Mitsubishi showed their prototype with LED headlamps in 2001.
Fioravanti Yak concept vehicle with LED headlamps was presented in Geneva in March 2002. See article and pictures on lumiled's press release.
Audi presented their prototype car, Nuvolari quattro, with LED headlamps in Geneva in March 2003. See audiworld.com for deatils.

Front lenses:

How do I protect my expensive headlights?
We all know that headlights costs up to USD 1500 each at the dealer. There are 3 reasons for having this:
1) The protection is soft and will not get pitted like all other headlight after 60k miles.
2) All minor inpacts will not break the front glass.
3) If impact is to big and glass breaks, plastic foil will still do a great job of holding water out, until you get glass or unit replaced. You actually have the time tp do so, because your headlight is temporary functional!

Herman have tested a headlight protective film available from X-Pel (www.xpel.com). The film is 40mil or 1mm thick, made by 3M Scotch, and is installed wet. This film has professional quality and sticks so well to headlights that you have to use excessive force if left on for more than 1 week. This is good! The film is of coarse scratch resistant and comes with a warranty. The warranty is not on the film, but on the headlights! Light loss through the film are not noticable, which make them compliant with transport regulations. Prices of a pair is 20 to 80 USD depending on size.

EGR Europe also have "Headlamp guard". Their address is: http://www.egrinc.com/

How do I fix scratches and pitting in my plastic glass headlight?
If your headlights is not protected they will get pitted and yellow if abused with harsh chemicals. In most cases, it is only the outer (and inner) surface that has been damaged. There are no permanent fix that will make them like new, but they can be improved. There are several ways to approach this:
- Go to an aquarium store and purchase a plexiglass fishtank scratch remover kit. It involves a sanding process but is relatively easy.
- Meguiars #18 plastic cleaner and their polish can be used, but its only for very minor scratches. Meguiars' products are superior to turtle wax polishing compound.
- Nu Life is supposed be a good professional product as well and should be able to take care of all kinds of scratches. Checkout their web site.

If an overall severe pitting has taken place, a tideuos sanding process must be performed first.

How do I remove the front plastic glass from headlight?
OEM healights usually have a seal that will soften with heat. The main idea here is to soften the seal, but not heat damaging headlight. This might not work on all headlamps. Do not use an iron, butane torch nor heat gun. It will garuanteed warp plastic. An added downside with warping is that material gets incrased tension inside, and will crack easier when it gets cold. (Herman have tried).
The best is to use an oven. Preheat oven until reaching 400 degrees F. Then TURN OFF oven. Then insert headlight so that it doesnt get in direct contact with anything, by using a few layers of holy tinfoil or cerimc dish, etc. Wait 10 mins. Remove product. Put on hot or welding gloves. Pry carefully with screwdriver or even better, a butter knife, so lense comes off of reflector housing gradually, working your way around seams.

10 minutes and 400F are general numbers, and will need to be adjusted depending on sealant used in headlight.

The oven trick works successfully on:
Hyundai XG
Honda Civics, Prelude, Accord, Integra.
Ford 87-93 Mustang.
Lincoln Mark VII (84-92)
APC aftermarked for Honda Accord.

The oven trick has not worked on:
VW Passat (Hella)

How do I reattach the front plastic glass to headlight?
If reusing the old sealant is not possible, there are some alternatives listed on the "Tools and Material" page, which is accessible from this site main page.

GTS headlight covers properties:
They basically clips on in a snap to headlights of many autos. The smoke tinted version is for show only, so I am ignoring them for now, and will discuss clear GTS covers only. The greatest thing about the GTS covers is that they have correct shape. They do block ~5-15% of light output. (That is why they arent legal... another story). Not really an issue whith HID. You may want to give up a few percent to get better total looks. GTS covers are extremely frigile to scratches and should be handled with care. Storing them in a thick plastic bag during R&R is a definate plus. Dont panic now, a thick plastic protectant film from expel.com can be added to protect them during normal driving use. GTS covers are only ~2.2 mm thin acrylic, most OEM glass are 3-4mm anti scratch treated polycarbonate. Thats because GTS covers are supposed to be 100% mechanically supported by the OEM light. When comparing thickness, be aware that Polycarbonate is 1.5 - 3 times stronger than acrylic. GTS covers dont glue well to stiffer materials like polycarb, even when using industry strength plastic welder. Material is too soft. The weakest point is the connection GTS cover to glue. The best way around this is to make glue area at least 2 times bigger.

Reflectors:

What purpose does a reflector serve?
Reflectors gathers light and will create a so called "hot spot" in the beam that represent the brightest part.

How are they made and how do I touch them up?
They are made of one of the following materials: steel, aluminum, magnesium, polycarbonate and other plastics. They are shaped in complex forms and are designed by using computer aided design (CAD), so you can not make a high quality reflector at home. They are then dipped in a series of hot baths, which is the chrome plating. This is the only way chrome can be applied, there are no spray cans you can buy that can touch them up. However, there are many spray cans that says "chrome" on them, but they are all clear paint with tiny tiny aluminum pieces in. This does reflect ligth very similar to flat white paint - diffusing it in all directions.

