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General Information => General => Topic started by: rabbitman on November 14, 2011, 12:14:29 pm
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I know this has been gone over and over but I still ain't sure about some stuff. Some say E-codes is all you need and some say you need housings that where designed for HID. So which is it.
What about these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190578527157?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Being bi-xenon they have a solenoid to actually move the bulb to make high or low beam. Weird but supposedly it works.
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problem with things like h4 and bi-xenon is scatter...
square 200mm lights are not too bad.. but areo h4.. like mk1 jetta euros.. the left/right will put out light differently.. its the angle of the reflector to lense..
thats my experiance with them...
now ebay. my 1st set... lifetime garentee.. LOL.. 6 mo after 1 blew.. company no longer existed... so no warentee.. the 2nd one died 4 mo after 1st one..
the 2nd set i got from a guy.. still going after 2 years... BUT one of the wiggly parts has been screwed up for a year now.. aka no longer moves for high beam..
vs 100w h4.. the 35w that they are is far better.. less load on alt.. more light.. and yes all my vws have had relay set ups used vs crappy stock wiring.. even my hid set up.. why.. so when hid blows i can install a h4 bulb right in...
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That's mainly what I want is less load on the alt, brighter lights are a big plus. But I don't want to buy junk either. I also see no reason to have lighting that throws light where I don't need it. Mine is already relayed too.
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ive not delt with anything but hella lamps... those cheap ebay ecodes may suck arss.. so also rember that a light is only as good as the reflector/lense too..
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so also rember that a light is only as good as the reflector/lense too..
Good point, I like the autopal e-codes so maybe I'll get a set and put ad a HID setup to that.
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I have the Autopal E-codes. Love em! :)
I currently have all four on the front of my mk1 jetta. 90/100w ultra blue in the outer beams, and 100w ultra white in the highs. On highbeams I have 400w of light output on the front of my car. Its glorious LOL.
I would suggest against using an HID bulb in a Halogen projector though.. The HID bulb puts off light like no halogen with a tungsten element ever could.. Thus making light go through parts of the lens never intended .. It will scatter light everywhere.
Sure it will be loads bright than any sealed beam.. and will probably look half decent whilst doing so, but it will be hell to other people.
Just keep that in mind when choosing.
ALSO may want to check these guys out.
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/
For retrofitting full on HID conversions.. ballasts, bulbs, projectors, mounting, wiring. Can't be beat.
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Ive got 9007 HIDs 6000K in my MK4 and I LOVE IT!
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I would suggest against using an HID bulb in a Halogen projector though.. The HID bulb puts off light like no halogen with a tungsten element ever could.. Thus making light go through parts of the lens never intended .. It will scatter light everywhere.
I don't like projectors so I wouldn't be getting them anyways.
Mainly what I'm wondering is if HID bulbs would work in an autopal E-code housing.
I think it was Op-ivy that was saying HID bulbs work with E-codes. But other stuff I've read says it won't. Currently I have slightly over 430W pointing forward and I'm trying to reduce it a little without losing light out put.
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I mean really, you live in Alaska. Go for it regardless. How many people could you possibly piss off if they dont shine perfectly?
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I have the Autopal E-codes. Love em! :)
I currently have all four on the front of my mk1 jetta. 90/100w ultra blue in the outer beams, and 100w ultra white in the highs. On highbeams I have 400w of light output on the front of my car. Its glorious LOL.
I would suggest against using an HID bulb in a Halogen projector though.. The HID bulb puts off light like no halogen with a tungsten element ever could.. Thus making light go through parts of the lens never intended .. It will scatter light everywhere.
Sure it will be loads bright than any sealed beam.. and will probably look half decent whilst doing so, but it will be hell to other people.
Just keep that in mind when choosing.
ALSO may want to check these guys out.
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/
For retrofitting full on HID conversions.. ballasts, bulbs, projectors, mounting, wiring. Can't be beat.
HOLY S#!*! i would hate to have you bright me in oncoming traffic. that IS glorious!!
and the way i look at having bright headlights is this:
basically, every new car has rudely bright lights anyways, so who really cares if the lights on our old VWs are equally obnoxious?
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HOLY S#!*! i would hate to have you bright me in oncoming traffic. that IS glorious!!
and the way i look at having bright headlights is this:
basically, every new car has rudely bright lights anyways, so who really cares if the lights on our old VWs are equally obnoxious?
