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Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone????

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fowtj

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Im not very well versed in auto-electronics. I imagine that an HID light takes alot more juice to burn than a standard halogen bulb. Is there any danger of hurting the car's electrical system by adding a retrofit HID kit???? Does a relay of some sort need to be added when adding a retrofit kit????
2nd Question: Does anyone offer a reasonable HID H7 retrofit kit (for a US spec Golf headlight) that requires no splicing... ie. has the correct wiring harness to plug into the factory harness?
ps. I know a projetor would be better and OEM would be the best, but Im poor. I got spoiled driving my Boss' Escalade and my Dad's S80 all summer and really liked the light output of HID. Going back to Halogen is so hard.
 
#2 ·
Re: Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone???? (fowtj)

HIDs actually take less voltage (about 35W instead of 55W) but are more efficient.
Putting a HID retrofit into a halogen lamp isn't really good because of the glare issue (the HID arc light source still isn't quite the same shape/size as the original halogen bulb filament and that will affect the beam to some degree). This gets even worse in a lamp that was high-low in one bulb (9004, 9007, H4, 9003) where the optics aren't perfect for either beam to begin with since you have one reflector/lens dealing with both high and low beam. And it's also worse in a US-spec lamp which allows more glare by default than an E-code lamp due to the beam the US lamp is required to put out.
 
#3 ·
Re: Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone???? (gti_matt)

he has a golf, he doesn't have to worry about the single bulb part of it. he does have to consider the sub-par light output by the OEM lamps though.
You are correct that HID's run at about 35w, plus 7w for the ballast, but you failed to mention that there is a 10000v initial startup spike to the system.
 
#4 ·
Re: Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone???? (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by gti_matt »
HIDs actually take less voltage (about 35W instead of 55W) but are more efficient.

If I may be pedantic, watts is power. They take the same voltage, but current draw varies, and you multiply the two to get power.
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HID is far more efficient, or should I say, halogen is terribly inefficient!
Quote, originally posted by germanrox »
You are correct that HID's run at about 35w, plus 7w for the ballast, but you failed to mention that there is a 10000v initial startup spike to the system.

The big big voltage generated by the ballasts isn't the big deal, it's the current draw to do this, which is momentarily a few amps for each ballast.
Yeah, I don't know what my point was either.
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Re: Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone???? (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by germanrox »
he does have to consider the sub-par light output by the OEM lamps though...
...but you failed to mention that there is a 10000v initial startup spike to the system.

You say sub-par light output. I guess I am wondering what par is. By par, do you mean OEM halogen???? Are you saying that HID in a halogen housing will be worse than what I have??? Or are you just saying it will be better than halogen but not as good a beam pattern as a projector housing????
Is the startup spike an area of concern for the factory wiring???
 
#6 ·
"Par" directly relates to HID output in an OEM HID application. Factory DOT halogen headlamps were designed useing lighting standards from the 50's, and are years behind what they should be today.
A HID bulb in a halogen housing will be brighter, yes, but light will be going every which way, and you will be able to notice how stray light is designed into the lamps once you're outputting an extra 1500 or more lumens.
A good starting point for HID retrofit kits are to go with E-code headlamps, as they have a far superior light pattern to the DOT lamps we have here. But the cost of e-codes plus a quality HID retrofit kit will be almost the same ammount of money as OEM HID's. if you IM nater on here, he can aquire OEM HID's and everything you need to get them on and running for about $1000.
IMO, on a mk4 the only HID retrofit you should be looking at is the OEM HID lamps. Theres no excuse not to, I mean heck you already picked a car that costs 10x as much as a honda to modify so money must not be a problem to mk4 drivers!
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Modified by germanrox at 6:07 PM 9-19-2004
 
#7 ·
Re: (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by germanrox »

IMO, on a mk4 the only HID retrofit you should be looking at is the OEM HID lamps. Theres no excuse not to, I mean heck you already picked a car that costs 10x as much as a honda to modify so money must not be a problem to mk4 drivers!
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What if I tell you that I have a complete Mercedes HID set which cost me nothing (no, it's not stolen). Bought Ecodes from Cullen's GB for $180. Are you telling me that I still should get OEM HID?
I think you're calcuator is broken because my GTI did not cost 10x more than a new Honda Civic. And I don't have money to burn like a lot of you guys. Although seems like many here dump so much money that later they have money problems.
 
