High beams x 4

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Speed Demon

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OK, silly question...........if my brights look plenty bright. And all the bulbs are the same. Why can't I just splice in the wiring for the high beams in place of my lows? Then I'll have bright lights without the hid. Seems easy, right?:confused: Somebody drop some knowledge on me!
 
are you asking if you can have all 4 bulbs on at once? its easy to do, just take out the multifuntion switch on the column and connect pins 13 and 15 together on the harness, then you will still have low beams but when switched to high beams all 4 will light up.
 
MatthewDavid said:
What would be the benefit of that?... wouldn't it just burn them up faster?
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Yup. Be ok as a temporary thing to see at night, but ultimately may dazzle people and make the housings even worse.

Better to refurb the housings, then when $$ allows, get a cheap HID kit.
 
93' Blue on blue said:
Yup. Be ok as a temporary thing to see at night, but ultimately may dazzle people and make the housings even worse.

Better to refurb the housings, then when $$ allows, get a cheap HID kit.
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It's worth it, I did the refurb, hated it, bought a cheap hid kit and loved it, bought 2 newer housings, am in the process (its long so I do a little each day to stay perfect, plus i have 2 sets) of doing my 2nd refurb.

If I'm STILL not satisfied with the hids after this refurb I'm going to buy another hid kit for my lows and blow everyone away w/ all 4 on at once, but thats the last resort
 
Speed Demon said:
OK, silly question...........if my brights look plenty bright. And all the bulbs are the same. Why can't I just splice in the wiring for the high beams in place of my lows? Then I'll have bright lights without the hid. Seems easy, right?:confused: Somebody drop some knowledge on me!
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And I forgot about this, your brights look better because they're usually (unless you are me) used a lot less than your lows which means they'll have more reflective coating on the inside of the lenses which will give you better vision at night. See forum "gen 1 hid install w/ restore" or whatever it is.
 
I need to clean my outer lens, but my inner coating is still very shiny. Low beams are low because of the resistor wires placed inline. High beams get straight 12v and are much brighter. How long would my bulbs last on average, if always on high/modified? What is the temp difference between hids and highs?
 
Speed Demon said:
OK, silly question...........if my brights look plenty bright. And all the bulbs are the same. Why can't I just splice in the wiring for the high beams in place of my lows? Then I'll have bright lights without the hid. Seems easy, right?:confused: Somebody drop some knowledge on me!
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Wiring the car to have all 4 bulbs come on at once isn't that big a chore, but the circuit breaker may intermittently trip and cut your lights off from time to time with all the extra current running through the multi-function switch.

You should invest in a relayed wiring harness if you plan to go through with that mod. The bulbs will shine brighter for it too.

Speed Demon said:
What is the temp difference between hids and highs?
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Can't give numbers, but HIDs burn cooler than halogens.
 
Speed Demon said:
I need to clean my outer lens, but my inner coating is still very shiny. Low beams are low because of the resistor wires placed inline. High beams get straight 12v and are much brighter. How long would my bulbs last on average, if always on high/modified? What is the temp difference between hids and highs?
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lows are not dimmer because of a" resistor" they are dimmer because of the metal in front of them ,Highs shine straight out of the housing ,

take one low and one high out of the housing and turn them on.
 
thats correct, they are all 9005 bulbs, both low and high beam bulbs, the highs are only brighter because there are no refractors inside the high beam buckets like there are in the low beam side.
 
So the wiring diagram that showed a resistor wire is crap or what. Why don't people just remove the metal then and be done? ......So they won't be hotter, burn out sooner or ruin the reflective coating sooner either? :confused: Since high and low are the same??? I 'll have too check this out myself. If there is no diff exept a metal guard I'll just pull it out and re-align my lights lower and be done I guess.:rolleyes:
 
Look closely at the low beam lens.. and the high beam lens.

You'll see the high beam lens actually has a small portion of "CLEAR LENS" right in front of the bulb, where the low beam lens is complete "refractors" in front of the bulb.

THAT is why the high beams are brighter, well.. and the fact that the reflector in the high beam side isn't burnt up... like most low beam sides are.

If you look really close at the front of the housings, you should be able to see what I'm talking about.
 
Ok, im looking at an old gen 1 housing as a type. Differences that i can see are:

1. Low beam housing is a slightly different shape and is slightly smaller.

2. Lower rear section of low beam housing is fluted and so is the side next to high beam.

3. Low beam housing has metal anti - glare shields to cover bright parts of the bulb and change the beam pattern.

4. As XLRV mentioned, the pattern on the low beam portion of the lens is different - heavily fluted, without the small clear window that the high beam part has.

