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HID light Questions for those with experience/expertise

30K views 181 replies 28 participants last post by  mvaldes 
#1 ·
I’m seriously considering HID’s as one of my next mods but have little experience with them. Installation seems pretty easy and straightforward but a few generic and Smart related questions still bother me. Putting aside the street legality and aiming/cutoff issues :)rolleyes:), here are my questions:
1.From what I’ve read, digital ballasts are pretty much required in the Smart to avoid radio interference. Has anyone found that even the digitals still interfere with the radio reception?
2.How about “flicker.” Have Folks needed an “anti-flicker” harness with the digital ballast. If so, with which kits?
3.My Smart has the comfort package so about 80% of the time when I lock or unlock it, it decides I need the headlights to find my way and turns them on. Since they’re on for about 10-12 seconds, I assume/hope that would not count as “flashing” them in the manner that’s reported to burn out ballasts. But does it have any ill effect on them – ballast or bulb-wise other than it being another few seconds of “on” time?
4.In regards to color temperature, is there any real world difference in visibility from 4500 to 6000k? I’m really interested in choosing whatever one makes it easiest to see the road (and road signs too) and don’t care about making a color/design statement.
Thanks in advance for any help and guidance other members can offer.
 
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#3 ·
I can't help you with questions 1-3, but regarding #4, a 4500K color temp is the whitest and will give you the "most" light. As you go up the color temp scale, it gets progressivley more blue and purple, and it will light up the road less.

The stock color on my mercedes xenons is 4300K, IIRC. It's a pure crisp white. I ended up going with 6000K on my Smart since the shop I went to didn't have a 4300 or 5000K kit. It's still pretty bright. I think you start losing functionality when you go higher than 6000K
 
#6 ·
I used them from www.xtralights.com great kit no problems, no flicker, no interference. 6000k bright as can be. the lower the kelvin rating the brighter the bulb. Your 10 to 12 sec question I too have the comfort package and have had no problems I have had my Hids since june or july. Mine heat up in about 6-7 sec. Go to the site great products not a cheap ebay set.
 
#12 ·
Your 10 to 12 sec question I too have the comfort package and have had no problems. I have had my Hids since june or july. Mine heat up in about 6-7 sec.

Interesting... I looked around the Support area of the dealer you recommend, Xtralights.com, and they have warnings plastered all over the place telling people not to use their HID kits with auto-switching headlamp systems like our Comfort Packages, unless the system is in manual mode.
 
#7 ·
The lower the Kelvin the warmer (more red, less blue) the light. Higher the Kelvin, the cooler (more blue, less red) the light.

Given the same candela (unit of luminous intensity) output of a bulb, our eyes perceive the cooler blue/purple less bright than warmer (red/orange) colors.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Real world "vision" with 4300 v 6000k

Thank you for the enlightening :D answers.
I understand that the measured amount of light output decreases with the higher K lights. I'm wondering about "real world" applications. Do you, the driver, see further and better at 4300k or 6000k. For example, one vendor's site said that, even though the absolute output of light was less at 6000 than a 4300k, some of the blue at 6000k increased, for example, reflectivity from road signs and such, so that you could "see" objects and signs better with 6000k than at pure white 4300k. (They did sell both.) Anyone know if this is reality or fantasy? :confused::confused:
 
#10 ·
I believe that the move toward cooler (bluer) lights started with the move from tungsten incandescent to halogen. Halogen is "whiter" than tungsten. Or more precisely, tungsten is more organ that halogen.

Then came the HID, and the fake HID (blue paint). The bluer lights may look cool, but will be horrible in fog or snow.

In brighter light, such as daylight, the eye is most sensitive to wavelengths near 555 nm. Near green. The rods (for B&W vision) are overwhelmed.

It's complicated, and may depend a lot on a particular driving condition. But in general, the 3200-3500K bulbs give one the best overall feedback. Of course proper aiming is important as well!
 
#14 ·
BBenz, thanks for the info and the pics - they look good! If I'm understanding your description correctly, it sounds like there's some real world truth that adding a little blue helps you to see better.
When I went to the site where you got yours, I saw they have 3 levels of kits, "low, middle and high." FWIW, they only seem to specifically state that the ballasts are digital with the "high" set. Which "level" kit did you choose? I also noticed that they sell flicker harnesses. Did you need one with the kit you choose?
Thanks again Folks for all the help.
 
#26 ·
I got mines from xenon-vision. The vendor has group buys on this board, or you can get a set for $120 by using the discount code at the site. Again, I have 6000K, and I'm always afraid of getting pulled over. I suggest you get 5000K.

Visibility did improve over stock.


Xenon-Vision :: L.E.D & HID Lighting System
Why would you get pulled over? There isn't anything illegal about the color temperature? In fact, your 6000k bulb is not as bright as a 5000k bulb...

