[Epic]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

I bought these clip on LEDs from JC Road a month back for the instrument panel of my 2001 Alto, and now they are conked off. They were good(white light) when they worked!!

Are there any better quality LEDs available for this particular use? I just need couple of them, of clip on types and I should be good.

Please advise!!

Philips Ultinon or Osram LEDriving are the best I know.

[naturaldisaster]

Hi 'enlightened' ones. Have a query about the headlight on my 2011 Electra 350. I am not at all satisfied with the light output. I have endlessly researched and the only options i get are:

1. Replace entire headlight assembly with one of those LED sets - The cheaper ones are terrible while good ones like Trucklite are way out of budget.
2. Use a 55w or higher bulb that will require stator coil/whatnots work - I do not want to mess about with the alternator for the sake of the new wiring harness i recently had to put in.
3. Use a 35w HID kit - Unsure about the reliability since while powering on they draw a lot of current. And where would i hide the ballast?
4. Use an LED bulb - This seems like the best solution. Uses stock reflector the optics of which i like, low power draw and a range of option available. The only issue is the clearance for the heat-sink behind the light.

Would appreciate if i could get some pointer from you all. Thanks.

[Epic]

Originally Posted by Epic

graaja Dr.Naren SunnyBoi

Guys!! My electrical issues don't seem to getting resolved and it is driving me nuts.

So as mentioned earlier, I got the HID wiring kit changed to Morimoto on Sunday and upgraded the car's headlight high beam fuse to 15A. Everything worked absolutely fine. Used the car on Monday and on returning from work in the night and after say a 15-20 minute drive the high beam fuse blew again. My installer asked me to upgrade the fuse to 20A but if it blows again then not to go any further. I did the same on Tuesday night and again everything worked fine.

Now here is the weird part! Last night while driving the car again for like 15-20 minutes; both high beams failed again but this time the fuse has not blown. How do I know this? Because the high beam indicator is showing on the dash board when ever I use the stalk to flash or move it to high beam position. Unlike before, the low beams remain ON whether I move the stalk in flash position (before only RHS high beam used to work) or whether I move the stalk to high beam position (before RHS high beam used to flash for a split second and both head lights used to shut off).

Now here are my observations :

- After changing the fuses, the headlight (high & low beams) work perfectly. It is only after a certain period of time of use (15-20 minutes) do the high beam stop working which is either a blown fuse or as in the current scenario no blown fuse but no high beams.
- I feel there seems to be some shorting somewhere and I suspect it to be at the LHS projector. I am not sure though.

Anyone faced anything like this before? I feel totally helpless.

My installer coming to check again this Sunday.

graaja Dr.Naren SunnyBoi

So I believe that my problems have finally been sorted out. The issue was as suspected; a shorting LHS projector. Of course, this meant opening the headlight again (3rd time) to rectify the issue. We did not have to change the projector but route the solenoid wire differently as it was getting pinched.

Now if you all have noticed my initial post, there were many who noticed that the RHS projector cut off was tilted a bit with a blur. So since I was there with the XP team, I decided to sort that out too. We aligned the projector which rectified the tilt but did not rectify the blur. Since I was not happy with that, we ended up changing that projector. However, surprisingly the slight (much better than before) blur still existed especially after fitting back the headlight glass. Without the glass the projector gives a nice sharp blue cut off.

The before and after results are below. Please note that the first pic is aligned as per the projectors on my Jetta in terms of height and cut off on a different wall as compared to the second pic. The second pic is not yet aligned with the height. I will have to align my current set up on the same wall as the first to make a fair comparison.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Epic

[The before and after results are below. Please note that the first pic is aligned as per the projectors on my Jetta in terms of height and cut off on a different wall as compared to the second pic. The second pic is not yet aligned with the height. I will have to align my current set up on the same wall as the first to make a fair comparison.

The headlight lens will reduce the sharpness and blue colour in cut off for any projector setup. The alignment is fine and you can adjust the height as per your need.

I am not sure if it's only in pics. If its in real also, The Hotspot is fully off in RHS projector. There should be good amount of hotspot around the Z line which is totally missing in RHS projector. I too had the exact same problem in XP Mini Super projector in Baleno. They had tried bulb seating, bulb change, projector shield mod (jugaad?) and finally did some shield mod in one projector and changed another projector.

Missing Hotspot in RHS


If you talk about perfection.. There is lot of bowing at edge in RHS projector. The cut off is going down to ground. This won't affect you much practically on road. So you can live with it, but not the hot spot issue. If the hot spot is not around the Z line, it should be much higher (This is why I wanted to see high beam pattern also). When the hot spot is much higher than Z line.. It will illuminate trees and not the road .

The bowing at edges :


After going through all your posts, I believe that :

1. RHS projector replaced twice and now you are running with 3 Rd one

2. LHS projector replaced once and currently running with 2nd one

3. HID relay replaced by XP and then you shifted to better quality Morimoto relay.

You have wasted lot of time and energy by opening headlights multiple times. I would suggest to fix only hotspot issue and live with it. It could be anything from minor bulb seating to faulty projector.

Cheers!!

[Epic]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

It could be anything from minor bulb seating to faulty projector.

Could you help with the procedure of rotating the bulb? We had rotated the bulb a bit to get a sharper cut off in RHS. But this could have improved the cut off but disturbed the hot spot.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Epic

Could you help with the procedure of rotating the bulb? We had rotated the bulb a bit to get a sharper cut off in RHS. But this could have improved the cut off but disturbed the hot spot.

