HID spotlights.

[phil Member Find all posts View Profile Close phil]

hi guys my computer has shit itself so i am still waiting for a new one.
Got the hid kit and it fits up very easy and is the best light i have ever had. Some kits on ebay for between 150 and 300 bucks.
I will tell more later about how to fit them in hella spots.
Cheers Phil.

[tomv Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close tomv]

spotties or upgrade lights

Guys
was thinking of installing HID spotties, but as they will not get a lot of use, am I better to upgrade my highbeams instead. upgrade to what, anybody have any ideas ???. thanks Tom

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Re: spotties or upgrade lights

Guys
was thinking of installing HID spotties, but as they will not get a lot of use, am I better to upgrade my highbeams instead. upgrade to what, anybody have any ideas ???. thanks Tom

I'd be going for the driving lights personally, the 120 series only has single beam headlights, I reckon you'd get better value from the spots.

That said, they are useless when there's oncoming traffic. So I guess it's a 50/50.

I've already put brighter globes in my headlights, but it was a bit of a waste of time, they are only marginally brighter, so my next step is to install hi/lo HIDs. Just waiting for the bank account to catch up with my spendings. :lol:

Drew.

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

I am teetering on the brink towards HID driving lights.

The one thing that is deterring me is the fact that they have a warm up time of 10-20seconds to get to full strength lighting.

This isn't very helpful if you are constantly dipping beams in traffic.

Halogens are instant but don't throw as much light and consume more power.

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

The one thing that is deterring me is the fact that they have a warm up time of 10-20seconds to get to full strength lighting.

Wow! I never knew this. Shows how much research I haven't done.

Where did you find this out?

Drew.

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Reading (can't remember where - could have been an old 4WD Monthly or 4X4 Australia mag), speaking to the friendly Lightforce and Hella reps and actually seeing static (showroom) demos of some Hella and IPF HID lights.

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Once they're warm, you can dip them and they'll come back on pretty much instantly (provided they are not off for more than a little while - we're talking 30-45 seconds in the ones I saw).

Otherwise, they have to warm up again.

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

Re: spotties or upgrade lights

They are useless

Pretty much sums up the standard Prado headlights - as I've said before, the only truly cr*p part of the car.

Fortunately, "we can rebuild him, we have the technology..." (apologies to the six million dollar man)

BTW, I wonder what he'd be worth today, allowing for inflation?

[bitdist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bitdist]

Re: spotties or upgrade lights

Guys
was thinking of installing HID spotties, but as they will not get a lot of use, am I better to upgrade my highbeams instead. upgrade to what, anybody have any ideas ???. thanks Tom

I'd be going for the driving lights personally, the 120 series only has single beam headlights, I reckon you'd get better value from the spots.

That said, they are useless when there's oncoming traffic. So I guess it's a 50/50.

I've already put brighter globes in my headlights, but it was a bit of a waste of time, they are only marginally brighter, so my next step is to install hi/lo HIDs. Just waiting for the bank account to catch up with my spendings. :lol:

Drew.

Personally, I would do both
Iv'e run HID's in the standard lights for 18 months now and would never go back. I'm just about to modify some lightforce 170's and put some 50w HID's in. The amount of light on low beam is just fantastic. When you have to dip your lights you don't have that feeling of being in darkness. On high beam with the standard lights they are better than origonal, but a lot of light gets scattered as the reflectors arn't that good.

Yes once the driving lights are warm then they come back pretty well instantly. They don't have to be very warm either to make a big difference. You would even notice a big difference if you lived up north compared to down south. Up there they would come on a lot faster to start with

Tim

[Drew Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drew]

Interesting to hear your experiences Tim.

I'm going to do this upgrade very soon so I'd be interested to hear how it went for you. I assume you have a 120 series?

If you have any photos of the installation that would be great.

cheers,

Drew.

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Really interested, as well, Tim.

Any pics ?

Cheers
Chippy

[Signature035 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Signature035]

Hi all,

I did the HID upgrade earlier this week.
I went down the Ebay path

Click here.

Then had an auto electrician friend install them, took him about an hour.

Got to say they are truly awsome, the clarity and increased vision is fantastic. I would highly recommend this to anyone.....no affiliation with seller....

Edit: Fixed URL - Drew - Moderator.

[bitdist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bitdist]

Really interested, as well, Tim.

Any pics ?

Cheers
Chippy

Not so far, but I will get the camera out. Theres not much to see at the moment for the standard lights. A couple of ballasts mounted and a hi/lo controller box, the rest just plugs in.
Yes I do have a 120 (05)
Modifying the lightforce will take some time though. I know someone who has done quite a few of them (and hellas) for the comp scene, so I will pick his brains before I start. I know it takes him an hour or so to do each set

regards

Tim

[Grandeman Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Grandeman]

I understand that the IPF factory HID's don't take well to a dunking...

What about the upgrades? Don't you need to drill holes in some upgrades, thereby creating opportunities for a dunking to kill them?

Tonight's evening swim around flooded Newcastle made me think about this...

[bitdist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bitdist]

They are hard to keep waterproof, just because you do have to modify them, because you have to use the high voltage wire right to the globe, rather than use the exisiting wire that might be nicely sealed all the way into the light.
Having said that though, The guy I was talking about in the comp scene used them on his truck in the last outback challange and he said at one time he was stuck in a creck at night with water flowing over the bonnet for about half an hour. He left the lights on and they filled up with water (even though he thought they were waterproof) They still kept going while full of water all the time.
He said that he was watching the fish swim by....

So either he was lucky or they are not that sensitive to a dunking. I guess they are not running that hot compared to a normal globe, so maybe the thermal shock is not as great.
Where they do need to be waterproof is in the ballast area and I think most of them are

Tim