[BeantownThinker]

So after doing a little bit of research, went ahead and took the plunge to change the bulbs in my car.

The OEM set-up on my Verna was single projectors running on halogen bulbs. Went ahead and changed the bulbs to 55W 4300K HIDs.

It has now been 10 days since I made this change and here are my initial impressions:

1. 4300K temperature has a white tinge to it. If you want to retain the colour temperature of a halogen bulb then 3000K is closest to it.

2. Start-up time to full brightness is around 20 to 30 seconds. This is despite using a fast start ballast. This makes it a bit inconvenient when entering places that go suddenly dark and you need light immediately for example while entering basements or a dark tunnel.

3. Point 2 also makes it an ineffective bulb when you want to flash your high-beams

4. Performance is slightly better than the halogens that I was running.

5. To accomodate the ballast and wires, the dust cap will have to be cut. You just need to ensure that the hole is properly sealed during the final fitment.

Am yet to drive on highways, in heavy rain or in fog/mist to give a review of the same.

[Myth_sx]

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

So after doing a little bit of research, went ahead and took the plunge to change the bulbs in my car.

The OEM set-up on my Verna was single projectors running on halogen bulbs. Went ahead and changed the bulbs to 55W 4300K HIDs.

Congrats on the new lights. What brand of components did you finalize on ?

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

2. Start-up time to full brightness is around 20 to 30 seconds. This is despite using a fast start ballast.

That is not a fast start ballast then. Fast starts are like 5 seconds and regular ones are 10seconds. 20+ seconds is something else.

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

4. Performance is slightly better than the halogens that I was running.

If its slightly better, then check again. HIDs provide a more than decent upgrade over halogens. This might also be due to HID bulbs in Halogen projectors. The alignment gets messed up.

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

5. To accomodate the ballast and wires, the dust cap will have to be cut. You just need to ensure that the hole is properly sealed during the final fitment.

Check at Aliexpress or your installer for those rubber material hard caps. They provide a good slot for wires as well as a tight fit over the rear of the headlight unit.

[BeantownThinker]

Originally Posted by Myth_sx

Congrats on the new lights. What brand of components did you finalize on ?

That is not a fast start ballast then. Fast starts are like 5 seconds and regular ones are 10seconds. 20+ seconds is something else.

If its slightly better, then check again. HIDs provide a more than decent upgrade over halogens. This might also be due to HID bulbs in Halogen projectors. The alignment gets messed up.


Check at Aliexpress or your installer for those rubber material hard caps. They provide a good slot for wires as well as a tight fit over the rear of the headlight unit.

To answer your questions...

I have installed bulbs of brand called P8.

The bulbs that I have start off completely white and move towards the yellow. It is the yellow light which provides the brightest light and this takes about 20 seconds. Probably my expectations where that of either a halogen or LED startup time which is instantaneous.

In my case, the dust-cap holes have been properly sealed using a sealant. It was more of an observation that there is no way to fit a HID bulb without cutting the dust cap.

[Myth_sx]

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

The bulbs that I have start off completely white and move towards the yellow. It is the yellow light which provides the brightest light and this takes about 20 seconds. Probably my expectations where that of either a halogen or LED startup time which is instantaneous.

The color shift from white to yellow is normal though i am not sure if that should take 20 seconds.

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

In my case, the dust-cap holes have been properly sealed using a sealant. It was more of an observation that there is no way to fit a HID bulb without cutting the dust cap.

Yes, fitting an HID or LED does create that space issue at the rear.

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

The low beam projectors are H7 and the high beam reflectors are H1 type.
The Philips Ultinon H7 LED are not suitable for projectors and are good only for reflector setup (this is also mentioned specifically on the packaging). The Ultinon will not be able to give you good lighting in this setup.
The only upgrade which will give you better lighting in this projector setup is HID retrofit - take 35W in 4200K from Osram or Morimoto.

I just bought a pair of H7 Ultinon LED's for my XUV (low beam projector) and it states specifically in the manual that they are compatible with projector type headlights.

