HID Headlights

[ARC]

Im guessing putting projectors in gives you only one beam, so how do you find driving around with high beam on full time? im interested in doing this but no low beam puts me off a little

You can get dual, for high and low.
You just need to get the right kit for it

 

[MadMick]

righto, i figured the kit used in the how to thread was a single beam only due to only 2 wires to the globe. So is the Morimoto stage III kit (H1) a dual beam kit? there not really specific about things like that on there site?

 

[ARC]

The kit in the DIY is for single globe high/low
But they will have high/low with a secondary high only kit.
One of my mates did it in his BA XR8 like that.
There was another guy with another XR8 getting around with the same, that's where he got his inspiration from... And several others with newer gen falcons
I can try and find pics if you want

 

[MadMick]

FG run them stock i think, all good if there dual beam i think i may order a kit asap. Stock lights arnt much chop really in the CE

 

[ARC]

Yeah, FGII now have them on most models, same with Territory.
But still have the secondary high beam light as a normal hologen light
Would be cool if they were quad projectors, like the one I was referring to before.

And yes, totally agree with you about CE lights are piss poor.
I can't wait to do mine

 

[ARC]

Not the same guy I was referring to(can never find what you want when you need to!), but this turned up in my search, LOL
And this guy has done a few.

Looking at CJ lights and BA lights, they look like they are the same configuration, a main High/Low and a secondary High beam.

Here's this other guy I found. look through his photobucket, he's done several conversions http://smg.photobucket.com/user/MADXF/l ... t=3&page=1
Reading through his fordforum posts, he only uses the TRS kits.

QUAD HID's

 

[Trondabron]

Morimoto H1 and D2S are both Bi-Xenon (High and Low from the same lamp)

Having an added high beam lamp may be good, but having an added low beam lamp can add too much foreground light and ruin your night vision for distances.

Standard CJ headlighs, have a low beam lamp, and a high beam lamp in separate bulbs, HB3 and HB4 are single filament only. Not a High Low combo like H4 in our Mirages/Ce's

The Morimoto H1/D2S use only one lamp and one bulb (hence the 2 wires to the bulb), but acheives the two beam patterns by the use of a solenoid inside the projector that blocks the light for high beam to give you only low beam, then when you switch to high beam, the solenoid actuates and removes this block to allow hing beam light through.

The latest version (6.0 I think) has added foreground eliminators for high beam, so that your vision at a distance is not hindered by the blinding light that's up close.

 

[Ryan]

Having an added high beam lamp may be good, but having an added low beam lamp can add too much foreground light and ruin your night vision for distances.

Standard CJ headlighs, have a low beam lamp, and a high beam lamp in separate bulbs, HB3 and HB4 are single filament only. Not a High Low combo like H4 in our Mirages/Ce's

Trondy is on the money!

Would be cool if they were quad projectors, like the one I was referring to before.

Problem with running a second set of HIDs for high-beam only is that they take too long to warm up and constant switching on and off depending on the ballast can strain the stock wiring and also kills the life of the bulbs. Hence why in these cars you would be best to have a low-beam with a solenoid for high beam activation and then also your normal halogen high beams as well which is how I assume the FG is doing it.

You know though going from a CJ Lancer to a VE2 Commodore, I can say that Holden know how to light up a road whereas Jap cars seem to suck at doing so. Even without HIDs the Commo especially on high beam lights up the road superbly (then add in that I can blackout basically everything but the speedo at night inside the car and its king on the open road at nighttime).

 

[Trondabron]

Most new cars, euros and whatnot with HIDs,

Even tho they have twin projectors, they run regular Halogen bulbs in the high beam lamp.

Ive noticed too, that with each generation of cars that are brought out, the headlamp assembly are getting much larger, which means you can have bigger lens's, have more defined cutoffs etc. Which would lead to better headlights.

 

[ARC]

You know though going from a CJ Lancer to a VE2 Commodore, I can say that Holden know how to light up a road whereas Jap cars seem to suck at doing so. Even without HIDs the Commo especially on high beam lights up the road superbly (then add in that I can blackout basically everything but the speedo at night inside the car and its king on the open road at nighttime).

I can relate to that, going from the Mirage to the Mrs BF, it's like a whole other world.
I was going to do a refit like acid coloured one of the pictured above, but really no need to.
That and more moneys for Bonsai!!!!!

 

[jordan.fuchs]

Hows this for an idea

At night, go park somewhere like a carpark with your headlights on. Go stand in about 30m in front of your car, and sit on the road.

Look at your HID headlights for about 20 seconds, the average time for a car to pass from the oncoming direction. Now try to look elsewhere. If your not blinded by the crappy spread of light, ill eat my own *Richard*.

lol this is why I love these forums..

Sitting on the road in front of my car is not an accurate measurement, my eye-level while sitting on the road is alot lower then the eye-level of oncoming drivers.

Secondly, how do you think I tested that they were adjusted correctly. I think there's a reason I've never actually been flashed by oncoming drivers.

 

[Liom the Chef]

Hows this for an idea

At night, go park somewhere like a carpark with your headlights on. Go stand in about 30m in front of your car, and sit on the road.

