HID Bixenon pop ups done.
06-03-2012, 06:42 PM
#1
Safety Car
Thread Starter
HID Bixenon pop ups done.
These were built last winter and have some improvements to the car headlight doors.
This is the stock headlight door arm assembly with the off white rubber stops shown. Notice how short the arm is that hits the stops.
This the adjustable stop with an extension added, this reduces the force to the stops by half. The heads of the stop screws have a clear rubber material added for quiet operation. The new solid state control box is under the arm and to the right of the factory motor control.
Here one of the new adjustable up stops can be seen, two 1/4-28 screws limit upward headlight door travel and again the heads of the adjusting bolts have clear rubber on them. When all the stops are adjusted there is no play in the door assembly and no headlight jitter when driving.
One Morimoto Mini Bixenon apart. The plastic shrouds were sandblasted to remove the chrome then the cooling holes were filled with high temperature epoxy and painted black.
The drivers headlight assembly in the down position with the cover removed. There is just enough room for two lamps in the opening.
A closeup with the low beams on and a reflection of the camera flash in the high beam lens.
Both low beams on.
All four high beams on.
These headlights provide much better lighting than the previous HID bulbs that were in the stock housings and the doors are very quiet in operation. The outer xenons are always on when the headlights are turned on and when high beams are selected all four shield solenoids are energized along with the inner xenon ballasts.
This is the stock headlight door arm assembly with the off white rubber stops shown. Notice how short the arm is that hits the stops.
This the adjustable stop with an extension added, this reduces the force to the stops by half. The heads of the stop screws have a clear rubber material added for quiet operation. The new solid state control box is under the arm and to the right of the factory motor control.
Here one of the new adjustable up stops can be seen, two 1/4-28 screws limit upward headlight door travel and again the heads of the adjusting bolts have clear rubber on them. When all the stops are adjusted there is no play in the door assembly and no headlight jitter when driving.
One Morimoto Mini Bixenon apart. The plastic shrouds were sandblasted to remove the chrome then the cooling holes were filled with high temperature epoxy and painted black.
The drivers headlight assembly in the down position with the cover removed. There is just enough room for two lamps in the opening.
A closeup with the low beams on and a reflection of the camera flash in the high beam lens.
Both low beams on.
All four high beams on.
These headlights provide much better lighting than the previous HID bulbs that were in the stock housings and the doors are very quiet in operation. The outer xenons are always on when the headlights are turned on and when high beams are selected all four shield solenoids are energized along with the inner xenon ballasts.
06-03-2012, 10:39 PM
#3
Administrator
Member Since: Mar 2001
Location: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
Posts: 343,014
Received 19,305 Likes
on
13,977 Posts
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-
'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
Sweet - very nice job on the mod.
08-01-2012, 09:58 AM
#7
Safety Car
Thread Starter
The new control box powers the lamp ballasts directly from the battery using solid state relays, it doesn't control the motors. Time off delays are used so that when switching from low to high or high to low the lamps stay on a few seconds before turning off to ensure constant light.
08-01-2012, 10:23 AM
#8
Team Owner
What are the new HID bulbs you are using and what bulbs did they replace?
How do you aim the individual projectors? I can't make out individual adjustment mechanisms in the pics.
Where did you source the control board from?
Is that a new stabilizer bar in the rear of the frame?
Nice job on shoring up the linkage assembly.
How do you aim the individual projectors? I can't make out individual adjustment mechanisms in the pics.
Where did you source the control board from?
Is that a new stabilizer bar in the rear of the frame?
Nice job on shoring up the linkage assembly.
08-01-2012, 11:22 AM
#9
Melting Slicks
Very nice work! When you said control box I assumed you meant controlling the motors. I like the ballast controller though, I've considered something simiar to manage mine including the fog lights, take the BCM out of the loop because right now I have fogs on with highs by using a relay, very low tech and not quite as "professional" an approach as I'd like. Too many otehr projects in the list in front of it though.
I'm curious, if you've gone so far as to control the ballasts this way, have you done anything to mitigate rapid cycling of the HIDs? You said that your inner pair only come on with the high beams. If you haven't already you should add some logic into your box so that pair won't power up too frequently which is bad for HIDs. Running high beams and you have to dim for another car then go oback to high beams a few seconds later, would be neat if the outer pair went back to high beam mode instantly, but the inner pair would delay such that they won't turn on within 1 or 2 minutes of teh last time they were turned off. I didn't notice until I had HIDs in my high beams (Before the bi-xenons) how often on some twisty roads at night how often you cycle the highs on and off frequently.