Projector units:

How does the projector unit work?
Discusses individual projector parts, creation of cutoff line, cutoff band, and color of cutoff band,

Filament Bulbs:

Why is high intensity filament bulbs just a bandaid for OEM HID lighting?
Both technically and marketwise, the halogen bulb is singing on its last tone. The only reason some of the automotive marked is still using halogen on new vehicles is price on HID. And that price on HID systems are eventually going down towards the US$300 mark. In the mean time, aftermaked companies tries to convince consumers that you can achieve HID brightness with a bulb they sell. Some of them are a little brighter, but many car enthusiasts find that it is not worth the extra price and effort. All of them have shorter life, some of them as low as 10% compared to a stock bulb from the dealer. Reports shows that they can explode and scratch up your reflector!

What is the brightest halogen bulb?
For the 55W marked segment, sorted in order of brightness:
+50%: Philips Vision Plus (achieves its extra performance by increased luminance, not lumens. See this article: http://www.eur.lighting.philips.com/press/automotive/resultsVision.shtml)
+30%: Philips Premium, Osram Silverstar (European marked only - see note below)
+20%: Osram/Sylvania Xtra Vision, Osram/Sylvania Silverstar (North american marked only - see note below)
+0%: Philips Bluevison, Osram/Sylvania Cool Blue, Osram/Sylvania Halogen Plus, and OEM bulbs like GE.
-10%: PIAA Superwite

Silverstar: Do not confuse the European (clear glass) Silverstar with the North american (slightly blue tinted) Silverstar. The blue tint steals light!

Bosch Plus 50/60 was released in Europe in Sept 2002. The bulb does not have any blue tint, claims to not have any reduction in life, and give up to 20 meters longer view. It has been seem in H4.

PIAA "Xtreme White" was released ~Dec 2001. No independant tests have been conducted so far, but several positive indications has it that this can end up in the +20-30%.

Note that many cars sold after year 2000 already have premium bulbs installed and therefore buying any of the above bulbs might not give any or only minor improvement. Among H7 applications, there should be hard to find non-premium bulbs.

If your car is set up for higher wattage bulbs, Philips Rally bulbs will give more lumens than most asian overwatts. Be aware that lifetime of a Philips Rally bulb is ~100hours - so keep some spares in the glove compartment. Philips bulbs are availble from http://www.powerbulbs.com or www.autolamps-online.com
Narva bulbs are also top notch. Narva is a daughter company of Philips with one intention: compete with top notch products on the aftermarked. Philips themself are OEM oriented.

What happends if I insert a brighter halogen bulb into an older headlamp?
Let's say you wanted to buy the American Silverstar that has 20% advertised gain. Fact is that the 20% increase can only be achieved if headlamp is new. As an example, let us say that headlamp is 6 years old with plastic front glass. It has 100 000 miles (or 160 000km) so it will probably have high general pitting of front glass. That will lower the actual output on the road with maybe 40%. Then the 20% advertised increase will be reduced by 40%, and you end up with 12% increase. That's when you really wonder if it is worth putting in any new bulb at all... A difference by 12% is hardly noticable.

Is bulbs ment for the Euro marked legal in US?
Legally, if they don't have the DOT label, they are not legal. However, in real life noone will ever know. They do not emit that much extra light that you will separate yourself enough from other drivers, unless you choose one of the blue coated ones. Most likely you will wear out several sets of the "little brighter" bulbs before any legal authority will notice.

Will Euro filament bulbs give the same increase as in E-code headlights?
No, in general, an E-code headlamp will show more increase in light power just beacuse they will match up as a pair.

Whats the deal with HIR bulbs?
They were invented by General Electric a few years ago. An HIR bulb differs from a standard Halogen bulb by the fact that they have a reflective infra red coating with primary purpose of reflecting heat back to the filament.
They are being markeded under these names:
9011 HIR1, high beam, 2500lm bright at 13,2 (+/-15%) Volts
9012 HIR2, low beam, 1875lm bright at 13,2 (+/-15%) Volts

For physical dimansions, goto: http://152.119.239.10/docimages/pdf37/58377_web.pdf
For performance data, see: http://www.gelighting.com/na/downloads/hir1techsheet1.pdf

So far its used on OEM applications only: Dodge Vipers high beams and Toyota Camry (unofficial). Dont excpect them to show up at Pep Boys or Canadian Tire anytime soon. Price on each bulb is probably around what an HID bulb goes for, USD 100-200.

On the aftermarked, an HIR bulb has showd up in the 9005 and 9006 base version, which is different from 9011 and 9012 base standard. It is markedet under the "Polarg" brand name. Check out SPW Industries for details. The question is if Polarg is using the GE glasspack and selling them under their own name, or if its their in house brand. Generally, Polarg products have avarage quality, so our speculations goes towards the latter. The first quarter of 2003, the japanese company Vestec also started selling a product that may also very well go into the HIR category: "HID-R Day Light 9006"

Yellow fog light bulbs
Yellow bulbs was mandatory in headlamps in France for many years. They supposedly creates bigger contrasts in less visibilty. Today its only found in fogligths.
Automotive bulbs with actual yellow glass envelopes aren't made any more. Cadmium was used in their manufacture, and is now outlawed, having been identified as a carcinogen. Today's coated bulbs are a poor substitute for the original. The best bet would probably be to look on the on-line auctions, since somebody may still have a stash of these old bulbs. Expect to pay big bux.

