Replacing OEM headlights with HID lights?

[peterk9]

Peter this is quite untrue.

Color temperature and light output in lumens are essentially unrelated in an abstract sense.

e.g. If I buy an 8000K and a 6000K bulb I won't know which is brightest in lumens - it could be either one.

Similarly I can buy an old style high power floodlamp of several thousdand watts @ approx 3500K and it will be very very very bright (in lumens)...

If I have a single incandescent lamp its brightest point (in lumens) before it finally burns out (as I increase the supply voltage) will be its highest color temperature. It will likely be the apparently brightest point too.

Now above a certain point (~7000K) "useful" (to humans) apparent light intensity does diminish as color temperature goes up - personally I find Purple light to be highly objectionable - and I would expect rather useless for driving. Besides for me at least, accurate color rendering is highly beneficial to recognition at night (so I don't like sodium street lights either).

At lower color temperatures (say 3000K-6500K) the apparent brightness to humans actually increases with increasing color temperatures.

Think of it like this - as humans we are optically attuned (and optimized) to the natural daylight we have all day long (~6500K) - makes sense that we perceive less brightness as we diverge - either way - from that color temp.

Alan

Check the chart in post 21. As the 'K' number goes up, the lumens output goes down. It is that way on every site I have looked at.
6000k = approx. 2900lm, 8000k = approx. 2500lm output while 4300k = apprx. 3100lm.

Peter

 

[Alan in AZ]

Peter - it may be true of their (and others') specific offerings... (at a given power level) and so it may be generally true of what is available - but it is not a direct relationship - you are reading far too much into it - these are just marketing charts...

..and in any case the Lumens don't relate directly to the perceived brightness.

Read what I actually wrote - and think about it, your statement was far too general - but may be close to true for HID in a small operating window with a fixed power variable. Thats a lot of caveats.

Alan

 

[DelSil]

I have 6000K in my Edge and just received my 6000K for my 2011 Explorer from Xenonsupply.com. I have used them quite few times and aftermarket HID/xenons require ballasts to power the light. I also use a a wire harness with the kit to protect blowing out fuse.

 

[peterk9]

They also require a different housing, one designed for HID lamps, to perform correctly and legally.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=412384

Peter

 

[Rich00]

I recently purchased a 2013 Explorer Ltd. Previously had a great 2004. I am uncomfortable with the headlights and the way the light is split and narrowed with low beams. Even the highbeams seem dispersed.

Would replacing the lamps correct this? Are there other alternatives?

Thanks.

 

[cwescapexlt4x4]

I have the 35watt 6000k hid kit in my EX, i personally wouldn't drop to a lower K or higher K... too me the sweet spot between output and appearance/reflective on signage.

 

[roamingphantom]

I recently purchased a 2013 Explorer Ltd. Previously had a great 2004. I am uncomfortable with the headlights and the way the light is split and narrowed with low beams. Even the highbeams seem dispersed.

Would replacing the lamps correct this? Are there other alternatives?

Thanks.

Rich, I also have a 2013 LTD with HID and over the first year I tried a few differend bulbs, colors and the like. I even went with high end Philips Ultinon bulbs and nothing helps the light dispersion or beam.

Finally I did the complete retrofit where I had the entire head lamp opened and the lens etc replaced and it made a world of difference. The process isn't cheap, however between seeing where I am going at night and safety I didn't think the money mattered. Cost me about 1500 but now I can see 2 lanes to my right, 2 lanes to my left and the llane I am in and a good 500+ feet infront of me with no issues. I couldn't be happier.

 

[Rich00]

Rich, I also have a 2013 LTD with HID and over the first year I tried a few differend bulbs, colors and the like. I even went with high end Philips Ultinon bulbs and nothing helps the light dispersion or beam.

Finally I did the complete retrofit where I had the entire head lamp opened and the lens etc replaced and it made a world of difference. The process isn't cheap, however between seeing where I am going at night and safety I didn't think the money mattered. Cost me about 1500 but now I can see 2 lanes to my right, 2 lanes to my left and the llane I am in and a good 500+ feet infront of me with no issues. I couldn't be happier.

Thank you roamingphantom for your reply. Could you please give me some more information about the retrofit process. Is this through a Ford dealer, or a private garage? I'm unsure how to go through the process. Hope to hear more from you.

 

[albguy40]

Has anyone tested to see how crisp the cutoff is once you add an aftermarket Xenon kit to the non-hid Explorers? I am curious because one of my other cars (2010 Acura TSX Base) has non-hid projectors similar to most other Explorers and I was thinking of just slapping on an HID kit on it. The cutoff on the Acura halogen bulbs is crisp so I have a feeling the projectors are the same part for both HID and non HID models...

 

[peterk9]

Has anyone tested to see how crisp the cutoff is once you add an aftermarket Xenon kit to the non-hid Explorers? I am curious because one of my other cars (2010 Acura TSX Base) has non-hid projectors similar to most other Explorers and I was thinking of just slapping on an HID kit on it. The cutoff on the Acura halogen bulbs is crisp so I have a feeling the projectors are the same part for both HID and non HID models...

The projectors in the Explorer are different for HID and Halogen. They have to be because the two bulbs each produce light in a different way and therefore the projectors are different to allow them to properly focus that light that is produced. A member who took the HID and Halogen housing apart, verified that they are different.

Peter

 

[roamingphantom]

Thank you roamingphantom for your reply. Could you please give me some more information about the retrofit process. Is this through a Ford dealer, or a private garage? I'm unsure how to go through the process. Hope to hear more from you.

http://www.lightwerkz.net/photo/shi...limited-oem-xenon-to-morimoto-fxr-conversion/

Here are pics of mine and the folks that did it. The write up on the top of the page have all the parts that were used. Basically they baked the lights to soften the sealant and opened them up to replace the internal parts - lens etc. Then they put it back together. Some here have baked theirs themselves but i am not that handy.

I took my car over and left it there for a week. There were some issues with the vled switchbacks but once those were resolved it was all perfect. Caesar offers great support and we exchanged at least 100 emails from initial contact to ensuring everythign is running well. ...LMK if you have more questions.

 

[Brad Garland]

I just installed the XenonHID kit on my 2014 Explorer Sport. The light pattern is terrible. It looks nothing like pics of other's after HID installation. Both lights shoot off high and off the ditch. The center of the road is dark. Same on High beam too. I check the leads on both and they are 9005s. It looked like, due to the tabs, the bulbs could only go in one way. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[peterk9]

I just installed the XenonHID kit on my 2014 Explorer Sport. The light pattern is terrible. It looks nothing like pics of other's after HID installation. Both lights shoot off high and off the ditch. The center of the road is dark. Same on High beam too. I check the leads on both and they are 9005s. It looked like, due to the tabs, the bulbs could only go in one way. Any ideas? Thanks.

Welcome to the Forum Brad.
Some members have found turning the bulb a different way helped but you say they only go in one way. I do recall some posts about members cutting off a tab but I'm not sure if it was for that particular bulb or not. There have been so many posts on different bulbs/kits it's hard to keep everything straight. The other strike against you is putting an HID bulb in a housing designed for Halogen bulbs. Each bulb has a specifically designed housing for it for proper focusing and heat dispersion. Good luck.

Peter