HID Projector Headlight?
02-09-2011, 06:20 PM
#42
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i bought that kit from ebay tht you have at the top and i swear i could hold my droid light out the window and see more. DO NOT BUY! i want to do the taco front end on my 91 pickup, how do i get the taco lights in? can i get taco tail lights too?
02-22-2011, 01:15 PM
#43
update from me if anyone cares....
I have to retract my HIDNation slam a little, I did get a good email back after a brief back and forth and they agreed to send me the slim (more expensive) ballasts for free if I returned the original ones so not a bad deal all said and done. Just a PITA and I didn't see the email for almost a month, thought I was done with these guys and missed it.
So overall, I would say they are an OK company with OK products and great customer service... return policy is a bit lacking (none) but to give them credit, they did try to make it right in the end...
so new plan.... my 8000k 35w HIDs from these guys (what was I thinking???) will be some awesome aux driving lights or possibly the brightest aux backup lights in the world....
Just ordered some FX-R stage III's from TRS, fantastic opinion of these guys so far.
I left the shrouds out, might add later but I plan on trying to modify the stock housings first and see how bad the lenses rob my setup... will most likely be ordering clear housings/lenses shortly and redoing the retrofit, will probably add some shrouds at that point if they look terrible without...
ordered today, ships tomorrow!
I got the mirimoto 5Fives (50w) in 4300k, should be able to see into the future with these...
I have to retract my HIDNation slam a little, I did get a good email back after a brief back and forth and they agreed to send me the slim (more expensive) ballasts for free if I returned the original ones so not a bad deal all said and done. Just a PITA and I didn't see the email for almost a month, thought I was done with these guys and missed it.
So overall, I would say they are an OK company with OK products and great customer service... return policy is a bit lacking (none) but to give them credit, they did try to make it right in the end...
so new plan.... my 8000k 35w HIDs from these guys (what was I thinking???) will be some awesome aux driving lights or possibly the brightest aux backup lights in the world....
Just ordered some FX-R stage III's from TRS, fantastic opinion of these guys so far.
I left the shrouds out, might add later but I plan on trying to modify the stock housings first and see how bad the lenses rob my setup... will most likely be ordering clear housings/lenses shortly and redoing the retrofit, will probably add some shrouds at that point if they look terrible without...
ordered today, ships tomorrow!
I got the mirimoto 5Fives (50w) in 4300k, should be able to see into the future with these...
03-22-2011, 09:04 AM
#45
all finished with my HID retrofit guys, did a write-up here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131...runner-231994/
they are outstanding, rest assured, doing a proper retrofit is $$$ well spent. For $325 grand total I have stupid bright lights that are top notch quality. Thanks TRS and all you guys on YT pointing me in the right direction despite my own initial ignorance! hahahaha
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131...runner-231994/
they are outstanding, rest assured, doing a proper retrofit is $$$ well spent. For $325 grand total I have stupid bright lights that are top notch quality. Thanks TRS and all you guys on YT pointing me in the right direction despite my own initial ignorance! hahahaha
03-23-2011, 09:24 AM
#46
Registered User
Pretty set on doing the TRS retrofit, but haven't turned up many options for housings to modify to fit my 1981 pickup. Need a 7 inch clear housings. Guessing all the cheap "projector" projector housings are made of plastic and the decent H4 conversion housings usually have the optics in the glass lens. Any one have any ideas for a good housing to modify? would consider these, but guessing a 5 3/4 inch housing will look silly.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=4787
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=4787
03-23-2011, 11:35 AM
#47
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Right on. Good usable light is a thing of absolute beauty! I'm assuming the Hella conversion is HID, considering you stated xenon bulbs. (unless they're the "xenon" labeled halogens that just give the HID "look".
My guess is going to be that the FX-R output is incredibly close to that of the Hellas and likely for a fraction of the cost. I didn't price anything on the Hellas, though.
My guess is going to be that the FX-R output is incredibly close to that of the Hellas and likely for a fraction of the cost. I didn't price anything on the Hellas, though.
The bulbs are just called Xenon +50%. Claims they use xenon gas instead on halogen. They're uncoated. I'm losing hours to gain lumens. They're very reasonably priced though.
The more I read about HID in non-projector housings, the less I'm interested in them. If my truck was newer and wasn't my cheap project, I'd invest in a proper retrofit.
