hid conversion

just wondering if any one has done a h4 hi low beam hid conversion and what do you think. also what kit did ya use. one off ebay or what kit was it and would you recommend it

also in a d40 navara i mean aswell

I have a Philips kit in my D22.

Not cheap but good, search for the other threads.

There is details of a guy who sells kits.

Dave.

I'm not commenting as it is an illegal modification.

I had a HID kit in my old xtrail head lights, it was hi and low beam.
I found that the low beam was fantastic but when flicked to hi beam the spread of light was all over the place and the light didn't travel very far.
The light seemed to be much brighter in low beam. I can't remember the brand of HID kit I purchased, it was off an xtrail forum, but I can remember that the light was 5000K. Standard head lights are 4200K from memory so the 5000K is slightly whiter, not blue.

The only other problem I found and have heard from others is that if the ballasts get wet then they die. This is what happened to mine. Stupid mechanic washed the engine bay and didn't cover them.
For this reason i'm getting a set of lightforce HID spotlights with internal ballast because they are a sealed unit within the light

Out of interest.....I put a set of IPF "fat boy" globes in my D40. Brilliant light output on both hight and low beam and perfectly legal.

I had a similar situation with my last car with H4 35W High/Low HIDs.
low beam was ok, but high beam was useless.
They were also 6000K which is a poor colour choice if driving in Fog or Rain.
The intensity of the white light shows up all the moisture/spray instead of the road.
I have IPF XS HID spotlights instead with some upgraded PIAA headlight globes.

My H4 HIDs are now sitting in the shed gathering dust.

Cheers Stuart

As Antz says the install is illegal .The D40 standard headlights are not designed for HID. You have to be running Projector Lense type lights with posative cut offs to be able to legally use HID conversions.
Its far better to install Hi Brightness standard globes. I have H4 Phillips NightBreakers in mine and have to admit they do work well.
Be aware running anything higher than 55 watt as lo beam is also illegal as far as I am aware.

What do you mean by cut off's ?

Dave.

I think the cut-off refers to the part of the globe that prevents light from reaching the reflector and being projected forward and upwards. It's the part that causes the low-beam light to end at a visible line, in order to not cause glare for oncoming drivers.

I've just done some reading on the headlight issue and while I can't find the exact legislation (I will keep looking for this) I do recall there being limits for the headlights in both the colour range (measured in Kelvins) and the wattage.

I'll try to find the appropriate Australian legislation so I can post links to it, or better yet, excerpts from it that highlight the points we need to know about.

To have HID's you must have:

-self levelling (automatic) suspension or headlights (manual levelling is not enough); and
-headlight washers

That's my recollection of what you must have according to the ADR's

That is my reccolection as well.

Regards your IPF Fat Boys, have you had them in the car long? I was running Narva 50% up jobs in my R51 and in my D22 and found them to have such a short life span that I ditched them and went back to normal globes in the end, I just got sick of changing globes. If the IPF jobs give a decent life time I would look at dropping a set into each of my cars.

Mate, had the fat boys in the car since I bought it. (Mate of mine runs the local ARB distributor...) So that is almost 2 years now.

I have similar experiences to you with the Narva and also Philips globes. I run the Philips globes in my Benz and they last generally around 12 months.

I was not getting anything like that long out of the Narvas, more like four to six months.

My recollection re the HIDs is the same, although somewhere was a reference that unless the factory fitted them, forget it (may have been one of the state-specific legislations I was reading as I cruised through the Austlii databases). My memory tells me that the headlight casing itself must be self-levelling, not the suspension, but the headlight levelling may rely on the suspension (ie mechanical levelling based on the angle between the front and rear of the vehicle).

As for Fat Boys - my understanding is that they are legal, in that they are the right colour and they are assymetrical (the left part of the beam shines higher than the right) which also fits in with Australian Standards and the NSW legislation (which seems to closely follow the national legislation in relation to headlights). I am not sure about the wattage: the local ARB guy said they were one of the few legal upgrades, advising me (at the same time) that the other (more expensive) "Xenon" globes he had on the shelf were NOT legal because of the whiter colour.

I have had Fat Boys in my headlights for around 17,000km of the car's 21,000km life so far. Much nicer low beam, respectable high beam. I did comment to the dealer that I preferred my VT Commodore's headlights when driving on country roads, and after taking out a couple of Navaras for night spins while waiting for mine to arrive, we noticed the inadequate lighting, which is why we put the driving lights on it.

After going through some closed-in forest trails late at night, we decided that the light even on low beam wasn't enough so we went for the Fat Boys. Definitely worth the money and they've lasted quite well so far.

If someone can find legislation that says they're illegal and can point me to it, I'll happily remove them - the last thing I want to do is be breaking the law myself while encouraging others to remain within the rules. If that becomes the case, I'll be getting myself some running lights and directing them downwards and at about 30 degrees out from centre for the forest runs.

Old.Tony said:

I think the cut-off refers to the part of the globe that prevents light from reaching the reflector and being projected forward and upwards. It's the part that causes the low-beam light to end at a visible line, in order to not cause glare for oncoming drivers.

I've just done some reading on the headlight issue and while I can't find the exact legislation (I will keep looking for this) I do recall there being limits for the headlights in both the colour range (measured in Kelvins) and the wattage.

I'll try to find the appropriate Australian legislation so I can post links to it, or better yet, excerpts from it that highlight the points we need to know about.

Click to expand...

My Philips globes have those metal things.

Ill grab a pic.

Dave.

Dave.

Works for me.

If you look inside a projector lens type light designed for HID you will see a metal shield that stops light shining in a certain direction. If you have a vehicle with factory HID and you shine the lights on a wall you will see a definite line that has no light above it .
Pic shows it all



this is what the light pattern with cutoffs looks like


without thew cutoffs the light pattern goes a lot higher

Now dont get me wrong I would use HID if I could . However after driving head on at a Navara in Canberra with HID fitted I know how annoying they are .Not worth the grief caused really.
In short the focal length of a HID globe is different to that of a standard H4 so it throws the lighting patterns all over the place. Hence why you get people saying that on Hi Beam HID are crap.
Ih you get a HID conversion for say KC Dayliters or Lightforce lights the adapters actually change the focal length of the globe to bring it back into the correct location.

Light patterns from the actual globes themselves are different too

Ill get a pic of my lights later, what you said is how mine work.

Dave.