My HID Hi-Beam and Fog Install
- Thread starter jmtiseo
- Start date
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
Only reason I bought those is I got a $10 off and they match the front ones that I've had a combined 5 years with, probably still more expensive than the pair you have but I'm sticking with what I've used in the past. Probably the last time I'm buying them however, if they don't replace with their "lifetime guarantee" when they go out then I'm definitely looking for a cheaper replacement when they need replacing.
Looks great so far.. but, how is the build quality of those ballasts? I can't help but to think they look a little cheap/fake, same with the bulbs 
Looking forward to your comparison with the OEM Phillips bulbs. Keep up the great picture work.
Looking forward to your comparison with the OEM Phillips bulbs. Keep up the great picture work.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
Mark, it's going to be hard to find anything remotely close to OEM HID ballast quality without spending some serious money IMO.
I don't know how to compare ballast build quality without opening them up but these things are heavy and have a pretty solid feel at the connection going into the ballast. The ballasts themselves have a solid feel as a whole as well. Not saying I shook the crap outta them but I've bought some electronics before where it sounded like something was loose in there. Going to check when I get home to see if I can find a "manufactured in" or "made in" stamping or sticker on it somewhere, and possibly install the D2Rs if I'm feeling frisky. Not saying that country of origin is a huge factor, in some cases it is (ie. Happy Meal toys), but I assume these are Japanese.
I'm definitely looking forward to the side by side comparisons as well, more motivation for me to do these asap! Also, I'm fortunate that that my roommate has a 12mp CoolPix, beats the hell outta the camera on my phone but takes a few extra steps to upload. The pics of just the bulbs is with my phone, the rest are with his camera. If they are blurry it's because it couldn't pick a point to fix/focus too.
I don't know how to compare ballast build quality without opening them up but these things are heavy and have a pretty solid feel at the connection going into the ballast. The ballasts themselves have a solid feel as a whole as well. Not saying I shook the crap outta them but I've bought some electronics before where it sounded like something was loose in there. Going to check when I get home to see if I can find a "manufactured in" or "made in" stamping or sticker on it somewhere, and possibly install the D2Rs if I'm feeling frisky. Not saying that country of origin is a huge factor, in some cases it is (ie. Happy Meal toys), but I assume these are Japanese.
I'm definitely looking forward to the side by side comparisons as well, more motivation for me to do these asap! Also, I'm fortunate that that my roommate has a 12mp CoolPix, beats the hell outta the camera on my phone but takes a few extra steps to upload. The pics of just the bulbs is with my phone, the rest are with his camera. If they are blurry it's because it couldn't pick a point to fix/focus too.
jolinc01
Dedicated LVC Member
Seeing this thread makes me wonder if it'd be possible to do the 4 or 6 HI mod they do on the Chevy/GMC trucks/SUVs. When your hi-beams are on all the lights are on and you just jump 'circuits' on the fuse panel with a diode and wire.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
I like what you're thinking, adding looking that up to the to-do list this weekend. I assume it's not going to be as simple as the heavy Chevy's but there's probably a way. Be a nice little mod to be able to put all the lights on at once if needed. I'm not a big guru when it comes to electrical but I can read and edumucate myself to keep me afloat on that subject.
D2R's this weekend, it decided to rain today, and I decide to work a little later than normal. Not something I'm in a hurry to do despite my excitement for it.
D2R's this weekend, it decided to rain today, and I decide to work a little later than normal. Not something I'm in a hurry to do despite my excitement for it.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
On a side note, I read the "party" thread from earlier tonight that was closed, phew that was getting ugly. Props to the cat posting the Michael Jackson (because MJ is Michael Jordan) gif. I was feeling like that until I realized I was probably the only one in the movie theater watching the story unfold.
Gen II's have all the lights on from factory. Only gen I's dont.
dNyce LS
Dedicated LVC Member
Gen two has hi and low frm the factory with no fogs
Gen one is hi's alone with no low and fog
Ive been wanting to do the "bambi mod" (hi 4, same thing diff name) for a while, just dont kno how lol
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
I knew the lo-beams stayed on, the fogs off, when the hi's were on for Gen. II's. I'm hoping that with enough collaboration that we can come to a way to force the fog lights to stay on as well. My last post was a little vague but that's what I meant.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
How about a couple shots comparing the bulbs. It's hard for me to get this camera to focus correctly to include both of them, I've got a lot to learn if I ever get a good one but this one will suffice.
Morimoto 6000k D2R
Philips 85126 OEM D2R. I believe this may be a factory bulb.
A couple side-by-sides. Philips in rearmost bulb, Morimot frontmost bulb.
If I didn't know any better, both bulbs were new, both bulbs had the same color insulator, and both bulbs were unmarked, it would be hard to tell which one's which. Wish I had a mew Philips D2R bulb to compare. The yellow coating the inside of the globe of the Philips bulb is the salt deposit from use. I've read that all HID bulbs will have this after they've been used. Either after you use them or when you pull them outta the box from testing, this deposit will be there.
