TrdinOhio
New member
HID Help- UPDATED for no real reason
So I'm looking for someone that knows their stuff concerning HID kits. I am not looking for opinions about different kits
I'm not concerned with the legality or how xenon work but instead I've been doing a ton of research and my own investigations and here's what I've come up with. PLEASE tell me if something is incorrect.
So I'm not too happy with the 5th gen headlight output. My 5th gen has projector style headlights but has halogen H11 bulbs. Although it's not a true projector the light cutoff is very good compared to other headlights out there. With a little adjustment running xenon shouldn't dazzle oncoming drivers while adding much needed light.
I started investigating what people are using and HID kits in general. I came across a lot of surprising information and figured I'd share/get your takes with the ultimate goal of running an HID kit in my truck SAFELY.
So here goes...
Apparently the 2 main manufacturers of HID ( Xenon ) bulbs. Philips and Osram. Both manufacturers DO NOT make bulbs for aftermarket kits or aftermarket kits in general. When you buy a kit that claims to use Philips or Osram bulbs it is fake. There are a handful of aftermarket bulb makers but they source parts such as glass from Phillips, elements from Osram, Salt from company X, etc, etc. and assemble the bulbs themselves. The 2 biggest or best known manufacturers of AFTERMARKET bulbs are Morimoto and DDM.
From what I've read, the vast majority of kits on Amazon, EBay, etc are 100% fake and use Chinese parts.
The concern here is obviously build quality and longevity but the real point of concern is HEAT and output.
Here's where the 5th gen specifically comes into play. I'm aware that many people run aftermarket HID kits but I think most pop them in and hope for the best. Apparently Chinese xenon bulbs have very little quality control as far as wattage/voltage/output/heat/bulb quality. Before installing a kit into my new truck I noticed that the headlight H11 low beam bulbs enter a cavity within the headlight horizontally. I measured the inside and found it to be almost 3 inches deep exactly.
I purchased a cheap kit from Amazon just to do some testing. I purchased Apex which is rated #2 on many websites. The quality wasn't great but humor me here. I measured the bulb and found it to be 1 3/4 inches. Plenty of room horizontally. However if you look in the headlight there is a reflector that runs from the bulb opening horizontally and is VERY close to the bulb and runs the length of the bulb.
I used a thermal imaging camera and tried to run a halogen h11 and my xenon side by side and found both maxed out my thermal camera ( over 846 degrees F ). I then did some research and hound Halogens run around 1000 degrees F and xenon bulbs ARE SUPPOSED to run cooler but with aftermarket kits is hard to tell and there is no guidelines. Most Chinese kits actually run hotter!
I used a temperature gun and got a reading of 1006 on the halogen and maxed the temp gun at 1400 on the xenon. I found that actual arc temperature runs between 2000-3000 degrees F depending on bulb and wattage/voltage.
I then got concerned by the sheer amount of heat POURING off the xenon bulb and got very concerned about melting my headlights and possibly starting a fire. The inside of the headlight appears some type of plastic but I found melting points and ignition points of MANY plastics and found they were nowhere near the temperatures I was getting.
I would advise anyone getting ready to install a HID kit to do a little research first. I ask what company should I go with? I'm leaning towards mormoto but can't find any hard data on how hot their bulbs run. Has anyone melted a headlight here? Anyone have ALOT of time running Morimoto? Anyone keep their HIDS for a few hours at a time? What is the best company? according to consumer opinion it's Kensun and Apex ( rated #1-2 ) all over the Internet which I have found through research and testing to be crap.
I have tons of pictures of my thermal camera readings, temp gun readings, various charts and other random stuff but 8 pictures is my upload limit.
First picture shows how the bulb sits inside the headlight.
Second pic is bulb size
Third pic is the HID bulb maxing out the thermal imager
4th pic is halogen also maxing out thermal imager
5th pic is ballast
6th pic is temp gun that shows max 700 reading I got off the BASE of the xenon bulb. Arc temps can be 2-3K degrees!
7th pic common plastic melting point chart
8th pic is Apex hid kit box.
What I need is a headlight Guru to put my mind at ease, offer advise, clear up any confusion and enlighten the path to safe HID kit as Toyota OEM retrofit does not seem to exist. Thank you!
