Hid Kits

[Crawford_S2]

I have, Andy if you hold for a couple of days, I'm waiting for another new price which will beat his eBay price. Up to you though, they are good suppliers and offer a bloody good warranty too.

Dude, watching this with interest! Does it cause problems with the autocheck thing? If so how do you bypass this?

Crawf

[HPmuirt]

I have a set of these and they are well made and very easy to fit.

However a week after fitment my autocheck starting pinging and never stopped. I tried separate earth to the body and all the way to the battery but still pings. Ended up doing the k-pin mod which ****ed me off as it is a bodge. Not everyone seems to suffer with this and those that do seem to be able to fix it with the new earth straps...just not me

However, that said, I would never go back to standard having 'seen the light'

Cheers n

Si

P.S. payment in beers may convince me to explain my secret mounting method/position which saves A LOT of hassle

[HPmuirt]

oops

[Jas11n]

Message to mods/admin.
This group buy originally was on audifan.net and s246parts.net. It was never intended for here as Vagparts are a paying supporter of s2forum and have their own kit's available, and I'm NOT going to step on Marty's toes. He's too much of a good guy for that.
Discuss amongst yourselves please as to whether this thread stays.
If you decide to pull it, then that's totally understandable and I don't mind at all.
Mark or myself make nothing from this group buy, I only wish I did

In answer to questions:
1/ Yep they are a piece of cake to fit, any competant home car diy'er can fit them. If I can, you can. The 22mm hole saw drill that Corey mentions is for drilling a hole in the bulb cover cap so as to fit the supplied cable grommet.
2/ Autocheck. After exhausting all avenues on this, my conclusion is it's down to the specific car.
I've never had the warning, Mark hasn't, and good few on fans etc haven't either
BUT, others have.
As said, my car never/still hasn't pulled up a warning, so I took a kit that "did" pull up a warning on someones elses car, fitted it to mine and guess what? Didn't do it on mine. Go figure
This says to me that it must be down to individual autocheck systems sensitivity.
Simple fix (or bodge as Si puts it) is to remove your autocheck relay, and snip/blank of the "K" pin terminal. This stops the autocheck monitoring the dipped beam circuit only, Nothing else is effected and all other autocheck systems still work.
3/ Everything is included to fit, apart from some 16awg wire and a female spade terminal x 2, that you'll need to route to an earth point. I earth the kits I fit straight to the earth point on the bulb holder base by soldering it on, up to you if you go this route, or route an earth cable to the engine/car body.

Many (and I mean "MANY") people have PM'ed me through audifans and s246parts on what's the diference etc/can't I just buy PIAA plasmas and the like. I posted this below on fans. I hope it helps.

I think at this point, I need to try and explain what the difference is between a halogen bulb and an HID bulb.

A conventional Halogen automotive bulb is made of a thin coiled tungsten wire (filament) held inside a glass tube. A vacuum is formed when the bulbs are made to remove any oxygen, then it's filled with halogen gas. The halogen gas helps the tungsten wire glow brighter and hotter when a current is passed through it, without the wire burning out.
As with any metal, when it' gets hot enough it glows yellow/orange. This is what creates the light and is also the reason why halogen bulbs give off a yeelow light rather than a white light. Xenon gas is also used for the same purpose as the halogen gas.
Fake look HID halogen bulbs try to replicate the true HID colour by coating the glass with a blue tint. Whilst this does change the colour slightly, it also REDUCES the light output.

Picture below of an H1 Halogen bulb. You can clearly see the coiled tungsten wire.




High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps include these types of electrical lamps:
mercury vapor,
metal halide (also HQI),
high-pressure sodium,
low-pressure sodium
and less common, xenon short-arc lamps.

The light-producing element of these lamp types is a well-stabilized arc discharge contained within a refractory envelope (arc tube).
HID lamps produce light by striking an electrical arc across tungsten electrodes housed inside a specially designed inner fused quartz or fused alumina tube. This tube is filled with both gas and metals. The gas aids in the starting of the lamps. Then, the metals produce the light once they are heated to a point of evaporation.


