Orange Cheetah Gets Improved Night Vision!
After a lot of deliberation, myself and Sunay (@fusionbang) took decision to setup HIDs for low beam. The reason we went or this is -
- Low Beams have projectors already. Setting up HID bulbs would be easy without any issues
- Any HID setup without projectors will not be focused light and the scattered rays would blind the oncoming traffic. A safety hazard it will be.
- We decided to go for 35W, 4300 K lights. 55W would be overkill and not really sure about how the headlights contain the heat from 55W bulbs.
- Options considered - many. But all the searches, suggestions zero down to these - Osram, Philips and P8 HID Kits.
- Our investigation revealed that many places setup the philips and osram kits but not very sure about warranty/ claims processing. Everyone says its good product but when it comes to claims and warranty, some of the distributors don’t guarantee replacements. Also to avoid the fake things, one needs to take utmost care. So for the options we chose (P8) Satya confirmed the continued support from his side as well as P8 as manufacturer!
Based on my earlier experience of SX4 HID Setup (
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...tors-drls.html), my obvious choice was EVO - Satya (
http://www.evo-blr.com/index.html). Prior to reaching out to Satya, we did visit many other places independently and did not feel any confidence in any of the setups. Satya was moe forthcoming and open to explanations, discussions and price of course! Based o the experience on SX4, Satya’s recommendation, we decided to go for P8 HID kits. The total cost of kit, setup was Rs. 8000 each car. We could have also ordered the kits from online sources and worked with some technicians to get this fitted. But that is again leaving us on our own to manage after install things like bulb issues or ballast issues if at all any. Moreover, we don't think we are yet ready to do a DIY for such an important thing
A quick WhatsApp message on Friday noon confirmed our work to be executed first thing on Saturday. So here is myself and Sunay reached to EVO by 11.15am!
Parked side by side, both cars were ready to be setup with HIDs. We actually opened the bonnet and waited for 15-20 minutes to let engine compartment cool off relatively to avoid burning hands while fitting.
The XUV engine compartment is so jam-packed, there is hardly any space to peek inside! Replacing the bulbs is a daunting task therefore! For right side, low beam replacement is easy while high beam needs the coolant tank to be loosened and moved out of way to reach to the bulb holder. The left side is easy to replace the high beam while low beam needs a lot of exercise due to battery blocking the access. So we had removed the battery (out of car), removed the coolant tank out of way (not completely) and set everything ready to fit HIDs.
The P8 Kits comes with two ballasts and two bulbs - 35W, 4300 K lumens light.
The important things to note - the stock wiring stays inside the headlight and now of the sockets, wires hang out. but since now we are inserting the ballasts between the light socket and switch, we need to cut the plastic covers that cover the sockets in the rear of headlights. The HID kit comes with nice two layered rubber bushing. So when we cut these covers, the rubber bushes nicely fits and ensures no steam/ water/ dust goes inside.
When fitted the rubber bushes, this is how it covers -
And the next important thing is to keep ballasts at such a place so that it does not come in way for regular servicing/ maintenance tasks in the engine compartments. So here they go and hide nicely with plastic ties. The lack of space on the battery side, we chose to stick it on the cover of fusebox with enough wire play to be able to remove/ fit fusebox cover in future.
And this entire setup is done in less than hour on both the cars simultaneously!
Sunay is on the road this evening and should get the pictures of new setup while I will do that tomorrow and post back early next week!
While doing this, I moved the Philips XtremeVision bulbs from existing low beam into the high beam! So now Orange Cheetah has HID 35W P8 Kit with 4300K bulbs in Low Beam, high beam with Philips XtremeVision 130% bulbs and Fogs stay stock as is!
Stay tuned for the actual pictures with snaps of old setup from earlier posts and new ones. Sunay shall post his light setup/ throw soon on his ownership thread
here and we will cross link it for everyone understanding.