Bingo
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I mean really, you live in Alaska. Go for it regardless. How many people could you possibly piss off if they dont shine perfectly?
You have a point there haha. The only flaw with that though is I want the light to shine down the road not just here and there. Visibility is key here.......a big moose weighs almost as much as my rabbit so you don't go "thud, I think I hit something", it more like "were'd my roof go?" hehe.
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i highly suggest hella... i have the 200mm squares (non dot legal ones, most e codes are not legal) with hid in my toaster.. i had the hid in my mk1 jetta with euros which is how i can say what i know.. :D
8v... you really need to try a set of hid once.. just for lowbeams.. they are to slow to warm up for highbeams.. but you will get much better used light with much less wattage..
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Unless you have tried E code lights you are really missing out. They are vastly better than any DoT crap because they do not have the big spread between the high and low beams. DoT spec lights are designed to drop the low beams 2" for every 25 or 50 feet that they shine, (the so called "drop 2" spec) which means they are about useless when set "correctly". They also have a poor cutoff on the top of the low beam. All of this means that when the low beams are adjusted so they actually work (drop 0) the high beams are so high the light up the tree tops. If the DoT light has the high beams adjusted so they are giving you maximum distance the low beams disappear in about 75 feet. This all goes back to when sealed beams were high tech and has never been changed.
E code lights have much better in that the low beam has an absolute cut off on top so they do not dazzle the guy you are following or blind oncoming traffic. High and low beams are concentric on E codes with the high beam pretty much just filling in the missing top half of the beam.
FWIF: Hellas are really second rate lights. Muddy glass and grayish reflectors. 30 years ago they were generally regarded as better than tungsten lights but nowhere near as good as SEV Marchal or Cibie. Both of these had very clear bluish glass and very shiny reflectors and turned night into day. SEV Marchal is gone, but Cibie (pronounced see-bee-ay) is still going strong. I used to run H4 hi/lows and H1 100 watt Cibies quads in my cars; off and on with H1-100 Super Oscar ralley style driving lights. Flash some prick that wouldn't dim his anemic tungsten high beams and watch his retinas melt.
It is also vital to use the stock wiring to trigger relays to power the lights and keep the low beams on all of the time, just adding the high beams to the mix. It is also good to power the relays with big fine stranded wire from the back of the alternator. The alternator terminal has the highest voltage in the entire system. Sometimes 1/2 a volt more. Halogen bulbs are very voltage sensitive, so there is a big difference between a quartz light at 13.8 volts and 14.3 volts. Run big grounds as well. It is definitely worth the effort.
If you just want cheap watts, try aircraft landing lights. They come on 7" and 5 3/4" rounds (and maybe a smaller size as well) in 12 and 24 volts. The filaments are not very well supported so they tend to have unsteady beams on rough roads, but they sure put out the light.
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My rabbit currently has e-codes (sharp angled cutoff for low beam) on it from the PO but they're dirty and rusty inside. One is a CIBIE and one is a BIGIE, kinda weird. I won't go back to sealed beam.
I emailed the ebay autopal guy and he said some of his customers put HID bulbs in ecode housings so I might go that route.
My MK2 golf has round autopal diamond housings with 130w high beam and it's just crazy bright, the price of autopal is nice too.......
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HOLY S#!*! i would hate to have you bright me in oncoming traffic. that IS glorious!!
and the way i look at having bright headlights is this:
basically, every new car has rudely bright lights anyways, so who really cares if the lights on our old VWs are equally obnoxious?
Bingo
honestly tho, thats how i feel about it now anymore. hell with the other people, their headlights are obnoxious too..
whats the easiest way to get HID lighting with an AERO mk2 setup? change it out to a westy 200mm rectangle light setup and buy e-codes?
im ready to do a change of lighting. my aero setup has no working adjusters, and its dim as hell..
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I think you can buy aero E codes from one of the online Cibie distrubutors
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the issue with areos is how they angle the reflector to lens..
adjust it up with a h4 in it.. then put in a hid.. the lights change pattern big time as in one raises up the other lowers its self.. its goofy..
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the issue with areos is how they angle the reflector to lens..
adjust it up with a h4 in it.. then put in a hid.. the lights change pattern big time as in one raises up the other lowers its self.. its goofy..
