Replacing stock halogens with HID's?

[retrosolutions]

I actually don't have a pic of the heads on the wall for some reason, I'll take one though it looks really good.....The dash light coming on is an easy fix by "fooling the cambus system" get a pair of capacitor harness' my lights would even work right without it. The fogs don't need the capacitor harness.

You'll blow a fuse if you put it on the fogs

Even if the capacitor is not needed on the fogs, and it really hardly ever is except for some saabs, the capacitor should not cause a fuse to blow unless it is out of polarity.

 

[itallian1488]

Right as I said its not needed on the fogs.....and if you put it on the fogs it MAY blow a fuse, my bad...some kits may need you too switch the way you plug the harness from the vehicle to the ballast to reverse the polarity, I neglected to mention that.

 

[itallian1488]

What did you do about the "dummy" light about the lights being out?

How does the low beam light spread look on the wall?

Heres the link to the beam patterns of both on the garage
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i319/itallian1488/Headandfogbeampattern.jpg

 

[spencer785]

hey itallian i have the exact same setup as you 8000k head and 3000k fogs just wondering did you lower your headlights or leave them at stuck height.

 

[spencer785]

meant to say stock

 

[itallian1488]

meant to say stock

I did adjust them also my fogs as well....I was blinding the crap outta oncoming vehicles, I was getting flashed all the time. It still happens occasionally but not nearly as much.

 

[spencer785]

how much did you adjust them like how many turn if you know. and was it easy to adjust and also how do you adjust the fogs i didnt know you could. thanks

 

[celly]

how much did you adjust them like how many turn if you know. and was it easy to adjust and also how do you adjust the fogs i didnt know you could. thanks

I don't drive the same generation Explorer you guys do, but the concepts are obviously the same....we're trying NOT to blind oncoming traffic. Kudos for taking the time to make it better. Many people don't. I've been doing the HID thing for several years now and I'm completely cognizant of the fact we have a responsibility to be safe first, and to have cool lights second.

What I've always done is aim both sides down a bit, with the driver's side being slightly lower than the passenger. I also aim both beams slightly to the right which definitely helps keep the lights out of oncoming traffic's eyes. Obviously doing this against a wall or garage is helpful, but my best aiming is out on a dark country side road where you can check to see how the adjustments are going. I also try and simulate how oncoming traffic sees the lights as well but standing in the "other lane" to see if I'm getting blinded just standing there.

It takes a long time to get it right, but it's time well spent and is something that ALL purchasers of HID kits need to take the time to do.

Good luck!

 

[itallian1488]

how much did you adjust them like how many turn if you know. and was it easy to adjust and also how do you adjust the fogs i didnt know you could. thanks

I actually had someone drive my ex and I took my jeep out and we drove towards each other at night so i could see how bad it was.....based off of that I adjusted using my garage proabably about 3 turns to the right....My kit is a 55w kit though so you may need less....after adjusting the heads I got under the ex and did the fogs so that the beams were exactly parallel to each other....theres a black knob on the fogs at the top right that you can turn with your fingers to adjust them down a bit like one/two turns...hope this helps.

 

[Fordman2010]

Hey everyone,

I am new to the forums and I had a few questions regarding these new H13 6000k Bi-Xenon lights I just installed in my 2006 Eddie Bauer. I have two questions regarding my install.

1. The Bulb positioning

I was told to have the bulb positioned a certain way in the headlight housing. Is this correct? Please refer to the image below for verification purposes.

2. Hi/Lo Feature

I hooked up everything correctly and have a slight issue when switching into high beams. I noticed that when I have the car off and switch the lights on & then into "High Beams" they work perfectly fine.

The funny things is when I start the car and turn the lights on the low beams are fine. But when I switch on the high beams there is a slight buzzing sound coming from the driver side or Ballast.

Now I called the company and they told me to try and switch the ballast around. I did exactly that and the same thing, nothing changed.

I also noticed that the on-board indicator is trying to find the "Left & Right Lamps" as well as the High & Low Beams. Is this a reason for that sound that I am hearing?

I just don't know what else it could possibly be. Is it the relay or something from the stock setting trying to find the original headlights. Or is this a normal sound when switching the BI-Xenon bulbs from "Low to High"

I am driving myself nuts with this project. It seems the lights are shinning wide instead of ahead and straight. They are also shinning up a bit. Can anyone help me please. Let me know if this is a waste of time or is there something that can be done.