My concern is whether any modification will be necessary with specific regard to the XUV500.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by pillainp

I just bought a pair of H7 Ultinon LED's for my XUV (low beam projector) and it states specifically in the manual that they are compatible with projector type headlights.

Good it seems that they have upgraded the design then for projectors as the earlier versions were not compatible. Do share your own lighting results with them in terms of light level and beam focus.

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Good it seems that they have upgraded the design then for projectors as the earlier versions were not compatible. Do share your own lighting results with them in terms of light level and beam focus.

Attaching a photo of the actual unit.

Where does that plug attach to?

Also I am a little concerned with the actual fitment. If anyone knows an FNG/accessory guy in the Trivandrum/Kottayam/Ernakulam area with the requisite skill set please give me a contact.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by pillainp

Attaching a photo of the actual unit.

Where does that plug attach to?

Also I am a little concerned with the actual fitment. If anyone knows an FNG/accessory guy in the Trivandrum/Kottayam/Ernakulam area with the requisite skill set please give me a contact.

This plug connects with the terminal connector from the wiring which would be originally connected to the bulb terminals. It is not too difficult to do if there is enough space to access the bulbs easily. There are videos on youtube you can refer for your specific car.

[pillainp]

Will I need any relay type extras for these LED's?

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by pillainp

Will I need any relay type extras for these LED's?

No relay required but if your car uses a Canbus system you may need Canbus error cancellers. In case it doesn't have a Canbus system you can use it directly.
Relays are required in case of higher power equipment (like HID lights or Rally bulbs) which have a higher current draw (HID only on startup though).

[pillainp]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

No relay required but if your car uses a Canbus system you may need Canbus error cancellers. In case it doesn't have a Canbus system you can use it directly.
Relays are required in case of higher power equipment (like HID lights or Rally bulbs) which have a higher current draw (HID only on startup though).

My car is an XUV500. Any error cancelled required?

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by pillainp

My car is an XUV500. Any error cancelled required?

I am not sure , maybe XUV500 owners would be able to answer that query. What you can try is to replace the bulbs and if you get a bulb out error it means you need a canbus error canceller and if you don't get any error it means you can manage without it.

[Epic]

Hey everyone!

So I have installed an after market HID projector setup in my 2011 VW Polo 1.6 and also installed an Auto Lighting module. Both work perfectly! Since there is an option to set as to when the lights should actually switch on; I assume they must be set based on the amount of light / darkness (measured by lumens) available. I sometimes face scenarios where the lights switch on even if passing under a flyover. This does not happen in my Jetta.

So I believe OEM Auto Light Sensors must be set to switch on the lights once the amount of light reaches 'X' lumens.

Does anyone have any idea of this?

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by pillainp

My car is an XUV500. Any error cancelled required?

I don't think so. Only the European brands seem to bother with the CANBUS thing. Even if you have CANBUS, you can bypass it by using a relay setup. My Ecosport has a CANBUS setup, but as long as the wattage doesn't exceed the original rating, it doesn't seem to cause any errors. I checked with my bluetooth OBD, and even a 130W halogen setup with relay didn't show any errors through . I have since switched to LEDs for the headlamps, the reversing lamps and the interior lamps, but no errors so far.

Some cars require the headlamp unit to be removed for bulb installation. Please check under the bonnet to see if the rear of the headlamps are accessible. If the rear cap is accessible, it might be a simple DIY. My Ecosport's bulb can be changed easily, but my upgrading to LEDs on our Nano required taking off the entire assembly and the removal of a proprietary connector. If you're unsure, take it to a known accessory shop, see what they're doing. Next time, you can try yourself. That's what I did.

Here's the output from my H4 LED lamps. These are 50W per set, i.e. 25W per bulb. I also have foglamps which are 72W per set, i.e 36W per bulb.

The pics were taken on my Mi Max phone, which has a mediocre low light camera, so kindly excuse the less than spectacular, uh.. shutterbuggery?

I had the gate closed to show the beam pattern and cutoff.