#8 ·
Then I will tell you that:
1) your oem hid merc bulbs do not have the correct base to fit into the e-codes and
2) if they are d2r bulbs out of a reflector lamp merc then you will only be outputting 2800lu vs the 3200lu of a d2s bulb.
If you read my post, I did not state 10x the base cost, although a gti costs roughly $5000 more than an ex civic, but aftermarket parts for said VW are quite a bit more expensive than a civic, why do you think the import scene is so much based around the H/A.
 
#9 ·
Re: (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by germanrox »
Then I will tell you that:
1) your oem hid merc bulbs do not have the correct base to fit into the e-codes and

I should've been a little clearer. I got ecodes because I wanted fog lights and the beam adjustment via motors. I have MB projectors too, so I'll be modifying the lights to fit those.


Modified by SinisterMind at 1:28 PM 9-20-2004
 
#10 ·
Re: (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by germanrox »

If you read my post, I did not state 10x the base cost, although a gti costs roughly $5000 more than an ex civic, but aftermarket parts for said VW are quite a bit more expensive than a civic, why do you think the import scene is so much based around the H/A.

Reading comprehension owns me sometimes. Sorry. Most stuff for VWs is quality and that's why we pay for it more. But that doesn't mean that a VW owner has more money than a Civic owner.
Sorry for thread hijack
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#12 ·
Re: Any electrical problems with an HID retrofit???? Cullen or anyone???? (germanrox)

Quote, originally posted by germanrox »
he has a golf, he doesn't have to worry about the single bulb part of it. he does have to consider the sub-par light output by the OEM lamps though.
You are correct that HID's run at about 35w, plus 7w for the ballast, but you failed to mention that there is a 10000v initial startup spike to the system.

Not to nit-pick...but it's 20,000 volts
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.
But he's right...it's the amperage draw which is most important - and I've got a graph somewhere on my website which shows just how that amperage spike goes...
point is, you need relays.
Later,
 
#13 ·
Re: (SinisterMind)

Quote, originally posted by SinisterMind »
What if I tell you that I have a complete Mercedes HID set which cost me nothing (no, it's not stolen). Bought Ecodes from Cullen's GB for $180. Are you telling me that I still should get OEM HID?

Well, if you have a TRUE Mercedes OEM HID setup that you acquired from AN ACTUAL MERCEDES then the bases will not fit into your ecodes.
A true OEM HID setup has a NON-HALOGEN BASE and will never fit (w/o modification) into any halogen setup.
So, what you have is not true OEM then.
And if you have true OEM HID's then once you modify them to put them into a halogen base they are no longer in their original state (and therefore can have serious focal point differences causing glare).
Just a thought.
There is sooooo much misinformation out there about HID's these days it's not funny - which is why many ppl are making serious coin off of buyers.
Later,
 
#14 ·
Re: (nater)

Quote, originally posted by nater »
Well, if you have a TRUE Mercedes OEM HID setup that you acquired from AN ACTUAL MERCEDES then the bases will not fit into your ecodes.
A true OEM HID setup has a NON-HALOGEN BASE and will never fit (w/o modification) into any halogen setup.

I know that it won't fit without modification.
Quote »

So, what you have is not true OEM then.
And if you have true OEM HID's then once you modify them to put them into a halogen base they are no longer in their original state (and therefore can have serious focal point differences causing glare).

I never said I'll be installing them to the halogen base. I know it won't fit. I will have to attach HID base to the back of the housing. With projectors I won't have to worry about glare.
 
#16 ·
Re: (nater)

Quote, originally posted by nater »

Depends on the projector.
Trust me, if you have the "wrong" projector you can have plenty of glare.
Later,

*cough* dc2 integra */cough*
PS the ballasts are 23k volts max
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You can pick your friends, you can pick your nits, but you cant' pick your friends nits........
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#19 ·
Re: (SinisterMind)

Quote, originally posted by SinisterMind »
I have Mercedes projectors, so it's a safe bet that they won't produce glare. Thanks for looking out though guys.
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You are correct. If they are mercedes HID projectors you are set bro. That's my mistake, when you said you had mercedes hid's I assumed you had everything EXCEPT the projectors. Usually when ppl say they have, "PUT MFR HERE HID's" they don't mean with optics.
So, my bad for assuming. You know what they say.
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Later,
 
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