The problem is that you can't get away from the Dot "drop 2" spread, no matter what bulb you use. The E codes are a whole different thing and every car in Europe uses E code lights so they have to be available.
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the ones i speak of are hella h4 euro lights, mk1 jetta to be exact.... have owned mine since 94... and have run many different h4 bulbs over the years.. and 2 different sets of HIDs in them too..
me no own any usa crap lights...
and mk2 areo hella euro lights have same design flaw of lense to reflector different from side to side.. which changes bulbs location and makes one hid higher, the other lower vs a h4 bulb..
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the ones i speak of are hella h4 euro lights, mk1 jetta to be exact.... have owned mine since 94... and have run many different h4 bulbs over the years.. and 2 different sets of HIDs in them too..
me no own any usa crap lights...
and mk2 areo hella euro lights have same design flaw of lense to reflector different from side to side.. which changes bulbs location and makes one hid higher, the other lower vs a h4 bulb..
F### it.. im changing to 200mm rectangles than. that gets away from the AERO downfalls.
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how bout a set of h4 rounds? rounds put out light better then square ever did... just a idea.. finding old westy 200mm set up difficult..
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how bout a set of h4 rounds? rounds put out light better then square ever did... just a idea.. finding old westy 200mm set up difficult..
for me, its easier to find a rectangle westy setup, than it is a round setup.. if im gonna go with round, im buying it all brand new. everyone around here thinks there single, and dual round setups are worth their weight in gold..
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It is also vital to use the stock wiring to trigger relays to power the lights and keep the low beams on all of the time, just adding the high beams to the mix. It is also good to power the relays with big fine stranded wire from the back of the alternator. The alternator terminal has the highest voltage in the entire system. Sometimes 1/2 a volt more.
In a h4 set up, you're recommending running the low beam and the high beam at the same time? I see this greatly reducing bulb life....
I like the tip on where to pick up power for the relay, though.
-Todd
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In a h4 set up, you're recommending running the low beam and the high beam at the same time? I see this greatly reducing bulb life....
I like the tip on where to pick up power for the relay, though.
-Todd
I think he means with a 4 light setup like the MK1 jetta.
A local guy here put HID in his MK2 jetta with aero's, he said he had to carve the tabs in the housing so he could turn the HID bulb and get the right HI/LO reflection. He shined 'em at the garage door and it looked good, he said they made a big difference too.
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ohh they do... i will not say the best.. but vs 100w bulbs.. it lights up so much more.. what i should say.. anything that reflects.. like signs.. they are lit up and reflecting before you can read them.. but its not like they are "light on them" the signs just glow in the distance..
mk1 jetta has high low and a high... my b3 wagon with the de conversions have a low and a high.. and that one i rewired so the lows stay on when highs hit..
having a h4 with both high/low on at one time = blown bulb..
another thing.. playing with bi-xeion (sp??) switching from high to low.. is freeken odd as hell... since the bulb its self moves its got no high/low on at same time aspect.. you will see how its odd...
now i do not know the streets you have or use... but be careful on color..
my area is 90% blacktop... white is great.. blue sux...
out of town on concrete.. blue is great.. white is ok..
both above in non rain situations.. in rain... blue reflects off black top.. all you can see is the lines.. it is horrid.. this goes for blue h4 or hid.. white... in rain on blacktop... LOL.. vs a 100w bulb.. does not reflect light as much.. but still reflects..
i highly suggest a good set of fog lights (not crappy ones.. spend the coin)... wired up so they can be run with only parking lights and with high beams on..
why...
the hid light up fog pretty good... if in really crappy fog.. ill kill my headlights and let the fogs do their job... why highbeams.. they fill the gap between highbeams and front of car.. work as a "cornering light" so on...
ive been playing the light game way too long... :P any wiring questions.. ask.. relays are cake.. good grounds and power source is night and day differance..
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chris,
you need a beer and a dark warm place.
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You guys are wrong about running both filaments in an H4 bulb. I have been doing it for years and never have seen a problem. I just see more of the road. Some lighting sites also recommend it.
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Yeah the color was the other thing I was wondering about. I want my lights to be like the color of the sun since it's the light my eyes are used to.
The lights I'm looking at now are available in 4300k, 5000k, 6000k and bluer which I'm not interested in.
