Bi Xenon upgrade project

[aragorn]

So when i built Shed i decided i wanted HID's. Refusing to bodge it, i looked around and found some PFL S4 headlamps for a good price. After selling the Facelift halogens that were on the car, the HID headlamps only cost me about 30quid. The guy said there was some tarnishing on the main reflectors, but knowing these are projector headlamps i figured only main beam would be affected and was happy to accept slightly degraded main beam performance.

They arrived, and i decided to "joey mod" them (basically paint all the non-functional chrome bits inside black), so i stripped them down for paint, and realised the tarnishing was actually just dirt. So pleased was i that i then blasted the dirt with brake cleaner and breinged in with some blue roll to clean the dirt off, and in the process promptly wiped off half of the chrome reflective stuff inside the bowl. Clearly shiney chrome stuff inside headlights and powerful solvents dont mix!

At this point i figured there was nothing else i could do but bodge them up with some chrome paint, and fit them and try to find replacements. Dip beam obviously works perfectly as its a projector, but the high beam is pretty poor as you can expect.

After some searching i happened across a belgian chap over on SRS who had a set of pfl headlights that were stripped down, bulbs and ballasts had been removed etc. Perfect for me as i only needed the reflector from inside, so they arrived a few months ago and i've been meaning to find some time to strip the two units down and swap the insides over. Being belgian they're LHD so the projectors are backwards, and i was going to have to swap the projectors from my existing lamps. Not a problem but then when looking for some HID's for a mate i happened across the world of PROPER HID retrofits.

This small group of folks, mainly in the states, appear to think like me when it comes to HID lighting, and retrofit older cars with HID's by taking the headlights apart and grafting in the projector assembly from some other HID equipped car, rather than just munging some cheap crappy ebay kit into the existing headlamp.

After some reading i decided i would give it a try, and so ordered myself a pair of "FX-R" Bi Xenon projector assemblies from The Retrofit Source in the states. They were around £120 delivered, and will use proper D2S HID bulbs as found in OEM setups. Bi-xenon: FX-R 1.1 - HID Projectors from The Retrofit Source Inc

The plan is to graft these into the new headlamp in place of the original dip only projector. This will give me dip and main HID (it uses a small movable shutter inside the projector to switch between them), and i will retain the halogen main as well for that extra dose of light. I will retain the original ballast and bulb from the standard headlight, although i might be tempted to treat them to a new set of lamps once its up and running.

Projectors arrived yesterday:

 

[Foxmeister]

Interesting project Kev, keen to see how you do it and the outcome!

So you will have Bi-xenon as in dipped and main beam units, but you will keep the halogen aswell, is there enuff room in there to manage that?

 

[S4_dan]

So you will have Bi-xenon as in dipped and main beam units, but you will keep the halogen aswell, is there enuff room in there to manage that?

The projector he has bought has hi-lo beam in the one unit, thus leaving the reflector halogen lamp free and once wired up will also illuminate on main beam as well as the hid projector.

(that is how i've read it from the website anyway)

Dan

 

[aragorn]

yeh its all in the one unit.

The problem with a seperate HID main beam usually is a) HID takes a few seconds to start and hit full brightness even on OEM ballasts, and b) ballasts dont really like being struck on and off repetitively, as you might when flashing someone for instance. c) you'd need seperate ballasts which gets a bit cluttered.

The way the OEM's get round this is to use a single projector with a solenoid controlled shutter. When you flick main beam on, the shutter flicks down and removes the beam cutoff giving a full beam.

Obviously for this to work it requires dip beam to be on, so if the headlights were off and i flashed someone, the shutter would move but there would be no light. As such keeping the halogens serves two purposes. It means i dont have to worry about rigging up a circuit to spark the ballast up should i flash the main beam when the dip is off (which is what an OEM install would do), and also gives me more light on the road for night time driving on main beam, as i'll have the HID main and halogen main on together.


Technology: How a bixenon headlight projector works with a quick lights-on demo - YouTube

 

[Foxmeister]

Ahh, i see, i didnt read the link, my bad!

Didnt know the Bi-xenon was in one unit either, everyday a schoolday!

Nice idea on retaining the halogen for flashing purpose etc, as you say ballasts arent good at quick strikes over a period of time.

Do you have specific wiring diagrams or just making your own looms for it?

 

[ScottD3]

Bump

 

[aragorn]

Shush you.