[clevermax]

At last, I took the plunge and went ahead with an HID conversion kit. From the stock halogens, I had upgraded earlier to 4300K 9000 lumens CSP chip LED kit. The halogens were sad as usual, and the LED's high beam was scattered all over. Later I changed to Philips X-TremeVision G-Force 130% bulbs, which were slightly better the stock halogens.

The new kit contained 42 Watts Ballasts & 6000K (Looks 5700K-ish in full brightness) bulbs. This was bought from the UK.

Sharing some details of the DIY, especially the 'drilling a hole on the cap' part.

The rubber grommet that comes with most kits have an inner diameter of about 0.8 inches. However, the hole that you drill needs to be slightly more than an inch in diameter, since there is a bulky connector that has to pass through that hole. If you drill a bigger hole, the grommet will end up not fitting tight. This will lead to dust accumulation within the assembly.

The solution is to dismantle the bulky connector and just pass the wires alone, through a hole that's big enough to tightly fit the grommet.

So the first task was to remove the connector.




The next task (for Verna) was to remove the bumper and take the whole headlamp assembly out. This is required since it is very difficult to work with the assembly while it is still on the car, owing to the narrow gap at the back of the assembly.





Drilled a hole with diameter approximately 0.87 inches (2.2 cms) on the cap.



Routed the wires through the hole [without the bulky connector] and the grommet fits perfectly! Then, assembled the connector back again. This is the connector that will be mated with the 12V input connector of the ballast.



The whole assembly was then fitted back to the car and it was time for a test.



Here endeth the DIY.



A comparison video of the new kit - compared to Philips X-tremeVision G-Force 130% bulbs. Driven through the same route, location-synced video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3Jlol_zlCQ

Initial impressions:
1) The brightness & the reach is superb!
2) The high beam is very focussed, unlike an LED!
3) Low-beam has well defined borders including the cut-off.
4) Takes about 10 seconds to achieve full brightness.
5) Cold-flash isn't that powerful.
6) Hot-flash (when low beam is already on) is very powerful, one should be careful not to blind others with the high beam.

[AjinkyaP]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Hi All,

Many of us have been searching for LED bulbs in 4300K CCT and recently I came across an Indian company (probably Importer) selling 4300K Led bulbs. (i have no connection with them and have not used their products )
They are based in Mumbai and it may be worthwhile for Mumbai based TBHPians to talk to them and explore their product. The design of the product looks good.
https://www.dhcindia.com/f55-car-led.html

DHC is a pretty familiar brand especially in and around Maharashtra.
My hometown is a tier 3 city and the only option here i get from the car accessory shop is of DHC.

Their flagship product is F75 Pro series, 75W LEDs with 14,000LM/Pair ( Price quoted by local dealer-₹11k)
I’m thinking of installing their 55W LEDs for projector fog lights.

[jaysheth]

Hi everyone,

Wanting to upgrade Honda Jazz VX CVT (2022 model) stock Halogen headlights (Phoenix 60/55 H4).

Has anyone tried Philips RacingVision GT200 H4? (H4 12342 Racingvision GT200 12V 60/55W P43t-38 B1): https://amzn.eu/d/ezBkyHh

These have been launched rather recently, probably in 2022 in India. Any inputs would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Reason/Rationale behind considering this:

I tried RacingVision 150 today, they were better than stock Phoenix H4 headlights, but have a poor lifespan of only 200 hours or less. Plus, would prefer more brightness while sticking to Halogen, 60/55 only (do not want relay business) and wanted below 4000K temperature (yellow colour being important for penetration through rain and fog).

Philips RacingVision GT200 (on paper) seems to tick all boxes: halogen + preserving yellowness + plug and play with zero modification + meeting 60/55 norms + longer life + reasonably priced at around INR 1k per piece on Amazon + claimed 200% brightness (practically could be much lesser than that, as others have reported, but claimed 200% should definitely be brighter than claimed 150%).

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by jaysheth

Hi everyone,

Wanting to upgrade Honda Jazz VX CVT (2022 model) stock Halogen headlights (Phoenix 60/55 H4).