So I'm looking for someone that knows their stuff concerning HID kits. I am not looking for opinions about different kits
I'm not concerned with the legality or how xenon work but instead I've been doing a ton of research and my own investigations and here's what I've come up with. PLEASE tell me if something is incorrect.
So I'm not too happy with the 5th gen headlight output. My 5th gen has projector style headlights but has halogen H11 bulbs. Although it's not a true projector the light cutoff is very good compared to other headlights out there. With a little adjustment running xenon shouldn't dazzle oncoming drivers while adding much needed light.
I started investigating what people are using and HID kits in general. I came across a lot of surprising information and figured I'd share/get your takes with the ultimate goal of running an HID kit in my truck SAFELY.
So here goes...
Apparently the 2 main manufacturers of HID ( Xenon ) bulbs. Philips and Osram. Both manufacturers DO NOT make bulbs for aftermarket kits or aftermarket kits in general. When you buy a kit that claims to use Philips or Osram bulbs it is fake. There are a handful of aftermarket bulb makers but they source parts such as glass from Phillips, elements from Osram, Salt from company X, etc, etc. and assemble the bulbs themselves. The 2 biggest or best known manufacturers of AFTERMARKET bulbs are Morimoto and DDM.
From what I've read, the vast majority of kits on Amazon, EBay, etc are 100% fake and use Chinese parts.
The concern here is obviously build quality and longevity but the real point of concern is HEAT and output.
Here's where the 5th gen specifically comes into play. I'm aware that many people run aftermarket HID kits but I think most pop them in and hope for the best. Apparently Chinese xenon bulbs have very little quality control as far as wattage/voltage/output/heat/bulb quality. Before installing a kit into my new truck I noticed that the headlight H11 low beam bulbs enter a cavity within the headlight horizontally. I measured the inside and found it to be almost 3 inches deep exactly.
I purchased a cheap kit from Amazon just to do some testing. I purchased Apex which is rated #2 on many websites. The quality wasn't great but humor me here. I measured the bulb and found it to be 1 3/4 inches. Plenty of room horizontally. However if you look in the headlight there is a reflector that runs from the bulb opening horizontally and is VERY close to the bulb and runs the length of the bulb.
I used a thermal imaging camera and tried to run a halogen h11 and my xenon side by side and found both maxed out my thermal camera ( over 846 degrees F ). I then did some research and hound Halogens run around 1000 degrees F and xenon bulbs ARE SUPPOSED to run cooler but with aftermarket kits is hard to tell and there is no guidelines. Most Chinese kits actually run hotter!
I used a temperature gun and got a reading of 1006 on the halogen and maxed the temp gun at 1400 on the xenon. I found that actual arc temperature runs between 2000-3000 degrees F depending on bulb and wattage/voltage.
I then got concerned by the sheer amount of heat POURING off the xenon bulb and got very concerned about melting my headlights and possibly starting a fire. The inside of the headlight appears some type of plastic but I found melting points and ignition points of MANY plastics and found they were nowhere near the temperatures I was getting.
I would advise anyone getting ready to install a HID kit to do a little research first. I ask what company should I go with? I'm leaning towards mormoto but can't find any hard data on how hot their bulbs run. Has anyone melted a headlight here? Anyone have ALOT of time running Morimoto? Anyone keep their HIDS for a few hours at a time? What is the best company? according to consumer opinion it's Kensun and Apex ( rated #1-2 ) all over the Internet which I have found through research and testing to be crap.
I have tons of pictures of my thermal camera readings, temp gun readings, various charts and other random stuff but 8 pictures is my upload limit.
First picture shows how the bulb sits inside the headlight.
Second pic is bulb size
Third pic is the HID bulb maxing out the thermal imager
4th pic is halogen also maxing out thermal imager
5th pic is ballast
6th pic is temp gun that shows max 700 reading I got off the BASE of the xenon bulb. Arc temps can be 2-3K degrees!
7th pic common plastic melting point chart
8th pic is Apex hid kit box.
What I need is a headlight Guru to put my mind at ease, offer advise, clear up any confusion and enlighten the path to safe HID kit as Toyota OEM retrofit does not seem to exist. Thank you!
Attachments
Last edited:
