Anyone had troubles doing the H4 headlight conversion?
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 11,152
Likes: 890
From: South Western Ontario
That doesn't prove anything with regards to any other housing being suitable for HID lighting. I actually think it's funny you're actually trying to use a projector housing designed for HID as your arguement for being able to put HID into any housing.Shine your halogen against a wall and look at the cutoff line that keeps the light from shining in the eyes of oncoming drivers. Now, shine your HID conversion against a wall. If the cutoff is lost of modified then the conversion is no good.
I've heard this housing arguement before. "A good housing can use any type of bulb". I have European H4 housings in my C5 which are pretty good units. With the halogen bulbs the cutoff is as sharp as any projector I've seen. They came with HID bulbs so I stuck them in to see how they'd work. With the HID lights, there is no cutoff at all. They just aren't suitable housings for use with HID bulbs, which makes perfect sense since they were designed specifically for the H4 bulb.
Some housings might not be too bad, but most glare pretty badly and almost all mess up the cut-off of the housing.
Last edited by lionelhutz; Aug 16, 2012 at 07:08 PM.
The ORIGINAL and bestest
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 10,009
Likes: 240
From: Toronto Ontario
Toronto Events Coordinator
Why is this video from England? There are several different brightness choices. I always choose the lower temp lights. I agree that the housing is not correct for the hid's. Yep, I bet they are all made in China. All my sets have been outstanding quality. C6's come with hid's, but with the correct housing. I bet that all cars will come with hid's in the future. All race cars that race at night have hid's. Oh well.......
You can always tell when cars have HID lamps installed in non-HID housings because the light is always an unfocused blob.
Holy smokes!!! If you use a high quality lens like Cibie, Hella, Marchal you will have no problems using an HID bulb in these lead crystal lenses-NONE!!! I have done it and the most important factor is aiming the lights correctly.
I can think of a few reasons that OEM HID manufacturers do not offer conversion kits for their lenses-hint!!!-money or the cannabilizing of their margins on their OEM light lenses.
I have stated this fact before on the forum but let's try this again! My 2008 Chrysler 300 quad projector headlight is the same part number whether the car had haolgens or the optional HID's-SAME LENSE!!!
Lastly, I have mentioned this before as well-a $25 aircraft sealed beam headlight is not even in the same league as a top quality lead crystal halogen light. Sealed beam lights are very yellowish in color and again, the most important facet of quality light output is the LENSE, not the bulb.
I can think of a few reasons that OEM HID manufacturers do not offer conversion kits for their lenses-hint!!!-money or the cannabilizing of their margins on their OEM light lenses.
I have stated this fact before on the forum but let's try this again! My 2008 Chrysler 300 quad projector headlight is the same part number whether the car had haolgens or the optional HID's-SAME LENSE!!!
Lastly, I have mentioned this before as well-a $25 aircraft sealed beam headlight is not even in the same league as a top quality lead crystal halogen light. Sealed beam lights are very yellowish in color and again, the most important facet of quality light output is the LENSE, not the bulb.
Second of all, I bet those projectors were really designed first for HID lamps, and they would have to be DOT approved for both. No way around that for any of the oem auto manufacturers.
Every country and jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations governing the use of automotive lighting, and HID lighting systems that are supplied with the vehicles from the factory are DOT / E approved. No HID lighting system available from any source is DOT / E approved if installed outside of the factory. These kits are not street legal for use on public roads.
If there was money to be made for the oem HID lamp manufacturers in HID conversion kits, they would be selling them, and marketing them as an upgrade for their lenses. To believe otherwise is simply foolish.
Do your homework, and you will find all of this to be the truth.
Just to further prove my point, here is a link to Hella's web site, where it is written in plain english that these conversion kits are in fact illegal.
http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...d_Approved.jsp
For those too lazy to follow the link, here is what is written there:
Originally Posted by HELLA
Looking for HID (Xenon) "retrofit" kits for your vehicle?
Unfortunately, there are products, Xenon retrofit kits in particular, available in the aftermarket (especially on the Internet) that are illegal for use on American roads. Besides being illegal, products of this kind also endanger the public’s safety. Use of these “DIY retrofits” may lead to traffic fines or worse trouble for you and your vehicle. Some of these kits may use Hella parts, such as ballasts or bulbs, but are in no way approved or endorsed by Hella, Inc. for use on vehicles.
Dangerous and prohibited (using HID / Xenon as an example)
Any automotive lights (headlights, tail lights, turn signals, etc) that are sold for use in the USA must be approved by the Department of Transportation (DOT). This approval process is carried out by the manufacturer by submitting samples for testing by the DOT. When the approval is granted, the manufacturer can then, and only then, label the lights as “DOT Approved”. They can then be sold and installed legally on vehicles in the USA. The approval process is very strict and any deviations in the light itself from the way it was submitted for testing makes the DOT approval void. Using a different bulb other than the original type will void this DOT approval. This means that any headlight that is designed and approved for use with an H7 bulb, for example, cannot be used with anything but an H7 bulb or it is illegal.
HID/Xenon "retro-fit" kits
are Illegal
This is the legal reason that Xenon conversion kits are illegal for sale or use in the USA, but there is more to the issue of Xenon retrofit kits than just the legalities. These kits themselves rarely provide a useful increase in light output; instead they usually produce a huge amount of unfocused light that is both blinding and dangerous to other drivers and pedestrians. The Xenon lights that you see on many of today’s cars are engineered by the manufacturers as complete lighting systems. This means that the lenses, bulbs, reflectors, housings, ballasts, and even the automatic adjusters and washers were all designed to work together in harmony to produce the best possible lighting under all conditions. If you remove just a part of this engineered system and install it into another vehicle’s lighting system without all of the parts of the original system, you are creating a potential safety hazard. A halogen headlight reflector is not designed to properly focus the intense light output of a Xenon bulb and this can result in a lot of unfocused light glare, sometimes up to 100 times greater, that is hazardous to other drivers and pedestrians.
