HID headlamp kits

[billy739]

whats the deal?
anyone tried cheap ebay kits?

anyone no the pros and cons and what to look for? is any H4 dip/main kit ok?

[Iceworx]

ive got HID's on all of my cars except for the camper..

not really much between them, apart from the colour temp of them 4300 or 6000k are about the best


As long as you mount the controllers somewhere with a bit of ventilation, you cant go far wrong

[CycloneMike]

Dubious legality for retro fit but I'm not aware of a test case so far.
Lights must have self leveling and wash appartently.
Some DFT advice below although it is a few years old.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[VWCamperfan]

Apparantly, if fitting these, you should have the whole unit complete ie. the lamp and reflector/lens assembly to prevent 'hot spots' or stray beams of light going where they shouldnt.
The kit I use in mine is a Bosh unit and was designed to be a direct replacement for the original bulb and has its own reflector but it's still a bit of a grey area.
Passed MOT fine though and when asked the tester if they were ok he said yep, no problems, beams are fine.
They dont have auto levelling but I don't think every model of car from the factory has auto levelling either.

Could be a long thread, this one!

[R0B]

these kits are blinding when fitted to some cars.makes me want to turn around and follow the car and do some serious damage to their headlights

In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

[syncroandy]

Google doesn't reveal any Bosch HID kits, are you sure yours isn't a fake ?

[VWCamperfan]

Thats the one Rob, exactly spot on!
Mine, however, came with the assurance that they had been designed to duplicate the beam pattern of a normal halogen lamp... Confusing!
The beam pattern does indeed appear to be the same as I had with halogen lamps, just a brighter, white light... And I can see where I'm going!
So as you can see, I'm just as confused as I was before but as Rob posted, it does seem like the whole unit needs replacing.
May start looking round for a complete unit replacement, don't hold your breath though... Can't remember seeing anything like the shape of our headlamps complete with HID.

[VWCamperfan]

There are some fakes of Bosch units around, mostly from china I believe but this is original. I checked this before buying. Cant remember now what to look out for but apparantly the fake units pack up within a few weeks of putting them in, mine has been running now for over 2 years so I must have done something right!

[R0B]

tshirt matt(what happened to him?) did me the headlamp upgrade using relays.and they have improved my beam no end.there is no need for this hid stuff.baxter was selling an upgrade kit..

[CovKid]

I'm the one with the headlight booster/ballast unit that uses ordinary bulbs and its great. Not had a bulb blow and nice white light. Cost about £30. Will find the thread in a mo.

[CovKid]

Hmm, looks like pic was lost when forum was upgraded, but its a small box 3" x5" x1" and doesn't use relays. Best upgrade I ever fitted to be honest.

Heres a pic I found elsewhere. Identical to mine except mine has output for both lamps. Same unit tho:

http://www.timberport.com/images/produc ... 222hbs.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[el sketcho]

Hmm, looks like pic was lost when forum was upgraded, but its a small box 3" x5" x1" and doesn't use relays. Best upgrade I ever fitted to be honest.

Heres a pic I found elsewhere. Identical to mine except mine has output for both lamps. Same unit tho:

http://www.timberport.com/images/produc ... 222hbs.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So do you just plug that in inline? Or is it not that simple?

[Syncro G]

Dubious legality for retro fit but I'm not aware of a test case so far.
Lights must have self leveling and wash appartently.
Some DFT advice below although it is a few years old.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How about the fact VOSA spot checks look out for them and can impound your vehicle imediately if its not got legal HID lamps? Legal means it has the right HID type aproval marks on the lens, our vans have the E mark and R number for tungstan (R2 bulbs, the crap non halogen type)or Halogen (H4). Ilegal ones aren't hard to spot, they are usally bright blue (so blue they don't perform very well, but people pay extra for 6000K+ for some resion, OEM is 4300K, though they sometimes apear more blue when viewed out of the beam due to projector lenses slifting spectrum at fringes) and in your face, unlike the proper ones - break the rules don't complain when you get pulled or pi$$ off others.

This site explains things well, http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... sions.html. Note the bit about lamp source charictoristics - I know its mainly written for rubish american DOT lights but they still use the same phisics as the rest of us. Presumably the "new technology" thats always claimed to make the currently on sale conversions work manages to bend the laws of phisics, though they pretend its fine and the laws haven't been updated to accept it. You hand over £100+ and they get richer - off road only, no comeback. You'll find it hard to see a picture of an HID conversion up against a wall so you can see how good the beam pattern is, what are they trying to hide? If it worked I'm sure they'd be glad to! 200% more light is no use if it doesn't go where you need it!

[CycloneMike]

Dubious legality for retro fit but I'm not aware of a test case so far.
Lights must have self leveling and wash appartently.
Some DFT advice below although it is a few years old.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadlamps" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How about the fact VOSA spot checks look out for them and can impound your vehicle imediately if its not got legal HID lamps? Legal means it has the right HID type aproval marks on the lens, our vans have the E mark and R number for tungstan (R2 bulbs, the crap non halogen type)or Halogen (H4). Ilegal ones aren't hard to spot, they are usally bright blue (so blue they don't perform very well, but people pay extra for 6000K+ for some resion, OEM is 4300K, though they sometimes apear more blue when viewed out of the beam due to projector lenses slifting spectrum at fringes) and in your face, unlike the proper ones - break the rules don't complain when you get pulled or pi$$ off others.

This site explains things well, http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... sions.html. Note the bit about lamp source charictoristics - I know its mainly written for rubish american DOT lights but they still use the same phisics as the rest of us. Presumably the "new technology" thats always claimed to make the currently on sale conversions work manages to bend the laws of phisics, though they pretend its fine and the laws haven't been updated to accept it. You hand over £100+ and they get richer - off road only, no comeback. You'll find it hard to see a picture of an HID conversion up against a wall so you can see how good the beam pattern is, what are they trying to hide? If it worked I'm sure they'd be glad to! 200% more light is no use if it doesn't go where you need it!

So you would agree with me that they aren't legal then Glen???
The fact of the matter is that when retro fitted to any standard lamp unit that wasn't designed for them and they have not been subjected to any sort of type approval. This the dubious bit. Opinion differs as to whether a HID lamp can be designed then tested to receive E Marking to fit a lens designed for halogen or other bulbs.
VOSA may issue a prohibition notice to a vehicle if the headlamps cause dazzle when the use of dipped beam headlamps would be required, if thats what you mean by impound vehicles.
There will no doubt have been numerous prosecutions for the effects (dazzle, wrong colour) of these lights, the same as with any other type of mis fitted lamp. Do you know of case law where the specific retro fitment alone has been tested? I haven't been able to find any.
I don't use them, I think they are a menace, even the OE ones can cause dazzle. But thats just my opinion not the law.

[CovKid]

Hmm, looks like pic was lost when forum was upgraded, but its a small box 3" x5" x1" and doesn't use relays. Best upgrade I ever fitted to be honest.

Heres a pic I found elsewhere. Identical to mine except mine has output for both lamps. Same unit tho:

http://www.timberport.com/images/produc ... 222hbs.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So do you just plug that in inline? Or is it not that simple?

Yes. Just takes you our of the "I wouldn't draw the attention of a moth" to "Hey I can see again". Took all of ten mins to fit and doesn't have the same issues as HID. Just ensures your lights have consistent power. Works extremely well. Had a few issues with aim to start with but with help from MOT guy we got them just right.