I hope someone could explain what this might be.

Thank you all for your time.

 

[samjlee]

Both of those cars with HIDs are using a projector to display the light, they are not in reflector housing, thus you get the nice clean cut-off which controls the light from not being in the eyes of other drivers.

Ever heard of a focal point? High school physics. By using a xenon bulb, you're altering the headlights original focal point, thus scattering the light and blinding people.

 

[Crizz]

ever heard of experience ? May some very old headlight reflectors have other angular dimensions than today, but had Xenon even in my 90 XLT, and nobody ever faced a word about blinding, even the very hard german M.O.T.test didn´t complain about wrong focus.

Some say that focal differences causes blinding, some say dirty glasses of the headlights causes it ( that´s why in GE headlight washing systems are law - nonsense, there´s no law says that Xenon must have this ).

The Problem of diffrent focal points can even be caused by different sizes of the bulbs, esp. asian aftermarket-products often have seldom sizes ( length ) and can cause some probs - most will be in overheating the headlights.

 

[samjlee]

ever heard of experience ? May some very old headlight reflectors have other angular dimensions than today, but had Xenon even in my 90 XLT, and nobody ever faced a word about blinding, even the very hard german M.O.T.test didn´t complain about wrong focus.

You got lucky. Whoop de doo.

Some say that focal differences causes blinding, some say dirty glasses of the headlights causes it ( that´s why in GE headlight washing systems are law - nonsense, there´s no law says that Xenon must have this ).

Do you know what a focal point is? A headlights focal point won't change because of a dirty glass. Although, a dirty glass would most definitely alter the scatter of the light as it exits the headlight.

The Problem of diffrent focal points can even be caused by different sizes of the bulbs, esp. asian aftermarket-products often have seldom sizes ( length ) and can cause some probs - most will be in overheating the headlights.

Is that not what I said before? Xenon bulbs differ in dimensions from normal halogen bulbs.

Have you ever seen a car from the factory come with HIDs in a parabolic reflector housing? I haven't. Sorry, but I'll take tried and true engineering vs. "experience" and day.

 

[jupiterak]

Sam, who gives a sh*t. You signed up on this site to ***** about something? If so please go elsewhere.

 

[Y2KFirehawk]

Sam, who gives a sh*t. You signed up on this site to ***** about something? If so please go elsewhere.

My thoughts exactly... 2 posts on the site just to whine.

 

[samjlee]

Sam, who gives a sh*t. You signed up on this site to ***** about something? If so please go elsewhere.

I'm not sure how I'm *****ing. I was just informing in my first post and defending myself in the 2nd. I signed on here because I've wanted an explorer for some time. This is the first thread which I could contribute my opinion and knowledge, so I did.

 

[VBexploder]

'check headlamp' fix----go to V-LEDS.com and order 4 of the 6 OHM 55w resistors. The site specifies them as use for stopping the blinker from rapidly blinking when installing an LED turn signal, but I used them and the messages are gone. You just connect them (they use a T-Tap that just clips into the exsisting wiring) to the positive wire and highbeam wire just before the factory harness hooks up to the bulb or ballast (depending on what type of HID kit you have installed).

 

[itallian1488]

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W
the above is a great site for kits and bulbs (cheap) and quality I own 2 kits and 21 sets of bulbs from these guys. Color is great, there 3000k yellow is very yellow not faded. and I have there 4500k (closest they have to factory 4300k) for the heads and they look great as well.

Theres plenty of bixenon kits for h13, i had one on my ex but whats the point when the low beam is so damn bright?

 

[jupiterak]

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/DDM-HID-Kit-Slim-Ballast-35W-or-55W
the above is a great site for kits and bulbs (cheap) and quality I own 2 kits and 21 sets of bulbs from these guys. Color is great, there 3000k yellow is very yellow not faded. and I have there 4500k (closest they have to factory 4300k) for the heads and they look great as well.

Theres plenty of bixenon kits for h13, i had one on my ex but whats the point when the low beam is so damn bright?

Did you get the dash error message or does the relay cure that problem?

 

[omero]

I'm shooting for my end result to look something along the lines of this:

Sadly that image was Photoshop'd otherwise I would just buy that headlight!

here's an actual one