Here is a list of yellow bulbs in production today:
Narva Gold (Yellow) Suvlights
Hella Yellow Star (Less Yellow) Susquehanna
PIAA Ion Crystal (Yellow) (use search engine: "PIAA H3 Ion Crystal" will give many results)
PIAA Ion Yellow 2300K (Yellow) HiTech Import Lighting
Philips WeatherVision (Less Yellow) Autolamps

What are the lumens of all the halogen and HID bulbs?
According to the Bosch/SAE Automotive Handbook (4th Ed.) the following is a list of bulbs, wattage and output at 12V:
Bulb_typ, Wattage(W), Luminous_flux(lm):
H1 55 1550
H2 55 1800
H3 55 1450
H4* 60/55 1650/1000
H7** 55 1500
H8*** 35 700
H9*** 65 1870
H11*** 55 1200
HB1(=9004) 65/45 1200/700
HB4(=9006) 55 1100
HB3(=9005) 60 1900
HB5*(=9007) 65/55 1350/1000

HID
D1S ~35 3200
D2S ~35 3200
D2R ~35 2800
* High/Low beam
** at 13.2 V
*** at 12.8 V

How does the Catz Zeta light enhancer work?
It contains a DC-DC converter (which are used alot in many industry applications) that will give higher voltage output. Output voltage to bulb has been measured to be as high as 16-17V. There will be a slight increase in amperage draw to be able to create the additional volts and to cover heat losses in the units. It does give some increase in output, and is harmless to factory wiring headlamp curcuit. But paying more than $100 for Catz Zeta, well, that is probably not worth it. In most cars, a relay system for $35 are more valueable.

Bulb life will suffer, maybe as low as 200 hours, all depending on bulb quality and not to mention remaining life.

Funny story is that, at least in an H4 application, a Philips Vision Plus bulb (sold by autolamps-online.com and powerbulbs.com) without use of Zeta, has the same intensity at 12V compared to a Catz Zeta system in combination with a stock Sylvania bulb.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Bulbs:

How can it work without a filament?
Its better to compare an automotive HID lamp with the well known fluoresent tube. Very simplistic, light is produced by sending current through a metal vapor.

What is optical difference between an hid and an halogen light source?
Its obviuos that HID bulbs have the great properties of being brighter and whiter. An HID bulb dos NOT spread light like a generic light source that spreads equal light 360 degrees:

Return wire shadow will always be present. However, if it faces down, it is within a toned down sector anyway (see regarding yellow sector above), so this should never be seen in the output from an OEM HID headlamp.


On all OEM HID headlamps that has been taken apart so far, return wire have been facing down. When it comes to aftermarked HID kits, return wire can face up, others down. Other directions than straigth up and straight down has not been spotted. For more info on return wire and kits, see "What makes a HID kit worth buying" section.

How even is the color and intensity across the arc (the light source)?
The ends of the arc has almost double the intensity and bluest color. Which means that optical engineers can make headlamp output bluer (or more yellow) than the bulb output color is, without using color filters (like they do in photograpy). For HID retrofitting in halogen headlamps, this a feature that cannot be utilized. Its pretty obvious that a chromed reflector cannot be reshaped in any way. So a unlucky retrofitter CAN end up with color spectrum from brown to bright white - in different places of the beam.

Why does a replacement bulb look yellow?
Its very rare that a high quality (Osram, Philips, GE) HID bulb break, but if it does happen it would be a normal thing purchase same brand and model. It is a normal thing that a replacement bulb of same brand and model will look more yellow. The labled light color is an average that it will maintain over 2-3000 hours. After passing around 100 hours the phenonmen "color shift" will take place. Color will change from a yellowish tone to a crisper bluer tone. Color shift will vary in signifigance depending on brand, model and rated color. OEM 4100K Bulbs manufactured by Philips has been reported to have a more noticeable color shift than OEM 4100K Osram.
To be in front of the marked, Philips introduced the "Plus" range of HID bulbs, to have a product that will not look yellow in a situation like this. See own section for the Philips 5000K bulbs.

How do I measure what color (in Kelvin) my bulbs are?
Many HID bulb resellers claim a certain color or Kelvin rating. Many times these bulbs is not the Kelvin rating they are supposed to have. The manufacturer know that the customer will never be able to measure this anyway. You can stare at the coating or salt micture for decades, but it will still end up being homebrew guestimates. It would require advanced measuring equipment worth several thousand dollars. Many customers buys HID kits second hand and needs spare bulbs. Unless part number listed on bulb, you are more or less traceing back a dead end. Resellers of HID kits comes and goes and manufacturers are changing specs faster than you change underwear. Both Osram and Philips have P/N listed on bulbs, detailed specs are released on the web, and they stand behind their claim of lifetime.

Does HID bulbs need to be color matched?
Yes. Always get a matched pair. This means they must have the same:

Why can HID lamps be dangerous?
A blast from a crushed 100 bar hot HID bulb will send glass pieces into your skin and eyes and potentially fill wounds with mercury, which is very poisiness. Room will be filled with toxic fumes. Very high startup voltages can give you electric shock if closer than 1.5 inches or 4 cm. A headlight assembly will protect you from all this included UV rays.

