HID Upgrade for Vehicle Headlights

Thanks Wal, that's good info to get back.
Did you notice whether you could have had driving lights without HID's Vs. the HID H4's or would the reverse have been true (Ie. Standard headlights Vs.HID driving lights?
Cheers,
Benno

G'day Walter H
I don't think your lights on or off would have made any difference.
There is no filament to fail in an HID lamp. I would suspect you have some severe undamped vibes happening at the lights if the conditions physically damaged the HID lamps.

I must agree with Phil. They are a pain in the you know what and are they realy an upgrade or just a fad people get?

Don't vehicles have to have self levelling suspension & headlight washers for HID to be legal?

Most sincerely agree they must be adjusted correctly, but if your original lights were correctly aligned you will be OK with just a simplle installation..... is it a fad I dont think so once you have them fitted you wont want to go back to standard lighting.
Dont go any higher than 6000k globes as the 'flare' back (as in light reflection) from road signs can be annoying.
I'm going to cut & paste a conversation I had with Holdger (hidlightsdownunder) only yesterday re radio interference..... some thing I wasnt aware of prior to purchase..... but I'm living with it.
Cheers

Best read from the 'bottom up'


High beam are 70w as opposed the your 35w low beams. More power means more aggressive power consumption and feedback

Sent from my iPhone

On 10/02/2012, at 1:17 PM, "Tony" wrote:


Thanks for the reply..... well that is a bummer .....guess I'm going to have to learn to live with it, any idea why it only happens on hi beam.... is it because with all 4 ballasts firing up it becomes all to much?.... interesting turning the driving lights on which are HID doesnt increase or change the 'interference'
Thanks again
Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: Lightsdownunder
To: Tony
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: Question for you


Tony you will get interference on the AM band as it's very close to the frequency that the hid work at. It states that on our overview page, even ferrite core suppressors don't seem to help much

Sent from my iPhone

On 09/02/2012, at 10:27 PM, "Tony" wrote:


Hi Holger,
Was probably back early August last year I purchased two (hi & lo beam) HID conversion kits for my new 200 series.
All installed & working very well....... one question though when driving & turning on high beam (lo beam ok) & I have the radio on the AM band I am getting 'interference' through the radio.... there is no 'interference' when on the FM band.
Hoping you can shed some light on this problem?
Regards

G'day Tony,
I had the a similar problem with 'interference' through the radio(s) when I installed a pair of HID spotlights. The ballasts were very noisy up to the point that my Codan HF was not usable while the spotlights were on. I was also getting interference through the am band on the car radio.

The lights worked very well, but I was disappointed with the associated "noise" and the seller was not interested in my problem.
I ended up selling the lights locally, and put on a set of halogen lights.

Until someone can guarantee me (preferably in writing) that their HID spotlights will not cause RF interference, I will stay with halogen lighting.

Tony and Stu

That raises an interesting point. If those lights cause interference to radio communications, ie AM radio reception, or any short wave services as well, then they may well be illegal under ACMA regulations. Regardless of what the RTA authorities say. Just imagine sitting next to an RFDS vehicle and putting them effectively off the air. I think a damned big hammer would come down if anything went wrong.

I may ask ACMA one day if that is the case. We had a pay TV set top box from the old Galaxy mod that was declared illegal due to the fact that it interfered with HF communications. Albeit my own comms it was still interfering with the comms and was modified by Galaxy to stop the interference.

This is another reason not to get them. I may have troubles using my HF with them on. And if it's an emergency I would certainly feel like using a bomb on them.

Definitely not getting them. But that's my opinion.

Stu: If you are interested ring ACMA and ask to talk to a Radio Inspector about radio interference.

Interesting.

