Write-Up: HID Conversion

AA wrote:

Who cares if it's cheap Chinese product (it's not Japanese) - at least you got a shiny metal briefcase, right? J/K, but that kind of stuff makes me run for the hills. Looking forward to seeing your install, though. Hope everything turns out.

Got it installed and up and running. Drove around a little bit and everything is perfect. Nothing fancy. I was freezing my butt off and I still can't feel my feet. I'd almost be embarrassed to post pictures. All I did was double side tape the ballasts. One is mounted on the passenger side fuse block right in front of the headlight and the other is mounted on the coolant reservoir tank. I'm very satisfied with the Kensun product so far.

Here are some pictures of the HID lights. Please be gently. My car is disgustingly dirty and I did my best with fingers and feet that I could not feel. Oh and don't look at the pictures too hard, the garage might fall down.

Nice job, thanks for posting pics. Only thing I might be careful about is the location of the ballast on the coolant reservoir. If someone spills while adding coolant, or it gets hot and overflows, this could saturate the unit. Probably wont happen, but it could. Can you mount it to the side of the airbox?

AA wrote:

Nice job, thanks for posting pics. Only thing I might be careful about is the location of the ballast on the coolant reservoir. If someone spills while adding coolant, or it gets hot and overflows, this could saturate the unit. Probably wont happen, but it could. Can you mount it to the side of the airbox?

That's what I was thinking. I deleted the stock airbox on my setup so I'm thinking I'll just put in behind the headlight, underneath the cone filter. Hopefully will be ok.

Nice pics though! Thanks for taking them, especially when you were You get feeling back in your feet? I know what that's like.

I never thought about the coolant overflowing. I'll probably adjust things. I thought about mounting it on the air box, but I wanted to avoid mounting it somewhere that I may modify or have to do maintenance on. I looked at Ians write up and was going to mount it like his, but my ballasts seem a lot bigger and there was no screw holes to really put a bracket through. It does say they are waterproof, I wonder if that includes coolant proof.

And yes, i regained feeling in my feet about four hours after I did the install. I drove around with the heat on my feet trying to defrost them.

They should be coolant proof !!!... if you take the screws out and lift a cover you will see the electronics are encased in a hard resin like block.

My set came yesterday $36 + $15 shipping. same physical kit as i have fitted already but with different lables. they must be mass producing them in china now so the cost has fallen somewhat!

nigelf wrote:

They should be coolant proof !!!... if you take the screws out and lift a cover you will see the electronics are encased in a hard resin like block.

My set came yesterday $36 + $15 shipping. same physical kit as i have fitted already but with different lables. they must be mass producing them in china now so the cost has fallen somewhat!

We should get into the reselling of these kits. Seems to be some good profits to be made.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised that it's encased in resin. I'm not too worried about it where it is, but I'll probably move them eventually.

Does any one know how they work?.... does any one want to know?...

I actually use them at work in the equivilent of an electronic microscope as a light source. Ours are a little brighter but the principal is the same.

beware they actually create a very high voltage when you switch them on to cause the lamp to strike.... once the plasma has been created and they start to warm the voltage drops to a lower voltage with a higher current the electronics in the ballast are used to keep the current constant to keep the brightness at a controled level.

Nigel

nigelf wrote:

Does any one know how they work?.... does any one want to know?...

I actually use them at work in the equivilent of an electronic microscope as a light source. Ours are a little brighter but the principal is the same.

beware they actually create a very high voltage when you switch them on to cause the lamp to strike.... once the plasma has been created and they start to warm the voltage drops to a lower voltage with a higher current the electronics in the ballast are used to keep the current constant to keep the brightness at a controled level.

Nigel

I'm the type of guy that unless I have some idea about the innerworkings of something, I just can't enjoy it.

On a somewhat related note....

Our Rivieras have twilight sentinel that turns the lights on automatically when it's dark out of course. Since I got the HID light setup, I'm worried if this has any negative impact on the life of the ballasts or the bulbs. What I mean is when i start the car up at night or in the morning, the lights turn on for a brief moment before shutting off when the car turns over and then they come on again. I can't imagine it's something good for the HIDs, but I can't figure out a way to prevent it.