03-24-2011, 01:33 PM
#48
Registered User
all finished with my HID retrofit guys, did a write-up here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131...runner-231994/
they are outstanding, rest assured, doing a proper retrofit is $$$ well spent. For $325 grand total I have stupid bright lights that are top notch quality. Thanks TRS and all you guys on YT pointing me in the right direction despite my own initial ignorance! hahahaha
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131...runner-231994/
they are outstanding, rest assured, doing a proper retrofit is $$$ well spent. For $325 grand total I have stupid bright lights that are top notch quality. Thanks TRS and all you guys on YT pointing me in the right direction despite my own initial ignorance! hahahaha
Sorry, I meant I will be going with the halogen E-code assemblies.
The bulbs are just called Xenon +50%. Claims they use xenon gas instead on halogen. They're uncoated. I'm losing hours to gain lumens. They're very reasonably priced though.
The more I read about HID in non-projector housings, the less I'm interested in them. If my truck was newer and wasn't my cheap project, I'd invest in a proper retrofit.
The bulbs are just called Xenon +50%. Claims they use xenon gas instead on halogen. They're uncoated. I'm losing hours to gain lumens. They're very reasonably priced though.
The more I read about HID in non-projector housings, the less I'm interested in them. If my truck was newer and wasn't my cheap project, I'd invest in a proper retrofit.
Have you ever checked out http://danielsternlighting.com/ ? Tons of good info there, especially in regards to a proper halogen setup. Look into rewiring with a couple relays. The difference is night and day in comparison to stock wiring. 10awg is ideal, but 12awg is more commonly used because of the price decrease. In fact, you'll gain more usable output by a proper rewire than you will by simply swapping bulbs.
03-24-2011, 02:01 PM
#49
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I prefer Osram Silverstars, they're pretty good, or Phillips Extreme Power (I think that's what they are)
Have you ever checked out http://danielsternlighting.com/ ? Tons of good info there, especially in regards to a proper halogen setup. Look into rewiring with a couple relays. The difference is night and day in comparison to stock wiring. 10awg is ideal, but 12awg is more commonly used because of the price decrease. In fact, you'll gain more usable output by a proper rewire than you will by simply swapping bulbs.
Have you ever checked out http://danielsternlighting.com/ ? Tons of good info there, especially in regards to a proper halogen setup. Look into rewiring with a couple relays. The difference is night and day in comparison to stock wiring. 10awg is ideal, but 12awg is more commonly used because of the price decrease. In fact, you'll gain more usable output by a proper rewire than you will by simply swapping bulbs.
I plan on doing a rewire of the headlights in addition to getting the E-Code conversion. The only reason I am going with the Hella bulbs over say the Osram ones is that they are a $13 upgrade over the stock Hella bulbs on www.rallylights.com
I'm curious to see how they will compare to a proper OEM HID setup.
05-01-2011, 08:25 AM
#51
Did a rewire / upgrade harness last month on my truck ('00 taco) and even though I was expecting some improvement, I was still BLOWN AWAY with the difference! I used 10g wire to each terminal and with my SS Ultra-somethings in there, I have TONS of clean white light. It gives my HID's some competition!
I was getting full voltage at both lights with wimpy 16g wire or whatever the stock is but not full juice. The 10g is maybe a tad overkill but I sure won't complain when I'm cruisin' at night seeing into the future with these things! I can see deer in the next state now... hahaha
Total cost was something like $30-40 worth of wiring/supplies/connectors maybe (rough guess) and a few hours of my time to build/install.
I bought some H4 connector components from autolumination.com along with some LED's for my dash, the rest of the stuff I had on hand from a huge order I made with DelCity a while ago.
I used 10g for the connectors to the pos battery and the neg ground, and 16/18g wires for running my relay controls. Used 4crawler's diagram (switched ground version) exactly and it works perfectly. You will need (if you follow 4crawler's diagram) the two diodes and a resistor of choice to feed your hi-beam signal, picked 'em up at radio shack, they're super cheap.
I ordered the oddball relay (DPST) from 4crawler's site although I'm sure some shopping around will yield some slightly cheaper results, it's literally hitting the easy button. $7 delivered for a single relay ain't too bad when you need it now! I realized I could have just combined two terminals (87 and 87a onto just 87 on the relay) and achieved the same thing but wanted to follow the schematic exactly.
OK, enough rambling, bottom line is a halogen rewire is pretty amazing, more than I expected for sure! Oncoming drivers haven't flashed me at all either...