Like fluorescent lamps, HID lamps require a ballast to start and maintain their arcs. The method used to initially strike the arc varies: mercury vapor lamps and some metal halide lamps are usually started using a third electrode near one of the main electrodes while other lamp styles are usually started using pulses of high voltage.
Metal halide lamps, which are what we use to light our headlamps here, are less efficient than the other types of HID light sources, but produce an even whiter, more natural light. BUT please note that HID lamps are HUGELY more efficient than filament bulbs. A standard fitment H1 halogen bulbs consumes 55watts, whereas an H1 HID bulb consumes only 35watts and gives off nearly 300% more light in the process.
Colored metal halide lamps are also possible. To change the colour, different metal halide salts are used within the arc tube. The more salts, the bluer the colour, BUT also the less light output.

Picture below is of an H1 HID bulb up close. If you look closely enough, you can see the slight yellow discoloured area, that is the metal halide salts crystals.



This diagram below shows a high pressure sodium lamp. Our HID bulbs work on exactly the same principle, but instead of the sodium mercury amalgam, ours use metal halide salt crystals, DC current and a quartz arc tube.



The light given off in an HID bulb is whiter, brighter and more akin to daylight. Our eyes are better suited to veiwing this light, than the light produced in a filament bulb, hence we are able to see things more clearly with a discharge light source.

Oh, and heres the difference between a 55watt halogen PIAA plasma blue H1 bulb against a 6000k HID H1 bulb.



Now please NO MORE PM's off people asking "whats the difference"

Jas..
8)

[VladaS2]

Jas11n, I am only interested now in the price

[Lloyd]

Extras

This looks very interesting and would like a set please.

What is the recommended changes to other bulbs, ie side lights/fogs/main beam etc to look 'right' with the kit.

Do you still use main beam at all when this kit is fitted?

Cheers,

Lloyd

[HPmuirt]

This looks very interesting and would like a set please.

What is the recommended changes to other bulbs, ie side lights/fogs/main beam etc to look 'right' with the kit.

Do you still use main beam at all when this kit is fitted?

Cheers,

Lloyd

Good questions...

I too need a whiter side lightaas I bought some really white ones which were much better than my Halogens headlights, only to fing they look dark and yellow against the HID's

If you have the cash, there is nothing to stop you running HID fogs, but I think that is pointless as front fogs are next to useless in fog and therefore only for CHAV's.

As for main beams, they make little difference to the light levels as they a weak in comparison, they just *** a dim yellow layer abover the bright white HID's,. I adjusted my Dips up a little high and then run the level adjuster on setting 1 or 2. Then when I want to drive the empty country roads, I just wind the levels up. I therefore just use the Main beams for flashing or for short bursts of extra light.

Cheers n

Si

[rotoryboy]

I back Jas up. Mine has NEVER tripped the Autocheck system and they are deffo the best winter mod. Jas took a while trying to source these to make sure they were high quality and they are. Get 'em bought

[Corey]

Main beam becomes redundant with these. Remember though on an S2 you need to do the switch wiring so when you do switch between main and dip that the HID's don't go out.
When I did the first kit we purchased I found that it was very sensitive to the earthing point, we did the earth at the headlight on both lamps, we had an issue where one lamp would illuminate and the other wouldn't and would trip the Autocheck. In the end the only thing that cured it was replacing all the light fuses with brand new ones (still with the correct rating).
My S6 trips the Autocheck only once when they are switched on, then it goes out after they have warmed up. I am fitting another kit on Friday to another S6 so it will be interesting to see how it works on that.
The Autocheck issue is a very small detail, at the end of the day if you have to disable the function by doing the "k" mod so what?
If you can't notice a bulb being out of the front of your car then your Scar will be removed and impounded and you will be forced to drive a 1.1 Metro for ever, OK!!!

[terrybullwon]

would these work with our fog lights?

