Keep us posted.
Stealth Light Cannons: Development process
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Former Vendor
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
disaster averted.
Race Director
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From: Fremont CA
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20
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So assuming you use a better plastic for the shroud - which has a higher melting temp - what happens to the paint when we paint the shroud and have that hole trying to burn into it?
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
I'm afraid not. The sun is hitting the projector lenses at an angle. if i were to paint the shroud to cover this, it would affect the high beam output....thought it may come to that. The low beam could be easily protected by an eyebrow.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
btw, i also found i can get black polypropylene.
Former Vendor
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From: Devil's Island CA
Yeah I dont know if a really light tint would solve the problem anyway. I dont mind illegal mods, but too dark wouldnt look good on yellow anyway. I dont mind painting an eyebrow (would rather not) I was just going to paint the shrouds. Guess we'll wait and see what you can come up with.
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Racer
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From: El Paso Texas
Glad you caught that. Could be a serious issue in places where annual rain fall is only 8 inches, like EP. Hopefully the rattle can will work.
I was thinking of putting reflective tape under the spot where the sun refracted light hits. I have some that comes on a roll that's about an inch and a half wide. I put some of that in my droplight at work and it made a world of difference. Puts out more light and keeps from blinding me when I'm behind the light. Don't know what it would do at an angle though.
I was thinking of putting reflective tape under the spot where the sun refracted light hits. I have some that comes on a roll that's about an inch and a half wide. I put some of that in my droplight at work and it made a world of difference. Puts out more light and keeps from blinding me when I'm behind the light. Don't know what it would do at an angle though.
Last edited by Castrellon; Nov 26, 2009 at 05:13 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Indianapolis IN
On another note, have hit a slight snafu...
in direct sunlight, the projector lenses refract the sunlight into a focal point that just happens to hit the shroud about 1/2 to 1" in front of the projector itself depending on the angle to the sun. This cuts s nice little hole in the shroud....which is annoying to say the least. I'm currently researching other options on plastics with higher thermal resistance or possibly an aluminum shield that can be placed around the projector. Specter werkes sanded the surface of the upper half of their projectors to prevent this but that will be a tool of last resort.
in direct sunlight, the projector lenses refract the sunlight into a focal point that just happens to hit the shroud about 1/2 to 1" in front of the projector itself depending on the angle to the sun. This cuts s nice little hole in the shroud....which is annoying to say the least. I'm currently researching other options on plastics with higher thermal resistance or possibly an aluminum shield that can be placed around the projector. Specter werkes sanded the surface of the upper half of their projectors to prevent this but that will be a tool of last resort.
If you do something like this, dont forget about those of us who have opted for the HALO option.
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Former Vendor
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
My suggestion would be to find some tube (any material) that is the same OD as the projector housing and cut a small section and affix it to the front of the projector housing, creating an extended trim ring. Painted black to match the projector housings. You probably could thermoform something yourself. The idea is to "shade" the projector lense. Probably only needs to extend past the projector lense very little. Reference POST #67 of this thread showing the pic of the C6 lights. The silver trim ring on those lights is what I am suggesting you duplicate. See how they extend past the projector housing "shading" the projector lens?
If you do something like this, dont forget about those of us who have opted for the HALO option.
If you do something like this, dont forget about those of us who have opted for the HALO option.
Right now the solution that i'm hoping for is that a Polypropylene shroud will solve the problem, but I won't know until monday if this is an option. If that does not work, I will most likely sand the upper half of the lens with something like 800 grit sandpaper to barily distort the light from focusing into a burning point. If done correctly, it will be barily noticable.
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Former Vendor
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
Ssmith512 good news: After looking at some C6 headlights at the morning vettes-and-coffee meet, it appears thee extended shroud is the way GM decided to deal with this problem
I was able to remove the plastic "lip" on the projectors giving me almost 3/8" extra clearance total (about 1/8" ton the top) for an extended shroud. Provided i can make this out of aluminum or plastic tubing, this should be the perfect solution.
The only kicker is this would slightly affect the way the halos install. The CCFL tubes would have to be removed from the protective plastic housing, but given they would be inside the extended tube shroud, i'm not concerned about breakage.
Final testing of this design will commence tomorrow. *fingers crossed*
I was able to remove the plastic "lip" on the projectors giving me almost 3/8" extra clearance total (about 1/8" ton the top) for an extended shroud. Provided i can make this out of aluminum or plastic tubing, this should be the perfect solution.
The only kicker is this would slightly affect the way the halos install. The CCFL tubes would have to be removed from the protective plastic housing, but given they would be inside the extended tube shroud, i'm not concerned about breakage.
Final testing of this design will commence tomorrow. *fingers crossed*
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Nov 2005
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
The shroud extension will most likely be made from stainless steel or aluminum. This should be easy to paint or if we go stainless, leave shiny
Last edited by TheRadioFlyer97; Nov 29, 2009 at 09:58 PM.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
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From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
Good news, I found that the pipe solution works. I will be using 3" stainless pipe in the final version. Users can choose to leave the projector shroud bare or paint/powdercoat it. I plan to paint mine.
New shrouds will be formed this afternoon. Expect final-product pics by the end of the week.....and the start of the GP
Note: in anticipation of the GP, I have ordered some HID kits for them. i have (5) 5000K and (5) 6000K in stock. Initial testing of the 55w 4300K kits showed them to be a dirty yellow....not exactly the prettiest color and IMO the 5000K version has more useable output.
New shrouds will be formed this afternoon. Expect final-product pics by the end of the week.....and the start of the GP
Note: in anticipation of the GP, I have ordered some HID kits for them. i have (5) 5000K and (5) 6000K in stock. Initial testing of the 55w 4300K kits showed them to be a dirty yellow....not exactly the prettiest color and IMO the 5000K version has more useable output.
Thread Starter
Former Vendor
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 8,995
Likes: 2
From: Spring Texas
St. Jude Donor '08
Racer
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 386
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From: El Paso Texas
Ssmith512 good news: After looking at some C6 headlights at the morning vettes-and-coffee meet, it appears thee extended shroud is the way GM decided to deal with this problem
I was able to remove the plastic "lip" on the projectors giving me almost 3/8" extra clearance total (about 1/8" ton the top) for an extended shroud. Provided i can make this out of aluminum or plastic tubing, this should be the perfect solution.
The only kicker is this would slightly affect the way the halos install. The CCFL tubes would have to be removed from the protective plastic housing, but given they would be inside the extended tube shroud, i'm not concerned about breakage.
Final testing of this design will commence tomorrow. *fingers crossed*
I was able to remove the plastic "lip" on the projectors giving me almost 3/8" extra clearance total (about 1/8" ton the top) for an extended shroud. Provided i can make this out of aluminum or plastic tubing, this should be the perfect solution.
The only kicker is this would slightly affect the way the halos install. The CCFL tubes would have to be removed from the protective plastic housing, but given they would be inside the extended tube shroud, i'm not concerned about breakage.
Final testing of this design will commence tomorrow. *fingers crossed*