led headlights

[qman8]

Originally Posted by def

Properly aimed OE HIDs on vehicles do produce some light scatter that can be annoying. In Europe, HID equipped autos are required to have headlight cleaning systems. A dirty headlight lens will produce HID light scatter, hence the requirement. Also, many HID systems have motors which keep the HID aimed in the direction of travel.

Finally, many of the cheap Chinese HID kits contain lamps which are assembled and glued into a composite base with little attention given to the dimensions and lamp alignment. Therefore, once we install them in our headlamps, the light is impossible to adjust to eliminate the scatter so annoying to oncoming drivers.

Years ago, I imported some HID kits from India. The build quality was much higher than the Chinese kits but, my prices were not competitive with the Chinese stuff. Also, the lamps were assembled using a fixture to insure proper alignment of the arc chamber with the base so that the focal point of the lamp kernel was optimized. These HIDs produced almost no forward light scatter.

If your HIDs produce annoying forward light scatter, you may have a lamp alignment issue. Also, keep the headlamp lens clean to reduce scatter.

Oh yes, and HIDs not DOT approved are not street illegal.

I wondered how much tolerance there might be with the distance from the base. Do you happen to have any dimensions we could try to measure? I have a spare HID bulb I've been wanting to try to see if it improves scatter or downrange light at all...I guess I should give it a go.!)

[madpuma13]

Originally Posted by ElMartillo

I know this thread has gotten off topic, but for those of you that do not have the option of converting to HID (yes madpuma, I know it's illegal, irritating and hurtful to other motorists, etc.), has anyone tried rewiring your existing halogen lighting fixture directly to the battery via a relay? There is a valid argument made that the factory wiring setups lose a lot of power from source to bulb in all the small gauge wire and switches it has to pass through to get there.

It's not difficult and reasonably inexpensive: $3.50 for a relay, maybe $10 in wire, connectors and shrink tube. I'd be interested to hear from one of you 12GS guys if there was a noticeable difference. If I hadn't already converted my 1150GS to HIDs (yes, madpuma; I know it's illegal!) I'd try it on mine. Anything would be an improvement over the stock headlights on the 1150!

If it is brighter, an additional benefit would be the use of the type of bulb intended for the reflector.This solution should even make madpuma happy!

Cheers!

I'm definitely in full agreement with everyone it is better to be seen than not. Installing hids (restricted to 35w and below 5k color) I would personally install in my own halogen reflector if it was to be used only during the day where I can get the extra noticeability without blinding others.

I've read wiring the light directly to the battery can have positive effects. Especially if there are a lot of other electronic toys installed.

I recommend what others have suggested in getting a pair of driving lights or just bright led lights and put a dimmer on it to tone it down when around others at night.

And just to be clear I'm not a Harper for legality issues. I drive over 100 on back roads when no one is around like anyone else. (Everyone else does this too right?) It's just bothersome that these kits are sold as if they are legal and I believe do more harm than good. BUT if you acknowledge that it isn't a direct replacement for a halogen and take steps to eliminate glare, then that's 100% better than what most people do.

*steps off soapbox*

Don't forget though, they're illegal!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

[JetSpeed]

Originally Posted by def

Finally, many of the cheap Chinese HID kits contain lamps which are assembled and glued into a composite base with little attention given to the dimensions and lamp alignment. Therefore, once we install them in our headlamps, the light is impossible to adjust to eliminate the scatter so annoying to oncoming drivers.

I believe you brought up an excellent point here about the cheap Chinese HID's, that's what I bought and the light scatter was horrible, my clear headlight protector probably didn't help matters either.
If I were to try it again I would purchase a better quality HID.

[WindSailor]

Originally Posted by qman8

I wondered how much tolerance there might be with the distance from the base. Do you happen to have any dimensions we could try to measure? I have a spare HID bulb I've been wanting to try to see if it improves scatter or downrange light at all...I guess I should give it a go.!)

Gearing toward HID's; here are a few links (older - but still good info).

High Intensity Discharge head lamp conversions: a Bright idea?

This section covers special issues that araises when installing HID in Halogen housings

4300k vs 6000k. Half way down the thread there is some very good info posted - worth reading.

I've got HID's installed and I have tried using a personally modified version of the "Casper shield" with little success. The problem with that shield is that it made the filament length shorter because I put the bulb inside of the shield - which had a lip - which shortened the bulb length inside of the housing. That made the beam more scattered and less desirable. I had originally thought shortening the focal length would 'tighten' the beam, but it didn't unless I did something wrong and really missed the mark here on something else. Currently I am close to the original focal length (bulb alone with no shield) and the beam pattern is ok - but it could be improved on. I've always wanted to try something a little -different- in the focal length to see what changes would be made on the beam pattern (and maybe paint the end of the bulb) but I'm running D2S Phillips 85122+ bulbs - and they are fairly expensive. So I'll stick with what I've got for now. What would be neat is to see a diagram on how the halogen bulb radiates the light pattern versus the HID bulb (more technical than what's in the first link); then tuning it would likely be easier...

Hopefully def (and anyone else) can add more info on this.

[def]

I'm not an optical guy but, I have seen diagrams showing the light output for an HID and a tungsten lamp of the same design. The tungsten lamp output is cooler in some regions of the filament whereas the HID arc is larger and hotter in different regions of the arc kernel hence the need for a different optical system to control and direct the HID light. As for placing the HID light kernel at the focal point of the optics in the projector headlamp, some shims should allow you to move the lamp back in the housing. Careful when handling the HID lamp...there is in excess of 20K VAC at cold strike...remember when you grabbed your first spark plug wire with the engine running?

Also, it might help to measure the position of the filament of a tungeten H1 bulb and compare it to the location of the HID kernel and adjust as needed.