HID Update

[Vortec4800]

Well I finished the first headlight of my HID conversion, and it looks great. I took a bunch of pictures outside earlier tonight, and the flash makes them look a little strange but you can get the idea. The flash also made all the little scratches and stuff come out, and the outside of the light is pretty dirty so you can see it. I also need to figure out a way to seal the back so moisture can't get into the lens, but I'm afraid I won't be able to aim the projector very well after I do that so I'm going to worry about that after the aiming. Anyway here are the pictures, hopefully in a few days I'll have pictures of them working in the truck.

Enjoy!

 

[Vortec4800]

More pics of the test fit. Truck needs a bath pretty bad, but it will get one after this is finished.

 

[Tearjerky]

niiiiiiiiiiicccccceeeeee!!!! are those projectors only on the highbeam side? and are those clear glass covers? good luck on the aiming!

 

[alpha]

niiiiiiiiiiicccccceeeeee!!!! are those projectors only on the highbeam side? and are those clear glass covers? good luck on the aiming!

it's the lowbeams..

veryyyyy niiiicccee.. awesome job so far.. it's looking great.. can't wait to see the finished product, and the resulting light output.. great work

 

[Vortec4800]

Thanks!

I didn't know anything about this stuff a few weeks ago when I started, but now I know a fair amount that everything really makes sense. The projectors are bi-xenon, meaning that while they replace my low beam physically they will actually act as both low and high beam. The black part on the projector is a solenoid, which moves the shield out of the way letting more light out for the high beam. I will also leave the halogen high beam connected, so I don't have to warm up the xenons when flashing people, and just for the added light output. This is similar to the BMW design, which has a quad light setup with halogen high beams and bi-xenon lights in the low spot. I will try to finish everything up today, pictures should come soon...

 

[TranceKrayz]

very nice vortec.....i was thinking the same thing as you when i first purchased my 4runner, but never had the guts to pull my headlights apart. before you start on the next headlamp, is it possible that you create a write-up with pictures for all of us who are interested? thanks.

 

[tkr128]

Very nice! I wish I had the guts (and knowledge) to do that!

What kind of projectors are those?

 

[Vortec4800]

The projectors are Hella, the ones found in the BMW 5 series (E39, not the new ones), the X5 and the Mercedes E55, as well as other cars. I'm actually taking a bunch of pictures, documenting the entire process. Give me a few days, but I should have a pretty good write up by the time everything is said and done.

Today I tore into the other lamp and got it all converted, ran into a few hang ups but got most all of them settled. All the wiring is finished and everything works, but I had some bad glare problems with my projector shroud design so I ended up having to rework those a bit. After reworking them I found that the way I did it is making it so the bi-xenon solenoid isn't able to trigger anymore, so I need to take them apart yet again to fix that. Everything should be finished by mid tomorrow I'm hoping, so long as nothing else goes wrong.

One thing that I'm a bit dissapointed in is the fact that flashing your brights also flicks on the low beams, not just the highs. This means that after doing the conversion, flashing someone turns on the xenon lamps and turns them back off right away which is terribly hard on the entire system. You usually need a minimum 10 seconds or so of light-off before shutting them off, or you risk hurting the bulb or the ballast. Basically note that if you're considering doing this, you won't be able to flash your highs anymore unless you low beams are already up and running. If you leave your headlamps on as DRL's (leave the switch on, they shut themselves off automatically after like 30 seconds or a second tap of the lock button anyway) then everything will work normally because the bulbs won't trigger on and off so fast, just the solenoid will go up and down which is what its made to do.

Overall I'm very pleased at how its coming together, but I've been working on it since about 11 this morning until now - about midnight. Needless to say I'm a little tired of it all, which is why I hope everything is finished tomorrow.

Anyway expect pictures of the thing finished tomorrow (hopefully, oh please hopefully) and a write-up mid next week.

 

[tkr128]

I can't wait to see the write up!

Good point about flashing the headlights. I'd be more worried for those that have the factory alarm, which flashes the low beams repeatedly when going off. That's definately not good for any part of the system.

 

[Vortec4800]

I can't wait to see the write up!

