Jan 26 2012, 05:43 PM
QUOTE(watonk @ Jan 26 2012, 03:52 PM)
Anybody here changed to HID, how's the headlamp casing? Any meltdown? Also share what HID brand u're using.
I am using HID to replace the 2 low beam headlamp behind the standard projector lens housing. Been using it since I got the car Oct last year, lots of night drive, my mileage now is close to 15k.This could be long and boring writeup for those who already DIY their HID or familiar with it, so bear with the long posting.
Type and brand. There are plenty in the market. Branded ones like Philips or PIAA easily cost you above RM500. There are also a lot of china and claimed-to-be taiwan made kits that cost below RM300. I am using those below RM300, no particular brand printed on the ballast or bulb (I think to avoid legal implication, probably they could have broken down those branded ones to copy their circuit and design).
For balast wise, there are regular size and slim size ballast. Honestly I do not see much different except for the size itself. Regular balast have the ignitor built into the balast thus bigger, but will have one less component dangling around, while slim balast type have an external ignitor. adding up, both design roughly take up almost similar amount of space to install. I am using the slim balast type. I tied the ignitor box using zip tie to the balast and make them into a single unit for neater installation.
For the bulbs, there are 2 things to choose. The wattage normally is 35 watt, and that already is roughly twice as bright when compared to a 5 watt halogen bulb. Some people opt for 55 watt hid system, which I do not recommend because apart from endangering other road users with excessive glare, you are attracting enforcement officers to flag you down for some chat, besides, there could be too much heat to the lamp housing. Second thing to look at is the colour temperature. Our normal halogen bulb is about 3300k in colour temperature. Typical HID bulb is 4300k, which is white but still slightly yellowish. 6000k bulb is very white with slight blue. 8000k and above is bluish to purplish. To avoid inviting trouble when passing roadblocks, try to keep it at 4300k. JPJ website says all HID modification is illegal unless from original car manufacturer. Insight have projector lens headlight, so the light beams are well focused and controlled. And you can point it further down using the level adjustment. My point is, when it is not excessively glaring, you are less likely to get into trouble with the law enforcement part.
Heat wise, actually, when using an IR thermometer to test both type of bulb (55 watt standard halogen vs 35 watt HID) that had been turned on for 30 minutes, HID bulb actually reads slightly lower temperature than halogen. This could be due to the low wattage of HID, and also HID are more efficient converting electricity to light while halogen waste a lot of energy producing heat. Halogen bulb also emits more IR than HID.
Now comes the most important part, installation. Some of the issue heard like meltdown of lamp housing, burnt wires or fuse, are normally due to improper installation (although some could be due to the defects from the ultra-cheap aftermarket kits).
The standard wiring that runs to the halogen bulb is quite thin, so if you are using the 35 watt HID kit, I would say it is quite safe to use the same wire to directly power the HID kit, otherwise, you will have to consider adding relay harness. Problem with my kit is that the power source wire only comes with two metal pins for you to slot them into the standard bulb connector for the HID to get power supply, making them stay in position and water proof is a bit of work. Loose pin may cause arching or even worst, shorting the entire lamp circuitary, so pay some extra attention here.
Second this is the bulb, never touch the glass surface of the bulb. When installing bulb to housing, the original bulb will give a click feeling when it is in position, but my aftermarket HID bulb does not do so, so after installation, do extra visual inspection and try pulling or twisting the bulb and see whether it could easily dislodge or not. A lot of cases of burnt housing is caused by bulb that are not properly installed, dislodged from the mounting when the car in motion and the hot bulb surface touching the plastic part of the housing thus melting it. This hardly happen to standard halogen bulb as I had mentioned earlier, it has a click to indicate proper installation so it rarely goes wrong.
As for the balast, bear in mind that the 12v power supply entering it would be converted to very high voltage to power the HID bulb, thus the wiring existing the balast would probably carries more than 20000 volts. Anyway, SOP for car wiring works, make sure none of the wires hanging freely or could potentially tangle into moving parts or hot area of the car, especially the engine belting, block etc., make sure none of the wires are under stress or being pressed against any metallic part that could damage its insulation. The balast do produce some heat and gets warm in operation, so best to mount it properly onto metal parts of the car body, if possible in places where would not get wet when driving in rain or through watery road.
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