Unfortunately, there are products, Xenon retrofit kits in particular, available in the aftermarket (especially on the Internet) that are illegal for use on American roads. Besides being illegal, products of this kind also endanger the public’s safety. Use of these “DIY retrofits” may lead to traffic fines or worse trouble for you and your vehicle. Some of these kits may use Hella parts, such as ballasts or bulbs, but are in no way approved or endorsed by Hella, Inc. for use on vehicles.
Dangerous and prohibited (using HID / Xenon as an example)
Any automotive lights (headlights, tail lights, turn signals, etc) that are sold for use in the USA must be approved by the Department of Transportation (DOT). This approval process is carried out by the manufacturer by submitting samples for testing by the DOT. When the approval is granted, the manufacturer can then, and only then, label the lights as “DOT Approved”. They can then be sold and installed legally on vehicles in the USA. The approval process is very strict and any deviations in the light itself from the way it was submitted for testing makes the DOT approval void. Using a different bulb other than the original type will void this DOT approval. This means that any headlight that is designed and approved for use with an H7 bulb, for example, cannot be used with anything but an H7 bulb or it is illegal.
HID/Xenon "retro-fit" kits
are Illegal
This is the legal reason that Xenon conversion kits are illegal for sale or use in the USA, but there is more to the issue of Xenon retrofit kits than just the legalities. These kits themselves rarely provide a useful increase in light output; instead they usually produce a huge amount of unfocused light that is both blinding and dangerous to other drivers and pedestrians. The Xenon lights that you see on many of today’s cars are engineered by the manufacturers as complete lighting systems. This means that the lenses, bulbs, reflectors, housings, ballasts, and even the automatic adjusters and washers were all designed to work together in harmony to produce the best possible lighting under all conditions. If you remove just a part of this engineered system and install it into another vehicle’s lighting system without all of the parts of the original system, you are creating a potential safety hazard. A halogen headlight reflector is not designed to properly focus the intense light output of a Xenon bulb and this can result in a lot of unfocused light glare, sometimes up to 100 times greater, that is hazardous to other drivers and pedestrians.
Pretty much blows your argument out of the water, wouldn't you say?!?!
Last edited by 7t2vette; Aug 16, 2012 at 08:33 PM.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,385
Likes: 86
From: San Diego CA.
Does it matter where the video is from? The tech is still the same. I agree that in the future it is likely that all cars will have HID headlights.
You can always tell when cars have HID lamps installed in non-HID housings because the light is always an unfocused blob.
First of all, you can't compare a 5 3/4" headlight design to a projector design, completely different tech. No 5 3/4" headlight has been designed for use with HID lamps. Can you fit HID lamps to a 5 3/4" headlight? Certainly. Is it correct to do so? Certainly not.
Second of all, I bet those projectors were really designed first for HID lamps, and they would have to be DOT approved for both. No way around that for any of the oem auto manufacturers.
Every country and jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations governing the use of automotive lighting, and HID lighting systems that are supplied with the vehicles from the factory are DOT / E approved. No HID lighting system available from any source is DOT / E approved if installed outside of the factory. These kits are not street legal for use on public roads.
If there was money to be made for the oem HID lamp manufacturers in HID conversion kits, they would be selling them, and marketing them as an upgrade for their lenses. To believe otherwise is simply foolish.
Do your homework, and you will find all of this to be the truth.
Just to further prove my point, here is a link to Hella's web site, where it is written in plain english that these conversion kits are in fact illegal.
http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...d_Approved.jsp
For those too lazy to follow the link, here is what is written there:
There you have it, straight from one of the major HID lamp manufacturers that you wrote it is perfectly fine to use HID lamps in their non-HID housings.
Pretty much blows your argument out of the water, wouldn't you say?!?!
You can always tell when cars have HID lamps installed in non-HID housings because the light is always an unfocused blob.
First of all, you can't compare a 5 3/4" headlight design to a projector design, completely different tech. No 5 3/4" headlight has been designed for use with HID lamps. Can you fit HID lamps to a 5 3/4" headlight? Certainly. Is it correct to do so? Certainly not.
Second of all, I bet those projectors were really designed first for HID lamps, and they would have to be DOT approved for both. No way around that for any of the oem auto manufacturers.
Every country and jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations governing the use of automotive lighting, and HID lighting systems that are supplied with the vehicles from the factory are DOT / E approved. No HID lighting system available from any source is DOT / E approved if installed outside of the factory. These kits are not street legal for use on public roads.
If there was money to be made for the oem HID lamp manufacturers in HID conversion kits, they would be selling them, and marketing them as an upgrade for their lenses. To believe otherwise is simply foolish.
Do your homework, and you will find all of this to be the truth.
Just to further prove my point, here is a link to Hella's web site, where it is written in plain english that these conversion kits are in fact illegal.
http://www.hella.com/produktion/Hell...d_Approved.jsp
For those too lazy to follow the link, here is what is written there:
There you have it, straight from one of the major HID lamp manufacturers that you wrote it is perfectly fine to use HID lamps in their non-HID housings.
Pretty much blows your argument out of the water, wouldn't you say?!?!
Racer
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
From: Enfield CT
I purchased 4 Cibie lenses from Daniel Stearn.Had the bulbs in that came with these lenses and it was great,a 100% difference.I also wired the lights that when I turn on the high beams the low beams stay on.Then for fun I installed a 55w hid kit in the high beams.Those hids throw more light then anything I have ever seen,it turned night in to day!Its so bright the the reflection off a stop sign hurts your eyes!!!I am sure it would blind eveybody if left on just unreal!!