The 5000k, 6000k, 8000k primarily denotes the color of the bulb, not the brightness. That said, after you pass 4300kelvin color temperature you start to lose brightness. Anything above or below 4300k starts to drop off in lumens. So, if you want the brightest possible hid system you need to get 4300k...
 
#17 ·
Anyone used a battery harness with their HID's?

I'm re-assured by posters' comments that they haven't had any flicker problems with their HID conversions. But, I guess I'm still not completely comfortable since a number of posters with just stock lights have had problems with them flickering :)(). I assume that was largely due to some of the lousy batteries that are out there so I'm not sure the harness would help in that situation.
It does seem that most vendors who sell the conversion kits also sell battery and anti-flicker harnesses as well. Has anyone needed or used a either one harness? If so, please share your experience and (and how you wired in the battery harness.)
Thanks in advance,
Michael

FWIW, the intense HID site describes battery harnesses this way:
The HID Battery Relay Harness is used to connect the HID Conversion Kit directly to the car battery and is suggested for vehicle that does not provide enough startup power for the HID Kit. The Battery Relay Harness will draw power directly from your vehicle battery instead of your factory wiring. Which is more safe for your vehicle and helps protect your factory wiring and also extend the life of the hid ballast. The harness connects to the factory OEM socket and does not require any cutting or splicing, using the OEM connections will allow you to turn on and off your headlight using your factory light switchThe HID Battery Relay Harness is used to connect the HID Conversion Kit directly to the car battery and is suggested for vehicle that does not provide enough startup power for the HID Kit. The Battery Relay Harness will draw power directly from your vehicle battery instead of your factory wiring. Which is more safe for your vehicle and helps protect your factory wiring and also extend the life of the hid ballast. The harness connects to the factory OEM socket and does not require any cutting or splicing, using the OEM connections will allow you to turn on and off your headlight using your factory light switch.
The HID Battery Relay Harness is used to connect the HID Conversion Kit directly to the car battery and is suggested for vehicle that does not provide enough startup power for the HID Kit. The Battery Relay Harness will draw power directly from your vehicle battery instead of your factory wiring. Which is more safe for your vehicle and helps protect your factory wiring and also extend the life of the hid ballast. The harness connects to the factory OEM socket and does not require any cutting or splicing, using the OEM connections will allow you to turn on and off your headlight using your factory light switch.
 
#18 ·
I did the HID conversion in 8000K with the kit from V V M E, and have been pleased with it so far. I chose the V V M W kit as many people have been using this kit on their motorcycles, and have had good luck with them. I do a lot of off road with my r1200GS motorcycle, and had been destroying headlight bulbs from vibrating them apart, and the nice thing about Xenon is there is no filiment. I did the 6000K kit on the bike and have really enjoyed the increase in light output especially on dark country roads. I did not do the high beam as I prefer to have the ability to flash. I have had no radio intereference on the bike, and no issues at all despite flogging the whole thing on some pretty bad roads.

So I did the same kit on the smart, same bulbs as the R1200GS, H7, and have experienced no problems with it. No radio intereference, although some have stated this is from mounting the ballasts on the firewall close to the radio, and I have mounted mine with adhesive on the back of the core support.

I know there are a lot of different sellers with many different prices but I relied on the torture testing of hundreds of Adventure Riders on the advrider.com site in making my choice and I have no regrets. You can get the V V M E kit for $62.00, no need to buy more expensive kits in my opinion, and this is a nice cheap upgrade for your car. Because the lenses are of the projector type, I have had no problems with aiming the lights in a manner that does not blind oncoming drivers like some of the other halogen type lenses on different cars.

VVME.COM LLC Your Best HID KIT Supplier
 
#104 · (Edited)
I did the HID conversion in 8000K with the kit from V V M E, and have been pleased with it so far. I chose the V V M W kit as many people have been using this kit on their motorcycles, and have had good luck with them. I do a lot of off road with my r1200GS motorcycle, and had been destroying headlight bulbs from vibrating them apart, and the nice thing about Xenon is there is no filiment. I did the 6000K kit on the bike and have really enjoyed the increase in light output especially on dark country roads. I did not do the high beam as I prefer to have the ability to flash. I have had no radio intereference on the bike, and no issues at all despite flogging the whole thing on some pretty bad roads.

So I did the same kit on the smart, same bulbs as the R1200GS, H7, and have experienced no problems with it. No radio intereference, although some have stated this is from mounting the ballasts on the firewall close to the radio, and I have mounted mine with adhesive on the back of the core support.

I know there are a lot of different sellers with many different prices but I relied on the torture testing of hundreds of Adventure Riders on the advrider.com site in making my choice and I have no regrets. You can get the V V M E kit for $62.00, no need to buy more expensive kits in my opinion, and this is a nice cheap upgrade for your car. Because the lenses are of the projector type, I have had no problems with aiming the lights in a manner that does not blind oncoming drivers like some of the other halogen type lenses on different cars.

