See post 3 below.

 

i have hid regular lights and fog lights .. my next thing to do light wise is to do projectors as spare lighting ebay baby

 

I had a set of the osram nightbreakers in the wife's scion tc and they were great but didnt last more than a year. It may have been covered already in one of the posted links but using a relayed power harness in conjunction with the upgraded halogen bulbs makes more of a difference than just replacing the bulbs alone.

 

Here is the complete harness kit. Bulbs are 5K’s and came preinstalled on the sockets. All of the connectors are weather pack sealed. The positive and negative terminate in ring connectors. Took about 1 hour to install including taking pics, although it was over two days since I wanted to do some night shots.








Everything was super simple to install. Ground both controllers and hook up the positive. Comes with a pre-installed 30amp fuse. Attach the relay near the drivers side battery. Preassemble the whole harness and plugged in all the connectors prior to installing. It was easier to match up the colors of the wires since some of them get tucked away and it would be harder to line up the connectors in the correct orientation. Most of the connectors are labeled so it was easier.

The only tricky part is you need to re-use your factory light socket lock rings. Remove from existing lights. Slide new light assembly in and install in housing. It is a very tight seal so be ready to make up a few words since there is also very little room to work with the batteries and such in place.

You have to install these three connectors into the drivers side factory light harness to control the new lights. It took a bit of trial and error but you will finally figured out the right combo. Get it wrong and only 1 high beam will come on or both will come on and not turn off.



After figuring out the right combo, install the new connectors into the supplied connector. The spades lock in and the new plug attaches to the Ford harness perfectly.



Here are a few pics of the non-HID sylvannia bulbs. Fogs are on in all pics.







New HID bulbs installed. I used a mothers headlight restoration kit to clean up the lenses as well.



Here you can see the difference in color between the HID’s and the factory fogs which look very yellow next to the HID’s.







The high beam’s function just like factory with lock and flash to pass.

The light spread is absolutely awesome. A flat, spotless white sheet in front of you.

Thanks to my bil for taking pics and mods while I am away

 

Awesome Tim. Glad they worked for you and that you like them. Great pic's

 

Great pics & description Tim..........

 

Upon rereading your post, I must comment. Can you agree that Ultras do have a slight blue tint in the glass? To my eyes, there is a blue tint. This blue tint, no matter how blue it is, is simply not the "best." The blue tint is what makes the actual light that is given out look whiter but that is all it does; actual light output is diminished with that blue filter because it prevents some of the light from passing through the blue filtered glass. Daniel Stern says it best, "To get the best possible seeing performance at night, don't choose extra-white bulbs." And the Ultras are "extra-white" as you all have already mentioned...there is a reason for that extra-white affect.

 

Looks good Tim. Those headlights really cleaned up with the Mothers.

 

I think these photos can put a big myth about HIDs to rest.

The claim that HIDs are what blinds you is a myth. It's the reflector/lens assembly that is directing the light at you that is blinding you.

Let's look at his reflector:


An OEM style reflector...maybe even OEM. No lense to direct the light. Looks a lot like OEM reflectors, right? If it's aftermarket, it may even have the same reflective angles, but I don't have two of them to compare to each other.

Standard Bulb:
HID Bulb:
Standard Bulb:
HID Bulb:
Look at that cutoff!

To me this proves when you are blinded, it's not the bulb that's doing it, it's the poor reflector/lens OR the light isn't adjusted right. A properly designed OEM replacement two arc HID lamp (or one that moves to adjust the location of the arc) will have the arc at the same location as the OEM filament would have been, keeping the light reflecting at the same angles it did with an OEM incandescent bulb, for both high and low beams.

The reflector is what makes the light cut off at a certain height. The reflector adjusters simply move that cutoff up and down, left and right.

When you get blinded, it could be because the owner put a single arc HID bulb into a housing designed for a two-filament bulb...and if the position isn't correct - making the reflective angles change in relation to the arc...meaning it could raise that cutoff line higher than it should be. It could be because it's a cheap reflector or lens assembly that has no real cutoff. Or it could be because the owner didn't adjust it properly.

So how about we agree that we should start blaming the reflector and not the HID bulb for blinding other drivers?

And as a side discussion, I'd venture to say that factory style reflectors are better than half of the cheap Chinese lens sets out there. I have lost count of how many ricers with slammed cars where the headlights are barely a foot off the ground blind me way up in my Excursion - all with those cheap Chinese reflector assemblies that so many people claim are a "must" for HID lights.

I can't say I've seen too many HIDs in reflector assemblies that blind me, and I'd be willing to put a wager that most either a) use a generic or single arc HID bulb in a housing designed for a 2 filament incandescent bulb, or b) they got lazy and didn't adjust the lights after swapping them out, or c) they use a 'lens' system that wasn't properly designed to cut off light above a certain point.

In my estimation from looking at these informative pics that HIDs are much more effective in OEM style reflector housings than most aftermarket lens assemblies. Those engineers that designed those cheap sets from APC and others and then send them out to China to be made never took the time that major manufacturers do to make effective lens assemblies like BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Lexus, etc. etc. etc. They take the cheapest route to make the most profit, and screw other drivers who are unlucky enough to be on the other side of the lens!

I personally think with these pics we can put the whole argument to bed - HIDs are fine, provided you use a good reflector/lens assembly and take the time to adjust them properly.

All in favor?

 

I couldn't agree more. I came to a similar conclusion a year ago when I put my bi-xenon 4 ballast 5k hid kit in my ex. After researching hours if I would be blinding people more with hids than my stock bulbs in the 05 headlights I went for it. Lights work great and with proper adjustment I don't get flashed by passing drivers. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:" /><o></o>

 

I thought the reflector not being designed for an HID bulb being the limiting factor with HID kits was already agreed upon?

 

Hence the reason why many advocate a retrofit to projectors.

 

I am all for projectors on a car such as a Subaura wrx or a Honda, however on a lifted truck or suv, projectors will blind more drivers since the light is more concentrated. Cars with projectors do not have their headlights 4-5 feet in the air. I still get flashed with my hids installed on my truck however I get flash no more than I did when I had my stock lenses with factory bulbs on the truck and I'm only talking about getting flashed a couple times a year (25k miles/year).

 

From what I have seen, and these photos now prove, is that a stock reflector is just done with HIDs, and in some cases are better then projectors. If you read some of the early posters on this thread and countless other threads saying you can't run HIDs in stock reflectors without blinding people. They try to claim you have to run HIDs in projector housings or you will blind other drivers and increase your risk for accidents.

"Most of the aftermarket HID conversions I've seen had really terrible light patterns and didn't actually help."

"And with a terrible light pattern and HIDs you are blinding oncoming traffic."

"You'll care a lot if you blind an oncoming car and they hit you head on..."

...and countless more posts on other threads arguing not to use HIDs in reflectors vs projectors or lens systems.

The point of my post was that reflectors are reflectors...if you put quality HID bulbs that replicate the functions of the OEM bulbs (if it was designed for a twin-filament bulb then you put in a two-arc HID bulb, etc. etc.) then stock or OEM reflectors are just fine with HID bulbs...and may actually be better than the same aftermarket projector housings those same people seem to think you "must" use to get a good beam.

Those pics above prove those claims false, they prove you CAN run HIDs in stock units and in some cases they are better.

 

so whats the word? are they safe for street use or not?