I have changed out my low beam headlights to Hellas that are using a 55/60 hi/lo H-4 bulb. When I have the brights on (all 4) they will stay lit for 7 minutes until the circut breaker trips in the h/l switch then will power back up but can no longer use all four. I think it's because the low beam sealled ones are only 35 watt. Anyway I can wire in relays that can take care of the problem or what if I switch to a HID kit? Will I still need to wire in relays cause the HID kits come with there own relay which is fed directly off the battery. I think I just answered my question that I hadn't asked yet..... Well tell me what you think anyway.

 

If you are going to add HIDs then yeah. Those are wired directly to the battery with a relay and the headlight switch hooks up to the relay. I guess you did answer your own question.

 

I wired all 4 with h4 bulbs then switched to hid h4 with relays to alternator. I haven't had a chance to run wire to battery so I just put both outer lights to hid and inners to regular blue bulbs but still get the occasional flickering when at stops or real low speed but I guess its cause im running elec fans and water pump with 110 amp alt but when I a chance im throwing wire to battery. hid are real blinding get a soft color like 5000 or 6000k. all four look better I can definitely see way better with hid than original lights. Good luck. On stock set up before relay one low beam would always shut off.

 

Thank you for your answer. I just came across a LED H4 that puts out 3200 lumens but are pricey. The trade off is 50,000 hr run time, very low wattage and much cooler without all the wiring.

 

Its best to use housings designed for hid lights like projectors. Putting an hid bulb in a standard h4 housing really aggravates other drivers and gives the hid lights a bad rap. I have them in my other vehicle but havent decided on which system for the vette yet.

 

leds are pretty sweet but the electronics could cause them to fail long before 50,000hrs and they are not as bright as other bulb technologies yet....
They certainly use much less electricity I'm saving almost $50 a month just by switching from my old metal halides to led lighting on my salt water reef tank.

 

Not true anymore.... we build full off road race cars, been in the last 2 Baja 500's and almost took 1st place in our class 2 years ago... until the engine blew up a little more than 3/4 the way through the race... just pushed it to hard.... anyway, KC is one of our sponsors and we get free and or next to nothing pricing on there lights.... and there is nothing brighter than there new LED lights and light bars....

story....

Chris was in his jeep, around July and a full hot noon sun... i was going down a straight road, and was talking to him on the cell,,,, he was on the same road coming my direction... about 2 miles away... to far away for me to even see the jeep.... i said turn on your LED bar he just got,,,

OMG... it was like someone has a 8 foot mirror reflecting off the sun and directed in my direction. 2 miles away!!!!! i was so impressed...

new LED's friken rock!!

 

BTW, rewiring the stock headlights to draw their power off the battery through two relays (one for left side, one for right side) with the headlight switch being the relay trip is a good idea. That way there isn't any real power draw from the headlights coming through the headlight switch. I remember a few guys on the forum over the years saying they've melted their headlight switch or felt the switch getting pretty hot; rewiring with the relays eliminates this.

 

Don't mean to high jack the thread, but where do you find the lenses for the HID bulbs? I would like to do this as well.

 

The drop in LED replacement bulbs are not as good (yet) IMO... Theres a reason all of the high power LED light bars have massive heatsinks and the new BMW LED headlights have cooling fans built into the housings.

A projector is what you need to *properly* run an HID. They are found here: www.theretrofitsource.com

Not the cheapest or easiest, but a great lighting upgrade

 

Wow those are pricey.... I'm cheap I guess but these work great too and are about a 11th of the cost...they also come in black and at night you won't know the difference anyway.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/400664150743?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l264 9&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

If you go with hid retrofit kits I recommend 55w dual low and high hid ones that slide forward and back over the style with the halogen bulb attached for the high beam.
Hid bulbs are like metal halides.... Every time to turn them off and back on again while they are still hot it stresses the gases in the bulb and takes life from the bulb.

 

Well I just bought a set of these.http://www.automotivelightstore.com/...placement.aspx. Made in the USA. 36 LEDs and they claim they produce more light than the HID. He said I can return them np if I don't like them. Also the company has received awards after awards and even one from SEMA. Pretty interesting.

 

I've seen something like that on jeeps. Keep us posted on the results and pics please of process and results.

 

I know they are kinda funky looking but if they light the way like no other then I'm game. Suppose to be here on Tues so I'll let you guys know.

 

Thanks for sharing this, been looking for something like these for my '69.

Keep us posted on how they work once you get them.

 

Once you have these installed could you let us know if was a simple bolt in or if you had to do some mods. These are exactly what I want but it would be great if I knew how much tinkering is involved.Thanks

 

Well I received my box and to my surprise there was only one headlight in the box. So for $238 I shipped that puppy back as that would add up to $900 for a set of headlights which for me was a no way decision. A couple days later I received a call from the company and his name was Mathew was very apologetic saying there was suppose to be a pair of headlights and was willing to send them back out with no shipping and a 10% discount. I declined his offer because I found the same headlights off of ebay (same ones made in USA) that were only $109 for the pair but have not ordered them. I will say while I had that light in my possession I plugged it in just to see the difference and my reaction was "WOW" however that light that was shipped to me only had two prongs which was meant for the high beam. Now in order for it to fit in the bucket you would have to cut a good majority of the backside since the driver for the LED was at the back and it was huge. And since I decided to return the light I wasn't going to cut the bucket just to see if it would fit but would probably say it would with the mods. Now I don't know how it looks out in the road since I only powered up the light in the garage so I can't tell you anything there,

I am still in the dilemma about headlights since I have now switched back to new Halogens and even removed my Hellas. I like the Hellas abeam pattern but I don't think it throws the beam far enough. I did run across some CREE LED 9003 bulbs that will fit in the Hella housing without too much modification and are brighter than Xenon and cost $129 for the pair so I've been thinking about that. And since it's for the H4 (9003) it uses a active shutter to switch from lows to high which I like as well. So still deciding..

Hope this has helped with your decision making, let us know what you decide and if I but the CREE i'll post comments and pictures.