Why is HID lights totally blue for a few seconds after startup?
Due to the extreme complexity, this question has been condensed in to a MS Word document contributed by Ekooke, JustHitADeerWithHID, H1HID, and Mr.108
HID Phenomenon Document

What does the P/N on Philips bulbs mean?
Legend:
OEM=Original Manufacturer Equipment
aftermarked=sold as spare bulbs or manufacturer of kit
Bulb base: P32-d

85122: D2S. Not in trade anymore. Color is bluer white with greenish
85122+: D2S CM (Plus). 5000K. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85122. Released Q4, 2002.
85122WX: D2S Ultinon. Aftermarked only. Released Dec 2001.
85123: D2S. Color is bluer white with purple.
85407: D1S. Integrated ignitor.
85407+: D1S CM (Plus). Integrated ignitor. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85407. Released Q4, 2002.
85126: D2R.
85126+: D2R CM (Plus). 5000K. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85126. Released Q4, 2002.
85126WX: D2R. Ultinon. Aftermarked only. Released Dec 2001.
85408: D1R. Integrated ignitor.
85408+: D1R CM (Plus). Integrated ignitor. Aftermarked only. Ment to pair up with used 85408. Released Q4, 2002.

"CM" means color match.
There is a 4 letter date code following, which looks like this: L029, C024 etc. What they mean is probably not very useful unless you do warranty work for Philips.

Who is OE manufacturer of HID bulbs?
Philips, Osram and GE are the ones widely availabe in North America. Philips bulbs is slightly whiter than Osram. The amount of lumens are the same. Osrams seems to be softer on the eye. (Its proven that a lower amount of blue and higher amount of yellow irretates eyes less). Philips has the excact opposite, slightly more blue, slightly less yellow, so they appear more colder white. Non of the OE companies manufacturers HID bulbs with any halogen type base. They would be an illegal product to use on the street. OE companies value safe products higher than making some quick money now and lawsuits later. The only base they produce is P32-d that will fit into socket of a OEM HID headlamp. As an example, any seller who claims to have a 9006 Philips HID bulb is a scam. This is confusing marketing. At the best, all the seller can offer is a 9006 rebased Philips OEM HID bulb. More information on HID kits are found furter down.

Warranty on HID bulbs
Bulbs bought as HID kits or bulbs used in a Halogen headlamps are not covered. Some kit manufacturers use Philips bulbs as parts of their kits and sell with 5 years warranty. Only HID bulbs sold with a car are warranted from Philips. That leaves the retailer or the kit manufacturer as warrant. It is very doubtful that you will obtain that.

What decreases life of HID bulbs
Most of us have played around with halogen bulbs and found out that the only thing that really decreases life is over voltage and high G-forces. HID bulbs are more frigile:

Probably the number one reason is lamps running with non approved ballast. It does not matter how good the lamp is if the ballast characteristics are not OK the lamp will die prematurely.

Burning in the wrong position or plane. This creates over heating both of the internal components in the lamp but also at the pinch. The biggest failure across lamps as a whole is airleak. In the HID lamp you have very high pressure and temperature, if these are direct wrongly to the pinch the lamp will fail.

Handling. They are a delicate product which have not been designed to be handled. They are very much fit and forget. You can risk damage either to the burner or to the UV shield or both. This damage can be either physical or by contact depositing oils and acids from your skin on the glass.

Headlight housing not according to specs of the D2 bulb. Bulb vibrations caused by loose retaining mechanism, or bulb getting too warm simply because housing is too small and do not get adequete cooling.

How to recognize the real Philips Ultinon HID bulb from a clone?
There are several indications. One of them is that they are only made in Aachen, Germany. They are not made or made under license anywhere else. The rest of the properties are shown in this picture. It shows the D2S version of it. Rebased bulb might lack the text on the base. Custom base will lack the entire base. The remaining properties will still be valid.

The hard facts on 4100K Philips HID bulb:
It is shown in product catalogs as "MPXL-DL35". MPXL stands for Micro Power Xenon Light. This is the bulb installed OE in many HID headlamps today.
It is 3200lm bright (+/-450lm) and 4100K colortemp (0.380x 0.390y).
At zero hours it starts off at 4100K and goes upwards to 4600K after 1500 hours. After that there is no measure points, but curve has the direction to reach 5000K after maybe 2500hours.
Do not rush out and buy some 5 year old bulb from an old BMW 750iA yet; As all other bulbs, they also get dimmer with time:
100% at 0 hours
90% ar 200 hours
80% at 1000 hours
75% at 1500 hours
70% at 2000 hours

Chances that a bulb gets as old as 2000h is not likely. 2000h of driving in 70km/h (~50mph) is a pretty long distance: 140000km (~90000miles). Chances that most cars see some form of front accident that will break the bulbs are pretty high.
There is no reason to jump any conclusion that they loose lumen too fast. I would be surprised if any other lamp can do better. An halogen lamp is usually out of service after 5-600 on graphs like this. Asian HID bulbs has repuation for 5-600 hours of life as well.

The hard facts on 4100K Osram HID bulb:
They are labeled "Osram Xenarc" and comes installed as OE bulb on many HID headlamp equipped cars.
"Xenarc standard" datsheet: Offsite link to Osram website

The hard facts on 4100K General Electric (GE) HID bulb:
They have marketwise been more in the shadow, compared to other HID manufacturers. They have not been spotted anywhere else than as replacement bulbs at a dealer. This not an indication of quality, probably more of an indication of price. A GE D2S bulb is listed 3200lm and 4100K.
"Arcstream" Datasheet1: Offsite link1 to GE's website
"Xensation" Datasheet2: Offsite link2 to GE's website

The hard facts on Philips 6000K Ultinon:
Marketing names: "Ultinon", "Cool Power" and "Cool White" are all the same D2 lamps.
The Ultinon and standard lamps are identical with the visible exception of the 'salts' colour in the burner and the ceramic insulation on the earth return lead. Base is labeled: "Not legal for use in Europe/USA". This bulb is clearly ment for the Asia/Japanese marked - they do not have the strict regulations when it comes to color. Some aftermarked vendors market Ultinon as a brighter bulb than a standard D2. This is not true:
OEM Philips D2S is 3200lm bright (+/-450lm) and 4100K colortemp (0.380x 0.390y).
Philips Ultinon D2S is 2400lm bright (+/-250lm) and 5800K colortemp (0.327X 0.312Y).

