Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 08:33:08 -0500
Reply-To: Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris S <szpejankowski@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: HIDs on a Vanagon?
In-Reply-To: <1688.192.168.0.115.1228800448.squirrel@hasenwerk.homeip.net>
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I second pretty much everything David said. I did a lot of research
over the last few weeks on the subject and my findings support David's
views.
The reason for HID's poorer performance in H4 round headlights is that
the plasma arc is much longer than a H4 lightbulb's glowing filament.
Dual HID kits (high and low beam in a single bulb) have a shield built
in to help better focus this longer arc. Also, quality of HID kits
seem to vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Bosch does
make an HID kit which I might try in my Beetle's projection headlamps.
2008/12/9 David Marshall <mailinglist@fastforward.ca>:
> My personal experience with HIDs is getting quite extensive. Really
> you have to ask yourself do you want BETTER light or MORE light?
>
> With the H4 light being a dual element this brings on new challanges
> with HID as Xenon elements are single - in order to get high beam and low
> beam you need a moving element and they are pretty much crap.
>
> In my former Golf Country with 7" H4 lights, I used a low beam only
> HID system and it worked reasonably well. The issue with the HID
> system is the glowing bit of the element is different than the glowing bit
> of a halogen bulb so the nice sharp cut off that you get with a halogen is
> now gone with the HID system - certainly more light but not a nicely
> focused as the halogen bulb. Would I do it again on a low beam
> system - only if I had money burning a hole in my pocket and thick skin
> when it comes to pissing off on coming traffic.
>
> How with high
> beam lamps HID is a whole different story. The Golf Country had
> Hella 500s (H3) for the high beams so I made these come on along with the
> low beam only H4s and I must say that you could see around corners with
> this setup. I also have Hella Rallye 4000s on my LT, both the
> genuine Xenon units and the H1 halogens that I converted - really I can't
> tell the difference between the two othe than the money I saved.
>
> What seems to make the best HID conversion is the projector or DE style
> halogen lights as the focus of these are much more controlled. The
> H4s on my LT 4x4 are now too high off the ground (1.36m is the limit in
> Canada) to be legal so I am designing a new set of lights based on Hella's
> projector style lamps that will mount where my current fogs are and from
> my early testing of this H7 projector system... wow... very nice. -
> http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=2136 these could be made to work
> on the Vanagon with moderate fabrication. Basically I would try for
> a 120mm low beam on the outside and a 90mm high beam on the inside for
> that "South African" look with an America grille with light
> quality that will kick ass over all other system out there.
>
> So... the final word on all of this is that converting a halogen to a
> HID system is illegal in both Canada and the USA as well as the
> EU. To me, I will leave my reflector style low beams as
> halogen and gladly run all my high beams with HID as they are never on
> with oncoming traffic.
>
> Also, on color. Get a 4000K to
> 5000K setup - basically pure white with no blue content. The colder
> the light color (lower the K number) the more light output you get.
> The exception to this is the 3200K stuff which is yellow in color - these
> are 4300Ks that are dipped in a coating to make them yellow. These
> work very well as fog lights !
>
> Don't worry about your
> alternator - HID systems are 35W per ballast so they require less energy
> to run.
>
> David Marshall
> VW Adventure Driver and BMW
> Adventure Rider
>
> http://www.hasenwerk.ca
>
> On Mon,
> December 8, 2008 19:31, Kim Brennan wrote:
>>
>> So, anyone
> ever put an HID conversion kit on their Vanagon <http://
>>
> www.hidwholesale.com/index.html>?
>>
>> I do have an
> upgraded alternator, and use the Eurospec H4 headlights,
>> but I
> really like the idea of even more light.
>
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--
Chris S.
Disclaimer: "Death and serious injury may occur"
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