Misconceptions about HIDs & Projectors!

[oforomer]

My Osram Night Breakers, new/boxed/never used are up for sale for PKR 3500 (cost USD 41.xx)

[vyrus]

^ What color are they ? White or Blue ?

[oforomer]

^ What color are they ? White or Blue ?

never used em in fact, but they are clear whitish i belive...

[sami_voodoo]

Thanks for the compliment.

You will easy find Phillips Rally bulbs in car accessory shops in sadar.Try Dubai Autos(he gives discount to pakwheelers)

The Osrams you are going to have to import as they are not available in Pakistan.

I bought a pair of Koito 80/100Ws for my vehicle, and seeing that the headlamp assemblies were also Koito, their focus is perfect. They're "illegal" for road use, so I've focused them slightly lower for normal driving. It's only when I need them to punch through the night do I use high beam. I bought them from Iqbal Auto Parts in F10 Markaz, Islamabad. I'm not sure if he still has them.

They cost 120 per bulb if my memory serves me right.

Oh and have a look at this site, it's pretty interesting reading:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/HID.html

[candy50]

Dear All,

I was going through this thread and realized i should buy some new bulbs for my car.
Since i'll be coming back to Pakistan in couple of weeks, Can someone please tell me what bulb types are used in Honda Civic 2005 model?

I really tried to look it out but couldn't find the information anywhere. If it is similar to the US model, then on various sites, it say Civic 2005 bulb are 9005 type and not H4.

Your support would be highly appreciated since i need to make a purchase in limited time.

Thanks

[candy50]

Hi Everyone,

Before making a purchase i need a confirmation.
Here is what i found out for 2005 honda civic:

Low Beam: 9005 / HB3 65 watt
High Beam: 9006 / HB4 55 watt

Unfortunately Phillips X-treme or Osram Night breakers are not available in this. The best i could find are Pure titanium white 4000K bulbs or cool blue with HID like looks bulbs. Im planning to go for the 4000K Phillips bulbs.

I need ur confirmation to go with the purchase, thanks a lot.

[MominHaq]

I bought a pair of Koito 80/100Ws for my vehicle, and seeing that the headlamp assemblies were also Koito, their focus is perfect. They're "illegal" for road use, so I've focused them slightly lower for normal driving. It's only when I need them to punch through the night do I use high beam. I bought them from Iqbal Auto Parts in F10 Markaz, Islamabad. I'm not sure if he still has them.

They cost 120 per bulb if my memory serves me right.

Oh and have a look at this site, it's pretty interesting reading:

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

Sami Thanks for your input, the link is a great read for anyone who is interested in automotive lighting.

Hi Everyone,

Before making a purchase i need a confirmation.
Here is what i found out for 2005 honda civic:

Low Beam: 9005 / HB3 65 watt
High Beam: 9006 / HB4 55 watt

Unfortunately Phillips X-treme or Osram Night breakers are not available in this. The best i could find are Pure titanium white 4000K bulbs or cool blue with HID like looks bulbs. Im planning to go for the 4000K Phillips bulbs.

I need ur confirmation to go with the purchase, thanks a lot.

Yes, you have the right bulb specs for your car.

I would suggest to go with the Phillips Bulbs.

[waleed80]

i m using Osram Nightbreakers as a replacement of my standard H4s, and the visibility has improved a lot as compared to my stock H4s (even though they were brilliant). i got them imported from UK

[candy50]

@mominhaq89, thankyou for the confirmation.
Yes i have placed the order, damn that was expensive 2 pairs costed 79 EUR.

I was just wondering, if you could suggest me another light for the fog lamps. You know the fog lights for 05 Civic (the triangular shaped not the round one).

Can you please suggest me some good quality bulbs for that. btw what is the name of the bulb used in fog lights.

Thank you,

[MominHaq]

@mominhaq89, thankyou for the confirmation.
Yes i have placed the order, damn that was expensive 2 pairs costed 79 EUR.

I was just wondering, if you could suggest me another light for the fog lamps. You know the fog lights for 05 Civic (the triangular shaped not the round one).

Can you please suggest me some good quality bulbs for that. btw what is the name of the bulb used in fog lights.

Thank you,

I am not sure what bulb the fogs use but I would guess they are either H11 or H7.

Regardless, I would strongly advise you to get the fog bulbs in 3000k color temperature.

[aisheikh]

Bear in mind you are going to have to protect the projector housings from the elements.

I would also suggest looking into Halogen projectors like from a Camry.They go well with HID kits with some glare(but it really isn't an issue if you're off roading)

https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/4x4-clubs-off-roaders-suv/113796-mutt-suv-project-stage-1-complete-6

Need lighting and illumination suggestions on my above jeep project. I definitately need projector HID's for my headlamp, need suggestions for modifing CL7/CL9 and or other readily available lights from Bilal Ganj.

