Hid Kits

[HPmuirt]

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.

Jas will answer I am sure, but IMHO the answer will be NO, for the reason that you cannot flash with HID's, due to the warm up time.

What I would love would be 2 different main beam circuits and 2 bulbs. One would be the flash circuit (i.e. pull the stalk towards you) and would fire a standard Halogen, with the other circuit being when mains are permanently selected and would fire HID's.

Trouble is, even without inspecting my lights, I suspect there just ain't the room to do that. The alternative might be to wire the fogs to the main beam and HID those. Since you should NEVER drive with your fogs on anyway!!!!! there would be no problem loosing the use of your fog lights.

Cheers n

Si

[Corey]

Jas will answer I am sure, but IMHO the answer will be NO, for the reason that you cannot flash with HID's, due to the warm up time.

What I would love would be 2 different main beam circuits and 2 bulbs. One would be the flash circuit (i.e. pull the stalk towards you) and would fire a standard Halogen, with the other circuit being when mains are permanently selected and would fire HID's.

Trouble is, even without inspecting my lights, I suspect there just ain't the room to do that. The alternative might be to wire the fogs to the main beam and HID those. Since you should NEVER drive with your fogs on anyway!!!!! there would be no problem loosing the use of your fog lights.

Cheers n

Si

Bixenons

[Jas11n]

Si is right. It would be all to easy to fit another set to the H1 highbeam side, but then you lose the flash function. An MOT failure IIRC.
Wiring the flash to the fogs would do it, but I don't have the knowhow or guts to faff around doing this.
No Bi-xenon setup exists for the H1 bulb, which is a shame, but just not possible on a bulb a small as an H1, but then it'd be pointless in an ellipsoid anyway.
urS4/S6 owners may be able to have a rough Bi-xenon setup, because their foglamp is located in the headlamp unit below the dipped. Fit another H1 kit to the fogs, re-aim them (if it's possible to aim them that high) and you've got highbeam HID's in a fashion, you'll lose foglight aim though.

For me, the dipped HID's are "that" much brighter, I find no use having a highbeam and haven't looked any further into it.

H4 HID, H4 Hi/Lo and H4 Bi-xenon all exist for S2 owners with the earlier H4/H1 setups;

1/ H4 HID work fine.
2/ H4 Hi/Lo are out, too many issues.
3/ H4 Bi-xenons may be overkill, need a guinea pig to test (Paulgo may be the one, eh Paul?)
I'm still researching this for audifans users as most of them have H4/H1 setups.
But for now, not offering any of the above. Watch this space.

[~Delta]

Cheers Jas!

[Keeper of The Kitten]

So how do modern production cars with HID lighting do the high beam and flash function? What's the deal there?

I think I'm right that some manufacturers offer this (and I am guessing it's the BiXenon?) ...do these BiXenons have some other feature to allow the flash function?

If the high beam becomes redundant, I'd rather not be carrying it at all! Sort out an alternative flash function and take away whatever weight you can remove, to offset the fitting of the ballasts!

__MDC__

[Keeper of The Kitten]

...and if you don't need high beam, replace the headlight with a half size unit and open up that sucker to allow airflow to a suitable airbox on the RH! More airflow to the LH can be used at your discretion.

__MDC__

[Corey]

I think I'm right that some manufacturers offer this (and I am guessing it's the BiXenon?) ...do these BiXenons have some other feature to allow the flash function?

Bixenons have a shutter arrangement so the light never goes out, it just angles it differently.

[4WheelDrifter]

I would imagine BiXenon equipped cars are able to flash by having a bulb that can move behind a shutter when not in use, similar to the moving bulb on the H4 BiXenon kits.

The H4 BiXenons work by having a permanent feed to a control unit, then switching from high beam to low beam moves the bulb to different focal points without switching the bulb off. So once the lights are turned on you can switch between high and low, and flash your lights as much as you like.

If you have changed from the old reflector headlights, like I have, get rid of the one piece lower headlight trim. The weight saved from fitting the ellipsoids, combined with the later two piece trims offsets the extra weight gained from the ballasts.
Yes. I have weighed the components to compare them.

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Yeah I'm being a bit **** like that about weight, I know! And yes, Corey has told me that the improvement is significant (and I've seen it on the pictures posted above). I am very tempted to go for the HID setup.

Ok, so that explains BiXenon - this shutter arrangement, is it actually a part of the bulb or a part of the headlight housing? I'm thinking that it needs to be a small device to activate really quickly?

__MDC__

[S2central.net]

How does this flashing thang work on the BiXenons if the lights are off ?

I can see how a shutter/flap can divert an always on light-beam from dip to main positions, but if the lamp isn't on - then how can you flash the mains anyway effectively ?

[Keeper of The Kitten]

I think the lamp is always on, when the engine is on? That's how I read it - the shutter is there to either divert the light path or to hide it completely?

__MDC__

[S2central.net]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - really ?

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Awaiting confirmation from someone more knowledgeable than I!!!

__MDC__

[Jas11n]

This is on new cars.
Two methods that we use at work.
1/ as mentioned above, but I should point out the cars produced with this system are exported (daytime running lights) Primeras bound for nothern europe have this sort of system.
2/ The headlamp contains a H3 halogen bulb for the purposes of flashing, either when the lights are on or off. Currently the way the new Note has it's Bi-xenon setup.

For us, sadly not possible.
The only way I see it possible, is with Si's idea of routing the flash function to the fogs. As I said before, I just don't have the confidence do try this on my pride and joy.

H4/H1 setups are a different ball game and are doing my flaming tree in . (it doesn't help that there are three different kits) H4's a twin filament bulbs and is where all the woes start.
One guys standard car has dipped beam totally switching off when going to high, another car equally standard and from the same year has dipped staying on when going to high.
Another has both filament of the H4 lighting along with the extra H1 when switching to high.
What the hell is going on here I don't know, but as said, it's getting a little confusing.
Thats why I've advised others on fans to wait till we get our heads around it.
Only draw back is that I can't keep on forking out a 100 squid to test stuff, then the said persons/dreamers decide they're "skint" (as has happened twice now )

[Fat Audi 80]

Jas,

Have you tried the mod that I did on my car? It originally *had* the dipped beam switching OFF when I used main beam. This knackered one of my HID ballasts when I initially installed them. You need to read this and do the mod mentioned in the link to change any "switched" dipped beam to "permenant" dipped beam....

http://www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5490

Let me know if you need further clarification.

Cheers,

Steve