The hard facts on 5000K Philips:
Marketing name is currently "Plus". Production started up mid Sept 2002.
This will cover the demand for a bulb that will have the same colortemp as an OEM bulb after several hundred hours of use, without losing any real performance. Typical use would be for replacing bulb on a high end car with more than 2 years of use, so that color is better matched than an OEM bulb. Base will be labled "ECE". Expect bulbs to show up at dealers during summer 2003.
OEM Philips D2S is 3200lm bright (+/-450lm) and 4100K colortemp (0.380x 0.390y).
Philips 5000K D2S is 3100lm bright (+/-???lm) and 5000K colortemp.

Osram Sylvania and blue HID bulbs
Osram Sylvania has an HID bulb with higher color temperature as well. They call it D-HC (Discharge-High Color) HID, with 5400K and 2600lm bright and has an integrated starter in the bulb base. It is used in their X1010 Aux low beam kit. Their standard HID capsule has 4100K and is 3200lm bright.

6000K, 7000K, 15000K HID bulb scam
Many people said, "oh no, not another blue bulb!", and thought that the blue low quality bulb "scam" finally spread over to hit the real HID market in late 2001. Philips Ultinons made in Germany have equal quality, like the OEM Philips bulb, so you cant really call that product a scam.
There are other blue HID bulbs made other places in the world that can be scam products. They maybe even have the Philips or Osram name on the box, or the base, but bulbs are made or modified by someone else. Equal bulbs can also be markeded to have different color temperature. Most customers would never know if color temp was was off, as long as they are matched as a pair. Some kit and bulb suppliers advertise with 7000K and higher. This can be suspective because a lower than OEM quality bulb can have been used. No bulb OEM manufacturer makes any versions with more than ~6000K. So either it is 6000K, or the bulb might have been painted. Painting bulbs decreases brightness and in most cases decreases life. So be aware what you are buying.
As an example, look at table below, and see how blue a 9000K bulb will be! Would you honestly want it to be as blue as the sky?

Yellow:
1500 k Candlelight
2700-2900 k Yellow painted fog halogen bulbs
-------------------------------
Yellowish white:
3200 k Sunrise/sunset
3200 k Premium H7 non painted halogen bulb
3400 k 1 hour from dusk/dawn
-------------------------------
White:
4100 k Philips/Osram OEM HID D2S
5500 k Bright sunny daylight around noon
----------------
Blueish white
5500-5600 k Electronic photo flash
6000 k Philips Ultinon HID D2S
6500-7500 k Overcast sky
-----------------
Blue:
9000-12000 k Blue sky
-----------------
Purple:
28000 Northern sky
12000-30000 k Ultra Violet light (black light)
---------------------------------

Above table is based on the ancient Kelvin (K) colortemp defined along time ago. Before we knew that was electro magnetic waves. At that time we only knew the temperature something had when burning. As an example, a candle light burns at around 1500K (see table above) or 2100F (Fahrenheit) or 1200C (Celsius).

Interesting! So what is actually white light?
Now that you know that light is electro magnetic waves, imagine that each base color (blue, green, yellow and red) has each wave length. White light is a balanced mix of all of them. Here is the window that are visible with human eyes:

720nm infra red - heat radiation (invisible)
660nm red
610nm yellow
550nm green
460nm blue
420nm black light
400nm ultra violet (invisible)

1nm = 0.000000001 meter

What are the results of using 6000K, 7000K, 15000K HID bulbs?
Stage 1 refers to 4100K and stage 2 normally refers to something higher value K.
As an example, a 6000K bulb in some headlamps might not show much difference at all, others will look more blue. These are observations when standing in front of the car looking into the headlights from above. After getting over the initial thrill of cooler light, many drivers have noticed that important traffic information are not as appearant as with OEM standard bulb. White traffic signs is being lit too much and can feel glaring.
During winter 2002, exponensional use of Kelvin (K) rating is used as brightness improving advertisement. Its all just big empty words. Do a search for "kelvin color temperature" on a search engine (ie: yahoo.com) and you will see that it has nothing to do with brightness and all to do with color. Going upwards from 4100K means that your light turns blue at the expense of total brightness and yellow color. Theoretically, if the same brightness were to be kept, you would have to increase the wattage of the bulb from 35 to maybe 40W, and redesign the ballast. This would be a very costly solution, so thats pretty much why all automotive HID bulbs are 35W.

The importance of spacing for return wire on D2 bulb
If the return wire (on the bulb) electrically hits headlight reflector, you can risk your ballast. The igniting mechanism in ballasts are relatively frigile and start voltage can decrease from the rated 23kV. That means that it will not be able to ignite all or only sometimes. If any metal is closer to 5mm to the return wire, it might try to spark between return wire and the metal. (Notice that even plastic reflectors are considered an electrical conductor. They are chromed.) You can get away with a close distance if area is very small. But it might give unpredictable results. Its the same with lighting from the sky. You dont know excatly where its going to strike, and its path is differnt every time.

What is the difference between D2R and D2S?
The main difference is the U-shaped masking on the D2R that blocks out unpredictable light in certain directions. Also, the base has different notches. D2R was developed so that Merchedes could still use their reflector based headlights. They did not want use projectors like BMW. A glare box inside the headlight could have been used, but a mask painted on the bulb must have been cheaper to make. Using a D2R in anything else than a OEM HID headlight designed for the D2R bulb makes no sense. It will only reduce output. Some HID kits comes with D2R bulbs. Some amateur kit designers will even claim that D2R genrally reduces glare in a retrofit. This is nonsense. The D2R bulb masking is around 3-4 a'clock and 8-9 o'clock when bulb is in right position. Those are not the (only) sectors that creates glare.
As an example, here is the data on Philips 2 versions:
D2S: 3200lm, 4250K, 91lm/W, 35W
D2R: 2800lm, 4150K, 80lm/W, 35W

Above from left, D2R and D2S. Note that Philips does not make blue painted HID bulbs. The appearant blue color is just background.

How do I convert A D2R bulb to an almost D2S?
How do I make a blue bulb clear?
D2R and blucoated bulbs are less bright than a clear D2S. The coating can physically be removed.
Get a 3M Auto-Pak WetorDry Automotive Sandpaper (Walmart) (it has 220, 320, 400, and 600 grit paper) and i bought 3M 1500 grit paper. 3M rubbing compound is great to remove 1500 grit scratches. Also, use masking tape to cover the base of the bulb and the end of the bulb so water and any foregin parts do not get anywhere they do not belong.

1. Sand the ceramic paint of the D2R off with 400 grit sandpaper. Be careful and dont rub too hard and dont expect to get it all off right away. Patience and a steady hand is key.

2. Then use the 600 grit to go over the areas where the ceramic paint is/was. Do not sand any place that did not have the old ceramic D2R paint.

3. Next, use the 1500 grit paper and go back over the areas again. This is the longest part. This is the part that you can repeat. Do not repeat the above steps. The paper in the above steps will just make the scratches worse. I used a very little drop of water on the sandpaper and rubbed the D2R while it was wet. This helped alot. After, the first time using the 1500 grit dry, repeat with 1500 grit wet. After you feel that you cant do anymore or that you are making it worse, then proceed to the next step

4. Use a very small amount of the Rubbing compound and spread it using a clean cotton terry cloth. Just put enough to make a thin layer over the areas where the stripe was. To remove the rubbing compound use a clean terry cloth. To remove any film and to clean it in general, use isopropyl alcohol and a sterile natural cotton swab(better to use) or a q-tip.

5. The last step, which i didnt do but others have, is to take a dremel and attach a cotton polisher. Dont turn it up much at all otherwise you might shatter the bulb. But this should help alot. I didnt do this step. My bulb looked scratched after i was done and was extremely worried. BUt when i put it into to my projector along side the my other projector which had a regular D2S, the beam pattern and brightness were the same. So even if the bulb still looks terribly scratched dont worry aobut it b/c there is NO WAY that you can get it to look like the rest of the bulb. Just stay in the areas where the ceramic paint is and you will be fine. Dont scratch up anywhere else.

As for the bases of the D2S and D2R...they are ALMOST identical except that the notches are on opposite sides. However, to fix this problem it literally took me 30 seconds to fix. I found where the notch on the D2R needed to be fit my D2S housing, and took a triangular file and filed away; 30 seconds and problem fixed. The hardest part was figuring out which size file I needed. I got a pretty small one and made a notch just big enough for the housing's notch to fit.

In total, you have to weigh how much time you want to put into this against price of new D2S bulbs.

Where can I buy original P32-d based HID bulbs from?
Philips: autolamps-online.com, suvlights.com or car dealer.
Osram: suvlights.com or car dealer.

Whether u purchase from suvlights.com or autolamps-online.com is a matter of personal preference. Postage is minimal from both places - they only weigh like 40-60 grams or something each.

What other wattages than 35W HID bulbs does exist?
There is a 17W HID bulb used for diving flashlights. It does appearantly lack some of the good features and/or qualities compared to a Philips/Osram HID 35W bulb.
The main developer of automotive HID bulbs, Philips, has a 50W HID bulb and supporting ballast readily developed. Per fall 2002, there was no automatic shutdown on these ballasts. Usage is VERY offroad with around 5200lm: construction sites away from areas with power lines.
The bulb base is appearantly not much difference from P32-d base used in 35W OEM HID. The availability is special order only. Be prepare to order in larger quantities if interested.

What does bulb input voltage do to performance??
Todays hid bulbs are designed to operate at ~85 volts after igniting. Increasing voltage increases output, decreases color temperature, increases current and decreases life. An example of a ballast currently on the marked that can deliver more volts is the german built Auserwald ballast. (Distrubuted in the US by Vantage Lighting, California). It has separate output terminals labled "50W" where increased voltage is present. (It also has output terminals labled 35W).
Hidkits.com has a variable output ballast, that can decrease output voltage from 85V. This will make output dimmer and bluer. Their ballasts is an in house design, and many has reported it to have a questionable design and finish in year 2000/2001.