Look at your HID headlights for about 20 seconds, the average time for a car to pass from the oncoming direction. Now try to look elsewhere. If your not blinded by the crappy spread of light, ill eat my own *Richard*.

lol this is why I love these forums..

Sitting on the road in front of my car is not an accurate measurement, my eye-level while sitting on the road is alot lower then the eye-level of oncoming drivers.

Secondly, how do you think I tested that they were adjusted correctly. I think there's a reason I've never actually been flashed by oncoming drivers.

Man go bother clubcj. Personally I find nothing at all impressive about ghetto half job setups, I love hid projector retrofits but despise people like you on the road who lack the skills or money to do it properly

 

[Trondabron]

Justify having them however you want, but I personally wish everyone a defect when they drive towards me with HIDs done the wrong way. I typically don't flash people, because I know that they don't know better.

I will recommend against HIDs in reflector housing 99% of the time.

Hows this for an idea

At night, go park somewhere like a carpark with your headlights on. Go stand in about 30m in front of your car, and sit on the road.

Look at your HID headlights for about 20 seconds, the average time for a car to pass from the oncoming direction. Now try to look elsewhere. If your not blinded by the crappy spread of light, ill eat my own *Richard*.

lol this is why I love these forums..

Sitting on the road in front of my car is not an accurate measurement, my eye-level while sitting on the road is alot lower then the eye-level of oncoming drivers.

Secondly, how do you think I tested that they were adjusted correctly. I think there's a reason I've never actually been flashed by oncoming drivers.

 

[jordan.fuchs]

Man go bother clubcj. Personally I find nothing at all impressive about ghetto half job setups, I love hid projector retrofits but despise people like you on the road who lack the skills or money to do it properly

It's not about not having the skills or money to do it, it's about not having a need to... As I've said. I have tested my HID's, I've pulled over, got in a mates car and drove 30-50m down the road and driven back towards my car. No issues with glare..

It's about setting them up right, adjusting them correctly and not leaving your hi beams on. I've been stopped at RBT's multiple times at night and never had issues, driven behind HWP's and had HWP's driving the opposite direction... never had any issues.

If you're still interested in having a whinge about my car I'd be happy to meet or take some photos for you, until then give it a rest mate.

 

[jordan.fuchs]

Justify having them however you want, but I personally wish everyone a defect when they drive towards me with HIDs done the wrong way. I typically don't flash people, because I know that they don't know better.

I will recommend against HIDs in reflector housing 99% of the time.

That's great, however pretty sure OP was asking about which HID's to buy, not whether Trondabron or 'Liom the chef' like HIDs

 

[Ryan]

It's about setting them up right, adjusting them correctly and not leaving your hi beams on. I've been stopped at RBT's multiple times at night and never had issues, driven behind HWP's and had HWP's driving the opposite direction... never had any issues.

If you're still interested in having a whinge about my car I'd be happy to meet or take some photos for you, until then give it a rest mate.

What does not having the high beams on have to do with swapping the low beams to HID???? I fail to see any connection.

That said whilst the reflectors do a pretty good job in the CJs at controlling the HIDs compared to some other (mainly older) cars, they still are glarey to other drivers on dark windy roads, etc. Before you ask I speak from experience and having been flashed a few times when I had my CJ however my problem was if I used incandescents they would keep breaking too quickly due to my coilovers and the *poo*ty roads I was traveling on. Also numerous times after cruising with people they would *mum* about being in front of me due to the brightness of the HIDs.

I also was pulled over once by the HWP and given a warning to remove the HIDs because some of the truckies on the Pacific Hwy were whining about a car with its high beams on (I think they were referring to another car I saw earlier actually driving with high beams on but the fact my HIDs were so bright meant the HWP nabbed me for it). I was going to do a retrofit with the help of Trondy but sold the car before I got around to it.

 

[jordan.fuchs]

It's about setting them up right, adjusting them correctly and not leaving your hi beams on. I've been stopped at RBT's multiple times at night and never had issues, driven behind HWP's and had HWP's driving the opposite direction... never had any issues.

If you're still interested in having a whinge about my car I'd be happy to meet or take some photos for you, until then give it a rest mate.

What does not having the high beams on have to do with swapping the low beams to HID???? I fail to see any connection.

That said whilst the reflectors do a pretty good job in the CJs at controlling the HIDs compared to some other (mainly older) cars, they still are glarey to other drivers on dark windy roads, etc. Before you ask I speak from experience and having been flashed a few times when I had my CJ however my problem was if I used incandescents they would keep breaking too quickly due to my coilovers and the s*** roads I was traveling on. Also numerous times after cruising with people they would *mum* about being in front of me due to the brightness of the HIDs.

I also was pulled over once by the HWP and given a warning to remove the HIDs because some of the truckies on the Pacific Hwy were whining about a car with its high beams on (I think they were referring to another car I saw earlier actually driving with high beams on but the fact my HIDs were so bright meant the HWP nabbed me for it). I was going to do a retrofit with the help of Trondy but sold the car before I got around to it.

I appreciate your input. I don't often drive on windy roads. I have been through the nasho once, with HIDs and behind another CCJ member, never once mentioned my HIDs being to bright. As I said I've never had issues with them, I am aware that reflectors and HIDs are generally a bad combination though, I've never had issues with it.