Has anyone tried Philips RacingVision GT200 H4? (H4 12342 Racingvision GT200 12V 60/55W P43t-38 B1): https://amzn.eu/d/ezBkyHh

These have been launched rather recently, probably in 2022 in India. Any inputs would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Reason/Rationale behind considering this:
.

Honestly, please avoid these as there is no substantial benefit of these lamps. You just have a slightly tighter hot spot with 20% increased brightness, but beam spread is narrower and also the life of the bulb is significantly lesser.
If you want substantial benefit, go for Osram H4 Led bulbs, which will give you substantial improvement in light level. However as you have reflector based headlights, they will cause glare to oncoming drivers

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Honestly, please avoid these as there is no substantial benefit of these lamps. You just have a slightly tighter hot spot with 20% increased brightness, but beam spread is narrower and also the life of the bulb is significantly lesser.
If you want substantial benefit, go for Osram H4 Led bulbs, which will give you substantial improvement in light level. However as you have reflector based headlights, they will cause glare to oncoming drivers

Thanks for your reply. Life for RacingVision GT200 is 450 hours (unlike 200 hours on only RacingVision). Especially since I have reflector based headlights, I want to avoid LED. I understand Osram H4 LED bulbs are great, when it is not raining or foggy, and when we use low beam only. Also, they are quite white (6000K), and I prefer yellow (3400K to 4300K max). Also, as you said they will cause glare to oncoming drivers, which is exactly what all of us must avoid (inconveniencing others, and in fact putting them to risk!). I need a respectable compromise that would work for all weather conditions, with no inconvenience to oncoming drivers. I understand it would still be a compromise having only Reflector + H4 setup (can't help that)! Therefore, opinion from anyone who has tried GT200 would be appreciated, else I will buy it anyways and share my opinion here.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by jaysheth

I need a respectable compromise that would work for all weather conditions, with no inconvenience to oncoming drivers. I understand it would still be a compromise having only Reflector + H4 setup (can't help that)! Therefore, opinion from anyone who has tried GT200 would be appreciated, else I will buy it anyways and share my opinion here.

Spend 200 Rs, purchase a pair of original Philips H4 bulb - the normal premium vision \ vision as they call now. I think the model number is 12342PRC or something like that. PRC probably means made in that country.

Anyhow fit these, clean up your headlamps nicely and get them aligned, check to see if your battery and electrical system is working fine - that is it.

You now have the best possible light from that reflector set up without any mods.

It is unlikely that any significant efficiency gains have been made to halogen technology recently so for the said power consumption, the light output from a 100 Rs bulb and this would be comparable and not worth spending that extra money.

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Honestly, please avoid these as there is no substantial benefit of these lamps. You just have a slightly tighter hot spot with 20% increased brightness, but beam spread is narrower and also the life of the bulb is significantly lesser.
If you want substantial benefit, go for Osram H4 Led bulbs, which will give you substantial improvement in light level. However as you have reflector based headlights, they will cause glare to oncoming drivers

Hi Behemoth,

I just went through last 30+ pages on this thread (which is not even 3% of the whole overwhelming thread!). Learnt a lot from your advice extended to fellow BHPians. Thank you once again for guiding us through your experience in this space.

I also realized that my situation is not very pleasing for our Honda Jazz VX CVT - an otherwise fantastic car.

Drawbacks: (a) Reflector setup with below average halogen stock headlight (Phoenix H4 55/60), (b) No possibility of installing fog lamps (they have put LED DRLs in the fog lamp slots)

May be I should have gone with the top ZX variant, at least that way I would have had the flexibility of having separate fog lamps and upgrading them in future!

The Honda accessory person told me that nothing can be done about the DRL setup (I wanted to upgrade that to fog lamps). The DRL automatically turns on and remains on when we start the car, and automatically turns off when we turn on parking lights or main headlights. He said I will have to live with that as electricals cannot be tampered with (or do I have any other option there?? Anyways, that's a less important question. Most important is the headlight upgrade. Kindly read on.)

I learnt a lot from your posts, but am still unhappy to see no option that will serve under all weather conditions. This Sunday I had to drive for 60 kms (2/3 highway + 1/3 city) and was quite uncomfortable with the stock headlights. I am ready to spend even INR 10K or more for a more permanent/lasting solution to this, as I plan to keep this (currently new) car for next 12-15 years, and want zero compromise on this important visibility (safety) aspect. Honda should have given better options here, even at some premium!

Coming back to headlights upgrade, what are my options? As I understand, having H4 instead of H7 setup further limits my options drastically!

1. Replace the stock halogen with another halogen 55/60 (the difference wouldn't be enough to resolve the complaints that I have, as I understand). Also lower life span of these halogens is a real mental strain for this otherwise very reliable car. I wouldn't be at peace driving the car wondering if it could conk off suddenly somewhere!
   
   
2. Upgrade to Halogen 90/100. I do not want that (any idea if it is legal or could void warranty? The car is not even 3 months old and I have purchased a 5-year warranty already). In any case, the headlight assembly would take a toll due to accessive heat, hence would be best to avoid this option, but wanted to validate with you and other experts here.
   
   
3. Upgrade to Osram H4 LED as you suggested, keep them on for dry days and nights (approx. 8 months per year), avoid high beam completely unless really really required. During rainy season (approx. 4 months per year), remove the Osram and install the stock/Philips Halogen lights. Do you have any opinion on this workaround? I am quite uncomfortable thinking of driving the car on Pune-Mumbai expressway (some relatively frequent expected road trips) in monsoon + fog, with a 6000K LED on a reflector setup. I will learn how to replace the bulb, so that I could do so myself as and when required. Another unfortunate outcome is that my monsoon drives will still have little to no improvement (using Philips Halogen / stock bulbs), ironically when needed the most!
   
   
4. Change the whole headlight assembly to some better setup you might recommend? How much could that cost, approx? Is it advisable to check with Honda on that?
   
   
5. Any other option that I might have completely missed?

Thanks in advance!

[vattyboy]

Hello bhpians, I own a Mercedes-Benz CLA 200 CDI. It has bi-xenon projectors with stock D3s 35W 4300k Phillips Xenecostart HID bulbs and I am not satisfied with their performance especially on highways, in the city they are sufficient. Could you please guide me to the best light upgrades for my CLA?

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by jaysheth

Hi Behemoth,

I just went through last 30+ pages on this thread (which is not even 3% of the whole overwhelming thread!). Learnt a lot from your advice extended to fellow BHPians. Thank you once again for guiding us through your experience in this space.

[*]Any other option that I might have completely missed?[/list]
Thanks in advance!

Well there is one option that you have missed and may work for you. This one though is a bit on the expensive side (around 15-20k). In this option, you need to get your Halogen reflector based setup upgraded with projector retrofit - either in HID or LED based. Something like this:
https://www.uglare.com/product/62w-d...rojector-lens/

But in this case you need to find a good installer who can open your headlights properly, fix the lights, align them and the reseal the headlights properly.
Only this change can give you the best benefits but needs to be done properly.

Here is a video showing a similar upgrade for a Honda Amaze. (I have no connection or relationship with this guy!)
His video is in Malayalam though and you will need to click on the Youtube link to watch this video as playback on other sites is not enabled for this video.

https://youtu.be/3f7punmDtCU

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Well there is one option that you have missed and may work for you.
But in this case you need to find a good installer who can open your headlights properly, fix the lights, align them and the reseal the headlights properly.
Only this change can give you the best benefits but needs to be done properly.

Thanks Behemoth. This option is too scary for me (being a novice, and the car being brand new). I have gone back to your original advice, and have ordered Osram H4 LED Headlamps along with Osram LED Parking Lamp (as yellow parking lamp next to white LED lamp would look ugly). Am assuming no modifications are required and it would be direct plug-and-play. Can't wait to try it (expected tonight). Will update on the impressions along with pictures soon.

I will then use this during dry seasons, and will use the stock lamps during monsoons. That way at least 8 of 12 months would give me better driving conditions, along with peace of mind as LEDs would be significantly more long lasting. Many thanks once again for the recommendations.

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Honestly, please avoid these as there is no substantial benefit of these lamps. You just have a slightly tighter hot spot with 20% increased brightness, but beam spread is narrower and also the life of the bulb is significantly lesser.
If you want substantial benefit, go for Osram H4 Led bulbs, which will give you substantial improvement in light level. However as you have reflector based headlights, they will cause glare to oncoming drivers

An update on this: I got the Osram H4 LEDs delivered and installed yesterday. Had a harrowing time going home thereafter. There was a lot of light coming out from Osram LEDs, but scattering or focusing on many other places at an elevation, and except the road. Needless to mention, I tried all headlight levelers in the Jazz, none of which worked to any degree of satisfaction. On the contrary, the oncoming traffic was blinding to me and I had a deep appreciation of (their) yellow light compared to (mine) white. I could not see even big potholes on the road and had to slow down dramatically to save the car from it! Contrary to the popular opinion, the high beam was pretty good, illuminating the road well, but I refrained from using that to not blind other drivers and pedestrians.

And all this on a perfectly dry weather in Pune. During monsoon / foggy weather, even the thought of using this is dreadful!!

I wondered if this could be an alignment issue, but the mechanic said there was only one way these could fit anyways, so that was ruled out.

I went for an additional 20 minute drive yesterday night, to validate the impressions further, and it was the same (harrowing) experience!

This morning, therefore, I got the stock halogens back (for now). I am returning Osram LED and would continue trying to find better halogens.

What I learnt is this: Never install LEDs in a reflector headlight setup meant for Halogens!

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by jaysheth

An update on this: I got the Osram H4 LEDs delivered and installed yesterday. Had a harrowing time going home thereafter. There was a lot of light coming out from Osram LEDs, but scattering or focusing on many other places at an elevation, and except the road. Needless to mention, I tried all headlight levelers in the Jazz, none of which worked to any degree of satisfaction. On the contrary, the oncoming traffic was blinding to me and I had a deep appreciation of (their) yellow light compared to (mine) white. I could not see even big potholes on the road and had to slow down dramatically to save the car from it! Contrary to the popular opinion, the high beam was pretty good, illuminating the road well, but I refrained from using that to not blind other drivers and pedestrians.

And all this on a perfectly dry weather in Pune. During monsoon / foggy weather, even the thought of using this is dreadful!!

I wondered if this could be an alignment issue, but the mechanic said there was only one way these could fit anyways, so that was ruled out.

I went for an additional 20 minute drive yesterday night, to validate the impressions further, and it was the same (harrowing) experience!

This morning, therefore, I got the stock halogens back (for now). I am returning Osram LED and would continue trying to find better halogens.

What I learnt is this: Never install LEDs in a reflector headlight setup meant for Halogens!

Yes there is a challenge when installing LEDs in reflectors and there is a lot of beam scatter. Also since it depends a lot on the reflector design, every car headlight behaves differently and the only way to verify is with fitment in that specific headlight.
You did a good thing to return the Bulbs as they would also cause a lot of glare to oncoming cars too.
I don't know why but I have a gut feel though that your installer installed the lights upside down. In case of H4 bulbs there is a correct way upside and downside too.

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

I don't know why but I have a gut feel though that your installer installed the lights upside down. In case of H4 bulbs there is a correct way upside and downside too.

Behemoth,

Salute to you, sir!

Your gut feel was bang on! They had indeed installed the Osram H4 LEDs upside down in our Honda Jazz VX CVT, which gave me a nightmare yesterday with the low beam light focusing "in the sky", totally missing the road. Got the Halogens out and got the LEDs installed in the correct position.

Once it was dark, I stood facing our car in our parking, at about 12-15 feet distance. My wife operated low + high beam with all leveling positions turn by turn. The high beam was blinding indeed, whereas the low beam was perfectly focused on the road, and not disturbing at all.