This is the Low beam, Headlights only. As you see, there's a clear line of cutoff. The glare is minimal.

This is the High beam, headlights only. The throw is quite similar to the stock lamp, but brighter. I only rarely use the high beam.

This is the Low beam + Fog lamps. I usually drive with this setup during rain and at lower speeds, as the fogs have a wide spread which illuminates the whole road as well as the surroundings wonderfully.

This is the High beam + Fog lamps. I don't use this combination unless there is no visible oncoming traffic, as I feel the glare is a bit too much.

This is the fog lamps alone. I usually use this for city driving, as it illuminates the immediate area very well. Since the fog lamps lack any cutoff, you can see how it bleeds to the area cut off by the headlights as well.

I am planning to use and amber-yellow 3M film to cover the top half of the fogs, to match the cutoff of the low beam. This will reduce glare to the oncoming traffic, and be of more use during rainy and foggy conditions.

This is the kind of effect I have in mind, if it works correctly. Or, I could use dark tint to just reduce the glare.

Here are some pictures of the H4 replacement bulb itself. Philip's Ultinon has a similar design, and I am quite sure that this is a clone of it. It has a standard H4 connector, and does not have a separate driver, or a cooling fan. It uses passive cooling, and so it has a smaller 25W output per bulb, probably to reduce the heat output and reduce the driver size.

I have taken out the bulb only. The bulb base is still fitted onto the reflector assembly. Note that the two locking pins are diametrically opposite, making it possible to fit the lamp upside down (which I did the first time)

The build quality and finishing is very good, especially considering the price of 2.6K per set. You can get better built, more powerful units for about 4K, that come with CANBUS corrected drivers and cooling fans (on some models).

You can see the three individual CSPs that make up each beam. There's a similar set on the opposite side, so there are six CSPs lit up at any time, either on high beam or low. You can see the shroud under the low beam set, which creates the sharp cutoff.

You can see the mounting clamp and the base of the LED bulb here. It's made of matte black plastic. You can see the mounting guide on the base here.

It's possible to order the base individually, in case you somehow break it. Since the bulb is bigger than the regular bulbs, the metal clamping mechanism will not go over the whole LED unit and heatsink. Some bulbs have a removable screwed in heatsink, but this model uses a simpler arrangement.

This is how the bulb looks inside the headlamp unit. Pardon the dirt on the front, it wasn't visible on the phone screen.



A close-up of the inside of the headlamp unit. In the Ecosport, the lamps are mounted with a slight twist, so the low beam shines down and to the left.

I'm happy with the setup for now, but I plan to upgrade to a projector setup eventually, preferably with LEDs. There are replacement units available from many vendors, including Aliexpress sellers, but they are too expensive for me, and the designs are a bit too showy. I think a cleaner idea would be to open up the units and install projectors with angel eyes inside.

[Epic]

Originally Posted by Epic

Retrofit Projector Setup in 2011 VW Polo 1.6

So after a lot of deliberation, I finally took the plunge and upgraded my H4 halogen headlight setup to a H1 bi-xenon projector setup.
The work was done by Xenon Planet and we used their XP Mini Super V3 Projectors.

I am pretty happy with the over all work and the entire set up looks absolutely stock. The only problem I currently face is fogging in the headlight which I assume will clear off in due course of time. Here are some pics -

So I am posting this around a year of getting the retrofit projector setup from Xenon Planet and today I was horrified to see how bad their install actually is. After the heavy rains yesterday in Mumbai, I was horrified to see the amount of condensation that has accumulated in my headlights. The reason of course is clearly a bad install done by Xenon Planet.

Remember, my headlights were opened thrice by Xenon Planet after the install to investigate a blowing fuse. The solution to the cause, which was due to the projector wire getting jammed between the reflector. The solution to this problem was given by someone I knew who installed my ICE and not by Xenon Planet. That is how bad their installer was. I knew this and informed Mr. Karan Fernandes who is their representative in Mumbai, but he claimed that their installer was good and that they have done more than 100 cars with no issues.

Anyway, I will let the pictures do the talking: