[jediknight36]

Sorry I havent been on much. But I have a question: fpage gave me his HID kit from Smartmadness, but yesterday my driver's side bulb went out. He doesn't have the reciept and they dont have proof he bought it. Is there any h7 bulb out there I could rewire to the Smartmadness balast? Their replacement bulb is $100 and I cant afford it. Thanks.

 

[simplesmart]

Hi Jediknight, the simple answer is no. HID kits are conversions from 12volts to something higher, normally 36 or 48 volts. The ballast units within the conversion kits creates a discharge (a bit like a flourescent light) within the light unit that ignites a small amount of xenon gas.Hence the proper name is 'gas disharge lighting, HID means 'High Instensity Gas discharge'. As H7 bulbs run on 12 volts & are a filament unit (a small wire within a glass the heats up & burns the gas within the globe, tungram gas in early bulbs, halogen gas in later bulbs & then xenon gas in later bulbs.

You'll have to take out the ballasts (the amplifiers) & revert back to standard wiring. Most conversions kits are a waste of time, prone to fault, all made in China.

Best regards, Mick.
Motor Factor (wholesaler) of 40 years experience, UK.

 

[jediknight36]

Hi Jediknight, the simple answer is no. HID kits are conversions from 12volts to something higher, normally 36 or 48 volts. The ballast units within the conversion kits creates a discharge (a bit like a flourescent light) within the light unit that ignites a small amount of xenon gas.Hence the proper name is 'gas disharge lighting, HID means 'High Instensity Gas discharge'. As H7 bulbs run on 12 volts & are a filament unit (a small wire within a glass the heats up & burns the gas within the globe, tungram gas in early bulbs, halogen gas in later bulbs & then xenon gas in later bulbs.

You'll have to take out the ballasts (the amplifiers) & revert back to standard wiring. Most conversions kits are a waste of time, prone to fault, all made in China.

Best regards, Mick.
Motor Factor (wholesaler) of 40 years experience, UK.

Then how does Smart Madness get away with it? That's the kit I have: the H7 HID kit.

 

[Brabus007]

Does it just need a New Bulb, or a New Ballast...? HID bulbs... Any auto parts store sells them...

 

[jediknight36]

Just the bulb. It wires to the ballast, and has an H7 base. The auto store said no one makes an H7 base HID.

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[jetfuel]

...take the bulb and see if there's a part number for the bulb...
...BTW...how the heck have you been my friend..

Jetfuel...we all miss you...

 

[jediknight36]

Ill post a pic of it tomorrow. I think its a custom bulb or something.

 

[jediknight36]

here it is brand new:
smart car HID Conversion Kit by SMART MADNESS - Low Beams 4300k Online Store - smart car Parts and Accessories

 

[SmartDigger]

you can get many of them on e=bay. 2 HID Bulbs Replacement 9006 9007 9004 9005 H1 H3 H4 H7 | eBay

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Hi Jediknight, the simple answer is no. HID kits are conversions from 12volts to something higher, normally 36 or 48 volts. The ballast units within the conversion kits creates a discharge (a bit like a flourescent light) within the light unit that ignites a small amount of xenon gas.Hence the proper name is 'gas disharge lighting, HID means 'High Instensity Gas discharge'. As H7 bulbs run on 12 volts & are a filament unit (a small wire within a glass the heats up & burns the gas within the globe, tungram gas in early bulbs, halogen gas in later bulbs & then xenon gas in later bulbs.

You'll have to take out the ballasts (the amplifiers) & revert back to standard wiring. Most conversions kits are a waste of time, prone to fault, all made in China.

Best regards, Mick.
Motor Factor (wholesaler) of 40 years experience, UK.

Not entirely true, some HID kits come with replaceable bulbs and some are made in the US, Japan, and even Germany!

 

[simplesmart]

HID...the H stands for High, the I stands for Intensity (gas), the D stands for Discharge. Hence the name HID kits. Ordinary bulbs run on 12 volts to heat the filament (the very thin wire) within the glass dome (the head of the bulb), the gas within the glass dome then heats up to produce the light.

With gas discharge, the ballast unit (the amplifier/transformer) is powered by 12 volts (battery voltage) & this converts up to 24k Volts. This high voltage (the discharge) ignites a very small amount of xenon gas within the centre tube of the light unit (a small round ball like container halfway along the lighting tube, what lay men call the bulb).

There is not a direct replacement HID unit (bulb) that will plugs into the two pin wiring plug like a H7 bulb. H7 bulbs use either halogen gas or xenon gas at only 12 volts & that's why they will never be as bright as HID.

I have never seen any HID aftermarket units made anywhere other than China, I import them into the UK. OE manufactures use HID units supplied by Bosch, Osram & Phillips. Although these companies are either German, UK or US based doesn't mean that the units are made in the same country that they trade from.

Smarts cars are made in France & not Germany, the biggest manufacturing plant for VW Passat is in Mexico & Bosch last year closed their biggest manufacturing plant in Cardiff, South Wales that made alternators because they could be made cheaper in Romania.

I've over forty years experience in auto parts, it's my living.

My Smart now has 65,000 miles & my wife's has covered over 55,000.

Best regards all, Mick

 

[WhiteNBlack08]

Your best bet is to call Smart Madness and order a replacement. Nobody locally will carry aftermarket HID retrofit bulbs.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

There is not a direct replacement HID unit (bulb) that will plugs into the two pin wiring plug like a H7 bulb. H7 bulbs use either halogen gas or xenon gas at only 12 volts & that's why they will never be as bright as HID.

I have never seen any HID aftermarket units made anywhere other than China, I import them into the UK. OE manufactures use HID units supplied by Bosch, Osram & Phillips. Although these companies are either German, UK or US based doesn't mean that the units are made in the same country that they trade from.

Best regards all, Mick

Agreed!

The kit I have from Uptown Dog Co has bulbs that can be replaced. At the end of the ballast cable is a two pin connector that the HID bulbs connect to.

However, if the bulbs ever do go out, I'll replace the whole kit. HIDs aren't like Halogen. 6000K from one manufacturer will look different than 6000K from another.

As for the build location, both of my kits are from China. However earlier this year I saw a Honda NSX at a car show that had a custom build for his HIDs. He had HID projectors installed in both low and high beam and indeed, the bulbs had an engraving on them that said "made in Japan". Ironically the projector housings were made in China.

 

[simplesmart]

Yes, It would be best to replace the whole kit and not just one HID unit, as the HID unit (the bulb) gets brighter with age. If you replace one it will never be as bright as the opposite side until time takes over. One Chinese manufacturer even told me that the ballasts (amplifiers) are matched to the HID unit individually. The other consideration is when one stops working, is it the unit or the ballast that has failed? this of course can be proved by swopping each one over to the other side.

In the UK lots of kits are being sold & fitted, but what people aren't aware of is that don't comply to 'construction & use' regulations, these are the rules & conditions about building cars, (crash testing & seat belt manufacturing are just two of these areas). I'm sure you'll have similar regulations is the US.

When the first law suit hits town, when a claimant says that he crashed due to the dazzling white light of wrongly fitted HID units, then the fun will begins.

There are two types of headlamps in use: Projective & reflective with OE HID units designed for each headlamp. If you fit projective HID (Suffixed S on the part number on the unit) to a reflective headlamp, all you get is a big glare without a beam pattern. If you fit reflective HID units (Suffixed R on the part number on the unit) into a projective headlamp, what you get is a very short area of light on the road in front of the car, again a very poor beam pattern & glare. A reflective headlamp has a cap that covers the OE bulb, a bit like a hood.

Most resellers never tell you this, particularly EBay, as they just want your money. In the UK you should inform your insurance company as you're modifying the car.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Ditto!!!

I have projector type HIDs in my stock halogen projector housing (you know, the OE smart headlamp housing) and they produce a very fine and neat light pattern that travels far forward and doesn't seem to blind anyone.

I have reflector types in the reflector housings for the high beams.

What bothers me is when you see some old 90's car with reflector housings running projector HIDs. They aren't putting out light ahead as much as everywhere else!

 

[simplesmart]

I quite agree.

it's good to see that you've done it properly. Just buying them at the cheapest price & fitting them is madness without understanding the consequences.

It'll be like drilling out a four hole wheel rim to fit a three bolt hub just because the wheel will look good without checking all of the clearances.

Best regards Mick

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Indeed. eBay can be a great resource to find rare parts, accessories, and other quality things. But mixed in are always poor quality items being sold off at a super low price with "Original Quality" claims.

 

[jediknight36]

Here is the bulb. Again, I have no experience with these other than putting them in the smart.

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[Miss Mercedes]

See if the bulb will separate from that first plastic piece (the one attached to the bulb). If it doesn't, it's a specialized unit and the only way to replace it is to replace the entire unit.

 

[jediknight36]

So I'm guessing that HIDs don't normally look like this? I doubt it will separate. That connects to the ballast, which is plugged into the standard plug.

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