ok so im thinking about buying projectors because im tired of the horrible stock lighting, but i remember reading somewhere that most of the lenses in the projectors are plastic and will melt if i attempt to use hid bulbs, is this true?

someone please correct me if im wrong.

thanx all,
chris

 

hids burn cooler than halogens

 

so i can use after market projectors and use hids and ill be fine?

 

i have 35 watt hids in my projectors and they are almost cold to the touch. i used to run 55 watt halogen and they got really hot. never had a problem with them either.

 

not always, some of the cheaper bulbs (ddm) burn hotter than halogens.

 

ok then what is a good kit for the money?

 

Most people like the DDM tuning kits

 

I guess it depends on how much you know about HID, and what you are looking for.

I think the DDM stuff is junk. I used to think they were ok until I started retrofitting and really learning more about HID.

 

well jp7, whats the best kit under $150? ive heard that ddm kits burn out easily or dont work that great or can be misssing parts and their support sucks

 

DDM bulbs are terrible, they run too hot and are dangerous for some plastic lamp housings and the chrome on the inside of the plastic.

DDM ballasts are unreliable, I had one die and act up frequently.

If you want to buy a premade kit I suggest xenoneyes.com, If you want to piece together a GREAT kit I suggest calling Matt at the retrofit source, and using Morimoto parts.

I don't know if the Morimoto bulbs are available in the Hi/Low solenoid controlled style.

I just bought 4 Morimoto ballasts and can't wait to get them installed.

 

Most people don't understand that much about HID either.

 

i dont know anything about them other then when i drive my dads tsx, then hop in my truck, i can barely drive lol

 

hrm that's a bummer about the DDMs. I haven't ever used them but was looking at them for future use. Right now I have two VVME kits for headlamps one being a bi-xenon 9007 and the other being an H3. They both run cool as the headlamp housing is cold to the touch.

Their ballasts aren't that great though(I have analogs). They wipe out FM radio reception when on. Also emit a slightly noticeable buzz if you stick your head under the hood with the truck off. Also they seem take a long time to bring the bulbs up to full brightness.

I was thinking about getting an additional kit for fog housings. Also might replace the H3 kit after i figure what the heck happened to my wiring that both those and the fogs hook up to. I've had a rare issue(once ever few days) were once in awhile one side of the H3 kit bulbs wouldn't fire(strangely it seems to alternate). Turning it off an on always fixes it though. The problem is now nothing works as the trigger wire(from switch) to the Relay setup is dead on one side. That's going to be fun to figure out..

I suspect something came loose within the switch circuit. Eventually I'll get around to fixing it as I'm lazy and since its only my secondary Projectors and Fogs that are out :D

 

when on vvme's website, which kit did you buy bc ithey all say the same thing but are somehow different.

here's what im looking for: 9007, 6k(if those look good), bi-xenon(hi-low?), and really cheap and reliable

 

I bought a cheapo kit off of ebay and had it nearly a year now and never had any problems. They turn on first click every time with full brightness in about 2 seconds. Never overheat or mess with radio reception or "buzz." I love them but people on the other end might not because i havent upgraded the head light housing yet :) so FYI, if you bright me i have offroad lamps already pointed at your windshield

 

Just for info I managed to resolve my lighting issues. Firstly I had a wire go bad that was attached to switch run to a relay(simple fix really).

As far as the H3s in my projectors having only one random side firing I'm pretty its a power issue. For some reason the truck is not able to provide enough power to them to get the ballasts to both fire up at the same time when its off or just turned on. If I leave the truck warm up(10 seconds or so) before turning my running lights, main beams, projectors & fogs I don't have any issues. I suspect the cause is when the truck is off a battery usually provides less voltage then an alternator(11-12v vs 14-15v avg).

I found out about this after some reading over hid troubleshooting sources and seems to pop up sometimes. Whats odd is its only that single kit that does this(no issues with my other VVME kit). I suspect the ballast in this kit is extremely sensitive in its protection circuit which prevents it from powering on when it detects a low voltage situation to save itself and the bulb from possible damage.

 

If I remember right for the main kit I went with a 9007 at 4300k(this color is almost pure white sometimes referred to as warm vs cool temp and also is the standard in most OEM vehicles that come with HIDs.). Also I went with 35w(which plenty and 55w might be overkill in most applications). Also with the bi-xenon(those provide a hi-low via a solenoid that moves the bulbs in and out one way for lower and the other for high). Also I purchased mine at the end of 2007 so this was before they had these other options & most likely improved by now(namely ballasts). It would be called a Standard 9007-3 Bi-Xenon HID Kit now. I also purchased a wiring harness which acts as relay and draws its power directly from the battery(recommended).

If I were you I would go with a digital ballast as they are better then the Analog ones that i got. Digital is less likely to buzz or hum as well as less likely to cause any RF interference issues. If i were to do it all over again this is the route i would go.

Most likely these: Digital Slim 9007-3 Bi-Xenon HID Kit

or if you don't want to bi-xenon's they have these:
Digital Slim 9007 HID Conversion Kit

Lastly I wouldn't go with the third option of Hi/Low (One Beam in HID). Its the one were the low beam is HID and the high is halogen. They don't seem to work so well since the Halogen bulb is used for your high beam.

One more thing to think about with the bi-xenon or not option is will the bi-xenon work well in your headlamp housing for a hi-beam? I have found in mine that when I click the high beams on all that happens is it refocuses the light towards the ground more. Doesn't really work so well. Again it all depends on the plastic housing fixture.

Hope that helps clear some things up for you :)

 

on my dads acura, the hids stay on, and halogens function as the highs. how could i do this if i buy an after market projector housing?