[rotoryboy]

Good questions...
If you have the cash, there is nothing to stop you running HID fogs, but I think that is pointless as front fogs are next to useless in fog and therefore only for CHAV's.
Si

Yep

[terrybullwon]

rotoryboy Quote:
Originally Posted by HPmuirt
Good questions...
If you have the cash, there is nothing to stop you running HID fogs, but I think that is pointless as front fogs are next to useless in fog and therefore only for CHAV's.
Si



Yep

Doh

[iain1067]

So where does one buy these kits and how much???


iain

[Jas11n]

I've had them fitted now for exactly 12 months, not a hicup ever.
If there's a problem, they have a 3 (three) year warranty on the bulbs AND ballasts. No way could I go back to halogens.

Remember though on an S2 you need to do the switch wiring so when you do switch between main and dip that the HID's don't go out.

That wiring mod is only for S2's that have had the original H4/H1 headlamps removed, and ellipsoids fitted. ABY's that came with ellipsoids from the factory and "all" RS2's don't need this wiring mod.

What is the recommended changes to other bulbs, ie side lights/fogs/main beam etc to look 'right' with the kit.

Do you still use main beam at all when this kit is fitted?

A few options, Either blue tinted bulbs for the sidelights, or LED sidelights. The harder the normal bulb tries to copy the white light of the HID, the less light it puts out.
LED's have the added problem of them being very one directional in their focus, so veiwing them straight on they are bright, but move to the side and they dim a huge amount.
Same goes for the highbeam H1 and the foglight H3 halogen bulbs, PIAA are supposed to be the best, but just look back at the picture of my car above. Pants in comparison.
I'm afraid nothing will ever look like the HID, unless it is HID.
I have blue tinted sidelight bulbs, they are the best match so far that I've found, but they are dim compared to a normal sidelight bulb.
Others don't like them because you have a blue bulb showing. In that case opt for a multi LED sidelight bulb. Ebay is stuffed with different sellers offering white sidelights.

As Si and Corey say above, highbeam becomes almost useless as the hugely improved dipped beam outshines them. All highbeam does is seem to add a yellow tinge.

would these work with our fog lights

Yes, you'd need an H3 kit. I've tried a set of H3 HID's in my foglights, as a few people asked over on audifans. 1/ I wanted to see if it was possible, 2/ I wanted to see what they would be like.
Fitment is a pain as you are limited for space to mount ballasts without removing the bumper. Whilst they were vastly brighter than the normal setup, I'd say don't go this route.
You aren't going to come across the need to use them that often, and using them outside the area they were designed for, namely heavy fog, will only upset others on the road and you'll almost definately get a tug off PC Plod. And you'll look like a Chav

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above mentioned blue sidelight bulbs look like this below:



Unfortunately, the seller I bought my sidelight bulbs from no longer has any for sale, but these here are same same type.

Another thing I need to point out. Until I obtain and try a set of the new H4 Bi-xenons, people with the earlier headlamps with H4/H1 configuration are going to have to wait. Sorry..

S2's equipped with ellipsoids, all RS2's and all urS4/S6's are fine as you need an H1 kit. 6000k is recommended. Above that they become a bit too blue and also lose some of the gained light output.

Chris has replied on price, they are still going to be £110 all in shipped.
The shipping is to anywhere in the world, not just to the UK.
His current ebay price works out at £118.
I paid £155 last year, so it just shows you how much they have dropped in price over 12 months.
Follow this link here and everything is explained on how to purchase.
I'll try and dig the photos up (photos lost due the galley being down on audifans) that I used for a fitment guide, and relink them back into the thread in the above link. Will prolly do that in the morning.

Oh, one last thing. It's always best to get your headlamp aim checked after fitting.
Whilst trying to signal ET with your new lights might appeal, other road users might not thank you for it, especially if you've burnt out their retinas

[~Delta]

Jas, is it possible to run 2 kits, so the main beam is HID too? I have the RS2 elipsoids. At £110, I'm definitely interested in at least HID dipped beams.