[MominHaq]

https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/4x4-clubs-off-roaders-suv/113796-mutt-suv-project-stage-1-complete-6

Need lighting and illumination suggestions on my above jeep project. I definitately need projector HID's for my headlamp, need suggestions for modifing CL7/CL9 and or other readily available lights from Bilal Ganj.

Right, for Projectors take the projectors housings off a CL7/CL9 and simply retrofit them into your original headlight assemblies.The CL7/CL9 projectors are single xenon, meaning that they don't have a high beam.

Anyway,check out the links below which demonstrate on how a retrofit is done(its a 4 part video):

YouTube - (1) How to build HID projector headlights
YouTube - (2) How to build HID projector headlights
YouTube - (3) How to build HID projector headlights
YouTube - (4) How to build HID projector headlights

[sami_voodoo]

https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/4x4-clubs-off-roaders-suv/113796-mutt-suv-project-stage-1-complete-6

Need lighting and illumination suggestions on my above jeep project. I definitately need projector HID's for my headlamp, need suggestions for modifing CL7/CL9 and or other readily available lights from Bilal Ganj.

If you're looking for ultimate darkness destroying lights, I'd suggest that you modify spot lights with the HID bulbs to use only off-road. You keep the filament bulbs for on-road use. That way, you're legal on the road and still have excellent visibility when off-road.

[aisheikh]

If you're looking for ultimate darkness destroying lights, I'd suggest that you modify spot lights with the HID bulbs to use only off-road. You keep the filament bulbs for on-road use. That way, you're legal on the road and still have excellent visibility when off-road.

Any suggestions which spot lights to go for? Pictures would help. Thanks.

@all
I invite all fellow enthusiasts to make lighting & illumination suggestions for my project.

[sami_voodoo]

Any suggestions which spot lights to go for? Pictures would help. Thanks.

I'm not sure what kind of driving you do, is it fast driving or slow? If it's slow, I'd personally go for more spread. If it's relatively fast, I'd go for a combination of pencil beams and a light that spreads out in front of the vehicle to give you adequate illumination up and down and side to side.

I being a "kabaria" at heart, would probably try to re-use old truck type headlamps, aircraft landing lights or ones from locomotives. I'll remove the filament bulbs and retrofit the HID bulbs. Then I'd shim the bulb to find a good focus. This is potentially a cheaper solution than to go for a ready-made off-road light set from PIAA or Hella. The downside is that you'll have to work hard to make your own mounts and focus each lamp to your liking. You'll have something entirely unique though!

HID bulbs these days are producing in the region of 3500 lumens of light for 35 watts. If you put in 4 lamps, you've got around 14k of light for around 140 Watts of electrical power. This is pretty much illegal on the road though, as normal headlights are in the region of 4K lumens total on the road if my memory serves me right.

I've seen LED off-road lights as well, but they've got their own tradeoffs:

Pros (LED)
1. Instant on
2. Robust
3. Low voltage circuits
4. Almost unlimited life

Cons (LED)
1. Expensive (900 Lumen SSC P7 quad-die LED costs in the region of US$20
2. Need a driver to control current.
3. Heat dissipation is a must, the mounts on which the LEDs are mounted will have to dissipate heat from the back
4. Not a very high lumen / surface are rating, so the light will be good for flood lighting, but not so good for long distance lights.

As a side note, I've modified a Maglite 2D with the 900-1000 Lumen LED. Out the front I'm guessing I'm getting around 7-750 Lumens. It uses two Li-ion cells and has a buck convertor to limit current. It is bright!! You can quite easily illuminate and identify things at 100 metres. Plus it's relatively warm colour so you do not get that blue / purple tinge characteristic to so many LEDs. The LED plus the convertor cost me in the region of US$60. I've got just over a hundred tied into the light, but it's good investment for me. If we ever meet, I'll lend it to you to test it on the trail

If you're interested in the LED solution, let me know, and I'll give you some more info.

[candy50]

Well i did not get one point. You said:

HID bulbs these days are producing in the region of 3500 lumens of light for 35 watts. If you put in 4 lamps, you've got around 14k of light for around 140 Watts of electrical power.

You are trying to say that if i have 3500K lumen two bulbs total i will have 7000K lumen. I guess that is totally wrong, you better do some research.

It would mean 4 bulbs of the same color 3500K lumen would collectively turn into another color 14K lumen and as a result total light intensity would further reduce.

[sami_voodoo]

Well i did not get one point. You said:

You are trying to say that if i have 3500K lumen two bulbs total i will have 7000K lumen. I guess that is totally wrong, you better do some research.

It would mean 4 bulbs of the same color 3500K lumen would collectively turn into another color 14K lumen and as a result total light intensity would further reduce.

"K" is Kelvin temperature relating to the colour of a light source. "Lumen" is a measure of light "amount". When I said 14K lumens, I meant 14,000 lumens. I never said 14000 K in colour temperature.

By the way, if you actually had a 3500 kilo Lumen HID bulb, you'd need around 35 kilo Watts of electrical power to run it (100 lm/Watt for a common HID bulb)

[saziz18]

That was great dude, very informative

[aisheikh]

I'm not sure what kind of driving you do, is it fast driving or slow? If it's slow, I'd personally go for more spread. If it's relatively fast, I'd go for a combination of pencil beams and a light that spreads out in front of the vehicle to give you adequate illumination up and down and side to side.

I being a "kabaria" at heart, would probably try to re-use old truck type headlamps, aircraft landing lights or ones from locomotives. I'll remove the filament bulbs and retrofit the HID bulbs. Then I'd shim the bulb to find a good focus. This is potentially a cheaper solution than to go for a ready-made off-road light set from PIAA or Hella. The downside is that you'll have to work hard to make your own mounts and focus each lamp to your liking. You'll have something entirely unique though!

HID bulbs these days are producing in the region of 3500 lumens of light for 35 watts. If you put in 4 lamps, you've got around 14k of light for around 140 Watts of electrical power. This is pretty much illegal on the road though, as normal headlights are in the region of 4K lumens total on the road if my memory serves me right.

I've seen LED off-road lights as well, but they've got their own tradeoffs:

Pros (LED)
1. Instant on
2. Robust
3. Low voltage circuits
4. Almost unlimited life

Cons (LED)
1. Expensive (900 Lumen SSC P7 quad-die LED costs in the region of US$20
2. Need a driver to control current.
3. Heat dissipation is a must, the mounts on which the LEDs are mounted will have to dissipate heat from the back
4. Not a very high lumen / surface are rating, so the light will be good for flood lighting, but not so good for long distance lights.

As a side note, I've modified a Maglite 2D with the 900-1000 Lumen LED. Out the front I'm guessing I'm getting around 7-750 Lumens. It uses two Li-ion cells and has a buck convertor to limit current. It is bright!! You can quite easily illuminate and identify things at 100 metres. Plus it's relatively warm colour so you do not get that blue / purple tinge characteristic to so many LEDs. The LED plus the convertor cost me in the region of US$60. I've got just over a hundred tied into the light, but it's good investment for me. If we ever meet, I'll lend it to you to test it on the trail

If you're interested in the LED solution, let me know, and I'll give you some more info.

Thanks sami for the detailed info.
My purpose of the vehicle is both on and offroad. The onroad speeds will be 120 kph and offroad speeds will be 70 kph. I require good light spread too for obstical manuvering and mud bashing.

For roof mount lights I had an idea of retrofitting 6 x 70Watts rods which are used for choke spotlights. I will have to get a custom reflective chrome housing built to mount them in with a strip of acrylic lense. Offcourse the choke operates on 220 v AC so will need a AC-DC inverter to power them.

For head lights will have to modify / custom design dual projector HIDs. So the head lights will put out 4 x 70W. Offcourse will also go for projector HIDs fog lamps so 2 x 70 W. And not to miss the rear projector HIDs for night illumination so 2 x 70 W.

Overall illumination of 14 x 70W = 980 W. This will also require an upgrade to my alternator because at 12 V it will be drawing 82 Amps.

What options do I have in LEDs? Anyone intersted in working with me on this?

[sami_voodoo]

Thanks sami for the detailed info.
My purpose of the vehicle is both on and offroad. The onroad speeds will be 120 kph and offroad speeds will be 70 kph. I require good light spread too for obstical manuvering and mud bashing.

For roof mount lights I had an idea of retrofitting 6 x 70Watts rods which are used for choke spotlights. I will have to get a custom reflective chrome housing built to mount them in with a strip of acrylic lense. Offcourse the choke operates on 220 v AC so will need a AC-DC inverter to power them.

For head lights will have to modify / custom design dual projector HIDs. So the head lights will put out 4 x 70W. Offcourse will also go for projector HIDs fog lamps so 2 x 70 W. And not to miss the rear projector HIDs for night illumination so 2 x 70 W.

Overall illumination of 14 x 70W = 980 W. This will also require an upgrade to my alternator because at 12 V it will be drawing 82 Amps.

What options do I have in LEDs? Anyone intersted in working with me on this?

I would advise you go to the following forum and look around other people's projects:

Candlepowerforums.com

Look into it, and if you need any help let me know.

By the way, there is one person who has used a huge HID bulb for a spot light.

Homemade 24" scratch built & designed reflector - CandlePowerForums

There are a few problems though, the arc in the HID bulb is rather long, so getting it to focus with a small reflector will be a problem. Second problem might be that it might not be robust enough for off road use. Which brings us your plan of using tubelights. You'll have lights that are not rubust, and second of all you'll have relatively low light intensity per area of emitter. You need the highest lumens for the smallest area or volume (that's why arc lamps are still the best for long distance spot lights - since they've got a very high light intensity for a very short arc)

I'd still probably advise you to go for an HID or an ARC lamp setup.