I'm working on an exterior lights controller for another car now that will do something similar with the HID fog lights. They'll be able to turn off automatically with the high beams (addon fogs, so completely controlled by my box, not interfaced with the factory equipment at all) but instead of turning on instantly when the highs are dimmed I'm going to add a simiar lockout so if I'm rapidly cycling the highs (Halogens) the HID fogs won't keep turning on and off each time.
Also thinking about current monitoring for intelligent HID startup. As ballasts age they sometimes run into states where you apply power and they just won't turn on. If you monitor the current draw by the ballast you can detect if it fails to start, and can automatically retry the startup a couple times with appropriate delays to see if you can actually get it to start.
Electronics are way too much fun! Any picturesr inside your control box? I assume you built it yourself?
I'm curious, if you've gone so far as to control the ballasts this way, have you done anything to mitigate rapid cycling of the HIDs? You said that your inner pair only come on with the high beams. If you haven't already you should add some logic into your box so that pair won't power up too frequently which is bad for HIDs. Running high beams and you have to dim for another car then go oback to high beams a few seconds later, would be neat if the outer pair went back to high beam mode instantly, but the inner pair would delay such that they won't turn on within 1 or 2 minutes of teh last time they were turned off. I didn't notice until I had HIDs in my high beams (Before the bi-xenons) how often on some twisty roads at night how often you cycle the highs on and off frequently.
I'm working on an exterior lights controller for another car now that will do something similar with the HID fog lights. They'll be able to turn off automatically with the high beams (addon fogs, so completely controlled by my box, not interfaced with the factory equipment at all) but instead of turning on instantly when the highs are dimmed I'm going to add a simiar lockout so if I'm rapidly cycling the highs (Halogens) the HID fogs won't keep turning on and off each time.
Also thinking about current monitoring for intelligent HID startup. As ballasts age they sometimes run into states where you apply power and they just won't turn on. If you monitor the current draw by the ballast you can detect if it fails to start, and can automatically retry the startup a couple times with appropriate delays to see if you can actually get it to start.
Electronics are way too much fun! Any picturesr inside your control box? I assume you built it yourself?
08-01-2012, 02:08 PM
#10
Safety Car
Thread Starter
I used H1-Morimoto 3Five 5000K bulbs that were ordered with the housings and shrouds. http://www.theretrofitsource.com/pro...oducts_id=3181
Both projectors are aimed at the same time using the original Corvette adjusting screws. A washer was added to the bottom center of the machined mounting plate assembly in photo #5 so the inner projector high beam is aimed a little higher than the outer low beam projector. I made the control board and didn't take any pictures of it. Photo #3 shows the new adjusting bar that is screwed into the headlight frame to allow precise adjustment of the new upper stop limits. Morimoto 3Five 35 watt ballasts were used and so far they always start when turned on unlike the cheap ballasts that used to power the old HID lamps that were in the stock housings from the first attempt at better headlights. Somewhere on this forum ( http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php ) was a photo of an overheated reflector caused by using a 55 watt ballast in a 35 watt housing. The 1/4" thick aluminum mounting plate seen in photo #5 helps dissipate some of the heat from the metal reflectors.
Both projectors are aimed at the same time using the original Corvette adjusting screws. A washer was added to the bottom center of the machined mounting plate assembly in photo #5 so the inner projector high beam is aimed a little higher than the outer low beam projector. I made the control board and didn't take any pictures of it. Photo #3 shows the new adjusting bar that is screwed into the headlight frame to allow precise adjustment of the new upper stop limits. Morimoto 3Five 35 watt ballasts were used and so far they always start when turned on unlike the cheap ballasts that used to power the old HID lamps that were in the stock housings from the first attempt at better headlights. Somewhere on this forum ( http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/forum.php ) was a photo of an overheated reflector caused by using a 55 watt ballast in a 35 watt housing. The 1/4" thick aluminum mounting plate seen in photo #5 helps dissipate some of the heat from the metal reflectors.
08-03-2012, 02:35 PM
#11
Premium Supporting Vendor
Member Since: Nov 2003
Location: www.EXOTICVETTE.com - FL Cruise-In VI, VII, & VIII
Posts: 6,853
Received 120 Likes
on
91 Posts
Cruise-In V Veteran
St. Jude's Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
I just did mine with Morimoto Minis also. I was concerned even closing the vent holes that the rain would get in between the shroud and the projector glass.... did you seal that? I also didn't make a rear stop (which is apparently why my headlights jitter at high speed and rough roads!!). Looks great and I can't imagine 4 hi-beam motos!!! 2 is ridiculous!