Good point about flashing the headlights. I'd be more worried for those that have the factory alarm, which flashes the low beams repeatedly when going off. That's definately not good for any part of the system.

Didn't even think of that one, hopefully my alarm doesn't go off anytime soon. Does anybody know if there is a way to disable that part of the factory alarm? I would assume not, but maybe there is a wire that goes to the headlamp relay or something you can just snip... If worst comes to worst and the alarm does go off and breaks stuff, I'm pretty sure the only thing that will be damaged will be the bulb which are fairly inexpensive, only about 90 bucks for a set of 2 - cheap compared to the rest of the setup. Depending on the ballast, there may be a safety that stops lighting the bulbs for a few minutes or so of repeat flashes.

 

[Vortec4800]

Well everything is finished, aimed, and working great. I had my friend drive in front of me in all different lanes and combinations, and he said the lights aren't blinding at all. I love the new lights, to say the least. Cutoff is crisp and colorful.

I'd post pictures if it weren't 2:30 in the morning... Man I'm tired...

 

[cdoyle]

This looks pretty cool, how much did this project cost?

How does it light up the road?

I hope you're going to write up a tech article on this. I wouldn't mind trying something like this, someday

 

[alpha]

Well everything is finished, aimed, and working great. I had my friend drive in front of me in all different lanes and combinations, and he said the lights aren't blinding at all. I love the new lights, to say the least. Cutoff is crisp and colorful.

I'd post pictures if it weren't 2:30 in the morning... Man I'm tired...

sweet.. figure out something about the alarm?

 

[Vortec4800]

Nothing on the alarm yet, if anybody has the wiring diagram for the alarm I'll look at that and see if I can do something about it...

The light is amazing. Its the perfect color, almost completly white with just a hint of blue at the cutoff. I couldn't be more pleased with the light output. The highbeams are great as well, between the xenon's, the regular halogen highs, and my driving lights my high beams rock.

Anyway I think total cost was around $400 for everything. This is a high estimate, I believe it was actually more around $350. When I do my write-up I'll look up how much everything cost and put it in there. It sounds like a steep price, but I've always loved xenon lights and considering they usually cost about $1,000 (give or take) from the factory $400 for the real deal isn't bad at all.

 

[bigbill25]

Pictures dead???

--Bill

 

[Vortec4800]

Been having internet woes as of late... I'll try and fix it...

[edit]Well apparently while trying to fix everything I was assigned a new ip, which my hostname wasn't updated with. I put in the new ip and everything should be working now...[/edit]

 

[ssmumich00]

WOW, amazing, that is a work of art, conGRATS!

Wish they came stock with projectors, hell, the Solara's and Celica's have the option for projector HIDS, why the hell not the SUVs??

Annoying, real annoying. . .I was going to install HIDs without projectors, but I decided the glare might be a bit illegal, and that the alarm problem would burn them out fast than I'd like. . .

Suneil

 

[Luxury]

......Wish they came stock with projectors, hell, the Solara's and Celica's have the option for projector HIDS, why the hell not the SUVs??..........Annoying, real annoying. . .I was going to install HIDs without projectors, but I decided the glare might be a bit illegal, and that the alarm problem would burn them out fast than I'd like. . .

I think I remember reading a thread that said something like Toyota didn't want them in the taller vehicles, because of the glare or something. But then other people tried to refuit it. Sorry I can't be more specific.

 

[Vortec4800]

I think I remember reading a thread that said something like Toyota didn't want them in the taller vehicles, because of the glare or something. But then other people tried to refuit it. Sorry I can't be more specific.

That's strange, you'd think they would just use the same systems in the Lexus?

At any rate, glare is a really big problem when doing halogen HID kits, which is why I bypassed that route completly. I've been trying to get that writeup finished, but I've been really busy. Hopefully soon...

 

[Luxury]

Don't mind me....I don't know what the hell I am talking about when it comes to headlight technology. Basically all I remember was that the thread talked about some sort of different headlights (I don't have a clue what type) and that Toyota doesn't use them for some glare reason. Sorry, if it was a stupid comment.