I was getting full voltage at both lights with wimpy 16g wire or whatever the stock is but not full juice. The 10g is maybe a tad overkill but I sure won't complain when I'm cruisin' at night seeing into the future with these things! I can see deer in the next state now... hahaha
Total cost was something like $30-40 worth of wiring/supplies/connectors maybe (rough guess) and a few hours of my time to build/install.
I bought some H4 connector components from autolumination.com along with some LED's for my dash, the rest of the stuff I had on hand from a huge order I made with DelCity a while ago.
I used 10g for the connectors to the pos battery and the neg ground, and 16/18g wires for running my relay controls. Used 4crawler's diagram (switched ground version) exactly and it works perfectly. You will need (if you follow 4crawler's diagram) the two diodes and a resistor of choice to feed your hi-beam signal, picked 'em up at radio shack, they're super cheap.
I ordered the oddball relay (DPST) from 4crawler's site although I'm sure some shopping around will yield some slightly cheaper results, it's literally hitting the easy button. $7 delivered for a single relay ain't too bad when you need it now! I realized I could have just combined two terminals (87 and 87a onto just 87 on the relay) and achieved the same thing but wanted to follow the schematic exactly.
OK, enough rambling, bottom line is a halogen rewire is pretty amazing, more than I expected for sure! Oncoming drivers haven't flashed me at all either...
05-01-2011, 02:27 PM
#52
Registered User
Did a rewire / upgrade harness last month on my truck ('00 taco) and even though I was expecting some improvement, I was still BLOWN AWAY with the difference! I used 10g wire to each terminal and with my SS Ultra-somethings in there, I have TONS of clean white light. It gives my HID's some competition!
I was getting full voltage at both lights with wimpy 16g wire or whatever the stock is but not full juice. The 10g is maybe a tad overkill but I sure won't complain when I'm cruisin' at night seeing into the future with these things! I can see deer in the next state now... hahaha
Total cost was something like $30-40 worth of wiring/supplies/connectors maybe (rough guess) and a few hours of my time to build/install.
I bought some H4 connector components from autolumination.com along with some LED's for my dash, the rest of the stuff I had on hand from a huge order I made with DelCity a while ago.
I used 10g for the connectors to the pos battery and the neg ground, and 16/18g wires for running my relay controls. Used 4crawler's diagram (switched ground version) exactly and it works perfectly. You will need (if you follow 4crawler's diagram) the two diodes and a resistor of choice to feed your hi-beam signal, picked 'em up at radio shack, they're super cheap.
I ordered the oddball relay (DPST) from 4crawler's site although I'm sure some shopping around will yield some slightly cheaper results, it's literally hitting the easy button. $7 delivered for a single relay ain't too bad when you need it now! I realized I could have just combined two terminals (87 and 87a onto just 87 on the relay) and achieved the same thing but wanted to follow the schematic exactly.
OK, enough rambling, bottom line is a halogen rewire is pretty amazing, more than I expected for sure! Oncoming drivers haven't flashed me at all either...
I was getting full voltage at both lights with wimpy 16g wire or whatever the stock is but not full juice. The 10g is maybe a tad overkill but I sure won't complain when I'm cruisin' at night seeing into the future with these things! I can see deer in the next state now... hahaha
Total cost was something like $30-40 worth of wiring/supplies/connectors maybe (rough guess) and a few hours of my time to build/install.
I bought some H4 connector components from autolumination.com along with some LED's for my dash, the rest of the stuff I had on hand from a huge order I made with DelCity a while ago.
I used 10g for the connectors to the pos battery and the neg ground, and 16/18g wires for running my relay controls. Used 4crawler's diagram (switched ground version) exactly and it works perfectly. You will need (if you follow 4crawler's diagram) the two diodes and a resistor of choice to feed your hi-beam signal, picked 'em up at radio shack, they're super cheap.
I ordered the oddball relay (DPST) from 4crawler's site although I'm sure some shopping around will yield some slightly cheaper results, it's literally hitting the easy button. $7 delivered for a single relay ain't too bad when you need it now! I realized I could have just combined two terminals (87 and 87a onto just 87 on the relay) and achieved the same thing but wanted to follow the schematic exactly.
OK, enough rambling, bottom line is a halogen rewire is pretty amazing, more than I expected for sure! Oncoming drivers haven't flashed me at all either...