VVME.COM




hmm,, VVME HID KIT is nice and good to use.... vvme website is easy to deal with... i bought VVME H4 digital hid kit last year from their website that one of my friend recommend to me ( he bought several sets of VVME HID KITS before)


until now the kit still works well... i like them....


it cost $90 shipped to my door within 3 days.. very fast........
 
#19 ·
The VVME kit sounds almost too good to be true, particularly with you having tested it under harsher conditions that my Smart will ever experience! :eek:
Do you happen to know if their ballasts are digital or analog?
(Thanks for suggesting it.)
 
#22 ·
I do not know if they are digital or magnetic, but they sell replacement ballasts for $6.99 and with the experience I have had with them, I am not concerned. If they last a couple of years they will still be cheaper than the PIAA bulbs that I paid more money for and they only lasted two years in my BMW 325iT. Prices continue to go down, so they may be even cheaper down the road if I ever had a problem.

Oh and by the way, the price has gone down just recently again...... less than $60 on ebay.

Xenon HID CONVERSION KIT H1/H3/H4/H7/9005/9006/880/881 - eBay (item 320339640355 end time Mar-11-09 00:38:09 PDT)


That's it.....I'm doing the fog lights too.....H11.......
 
#23 ·
I purchased an Eagle HID kit about 1 1/2 years ago for my VW R32. I have since taken it out of the VW and put it in the smart. I had a little bit of flicker every 5-10 minutes after I installed the kit in the smart, so I purchased an anti-flicker kit from coolcarparts.comThe anti-flicker harness is basically just a capacitor that wires in between the factory headlight connector and the ballast. It keeps the voltage input to the ballast steady, which is what a ballast needs... I got mine for 19 bucks from that site...
 
#27 ·
Anti-flicker harness

I'm now confused about the anti-flicker harness.:confused: One seller described it as a resistor to balance the load so the computer doesn't think the bulb is bad because it's not drawing 55W. The other basis for confusion is that some sellers refer to it as the "German Car Harness" and another describes it (the intense hid site) this way:
The flicker harness or other might call it the BMW/Mercedes Benz harness is known to get rid of the flickering issues or headlamp error light issue. This issue is known on most European cars (BMW/BENZ/AUDI) and now it is occur on some American cars (CHRYSLER/DODGE/JEEP). The reason behind this is due to halogen bulb being 55W and HID being 35W. Therefore, when an HID kit is installed into the vehicle, the car ECU detect the lights running at 35W instead of the normal 55W. Two things will happen when it detect this. 1. When running at 35W, the ECU thinks the light bulb on one side is broken and cut down on the power it sends to the headlight, causing the HID to flicker because there is not enough power. 2. It will cause a headlight error light on the dash because it think 1 side of the headlight is broken. One or both of these issue will occur. The flicker harness will plug inline with the ballast (Plug and Play harness). The flicker harness will trick the ECU into thinking the HID is running at 55W, when it is really running at 35W. This will trick the ECU into thinking that both side of the headlights are working fine and will allow the ECU to give the headlights full power to run properly, which will get rid of the flickering issue and error light issue. This harness is safe and will not damage any ECU or electrical wiring.
Anyway, it sounds like people are happy with the results, it's not a big investment and, if it flickers, you can get a harness to fix that.
PS I emailed the VVME guys and they emailed back that the ballast is digital.:)
 
#30 ·
There is nothing aftermarket looking about this modification at all...the smart has projector type lenses.....no one would ever know it was not stock if they just used general automotive knowledge in determining it. These are just the type of lenses nearly all European HID lights use. Unless you are in Europe, where the rules are more strict....no one will ever know you did it. It will look completely stock.
 
#31 ·
Like 2smartArizona, I have used VVME kits is all of my cars, the price seems too good to be true... but out of 7 kits, I have only had to replace 2 ballasts, (one of them I am certain was my fault). I have 6000k in two applications, but went with 4500K for the smarts. Personally I can't tell the difference in 'visible' light output between the two, but wanted the 4500k in the smart for a stock HID look. I do really like the blue of the 6000K and may eventually get new bulbs. The kits are super easy to install, just don't forget to turn then beam down just a little bit.

The reason that they say not to use HID's with auto headlamps is because having the lights on for a very short period of time can damage the ballasts and bulbs. (Like when you go in a small tunnel or bridge.) I put some black tape over my light sensor and leave it in auto so that the headlamps are always on when I am driving.

I have not experienced any flicker in the smart, I did have some in the Vue, but it was related to the way the power bus goes to the headlamps, and installing some $5 relays fixed that.
 
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