Phil

Stu & Phil,
I have a Codan HF radio & I have no operational interference when the HID lights are on weather it be lo, hi beam or all driving lights on.
As Holdger said in my comms with him (earlier post on this topic) in my case at least it is the 70w high beams causing the interference the lo beam & driving lights are 35w.
As he explained it is the frequency that the lights operate at that cause the problem.... higher the wattage the greater the 'problem'. Keep in mind though only when I go to high beam do I get a problem, switch on driving lights NO difference in interference.
If these lights (HID) were that much of a problem they would have been outlawed long ago. Would like to know vehicles that come std with HID how do they get around the interference ..... cant see Benz & Lexus drivers putting up with interference on the AM band.....but then they may only listen to FM & iPods
Cheers

Its obvious someone doesnt like HID lights.

I have just stopped selling HID gear, and one of the products i sold were , inline static filters. Worked exceptionally well. Never had any interference with mine, and never had a complaint back either.

Sold them for $15 each. Interest wasnt great so i stopped selling them.

Sold over 500 kits in last 12 months. Only sold 8 inline filters. Obviously the static doesnt affect many.

I myself, personal opinion, chose not to convert my headlights to HID only my driving lights. If you have seperate hi and low beam, then i recommend doing just the hibeam.

Otherwise, and there is no getting around it, HID low beam is dangerous for other road users. I've tried many different things, and all in all the glare and scatter is still too unpredicatable and dangerous.

Its just plain selfishness. Leave the ultra bright lights for hibeam.

I think I will leave you guys to it. To those who get interference I say call the ACMA. To those who want use then just expect the flashes to remind you that you are annoying someone. To those whose cars are legal with them and the job is done properly then please keep them adjusted properly. To those who do it illegally well you are not worth the time.

Yesterday we went to the 4WD show in Canberra. We didn't even look at any driving lights. But we got a quote on a Conqueror and we got a quote for a brush bar with side steps/rock sliders and got a new attachment for the air hose and got a wheel cover and had a meal with a whole bunch of mates with a few beers and I am sunburnt and buggered. A good day and we are not broke. Yet!!!

Cheers

Phil

Well, I never thought there would be as much going-o as seeing the HID ugrade question
Awesome information back for me and a great wake-up call with legality of my normal headlights.
Thanks for all reponses
Ben

gbc
I do not agree with all of your statement.

Adjustment of the headlights is the key there.
I run aftermarket H4 HID's in the Patrol, and find them brilliant, on high beam.
On low beam thay are just another light, and/or as one of the boys at work said,
"they are bloody hopeless" .

I fitted HID H1's to my driving lights, AND WOW DID THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE, !
Going to work in the mornings, I cop all the Deaslination Construction workers heading into Wonthaggi, and I do not get a chance to fire them. They are the lucjky ones there !

I now have other issues since drowning them, a few times, on a trip to Cape york last year.
But that is a different story.
I will get another set from Ebay.

Shame they are not waterproof though.

Cheers Bucky

Nice, yours must be the first patrol retrofitted with different focal length low beam hids that didn't give everyone the bleep s. All the ones up my way do. Take a flying guess at why the lenses need to be washed as part of the transport regs. Light scatter is atrocious ........... ah buggerit - read this.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Intresting article & goes some way to answer many of my issues when I tried them.
Loved his analogy which explained why the light pattern is so poor. "If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly." :-))
Cheers Craig.............

G'day Benno................,as for the difference from standard to HID, well I started with Hella H4's and they are a brilliant light by them selfs, but after fitting the HID's il never go back to standard lighting as there is no comparison,but i must be honest in saying that they did take a little time to get use to,and like others have said adjustment of the lights is the key and i only run the 5000k globes as they are more of a white light and siut my vision,but as far as interference with radios im yet to have any problems.And just or the record I have never been flashed and I do a lot of night driving including leaving home at 4.30 in the morning to start work.As for it being a fad i doubt it, as its relatively new technology and my guess is that in years to come car manufacturers will have them as standard equipment as some European sports cars are all ready using them.

Cheers

I agree with walter got them in 100 series & ml triton aswell massy tractor, I only use philips globs there "no1"...just luv um.... but i also have a good set of spots (if buying spots buy the best you can)
cheers nick