HID main beam headlights

[Delanor]

For anyone who has replaced the H9 Halogen main beam bulbs with a HID kit you will be aware that there is a short delay when switching from dipped beam to a full power main beam well now there are now HID kits with 1 second fast start ballasts, I bought this HID kit although it comes with H3 bulbs I only wanted the two ballasts and it was only £5.99 complete.

I haven`t swapped the ballasts yet but I tried them on a 12 volt battery and they do light fully virtually straight away compared to the original ballasts which strikes an arc then gradually reaches full intensity after a few seconds.

I`ll swap them over when I have a minute.

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Del.

[warpc0il]

I'd be interested to hear the full report, once fitted.

The inability to do "a quick flash" was the main reason that I haven't switched to high beam HIDs

[350matt]

you can get a kit with h9 bulbs here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/55W-HID-KIT- ... :rk:9:pf:0

they seem like good value I have to say

[kopite72]

I have a HID kit fitted and the switch over is literally three seconds.It's an expensive kit hence the quick switch over time but TBH you'd hardly notice it

[Delanor]

There is a few second switch time on my existing ballasts but they do still flash as normal lights just not quite at full intensity I just thought it would be better for an instant brightness main beam when driving at speed on unlit roads.

I`ll report back when I have swapped them.

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Del.

[untakenname]

Before I upgraded to a custom watercooled main beam setup in the RX8 (probably the most powerful beams in the UK in an oem housing) I used drop in LED's, the beam focus was slightly off but that was a couple of years ago and technology has moved on so that the beam focus from LED's is pretty much the same now as a filament bulb but putting out 4x as much light per watt.

Using as high beam it doesn't really matter too much about the focus as you dip the beams for oncoming traffic, on my other car (Blobeye WRX) it came fitted with filaments for both dipped and main beam and I've just upgraded the dipped beam to LED and it's far more powerful than the main beams now, I'd say at least 4x the light output of stock.

The next mod I'm doing to my rx8 is putting in the Halogen 192 assembly for the dipped beam instead of the HID's that are currently in it and using an LED like these ones as they are far better than HID technology output wise, I'm using Osram night breakers at the moment as HID's but as they are now four years old the light output has dropped markedly from new, an issue which LED's don't suffer from.
These are what I'm using in my WRX and can recomend them
https://advrider.com/f/threads/h4-led-b ... 8.1286743/

[Delanor]

What LED`s are you using? I have tried various LED headlight bulbs and agreed they do give a brighter white light but they just don`t have the power of a HID in my experience I have got some of these LED main beam bulbs in my Kuga and they are better but still not as powerful as the HID dipped beams which are far stronger.

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Del.

[untakenname]

In the RX8 I'm using some de domed Cree XHP 70's in the sidelights overdriven at 8 amps, around 7k lumen per side with a 15 degree spread that really punches the light down the road.

In the WRX I'm using the Evitek F2's in place of the Halogen beam, the main beam is a 65w PIAA filament lamp it's a night and day difference.
Will try and get some beam shots, I tried using my dashcam but it doesn't really show the difference very well, the main beam on my RX8 has a range of about 2km (judging by the reflection on road signs).

The RX8 was the first car I had with Xenon HID's and I remember being impressed compared to my previous car that had filament bulbs in a fluted glass lense and the jump from HID to LED is similar.

Lasers are now coming down in price and are the future, quite a few people are retrofitting them into older housings but they still cost quite a bit compared to LED and the control side of the lights isn't quite there yet as in OEM car it's tied into the cars autodimming sensors which isn't possible yet in a retrofit.

[simonah91]

Is there anything else that's needed for the HID kit to fit the 231 model? Also do you replace the dipped or main beam?

Cheers

[Delanor]

A HID kit has everything you need consisting of Ballasts & bulbs the dipped beam is already HID but with OE 4300K bulbs personally I find 6000K bulbs are better you get a whiter light, you only need to replace the H9 Halogen main beam bulbs with a HID kit using H9 6000K bulbs.

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Del.

[warpc0il]

I have a HID kit fitted and the switch over is literally three seconds.It's an expensive kit hence the quick switch over time but TBH you'd hardly notice it

At 110kph*, in three seconds you'd drive 300ft.
That's a long way while waiting for the main bean to switch over.

*68mph

[simonah91]

A HID kit has everything you need consisting of Ballasts & bulbs the dipped beam is already HID but with OE 4300K bulbs personally I find 6000K bulbs are better you get a whiter light, you only need to replace the H9 Halogen main beam bulbs with a HID kit using H9 6000K bulbs.

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Del.

Hi Del, thanks for the information. So I will need to change the dipped bulbs to 8000k and get the kit for main bulbs.

Just to check its H7 for dipped and H9 for main?

Cheers

Simon

[warpc0il]

8000k looks cool but is not the best for vision at night, that would be 6000k.

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

[simonah91]

8000k looks cool but is not the best for vision at night, that would be 6000k.

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated

[Delanor]

A HID kit has everything you need consisting of Ballasts & bulbs the dipped beam is already HID but with OE 4300K bulbs personally I find 6000K bulbs are better you get a whiter light, you only need to replace the H9 Halogen main beam bulbs with a HID kit using H9 6000K bulbs.

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Del.

Hi Del, thanks for the information. So I will need to change the dipped bulbs to 8000k and get the kit for main bulbs.

Just to check its H7 for dipped and H9 for main?

Cheers

Simon

No dipped beam is D2S bulb - mains are H9 and 6000K.

H7 bulb is for the 190 bhp car, 8000K gives a pretty blue light but less actual intensity.

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Del.

[simonah91]

A HID kit has everything you need consisting of Ballasts & bulbs the dipped beam is already HID but with OE 4300K bulbs personally I find 6000K bulbs are better you get a whiter light, you only need to replace the H9 Halogen main beam bulbs with a HID kit using H9 6000K bulbs.

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Del.

Hi Del, thanks for the information. So I will need to change the dipped bulbs to 8000k and get the kit for main bulbs.

Just to check its H7 for dipped and H9 for main?

Cheers

Simon

No dipped beam is D2S bulb - mains are H9 and 6000K.

H7 bulb is for the 190 bhp car, 8000K gives a pretty blue light but less actual intensity.

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Del.

Thanks for your advice

[Mherby]

These kits ok for MOT?

[Mherby]

It's all down to interpretation.

Some consider that the regulations only apply to dipped beam, so it doesn't matter what you do with main beam.
The 231 already has HID dipped beam, with washers etc.

If it was a neat enough install, without obvious aftermarket boxes and wiring around the headlights, most testers won't even notice.

[Mherby]

Yeah that sounds reasonable, might as well add that whilst I'm doing the other bits!