Electrical - wiring related
Why can't I power HID systems from stockheadlight wiring?
My HID headlight kit turns off when I am using my high beams
Can triggering relays harm headlight switches
How do I make my own harness?
Ground switched headlights
"Bulb out" warning light shines up in the dash - now what?

This section is moved here.

Electrical - ballasts

What HID ballast versions does Philips currently have on the marked? >
1) LVQ-212 has built in ignitor and is for D2S and D2R bulbs only.
2) LVQ-212 L300 same as above but it is E-labeled E4 (Netherlands) P/N 9287 006 17100. Location of High Voltage wire and 12V power is mirrored compared to (1). All plugs & connectors are the same. This is probably ment for European marked. (1) and (2) have the same specs labled on the box. Herman do not see any reason why they otherwise should be different.
3) XenStart does not have ignitor bulit in and is designed for Xenstart D1S or Xenstart D1R bulbs only. Ignitor is integrated into bulb.

What is the difference between a LVQ-212 and the similar looking Hella ballast?
None. It is same ballast. The printed curcuit board inside both units are labled "Hella", and all components look the same.

Is the LVQ-212 water and acid proof?
No. It is designed to withstand light mist of non acid water. Splashes from pot holes started by trucks, heavy downpour, garden hoses, high pressure washes, liquid battery acid and fumes will enter the ballast unless protected. In most cases the ignitor mechanism that are build in will degrade and ballast might not be able to create 23KV, so bulbs simply will not always turn on. This water will over time create corrosion and eventually a total failure will happen.
Examples of protection:

What is the function of the white ballast lead inside high voltage wire of LVQ-212?
On the Philips LVQ-212 ballast, the white wire inside the black high voltage ballast wire is a kevlar line designed to prevent elongation (stretching) of the cord.

Where can I get the odd 12V power plug that goes into the LVQ-212 ballast?
It is a standard connector for the 9006 bulb and should be available at Pep Boys, Canadian Tire, etc.

What is the input power polarity on the LVQ-212?
See this picture. Also note that housing is internally grounded to the negative wire. They are internally protected, even if you reverse the wires, they will not be damaged.

Why do I have to reset LVQ-212 if bulb does not fire within a second?
Since it is dealing with high voltage, a nice shutdown feature was built into it. Lets say the resistance goes too high (indicative of a broken or missing bulb), what will happen? Ignitor portion of ballast will try to fire bulb with 23kV for a short second and turn off and not try again until 12volt power is removed and reapplied (=reset).
Apperantly, LVQ-212 only shuts down and reset like 8 times before it will permanently shut down. Noone one on the board have tried this - no sense in intentionally killing a good ballast, but its a good safety feature in a collision. Fuel and sparks is a higly flammable combination and should be kept to a minimum if possible. LVQ-212 and newer Philips ballasts might be the only HID ballast with automatic shutdown.

What happends if LVQ-212 are powered without bulb connected?
The ballast cannot sense if there is a blub at the end of the wire or not before 23KV is applied. The nature of high voltage is to find the shortest way across and create an arc there. In a P32-d application, the arc will strike between the center and the outer terminals. The first strike will discolor the red plug inside. Many additional strikes will make deep grooves in the plug. Continous resets might shut down ballast permanently.

What do I do if LVQ212 is too big and ballast to bulb wire is too short?
This wire can not be extended. A better ballast choice would be the D1S Xenstart.
A Panasonic ballast can also be used. Wire length from ballast to ignitor is 18 inches, but this can easily be extended. All you need to have room for is a small ignitor unit within 8 inches from bulb.

The high voltage wire on LVQ-212 is damaged - now what?
It can be spliced back together. The important part is to solder and to keep the center of wires minimum 5mm from each other. This can be done by using some high quality automotive silicone. Pull a heat shrink tube over as outer layer to keep it mechanically together.

What can I gain from making my own ballast?
Many of us, inculding the writer, have dreamed about ways to make a ballast for 1/4 of the price of what it is over the counter. The idea is good, but fact is that you will fail in making it for less money, same quality and same risk. It is not too hard to create a ballast curcuit that can ignite a D2S bulb with 23kV and keep it alive with 85VAC. But ballast will not be able to restart a hot bulb. The transistion face between startup and regular burn needs be monitored very closely and voltage must be regulated accordingly. In addition to these 3 very differnt cycles, there are temperature differences that needs to be compansated for. Unless these considerations are taken into account, bulb life will be very shortend. D2S bulbs explode if ballast overpowers it. Mercury at 1500F is nothing for amateurs. The inventor of the worlds first vehicle based HID system, Philips, took 5 years to make a their ballast work properly and safely. Here is 2 links for reference:
Generic univerisity study: http://www.cpes.vt.edu/cpespubs/proceedings/files/2001pdf/1_01.pdf
Very detailed description on how ballasts works: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-11192001-150026/unrestricted/Thesis_Yongxuan_Hu.pdf
A quality new ballast can be had for USD 130-200 new, less as used. It is worth evry cent!

HID kits for use in halogen headlamp systems:

Are HID kits "Plug and Play" as advertising says?
Experience has shown that upgrading a light system correct is NOT plug and play as every single HID kit pusher wants you to belive. There are one good reason to ask seller at least 10 questions before purchasing any kit: $500!