Running dual beams is great, too. Are you still on sealed beam headlights? I run Hella E-codes and dual beams (hi/lo simultaneously) and it's fantastic. Also running 10awg.
For what it's worth, 10awg is probably the best for a proper halogen setup. You'll also notice that your bulbs last longer. One more thing- if you're on sealed beams still, when one pops, replace them with good e-codes such as Cibie or Hella, with Cibie's being much better on the output end at the cost of a higher price.
And lastly, while your headlghts were probably still getting 12v, they weren't receiving enough amperage to really illuminate much of anything. Problem solved.
05-02-2011, 04:55 PM
#53
yup, still stock headlights... Can't decide if I want to do another HID retrofit on my taco or stay with a good halogen setup.... I can only imagine how much brighter running both bulbs on hi beam would be; the wife's honda has dual bulbs, don't remember if the lo's stay on with the hi's on that or not, will have to look at them for comarison sake.
The plus side to single bulbs is the cheaper replacement cost but since they have a pretty good life span, probably not a big issue. decisions, decisions...
My stock bulbs were still working fine when I replaced them after at least 7 years of daily use that I know of, pretty amazing for a halogen especially considering I run them 100% of the time day or night. Maybe I'm just lucky...
I think I will lean towards HID's considering total cost vs. light output in the end for my taco.
Anyway, thanks again Shaeff for the solid advice, did me well!
The plus side to single bulbs is the cheaper replacement cost but since they have a pretty good life span, probably not a big issue. decisions, decisions...
My stock bulbs were still working fine when I replaced them after at least 7 years of daily use that I know of, pretty amazing for a halogen especially considering I run them 100% of the time day or night. Maybe I'm just lucky...
I think I will lean towards HID's considering total cost vs. light output in the end for my taco.
Anyway, thanks again Shaeff for the solid advice, did me well!
05-02-2011, 05:41 PM
#54
Registered User
Very well! In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a proper halogen setup, or a proper HID setup. It's when people cob-job them that they get bad reputations.
You're very welcome, I'm glad to see that someone actually took the time to follow that advice. I don't make this stuff up, it's tried and proven! It's like my internet mission to rid the world of terribly put-together PnP HID kits in halogen housings.
In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a proper halogen setup, or a proper HID setup. It's when people cob-job them that they get bad reputations. You're very welcome, I'm glad to see that someone actually took the time to follow that advice. I don't make this stuff up, it's tried and proven! It's like my internet mission to rid the world of terribly put-together PnP HID kits in halogen housings.
06-21-2011, 10:47 AM
#58
update; Sylvania sylverstars lifespan DOES suck, confirmed, hahaha. One burned out already with less than 9 months of use. How did my OEM bulbs last 7+ years???
Had a connector that started slipping off the new bulb (exact same brand/model whatever of the first one) so tightened up the terminals and she's fine. WASP will pull you over for a burned out bulb in broad daylight!
Time to finally order some Osram nightbreaker's and give those a whirl...
Had a connector that started slipping off the new bulb (exact same brand/model whatever of the first one) so tightened up the terminals and she's fine. WASP will pull you over for a burned out bulb in broad daylight!
Time to finally order some Osram nightbreaker's and give those a whirl...
06-21-2011, 07:06 PM
#59
Registered User
update; Sylvania sylverstars lifespan DOES suck, confirmed, hahaha. One burned out already with less than 9 months of use. How did my OEM bulbs last 7+ years???
Had a connector that started slipping off the new bulb (exact same brand/model whatever of the first one) so tightened up the terminals and she's fine. WASP will pull you over for a burned out bulb in broad daylight!
Time to finally order some Osram nightbreaker's and give those a whirl...
Had a connector that started slipping off the new bulb (exact same brand/model whatever of the first one) so tightened up the terminals and she's fine. WASP will pull you over for a burned out bulb in broad daylight!
Time to finally order some Osram nightbreaker's and give those a whirl...
07-25-2011, 10:34 AM
#60
and number 2 halogen just burned out last week, slap me sideways.... guess I'm done with silverstars.... I doubt it has anything to do with my wiring, it's solid and functions flawlessly to date. Maybe this is a sign I need new supsension! my old worn out suspension isn't all that smooth anymore even with bilsteins... lot's of bumps on the way to work....
Finally time to order my Osram nightbreakers, maybe I can get more than 9 months out of a freakin' bulb...
Finally time to order my Osram nightbreakers, maybe I can get more than 9 months out of a freakin' bulb...
