Are the high beams on HID's disabled because of the alternator?

I purchased an HID kit for my 01' sport, but it says on the paperwork that came with it, if you have a 9007 bulb, which is what my truck has, you will not have high beam.

Low beam only will be a problem for me as I will be doing a lot of driving in really rural area's where it's truly dark and you actually have to use your high's. I was told that they don't enable high beam for this because the alternator will not support it.

I plan on replacing my alternator, since I am still on the factory original 130Amp, but I need to know if this is truly the limiting factor.

 

[schiavonske1013]

That statement itself is untrue. The 9007 bulb is a dual filament bulb, the single bulb has both a 55w and 65w filament, one activated for lows the other for highs. Since HIDs do not contain this filament, you cannot use one bulb for both high and low unless you get a kit that comes with a solenoid of some sort that will raise and lower the actual bulb to produce a high beam affect. Some kits also come with a halogen bulb mounted on top of the HID bulb that will light when the high beams are turned on.

If you could provide a link to where you purchased them, or a brand we could try to determine if your kit has the solenoid, but since they included this warning I doubt it does.

 

[FIND]

Your first mistake was using PnP HID bulbs.

Your second was getting cheap ebay junk.


Take them out and put some regular bulbs in. All PnP HID kits do is make your truck look cheap and blind other drivers.

 

[ChrisTM]

Dead Link Removedis the layout of the kit I got.

Dead Link Removedis where I purchased it.

If there are better options please post them. I am willing to dump about $200 on the lights if it will give me what I need. I would also like fog light recommendations if you have them. I bought some new factory OEM fog lights and will be installing them here soon.

The forum shrunk my pic, here is one to photobucket.

 

[schiavonske1013]

Your least expensive option is to install a set of better stock halogen bulbs. Bulbs such as the Sylvania Silverstars will produce a blue effect, somewhat simulating HID lighting, although they do tend to burn out rather quickly. Another option I used is the GE nighthawk platinums. They offer a slight blueish tint, but put plenty of light on the road.

If you truly want HIDs, to do it properly, you will need to retrofit projectors into your headlights. Doing a search will yield many threads on the topic. This option can get more expensive however.

 

[FIND]

Do This if you want to keep HIDs. Otherwise, put standard Halogen bulbs back in. PnP HIDs making more light is an optical illusion, since our brains are trained to perceive something whiter as brighter. What you actually get are hot spots that dull your ability to see darker objects, and light put places where you don't need it.

Furthermore, the color rendering index of HIDs is actually quite small. HIDs don't produce full spectrum light like a normal light does, they make white light by producing some specific colors at certain points in the spectrum. This can actually cause certain colors to be invisible, since you are not casting any light at a point in the spectrum that would be reflected back towards your eyes. This is why I don't ever bother with putting HIDs in anything I drive. But, if I did, I would put it in a projector or reflector designed for HID, and use high quality bulbs at the very least, since they are going to have a slightly higher CRI, and the color won't vary as much. Honestly, the only lighting technology I really have been interested in using outside of halogen is LED, but retrofits using LED are expensive, and there are only a couple manufacturers in aftermarket that make useful products.

 

[ChrisTM]

So I was looking at projector setups and the cheapest I could get for my truck was ~$300.

I am not hard set on HID's. My old room mate got them and I have driven his car and it was fantastic. That being said, if I can get close in performance for my truck with the silverstars then I am all for it. Are these the right bulbs? If so, I will order a couple sets since the reviews I have been reading say they are only good for 3-6 months hehe.

 

[mattadams]

Well the first thing that jumps out at me is that the set says "single beam". HID's can be purchased as single beam or lo-beam/hi-beam. I've got the low-high myself but rarely use the highs because the lows provide a good fill in, but not all lights are created equally either.

 

[Bill Kemp]

There are many sellers on Ebay selling projector headlight assemblies that have high beam also for less that $200. I dont know the quality or if they will fit a sport. But IMO for the price it is worth a look to put your hid in something that has high beams and nonblinding low beams.

Also check this out: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307848

 

[dreddog47]

Your first mistake was using PnP HID bulbs.

Your second was getting cheap ebay junk.


Take them out and put some regular bulbs in. All PnP HID kits do is make your truck look cheap and blind other drivers.

^^This^^

Dead Link Removedis the layout of the kit I got.

Dead Link Removedis where I purchased it.

If there are better options please post them. I am willing to dump about $200 on the lights if it will give me what I need. I would also like fog light recommendations if you have them. I bought some new factory OEM fog lights and will be installing them here soon.

The forum shrunk my pic, here is one to photobucket.

Woo hoo, xentec. Another brand of chinese crap

Tell you what, if all you are willing to "dump" into your night time visibility and safety is 200 dollars

Buy a set of these. You'd have to email them about including 9007 adapter rings since it looks like they only come in the stage 3 kit which is 270 dollars

Dead Link Removed

Go on ebay and get a generic 9007 hi/lo wiring harness for HID's

Get a set of good H1 bulbs. The best you'd get would either be morimoto's or the XB35's. If you have to cut costs here, get a set of DDM H1 bulbs over something on ebay.

Then take all of these parts, open up your stock headlights, and bolt everything in. And you'll have headlights that don't suck big floppy donkey all for under 200 bucks.

Projectors : 120
9007 harness : 15 (They start on ebay at 8.99)
DDM Bulbs : 15

total : 150

You can use the 50 to buy window weld rubber butyl from napa or so, which I believe was about 30 dollars for a huge roll. 5/8" is what you want.


Either that, or get some GE nighthawks and run a 9007 halogen harness like this one

http://www.rjminjectiontech.com/products/headlight-harness

There are many sellers on Ebay selling projector headlight assemblies that have high beam also for less that $200. I dont know the quality or if they will fit a sport. But IMO for the price it is worth a look to put your hid in something that has high beams and nonblinding low beams.

Also check this out: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307848

Problem is, the ebay projector housings are

Ugly
Have projectors made for halogen bulbs
Ugly
Projectors are dim and narrow
Ugly
Sometimes, more often then not, poorly fitting
and worst of all....
Ugly

Also, not made for 01+ sports

 

[mattadams]

I have the DDM HID's and I've had HID in other vehicles before and I love em, thats why so far they are one of the only mods I've done to my escape. They brighten up my path a ton, and don't offend other drivers (at least I've never been flashed and when my wife was driving in front of me one night she said they were no more offensive than any other car behind her). I still have my old bulbs but have absolutely no plans on going back, I love the HID's.

 

[ChrisTM]

Honestly I only purchased those Xentec's because a buddy of mine got them and loved them. Having driven his car and seen how much of a massive diff it made I really wanted some for my truck because my lights are really really anemic.

I told him I wanted some HID's for my truck and asked him what I should get, he linked me those and said thats what he had and just get them. So I did hehe. Didnt even read the post. Wasnt until I opened the package and saw it only had low's that I started having problems.

I said I was only willing to "dump" $200 on the project (and that was a soft cap tbh) because I see people spending 500-1000+ dollars on their lights and that just doesnt make sense on a truck that is only worth $2000-$2500 (even though it's value is much higher to me.) Dont get me wrong, I love my truck, but half it's value shouldnt be in it's headlights...

 

[ChrisTM]

waiting on a response from them on the adapter rings.