Around here it doesn't get dark in the summer so not really a need for lights then, in the spring and fall it gets dark of course, and then in the winter it's dark a lot but the snow helps with lighting due to the high reflectivity.
I'm leaning towards the 5000K's.
Here's what I'm looking at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/55-watt-DIGITAL-HID-kit-H4-9003-bixenon-LIFE-WARRANTY-/350161717221?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4266139546060124173
I would be putting them in autopal e-codes.
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I bought the H4 blue colored ones forget what they were I think 6000K. They are bright as can be, but like CRSMP5 said it is a different bright. It was when I changed to 7" rounds. I think the change to rounds was amazing in itself as I already had the aeros relayed and knew that difference. I am too cheap to buy more bulbs but I think my next ones will be a more white light. For me the black top driving is the killer. There are a ton of back roads but since I have grown up, got saved, and don't drink and drive anymore I don't drive the back roads at night really at all anymore. I do like the fact I can see deer coming from off the road way out. It is the brand new black top that just sucks so bad. You can't really see the road you just see everything else. The signs are lit up about 3/4 of a mile down the road if it is flat with brights, but the road is no brighter 10 feet in front of you than it is 100 feet.
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I bought the H4 blue colored ones forget what they were I think 6000K. They are bright as can be, but like CRSMP5 said it is a different bright. It was when I changed to 7" rounds. I think the change to rounds was amazing in itself as I already had the aeros relayed and knew that difference. I am too cheap to buy more bulbs but I think my next ones will be a more white light. For me the black top driving is the killer. There are a ton of back roads but since I have grown up, got saved, and don't drink and drive anymore I don't drive the back roads at night really at all anymore. I do like the fact I can see deer coming from off the road way out. It is the brand new black top that just sucks so bad. You can't really see the road you just see everything else. The signs are lit up about 3/4 of a mile down the road if it is flat with brights, but the road is no brighter 10 feet in front of you than it is 100 feet.
So you think 4300k would be an improvement for blacktop? I don't want even a tiny bit of blue, I don't want yellow either so I might go with 4300k. Unless that'll still be in the blue range.......
From what I've read you don't want the road to be way lit up close or it'll screw up your night vision for far away but of course that'll change depending on wet road/dry road conditions.
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I honestly think a person needs 5 sets of bulbs to play with. I like mine but I think I would like something else better. Just had a weird thought, maybe mix and match bulbs with a blueish and yellowish colored bulb...kind of like a projection screen TV. Just thinking out loud there, but honestly I think mine was a bit too blue, but on the back roads it lights it up like daylight. Older asphalt is good too, it is just the new completely black stuff I have trouble with.
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stick to 4-5k.. 6k is got a blue tinge..
yellow.. depends.. in snow yellow good... as long as you no eat yellow snow..
but i guess the question is.. i know you got dirt roads.. but the main roads.. they blacktop or concrete?
also this is why i suggest a good set of fogs.. good ones with a ff style reflector really do improve light output... my fav foglignt is no longer made.. the old hella 550ff was so freeken good.. can still find the non ff versions but the light output sux.. i cracked up 3 of the 500s this past season on the toaster ;( so am still seeking a good replacement for fogs... summit has the 500 series for 100ish.. they work impressively good.. but sit too low on the toaster.. dips in parking lot to streets take them out.. so need to find some oval/squares for it..
the fogs really do good filling in the missing light.. up close.. but for me.. my hid's do light up the street.. just in rain.. they reflect.. but so do 100w bulbs..
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We got all pavement or chip seal which looks the same. After it gets old it does start looking a little greyish. Any road thats not paved here is usually gravel unless it's just a trail then it stays dirt.
I never eat yellow snow ;D.........
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You guys are wrong about running both filaments in an H4 bulb. I have been doing it for years and never have seen a problem. I just see more of the road. Some lighting sites also recommend it.
Interesting.... any links to those sites?
Thinking about the wiring, I'm guessing you're running (3) dual 87 output relays? The lows would get 1 relay as normal. The other 2 relays would power the highs and the lows to keep them all on continuously?
-Todd
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Probably just holds the high beam stalk in the limbo between low and high beam. ;)
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Probably just holds the high beam stalk in the limbo between low and high beam. ;)
I knew I was over thinking it! I'll just wedge a piece of wood in there....
-Todd