Overall I think this is a pretty solid bulb so far when compared side by side. The only physical difference, which I don't think is a big deal, is that wire/insulator was not almost perfectly straight on the Morimoto, where the Philips was almost dead nuts upright. Also, the material used on the alignment clips, at least that's what I'll call them, seems to be of higher quality on the Philips bulb; they shine more.
Now onto some lighting comparisons...
Morimoto 6000k D2R
Philips 85126 OEM D2R. I believe this may be a factory bulb.
A couple side-by-sides. Philips in rearmost bulb, Morimot frontmost bulb.
If I didn't know any better, both bulbs were new, both bulbs had the same color insulator, and both bulbs were unmarked, it would be hard to tell which one's which. Wish I had a mew Philips D2R bulb to compare. The yellow coating the inside of the globe of the Philips bulb is the salt deposit from use. I've read that all HID bulbs will have this after they've been used. Either after you use them or when you pull them outta the box from testing, this deposit will be there.
Overall I think this is a pretty solid bulb so far when compared side by side. The only physical difference, which I don't think is a big deal, is that wire/insulator was not almost perfectly straight on the Morimoto, where the Philips was almost dead nuts upright. Also, the material used on the alignment clips, at least that's what I'll call them, seems to be of higher quality on the Philips bulb; they shine more.
Now onto some lighting comparisons...
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
Oh baby!
To start, I started this at 10pm and finished around 11:30 with pics and what not. I had minimal amount of tools and I'm not thrilled to find out that in two places the plastic broke off where the threaded clips for the housings attach. Should have been plastic clip on metal not metal clip on plastic. Anywho, I got one side buttoned up and took some side by side comparisons.
The driver's side is the Morimoto 6000k D2R, the passenger side is the Philips 4300K D2R (Assuming it's an 85126 bulb like the one I removed) with almost a year of use under it's belt so it's more than likely color shifted closer to 5000k. I'm no expert but I'm thinking that because these are reflector housings rather than projectors, that a desirable solid cut-off line is almost impossible. I'm not that picky but the crisp look of a solid cut-off line would be uber cool!
From the center of the dash in my lovely garage. I have to hold my breath to squeeze in there sometimes to get in my car.
From driver's side.
From passenger's side.
From above.
I need to tinker with some settings to see if I can pick up just the light without the glaring affect.
With the light against the wall it's easy to decipher between the color temp, 4300k vs. 6000k. I drove it around the block, which is lighted, and it's hard to distinguish on the road from driving the car; oncoming cars might say otherwise. There's a difference but with all the other lights interfering it's difficult to see the night and day difference but it is there.
After this I'm convinced that these bulbs so far are legitimate. I don't have a flicker in the bulb, although I think that's more of a ballast issue, and it fired right up with the Philips replacement. I'm excited to have the whiter light with the a blue hue to it and I don't expect any problems with the other bulbs. With that said the only thing that I think would be left to compare between these D2R bulbs would be the longevity, most important, and color shift after prolonged use. Hoping when I put the other one in tomorrow that I can salvage the plastic that the clips attach to.
I also got to scout out some places to mount the ballasts. Looks like I may be taking the bumper cover off.
Ciao!
To start, I started this at 10pm and finished around 11:30 with pics and what not. I had minimal amount of tools and I'm not thrilled to find out that in two places the plastic broke off where the threaded clips for the housings attach. Should have been plastic clip on metal not metal clip on plastic. Anywho, I got one side buttoned up and took some side by side comparisons.
The driver's side is the Morimoto 6000k D2R, the passenger side is the Philips 4300K D2R (Assuming it's an 85126 bulb like the one I removed) with almost a year of use under it's belt so it's more than likely color shifted closer to 5000k. I'm no expert but I'm thinking that because these are reflector housings rather than projectors, that a desirable solid cut-off line is almost impossible. I'm not that picky but the crisp look of a solid cut-off line would be uber cool!
From the center of the dash in my lovely garage. I have to hold my breath to squeeze in there sometimes to get in my car.
From driver's side.
From passenger's side.
From above.
I need to tinker with some settings to see if I can pick up just the light without the glaring affect.
With the light against the wall it's easy to decipher between the color temp, 4300k vs. 6000k. I drove it around the block, which is lighted, and it's hard to distinguish on the road from driving the car; oncoming cars might say otherwise. There's a difference but with all the other lights interfering it's difficult to see the night and day difference but it is there.
After this I'm convinced that these bulbs so far are legitimate. I don't have a flicker in the bulb, although I think that's more of a ballast issue, and it fired right up with the Philips replacement. I'm excited to have the whiter light with the a blue hue to it and I don't expect any problems with the other bulbs. With that said the only thing that I think would be left to compare between these D2R bulbs would be the longevity, most important, and color shift after prolonged use. Hoping when I put the other one in tomorrow that I can salvage the plastic that the clips attach to.
