High and low beam with aftermarket projectors

[JMGR33N]

I know aftermarket lights are not to everyone's taste but putting that to one side for now.

How do high and low beam work in something like this?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=301447334059

It says it requires a H9 bulb, which as far as I'm aware is a single beam bulb.
so does the projector have some sort of mirror or shield that blocks/directs light for low and high beam instead?

 

[desertstorm]

They use a shield that blocks light on low beam and lets it all through on high beam.



Karl.

 

[JMGR33N]

Ah awesome! Thanks Karl, that's what I had suspected but wasn't sure.

 

[JMGR33N]

New projector lights and HID kit turn up today.

The wife and I just had our first baby on Sunday, so the fitting of said lights has dropped down the priority list a little. ;-)

 

[desertstorm]

Great news about the lights arriving, slightly inconvenient about the baby .

Congratulations, Only joking hope the wife and child are both fine, lifes priorities will change now you have a little one.

Karl.

 

[JMGR33N]

Haha thanks Karl.

Yup I'm all prepared for the little one to be #1 priority from now on. She's so beautiful it's hard not to. lol

Did have a peak at the lights today and I'm ready pleased with them, the build quality seems really good on first inspection.

 

[desertstorm]

look good, I would get some silver indicator bulbs though.

 

[JMGR33N]

I plan to, I don't know why they insist on supplying the orange ones! lol cheaper I guess.

Looking forward to getting them fitted. The candles that I have at the moment are pretty poor.
Especially compared to my scirocco.

 

[Neil2014]

I am considering these, please show some pictures when fitted...

ps. congraz on the birth of your baby

 

[JMGR33N]

Will do Neil. I usually take a fair amount of photos when I'm working on my cars. So I'll post them up as soon as I get a chance to do it.

I went with them because I thought the DRL look one of the best when illuminated, the projector unit is very good quality and they come with levelling motors pre fitted. So no messing around swapping them from your old lights.

 

[JMGR33N]

Update!

Between feeds I managed to get the fiddly bit of fitting my HIDs to my new DRL lights done.

Here's some pictures.

First of all I had to pop off the caps covering access to the rear of the projector unit.

This needs a 24mm hole making to allow the fitting of a grommet that carries the cables from the bulb power wires and the HID bulb itself. I used a cone cutter to do this as it gives a nice tapered edge.

I did this to both access caps, this is how they now look.

Next I removed the standard halogen bulb, it twists about 10mm then pulls straight out.

I then fitted the wiring through the hole in the access cap and secured the grommet in place.

It then looks like this once fitted.

The power control wires push into the standard two pin bulb connector.

Then carefully remove the protective plastic cover from the HID bulb and twist it into place in the back of the projector unit.

I then wrapped up the two pin connector with insulation tape. Although the connectors fit very tight, this makes it super safe.

Then finally I replaced the access caps back onto the headlight units.

So... I'm now ready to whip off the bumper, secure the HID ballasts, plug it all together and give it a try!

 

[Broken Byzan]

shame you fitted 8000k bulbs, you'll reduce your light output

 

[JMGR33N]

Had 8k in my golf and scirocco and preferred them to the 6k I also had. Plus they were a gift from my Dad so I'm happy with them.

If I want to change the bulbs in the future it's not the end of the world.

 

[JMGR33N]

Here's the end result. I know they're not everyone's cuppa but I'm really pleased with them

 

[desertstorm]

They look good, as above I think 8000K is a bit blue and you need to get rid of those rusty screws on the number plate but a deffo improvement. As you say bulbs are cheap enough and not that hard to change.
Nice to see you aren't letting the baby get in the way too much

Karl.

 

[JMGR33N]

Haha yea those rusty plate screws are really annoying me! That's my next job. ;-)

 

[JMGR33N]

Here you go Karl! You can sleep at night now. ;-)

 

[kerbsidejanner]

@JMGR33N am i right in assuming the DRL part only works on sidelights?

Also maybe a bit of a warning, i had similar type of lights on my vw t4 van, running HID bulbs eventually (after year or so of use) started to melt the front of the lights.

 

[hades-]

as above there not rated for HIDS

and the leds fail

 

[JMGR33N]

Thanks guys...

@kerbsidejanner yes bud they only work on sidelights

Noted about the heat from the HIDs, I was aware of this before buying them, and thought I'd take my chances.

As for the leds failing... I'll see how they go.

 

[damfly27]

I've been running the same lights with HID for a year now and they where on the car for almost a year before i got it and no problems with melting or failed LEDs

As above tho, 8K are a bit blue for my liking but each to their own

 

[JMGR33N]

Cheers mate that's good to hear!

I've been running the 8k a couple of weeks now and tbh they don't look that blue. They're the same colour as the factory ones on my cooper s. I'll live with them for a bit and see how I feel in a few months.

Car looks sweet btw, is that a Cupra splitter?

 

[chris199]

Loving those lights I'm looking at a set but the black ones . Can I ask you a question, I'm guessing the plug that the head light plugs into sorts out the h9 bulb and projector flap to do the switching from hi to low ? Also did they have the headlight level motors installed ?

Any feedback would be exellent

 

[damfly27]

Cheers and yeah cupra splitter

 

[JMGR33N]

@chris199 correct mate, you plug them straight into the standard multi-pin connector that the original lights used and the signal that would have originally operated your high beam instead operates the shield in the projector.
Yes the ones I bought did have the level motors installed and they work spot on. I did notice when I was looking around at these lights, that not all of them from the various suppliers had the motors. Worth checking.

 

[chris199]

ahh ok exellent cheers for that, that was my only querie wasif there was a separate wiring system or something for them but that's exllent thanks for that. Yeah I've seen that a few do only just supply the lights and not the motors too.

Cheers for the info you can guess what's going in my ebay basket soon

 

[E_KEL95]

Bumping an old thread....
Updates on these lights any problems in the year or so youve been using these? Seen a couple of b7 with these style of lights and been toying with the idea of them..

 

[JMGR33N]

Bumping an old thread....
Updates on these lights any problems in the year or so youve been using these? Seen a couple of b7 with these style of lights and been toying with the idea of them..

No problems with mine so far.

Any excuse for a photo! ;-)

 

[James.c]

These look great! Iv been looking at some aftermarket ones Iv got down to either yours or these
http://www.protuninglab.com/hidxe06aua4h1.html
I see you have gone for 8000k I have no idea about them I can pick 4300 6000 or 8000 is the higher the number the bluer they are? Are they all legal?

 

[JMGR33N]

This leads to a much talked about subject to do with the legality of Hids altogether, whether you need headlight washers or not etc etc. Your best off googling "are Hids legal" or something like that and having a thorough read rather than me regurgitating it all here lol.

From my experience there a not many scenarios where having Hids are 100% "legal" but if your sensible about it, only use them with projector lens's, make sure the headlight patern and spread is properly adjusted and go for a sensible colour temperature then I've found no one has ever complained (I.e. police, MOT testers etc)

 

[James.c]

Thanks mate! I had some on my b6 not sure what colour or if they were factory extras but I think 6000k seems a safe bet going by that picture