I recently installed the Knightdrive headlights and the low beams are great, but the high beams are inadequate. They’re just angled slightly higher, but don’t add any range to the lights. I tried improving them by creating a wiring harness to get more power to the lights, but that didn’t solve the problem.

I decided to replace the fog lights with something more powerful and have them turn on with the high beams. I tried using the Morimoto 90mm Sealed3 high beams, but neither light worked. Instead of getting replacements, I decided to just send them back. I searched and settled on some lights from Amazon, the Kairiyard LED, 2.5 inch lights; they’re 90w and 9000 lumen.



I was planning to make my own bracket, but the fog light mount was easy to modify. I started by making a small “L” bracket with heavy gauge aluminum and used the top mounting point on the light.


The inner arms of the brackets have to be bent out, to make room for the width of these lights. On this pic, the right side was bent out and made parallel to the other side. I debated inserting screws into the side of the light, but the top mount is secure enough to prevent movement. The side arms are snug against the light as well.


With everything assembled, note how the L-bracket I made is angled forward. This is required to have the light sit horizontal to the ground. The small bolt uses an existing hole in the mounting bracket.


Here is the finished look on the car. The metal screen is supposed to be stainless, but I painted mine, and it can be removed as well. I figured it may help with some larger rocks.


Finally, these are powered by a wiring harness I made, similar to what I did for the headlights. Power from the battery to a junction with a fuse and 10ga wire, then 12ga wire to the relay and the lights. I measured 11.69v to the lights with this setup. The stock high beam wire is the trigger for the relay.

I’ve had these on the car a couple weeks and everything is holding up. The lighting does help, but it’s not the focused light I really would like to have. In a few months, I’ll probably swap out to something different. Right now I’m leaning towards the Hella 998570021 60mm high beam, with a high lumen LED.

 

I was hoping this was the direction it was going....

 

That should turn night into day.

Good luck working through the lighting issue and in coming up with something that you feel comfortable for nighttime driving.

 

Ha! The Stratos is awesome!

 

Turn all those lights on at once, lose 15hp!!!
Also increase coolant temp 10°!!

 

Very interested in this development. Subscribed.

 

It's doubtful the Kariyiard are actually 9000 lumens. Amazon sellers are notoriously liberal with their lighting output claims.
Take a look at some of the offerings from Cyclops. I've used their lights but it was years ago and I just replaced headlight bulbs. I'm sure they have improved over the years but damn that price tag is high.
Your options for getting great distance lighting are pretty small because your lights are just a few inches off the ground. Unless you're on a perfectly flat stretch of road the beams are going to be blocked.

 

They may not be 9k lumen, but they're supposed to be Cree LEDs, so I thought the quality might be better than other offerings. I agree the low mounting isn't ideal, but it still increases visibility on unlit roads. The pattern is still too broad though.

I'll try the Hellas before I spend $650 on the Cyclops!

 

Actually, I believe you guys might have this height location thing backwards. For many years, Ive been told, and read, that the best location for long range illumination is just a few inches off the road. Of course, this isnt feasible for most street cars, and impossible for off roading. FWIW, and I've been wrong before.......

 

I see so many threads on upgrading the headlamps on the C5 with so-so results and compromises made with aftermarket offerings.
I just got euro spec HIR halogen bulbs from Daniel Stern and put LEDs in my fogs and aimed them up more and I'm happy as a clam driving at night now. ::sips tea:::

 

I don't doubt you've been told or read that. If your light is six inches off the pavement and it shines straight forward it's going to be blocked by anything six inches or higher. Since most roads are not perfectly flat that means the beam hits the road.
Obviously if the light is twenty inches off the road it will be blocked by fewer elevation changes.
There could be data that shows such blockage is mostly irrelevant at automobile speeds, I'd have to see what you're reading to comment on that.

 

This depends entirely on the light pattern produced. The fog light location is ideal for FOG lights, but not anything designed to project down the road. The problem is light spread from this height creates unwanted glare in the foreground which hampers your ability to see further. I tried installing Hella Micro Xenon driving lights (which were supposed to have a super-narrow beam driving pattern) It didn't work out too well.

You need a pencil-beam for this location to be effective as a supplemental light. Most LED spot-lights are not sufficient, you MIGHT be able to get away with this using a laser spotlight.


laser spotlight


https://www.orionautolight.com/produ...pod-light.html

 

I tried the HIR 9011/9012 bulbs in the factory headlamps - some but not much improvement due to the pathetic pattern produced by the factory plastic lenses. I never tracked down the heavy export glass lenses so I have no opinion on those. I then stepped up to the Bi-LED Radioflyer ACA projector setup from Sharp Lighting Innovations. This finally allowed me to safely drive my Corvette in the dark! This maybe the biggest and most rewarding modification to the car, right up there with better seats and more sound/heat insulation, not to mention more power of course. I also went with their LED fog lamps and LED white switchback DRL turn signal setup. Nice to have modern safe high output lighting in a 25 year old vehicle!

 

Nice Work. Best Regards.

 

I went with the Bi-LED Projector ACA Headlights from Vette Lights and I have the harness installed so when the Hi Beams are on all 4 headlights are on. Nice and Bright.

 

Those laser spotlights would be too focused for driving, pretty cool though. I haven’t had any road glare issues with these lights and it has helped increase my night visibility. I thought about the ACA lights, but I like the low-rise headlight. I just didn’t see any comments about the high beams when I was shopping around. I’ll post an update when I try the Hellas mentioned in the original post.

 

I finally installed the Hella 998570021 60mm high beam lights, in place of the lights shown above. Maybe not a popular thing to do, but I’m very happy with the results. These have added the range and intensity I was looking for, almost as good as what I have in my modern cars. The lights come with 65w Halogen 9005 bulbs, with a yellowish color. I planned on swapping for LEDs and spent a little more than planned , but my night visibility is very good now.

This was a little more work to install, because I had to make mounting brackets for the lights. I drilled a 2.5 inch hole to mount over the back of the assembly and then made a few bends to get the position correct. The top inside corner is cut to clear the frame, and the bottom outside corner is cut to clear the brake duct.




Traditional 9005 bulbs have the 90 degree turn down (pictured), but this does not work on the drivers side, due to interference. The LEDs I purchased (Sealight 2024 X4I) have a wire coming out of the back, so clearance is not an issue.

The first picture is with high beams and the extra lights I originally installed, and the second picture is with the Hellas. You can see how the beam is tighter and the intensity of the Sealights has very good range down the road. Road glare is not an issue with the low mounting point and I’ll keep these on the car for good. Maybe an option for those who want to keep the stock headlights, but want to see better with the high beams.

 

While I applaud the ingenuity and creative thought, you NEED a projector with a sharp cutoff for this light position. It's simply too close to the ground for even a properly aimed pencil-beam light to be effective without blinding oncoming traffic. I used to use the Hella 60mm high beam projectors in our SLC V1 headlights. There is no way that you can run these at night and not blind every driver looking at your front-end.

 

 

What does it look like aimed down a road at night?