Which HID kit for projectors?

[Mounty 09]

Well I am thinking about putting some HIDs in my 2nd gen projectors. I have the CCFL Projector housings. I remember awhile back everybody was ordering from DDM Tuning but I thought I have heard that they have gone down hill. I am looking for 5k-6k bulbs and I don't know if I want the 35w or the 55w bulbs.

Anybody have an idea of what I should go with?

 

[dreddog47]

Its all the same generic crap.... 55W will definitely ruin those projectors....

 

[Bill Kemp]

http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/ They are always good for info.
I used http://www.retro-solutions.com/ and have no trouble with them. Used their harness and all of their suggestions.
I wanted dependability over price & seem to have got it........So far. Who really knows?

 

[celly]

I was told to never use 55w in my projectors by the seller. I don't know anyone that has risked it. I don't have the identical setup as you, but any H1 kit should work. HID kits have become commodity items.

 

[Bill Kemp]

Well, I usd some 85 Watt bulbs in a 1999 Cadillac STS projectors and burned the reflecting projector bowls so that they didnt reflect anything. I was about blind.
You can do some harm to your lights by overheating them.
How much is too much? I dont know. But the cost of new headlights is probably not worth the price to go to 55W if the 55W burns the bowl.

 

[dreddog47]

Well, I usd some 85 Watt bulbs in a 1999 Cadillac STS projectors and burned the reflecting projector bowls so that they didnt reflect anything. I was about blind.
You can do some harm to your lights by overheating them.
How much is too much? I dont know. But the cost of new headlights is probably not worth the price to go to 55W if the 55W burns the bowl.

The bigger problem then heat is actually the UV rays that the bulb gives off.... A cheap aftermarket bulb can have a decent temp but still ruin a projector because of this... Most aftermarket bulbs run very little salts so they have poor performance compared to an OEM Philips or Osram bulb...





If you have a 3" projector in a well vented housing and a shroud that doesn't trap heat in, then you can get away with 55W's and a good OEM bulb... But if you have a tiny crap chinese projector made for a halogen H1, a 55W HID kit with an aftermarket bulb would destroy it quickly...

 

[bavtoys.com]

I have some options for you, I have the 55w kit on my personal Ducati which is a projector and no issues whatsoever. In fact the Prolumen 55w HID runs cooler than 55w halogen bulbs!

I am also looking for people to to do install and writeups of the kits I sell at a discounted rate for their effort. So you could certainly save some money there if you wanted.

 

[laxattack]

What about a 55w ddm h1 kit in only the brights for these

Do you think it will melt the brights housing?

 

[gill72]

What about a 55w ddm h1 kit in only the brights for these

Do you think it will melt the brights housing?

ddm is cheaply made chinese garbage and you should avoid them at all costs. if you value your car.

 

[laxattack]

Well that still doesnt answer my question of will it melt the housing

 

[dreddog47]

ddm is cheaply made chinese garbage and you should avoid them at all costs. if you value your car.

ALL plug and play kits are chinese garbage, the difference is DDM is one of the more reliable and better warrantied pieces of crap then the no name stuff... Plenty of testing has been done to show that DDM stuff isn't as bad as people believe it is, of course its no where near OEM spec

Well that still doesnt answer my question of will it melt the housing

you dont use HID's for the high beam... One, constant on/off and hot restrikes of the bulb is bad for the bulb and bad for cheap aftermarket ballasts

two, your high beam will suck ass

three, being that the high beam reflector is so tiny, there is a VERY good chance the chrome will start burning up. I had spots in my housings from 55W bulbs and broncos have big headlight housings.....

 

[bavtoys.com]

I am with dreddog, don't use HID for high beams you rarely use the high beam as it is so I think its a waste of your dollars.

I have never had any kit melt a housing yet, but most of the kits are for oem projector housings which are bigger in area to allow the bulb to breath if you will.

 

[FIND]

I am with dreddog, don't use HID for high beams you rarely use the high beam as it is so I think its a waste of your dollars.

I have never had any kit melt a housing yet, but most of the kits are for oem projector housings which are bigger in area to allow the bulb to breath if you will.

That and the coatings on OEM housings are of higher quality generally, which results in less of the light created by the bulb being converted into heat.

 

[laxattack]

Well i still put the hids in the brights since i had already bought them and it wouldnt have been cost efficient to return them to DDM since they wanted to take 20% off the price i paid and want me to pay shipping back so oh well thanks for the input though i appreciate it

 

[Bill Kemp]

Let us know how it goes when you turn the high beam hid's on.
Unless the low beams stay on w/ the high beams your gonna have a very dim lighting moment on the road while the HID fires up the bulbs.
,

 

[laxattack]

Already tested them they look great i just need to adjust their position a bit one is aimed a bit high

 

[FIND]

what he was referring to is the warm up time, the ~15 seconds before the bulbs reach full brightness. Especially when you first turn them on, and especially when they start getting to not be brand new anymore. When they first come on, you see how dim they are?

 

[laxattack]

Warm up isnt too terrible, yea a lttle dim but i can see

 

[storlied]

Old thread but you can wire your low beams to stay on with your high beams with a relay..
But even with that said, I still use halogen in my brights.. you can harmlessly flash them and they're quick.. lows on or not.