Does anyone have any input or thought on this?

it's not good for the ballast to turn on and off frequently or rapidly, but i have had my kit in for a year now and that hasnt effected it so far.

if you are really worried about it you can re-program the key fob to not flash the lights with lock/unlock.

I don't know about '98, but on my '97, the keyfob doesn't flash the low-beams, it flashes the DRL's...

the balasts are really bomb proof but are dependant on the quality of the components used in side. The lamps we use at work we try not to start them too often as it "colours" the tube it make our lamps darker but i should not worry too much with the HID's fitted to the car... they are only $14 a pair! and the balasts are $16!

I personally turn the sentinal off. I just turn them on all the time (i ride motor bikes) as a habit day and night after i start the car.

Nigel, you can turn off your Twilight Sentinel because you have a '95... After '95 or '96, they spring-loaded the lever so that you can't leave it in the off position.

Ahhhh.....

Eldo wrote:

Nigel, you can turn off your Twilight Sentinel because you have a '95... After '95 or '96, they spring-loaded the lever so that you can't leave it in the off position.

Gotta love that "feature". You should do a mod for that and then a writeup.

Another feature I love is the fact that you can not turn your headlights off at night unless you have it in park. I can't even attempt to sneak up on anyone with this car.


I have an aftermarket remote start installed, and I use that keyfob to lock and unlock. The only feedback I have it programmed to give is one honk for lock, and two for unlock.

So the turning on while starting shouldn't be something I should be worried about then...

Another stupid question I have is if there is such a thing as "bright" HIDs?

Bright HID's!

I would think if you got a non potted balast you could "turn the wick up" but i doubt the lamp would last very long!

Our professional light source has to be calibrated at 150 watts we actually set the current to a particular value by adjusting the current regulation circuit in the (balast) power supply we adjust for about 8 amps to get 150 watts.

Uh, I think he just meant an HID kit for "the brights"...

GMFreak8 wrote:

Another feature I love is the fact that you can not turn your headlights off at night unless you have it in park. I can't even attempt to sneak up on anyone with this car.

Tell me about it! How the hell am I supposed to hide from the cops with this system?!? .

Actually, if you really wanted to defeat it Kyle, you could do the same thing I did in my seat-memory mod... Cut the Park wire to the Lamp Control Module and hook it to IGN-Hot.

Eldo wrote:

Uh, I think he just meant an HID kit for "the brights"...

Yes they do the kit for brights but ..... it takes time for them to get to full intensity but if they were to come on with the dip beams at the same time....

i actually got the second set for the brights but i need them for the goldwing .... oh decisions decisions..

I'm looking to pick up a DDM tuning kit today or tomorrow. Do you guys suggest 4500 or 5000 for color? I want a pure white to light bluish hue... I want to retain a somewhat OEM look on Audi, Acura, etc. I'd be going with the 35W kit. Was thinking about 4500 but then I don't want any yellow in the color..

There are some color references around pages 10 & 11 of this thread - gives you some idea. 5000k is "white" as in daylight. 6000k is slightly "blue" as in moonlight, and 4000k is slightly "yellow". Factory HID lamps are usually 3700k-4700k from what I can tell. I think 5000k is the way to go for the purest white, anything close to that is not going to look "colored".

Thanks for the info Aaron! Looks like 5000 is the way to go for me. Will post up pics when they are installed.

nigelf wrote:

Eldo wrote:

Uh, I think he just meant an HID kit for "the brights"...

Yes they do the kit for brights but ..... it takes time for them to get to full intensity but if they were to come on with the dip beams at the same time....

i actually got the second set for the brights but i need them for the goldwing .... oh decisions decisions..

Are these high beam HIDs the same as the 55w HIDs?

Note that HID for brights does not work with our daytime running light set-up - just in case someone wasn't aware.

Can you disable DRL?

I don't think so, but you could use a relay to turn on the HID brights day or night. They would be at full power during the day.