Having satisfied myself thus (that the low beam would not inconvenience anyone on the road, or any oncoming drivers), I took the car for the exact same night drive as yesterday's. I chose the same time, same road conditions, same roads (a mix of 2-3 km highway and some smooth city roads + some low light service roads with high number of potholes). Yesterday (with the wrong placement of Osram LED), I was terrified and had to slow down so as to not miss (worse - hit!) objects. Today there was a world of difference. It illuminated the roads and other objects very well, and showed up the potholes well in advance, and more importantly, with good clarity and focus. Everything else being almost equal, I was able to complete the drive in 75% time compared to yesterday, thanks to the correct illumination and focus.

High beam is almost of no use to "see the roads" with this setup. But there was one practical use: I could respond to some vehicles trying to bully us (coming from opposite end with high beams), just by flashing mine, asking them to tone down! On several junctions, there were many bikers eager to disrespect the signal and squeeze in vertically while our signal was green and theirs was red, even on the wrong sides at times. A simple(!) less-than-1 second of high beam flash of the car was enough to make them wait! I wish I had similar high beam lights installed at the back of the car to respond to vehicles bullying us from behind (just joking! )

One issue persists however, with an oncoming car with bright yellow lights, I don't have my (yellow light) weapon to cut these off, as a result they looked a little too bright for me to handle.

But in any case, for now, I have decided to drive more with these Osram H4 LEDs, hopefully until monsoon commences, which is when I intend to religiously switch to (yellow) halogens. One express way trip in the dark (and without street lights) would exactly reveal how things are!

Many thanks once again for your guidance. I have cancelled the Amazon return for now.

I just wish Osram comes with even better LEDs, and by that I mean lower Kalvin (not exceeding 3700K or 4300K max, as current 6000K has no yellowness) and higher wattage (e.g. 35 Watts instead of 25 Watts) corresponding to more lumens. These would still be well within the 55/60W limit, and we - all insignificant creatures with a reflector headlamp setup - would truly have an all-season solution.

To everyone new to installing H4 headlights (both halogen and LED variants), please remember to install them in the right position (fortunately there're only 2 options, up-side-up [correct] and up-side-down [incorrect]. There is no other angle possible). An incorrect installation can result in catastrophic consequences.

Some very good videos to understand this clearly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_dLGPqP2Ws

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSAoUrecAVI

[Taha Mir]

Hi,
I have a set of AES HID fog lamp projectors on my ecosport working fine since the last year.
Now the passenger side high beam shutter seems to get stuck in the open position, hitting it or driving over a bump or switching off all lights unsticks the shutter back to low beam.
I've inspected all connections including ground. The problem seems to be the shutter mechanism itself.

Does anybody here have experience opening up the HID fog lamp projectors and cleaning out the shutter mechanism?

[Pedalmasher_20]

Hi guys, My dad owns a 2012 MS WagonR VXi and recently, I have been getting this feeling of the light throw and brightness not being adequate when I drive it in the night. When I asked my dad about the headlight, he told me that he had upgraded the headlights thrice to a better quality ones from the MS Authorised Service Centre 5-6 years ago due to same issue but still, the issue was not solved so he avoided driving at night and blamed at the car. The brand of the lights was of Philips. Now, when I checked the headlight ratings, I found the culprit. Apparently, MS Service Centres where changing the headlights with the same brand and of the same ratings and were claiming that the company had made upgrades to the bulbs. My dad, being a non-car guy, believed that it was genuine reason, and always gave it a thumbs up, only to realise after few days that that headlight effectiveness was the same as before. My dad recollects, that after facing the same issue thrice, he went to the service centre and when asked, they suggested to change the whole headlamp assembly, to which, my dad denied and decided to never visit the MS Authorised Service Centre again for any work. Currently, the car is running on the Phillips H4 Xtreme Vision 55/60W. Now, I am thinking of upgrading the bulbs to a higher rating so that our upcoming long drive can be less stressful. After reading a few reviews, felt that going with the 90/100W with a relay would be the best option. I also have a thought running in my mind weather 130/100W would be overkill for the car or not and am quite confused. Hence I request, respected members, to pls share your thoughts on which headlight ratings, relay and brand should I choose. Also, if I am missing something to do with the upgrade, pls do tell me. Thx in advance.