Add to the those differences the fact that the upper rear portion of the low beam housing WILL have some heat damaged / missing chrome, and voila - reasons why your low beam is dimmer.

Also, halogen bulbs get dimmer over time, so they may also be dimmer than the ones in the high beam, due to more hours usage. (swap 'em around)
 
Hey guys how about this for an idea. I've seen quite a few cars with very good headlight patterns (my bosses 98 bonneville, a chevy bonneville) actually have cutouts in the deflectors so light can shine through a little like a high beam. Also, the inside of the deflector is chrome, which I assume reflects light better than our crap deflector. Seeing that I am doing my headlight restore, I may drill small holes into the deflector to see if it would change anything.

And yes whoever chimed in about the lens of the highs and lows being different is right. The part of the lens over the low beam side is textured differently.

Jamie if you read this check the HID sticky, I need a few parts for my refurb please.
 
I say don't bother doing all that stuff. Refurb, get the HID kit in the lows, see what you think, then go from there.
 
Couple things....I realize there are diffs in the lens patterns. When I looked at the wiring diagram there are resistor wires(not a resistor box). Someone please look into this so I'm not stuck on it. How do the hids compare to the hi beams? My lights show a tremendous diff between the two(standards). Don't yours? The highs are plenty bright and I could just drive with them on all the time. I just think it would be nice to have all 4 highs for those northwoods road trips.:D I'm not trying to argue with anyone just trying to figure some easy common sense alternatives to the hid kits.:rolleyes: I like the idea of drilling or even removing the low beam deflector too. We still may be on to some ideas here to benefit standard and hid guys.:cool:
 
Post 13 in this thread answers why brights look alot brighter than lows. Did you see the end pics in my 'sticky' article with all 4 lights on? You can see the difference there, between the HID lows and stock halogen highs. HIDs are CONSIDERABLY brighter! (halogens look kinda yellow, but the HIDs are super white) My lows are now brighter than the highs, for sure.

If you just want to refurb the insides for now, thats cool - doing that, combined with cleaning the lenses will make your lights much better - just won't be up to the HID standard.

As for the resistors, i have no idea - maybe, as someone said, they are for the check lamp message?
 
This is what the resistance wires are for right from the manual:
How the Circuit Works

The lamp-out warning system consists of a Lamp-out Warning Module and the message center located in the top center of the instrument panel. It monitors the Low-beam Headlamps, rear park lamp and Rear Stop/Turn Lamps.

A lamp outage is sensed by measuring the change in voltage drop across a special section of the wiring harness.

The wiring harnesses associated with the lamp-out warning system use special resistance wires for proper system operation

CAUTION :
Do not alter lengths of these wires, unless otherwise directed. Do not hook up additional lamps (i.e. trailer tow lamps). Do not replace bulbs with any type different from original equipment. Doing so may result in a false warning or no warning.
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Taking out the deflectors and putting in an aftermarket HID kit will be like every other ricer on the road and blinding to oncoming traffic. ;)
 
Cool, I don't want to blind people. I just want my regular lights more like my brights(which is the same as everybody else now). They look very shiny but I guess I rechrome wouldn't hurt. Drilling the deflector a little still seems like a pretty good idea. I'll have to check all this stuff out this weekend.
 
I drilled 3 small holes in the front of the deflector, I could care less if it makes a difference or not. I've got one housing hacked open waiting for my trimbrite. As far as the chrome on the inside of the lens speed demon I'll guarantee you its faded. And as far as the HIDs, I think its one of those things you'll end up doing anyway. I bought silverstars after my first rechrome and they were slightly better. Turborich had HIRs in his 2 year old lenses and still went for hids. Honestly from a looks standpoint it makes the car look a lot newer than it really is. Its like one of those "but everyone else is doing it mommmmmm" kinda things
 
oooooooooooookkk. So the chrome doesn't go black or peel off, it just burns or browns out. I see said the guy who didn't switch to hids.I have a lot to do this weekend.
 
Speed Demon said:
oooooooooooookkk. So the chrome doesn't go black or peel off, it just burns or browns out. I see said the guy who didn't switch to hids.I have a lot to do this weekend.
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Yup, the chrome doesn't change color or peel... it vanishes! Lol. And that brown you see? Yeah, that isn't the chrome burned up - its the actual plastic housing starting to burn! :eek:

Yours may not be this bad, but you will have some damage up in the top areas. Have fun rechroming!
 
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