Good hotspot should be the main thing. You should not compromise it for more blue colour in cut off. First you rotate the bulb and when hotspot is right.. Try to lock it in same position if possible. If it doesn't work out you need to shim the hid bulb. Check out this link for details

https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...oper-alignment

[Epic]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Good hotspot should be the main thing. You should not compromise it for more blue colour in cut off. First you rotate the bulb and when hotspot is right.. Try to lock it in same position if possible. If it doesn't work out you need to shim the hid bulb. Check out this link for details

https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/for...oper-alignment

As per the link, shimming the bulb means opening the projector again which is definitely something I don't think I want to do. I will try rotating the bulb and see if the hot spot improves.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Epic

I will try rotating the bulb and see if the hot spot improves.

You can also interchange the bulbs and look for hotspot. Bulbs are also culprit most of the times. If the hotspot is fine with LHS HID bulb, you can change only bulb which doesn't need opening of headlight

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by Epic

So I believe that my problems have finally been sorted out. The issue was as suspected; a shorting LHS projector. Of course, this meant opening the headlight again (3rd time) to rectify the issue. We did not have to change the projector but route the solenoid wire differently as it was getting pinched.

If projector solenoid was shorting and car's fuses were blowing, it means the high beam solenoids are connected directly to the car wiring and not through the wiring harness. Hope this has been corrected.

Is the pinched area insulated again properly using heatshrink or did he use insulation tape?

[ashis89]

This could be an off-topic post for this thread. Mods, please move or delete this post if necessary.

I know that headlamp covers turn yellowish with time if not cleaned regularly or due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Similarly, dust enters the reflector area if the dust cover is missing or if the headlamp is not sealed properly.

I observed that the headlamps of premium cars tend to turn yellow/black and look very dull much than earlier than a similar vintage 'ordinary' car. And by premium, I am referring to the Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus and even Skodas. I was expecting the OEM would be using very high quality polycarbonate covers on their headlights which would retain their lustre for a long time.

My assumption here is a typical premium car is cleaned regularly and maintained very well, parked in covered areas and hasn't undergone any after-market headlight modification. Any clues as to why such premature fading?

[RajaTaurus]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This could be an off-topic post for this thread. Mods, please move or delete this post if necessary.

I know that headlamp covers turn yellowish with time if not cleaned regularly or due to prolonged exposure to the elements. Similarly, dust enters the reflector area if the dust cover is missing or if the headlamp is not sealed properly.

I observed that the headlamps of premium cars tend to turn yellow/black and look very dull much than earlier than a similar vintage 'ordinary' car. And by premium, I am referring to the Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus and even Skodas. I was expecting the OEM would be using very high quality polycarbonate covers on their headlights which would retain their lustre for a long time.

My assumption here is a typical premium car is cleaned regularly and maintained very well, parked in covered areas and hasn't undergone any after-market headlight modification. Any clues as to why such premature fading?

This could be due what we call as 'sand blasting'. If you are used to drive against wind which blows sand or dust, the top surface gets dull. This is a serious menace in Middle East. We regularly had to change HL assembly only for this reason.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

This could be due what we call as 'sand blasting'. If you are used to drive against wind which blows sand or dust, the top surface gets dull. This is a serious menace in Middle East. We regularly had to change HL assembly only for this reason.

Thanks for the info, something new to learn every day.

But my question remains unanswered.
Why is it frequently observed in the premium cars while a significantly cheaper 'ordinary' car's headlight retains its lustre much longer even though both the machine would be subject to similar attack from the environment?
Why is the degradation seen even on sparsely run cars? Is it deliberate on the part of the OEM, something like Planned Obsolescence?

[RajaTaurus]

A simple answer could be speed. At lower speeds, the blasting effect is far less. Here I assume premium cars are usually driven at much higher speeds than ordinary cars.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by ashis89

I observed that the headlamps of premium cars tend to turn yellow/black and look very dull much than earlier than a similar vintage 'ordinary' car.

I may be wrong in my guess here so excuse me,

Here's what I think: "Materials used for the headlight casings". May be the compatibility or long term weather effects aren't in-synch with the Indian environment so ageing takes place faster!! Could this happen?

I am NOT saying that it is lower grade materials used but the materials used aren't 'right' for our type of conditions.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by ashis89

This could be an off-topic post for this thread. Mods, please move or delete this post if necessary.

My assumption here is a typical premium car is cleaned regularly and maintained very well, parked in covered areas and hasn't undergone any after-market headlight modification. Any clues as to why such premature fading?

This can only be analysed on a case to case basis. Firstly, headlight damage can occur due to various reasons:

• Cracking due to excess heat/prolonged usage/upgraded bulbs
• Yellowing due to poor quality bulbs which dont have UV block glass, due to exposure to heat and sunlight
• Dust accumulation due to improper sealing of the dust caps after bulb replacement
• Pitting due to sand particles as explained previously
• Oxidation and fading due to improper cleaning techniques
• Aftermarket replacement headlights which are made of poorer quality lens and reflectors

The most common issue with premium cars I have observed is mainly water ingestion and dust collection. I had observed a BMW X1 in my friends garage with 1.01L kms on the odo with this issue. This was because the owner had got the bulbs replaced with aftermarket bulbs since the HIDs fused and the replacement bulbs were wired badly such that the dust cover did not fit. This headlight had both dust and water ingestion. This had made it look faded and had a smoked effect.



Second issue I have commonly seen is the yellowing and fading of assemblies, which is prominent with aftermarket replacement assemblies. My neighborhood has a lot of such cars where the headlight assembly was damaged and instead of paying a high cost at the dealership, the owners have opted for cheaper alternatives. These cars have shining OE headlight assembly on one side, and a yellowed and faded assembly on the other.



Forget premium cars, you can see even some Maruti cars with faded lights, while some others look brand new. My car has shining headlights after 8 years of use with Phillips 100/90, but I have seen a lot of SX4 with dull and yellowed headlights. Hence, you cant narrow down this issue to a certain cause since there are multiple causes of this issue.