03-23-2012, 12:45 AM
#19
Drifting
You will love the bi-Xenons! With the halogen hi-beams running at the same time, the light output is phenomenol. I've been running this setup for over a year now and I look forward to driving at night!
Doug
Doug
03-23-2012, 10:10 AM
#20
I get the impression that the so-called bounce factor is simply related to good focus light patterns (cuts off high so there's a stark contrast), and the fact that OEM lenses scatter light all over the place. Good lord, GM Vette lighting on the '03 Z is horrible.
Looking forward to this upgrade.
Looking forward to this upgrade.