I also got to scout out some places to mount the ballasts. Looks like I may be taking the bumper cover off.
Ciao!
I like the color of the light but looks like you had to sacrifice quite a bit of output.
The bulbs i will be getting eventually have 200 lumens of extra output and a pure white with no yellow...a hint of blue but they cost over $100.
The bulbs i will be getting eventually have 200 lumens of extra output and a pure white with no yellow...a hint of blue but they cost over $100.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
That might be the easiest way, to wire the fogs separate from the rest of the car with a switch.
I definitely noticed the decrease in light output. It was more noticeable sitting in the car facing out of my garage. 6000k side was considerably more dim than the stock side. I'll sacrifice a little performance to sport this look. If I would have run a modified D2S at 6000k I could have got a skosche more output without the shield at the expense of oncoming drivers and headlight glare. They also off the bulb in 4300k and 5000k as well.
What bulbs do you speak of?
I definitely noticed the decrease in light output. It was more noticeable sitting in the car facing out of my garage. 6000k side was considerably more dim than the stock side. I'll sacrifice a little performance to sport this look. If I would have run a modified D2S at 6000k I could have got a skosche more output without the shield at the expense of oncoming drivers and headlight glare. They also off the bulb in 4300k and 5000k as well.
What bulbs do you speak of?
Besides the apparent decrease in light output, it looks like the Morimotos have a cutoff that isn't as good as on the OEMs. IIRC, they should burn in after a few hours of use and get brighter, will need side by side comparisons again.
jmtiseo
The Peanut Gallery
Got the other side in today and I'm really digging the whiter light. Still scouting places to mount ballasts and relays. I think these are the best pics I can get without picking up the glare from the lights. So far everything is going good. I hope the rest of this can go as smoothly as replacing a couple bulbs.
Does everyone else's lens have a sorta speckle on the inside of it? Or did I just find a legitimate reason to separate the lenses and while I'm in there fixing/cleaning the lenses, install angel eyes?
Does everyone else's lens have a sorta speckle on the inside of it? Or did I just find a legitimate reason to separate the lenses and while I'm in there fixing/cleaning the lenses, install angel eyes?
Pan1019
Active LVC Member
Does everyone else's lens have a sorta speckle on the inside of it? Or did I just find a legitimate reason to separate the lenses and while I'm in there fixing/cleaning the lenses, install angel eyes?
I just put in my HID's and noticed on my 04 that they were all specked to hell. Not sure really what it is but it was definitely on the inside.:shifty:
Might warrant taking the whole thing apart
Heres my lens before the upgrade
For the ballast, I mounted mine behind the headligths. I previously had the regular ballast in the same spot with a tighter fit, these in the pic are slim digital so it was an easier fit.
This was for 2 though, the fogs, I dont know where 4 would fit.
For Gen2s, if your low beams and fogs are on, when you flip the hi's, the fogs turn off. The low's and hi's stay on together. All you have to do is find a way to turn the fogs on with the rest of them. The simplest way that I could think for gen2 to have all lights on would be to use a dpdt relay for the fogs and use the hi beam as the switch trigger to give the fogs power when the hi's are on. One the relay's first position, the fogs would be in their normal state, when the hi's are flipped on, the fogs have no power in it's current circuit, so the hi's would trigger the switch in the relay to the second position where there will be power for the fogs. When the hi's go off, the relay will go back to it's normal position and be on the cars normal fog circuit.
If this doesn't make sense, just look up what a dptp relay is and it should clear things up. Joe will proably correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont see why this wont work and it's pretty simple to do.
I dont remember how gen1's lighting functions but I saw the diagram to have all the lights on and it looked complicated/extensive.
This was for 2 though, the fogs, I dont know where 4 would fit.
For Gen2s, if your low beams and fogs are on, when you flip the hi's, the fogs turn off. The low's and hi's stay on together. All you have to do is find a way to turn the fogs on with the rest of them. The simplest way that I could think for gen2 to have all lights on would be to use a dpdt relay for the fogs and use the hi beam as the switch trigger to give the fogs power when the hi's are on. One the relay's first position, the fogs would be in their normal state, when the hi's are flipped on, the fogs have no power in it's current circuit, so the hi's would trigger the switch in the relay to the second position where there will be power for the fogs. When the hi's go off, the relay will go back to it's normal position and be on the cars normal fog circuit.
If this doesn't make sense, just look up what a dptp relay is and it should clear things up. Joe will proably correct me if I'm wrong, but I dont see why this wont work and it's pretty simple to do.
I dont remember how gen1's lighting functions but I saw the diagram to have all the lights on and it looked complicated/extensive.