Who are the producers of HID kits?
Kits are made in everything from basements to half professional facilities.
Its a small world:
Suvlights is in the CA, US. They have all kinds of OEM and non OEM parts for doing all kinds of headlight upgrades, even connectors in loose weight.
Phoenix Micro-Lite Inc. (US) has disappeared from the web.
Hid Kits is in TX, USA. Unlike all others, they make their own ballast. Does it really have the same quality as OEM ballasts?
Autolamps are in the UK. They use Philips ballasts and bulbs only.
HANA, makes Vision kits, are in Korea. K2 Kits (10 out of 100 bulbs has been reported defective. After having quality issues with self made ballast and Osram ballast, Matshushita was tried for a while with execellent quality. Appearantly, they are now back a new version of their own ballast.) is a derivative product of Vision.
SIJ in Taiwan. Bulbs have been spotted with SIJ label. SIJ is made by the company Mycarr Auto Acessories Co Ltd., which rebases even Philips HID bulbs.
Xenon Werks is in Asia. Owned by MTC Lighting (Malaysia) SB. MTC Lighting also owns and operate the US based Hidforless. There has been quality issues with some hidforless kits.
PIAA are in Japan. They started up with light bulbs only. Wonder if they are going away from ligthing? Other automotive accessories like winshieldwipers and storage boxes are now visible on their website.
BellOfHID are in Japan. Ther ballasts are made by Panasonic. Catz HID kits are basically relabled BellOfHID kits.
Xenon Depot is in Thornhill, ON, Canada.

Who sells HID kit?
Kits are sold through so many stores, the majority is on US ground. The amount is too big and varies to much to be able to mention them all here. They are sold throug all kinds of channels, through speedshops to ebay.com. Quality does not seem to be connected to how kits are produced. Very few, if any of hid kit companies are OEM suppliers of automotive lighting. Serious OEM suppliers do not sell non street legal hid bulb kits. They make street legal complete hid headlights (Examples: Hella/Sylvania). The volume of the HID kit marked are low. Margins are not as high as when kits was introduced during late 90s, when retail price could be as high as 1500 usd. Even thou price have come down quite a bit, do not expect a HID kit to get as low as filament bulbs. The manufacturing for HID systems will always be considerably more complex.

What is the best HID kit?
To be general, there is no answer to this question.

• Different outcome for same application: All halogen housings are different, even if they use the same bulb type. Some housings require shielding, some dont. Some require custom shield. Some housings simlply cannot be retrofitted with HID
• Application variance: A kit for lets say H1 from a certain kit manufacturer is excellent, but a 9006 kit can be really bad.
• Production and quality variances: Even if you have bought the excact same kit 6 months ago doesnt mean you will get the same parts nor quality if ordered today. Some kits are hand made, some are partially hand made, some are totally automatically made.

How do I recognice that a HID kit is NOT worth buying?
Halogen base glued onto a modified D2* bulb with low temprature (corner HW store) epoxy.
Lack of, too thin, or too low temprature rated, wireing harness.
Lack of relays, or incorrect wiring of relays.
No glare shield on the bulb. (A must for reflector based headlamps)
Vague or no instructions.
Lack of warning that stock clip might not fit.
Lack of warning that stock rear headlight cover does not fit due to lack of space.
Lack of information about how much deeper the HID bulb is compared to Halogen.
Lack of purchase option for HID bulb return wire facing up or down. Projector units only: if return wire faces up, it will create a bad shadow on the ground. Reflector headlights only: you should try both directions for best results.
Lack of return policy.
Insufficient water protection of ballast and connectors.

Description on how to approach problem areas described above is described by on this site.

Does Philips make HID conversion kit?
No, anyone trying to sell you a kit made by Philips is is a scam. Philips has a world wide reputation to take of and will never make something that can be unsafe. Bulb and ballast might be made by Philips, but Philips will only be a 3rd party supplier of parts to the person or company that puts the kit together. As you can see in the "How do I recognice that a HID kit is worth buying?" section, there are more parts and ingenuety going into a high quality conversion kit.

Does Hella make HID conversion kit?
No - for the same reason as above.

Custom based versus modded base of a D2 HID bulb
Gluing d2s glass capsule to an already existing halogen base is a cheaper way of producing kits than having a machine glue on a custom high temperature resistant base. If used correct materials and enough R&R is put into the final product, the results should be the same. Unfortunatly, some kit manufacturers settle for less than OEM quality standards, and totally overlook that standard hardware store glue cannot be used on the bulb, or lack of adequate equipment for focal point verification in the production line, or similar.

What is the difference between OEM Bi-Xenon and aftermarked Bi-Xenon kits?
OEM Bi-Xenon usually has a moveble projector shield with a optimized reflector and curved lens. Aftermarked Bi-Xenon is ment to replace dual filament halogen bulbs H4, 9004, and 9007. Most 9004 and 9007 headlights are not suitable for the higher lumens of an HID bulb, so take precautions if you consider this. There are a couple of H4 Bi-Xenon systems out there:

- The "HID Plus with a moveable "spoon" for H4 headlamps that will block/unblock light downwards. The included ballast were first Osram, but were later changed to the well known Philips/Hella. The blue coated bulb and hardware are made in Asia. They were first released in 7000K around march 2002. They are also sold by autotoys.com. In fall 2002 a 9000K version came out. US Distrubutor is appearantly SPW Industries. HID Plus goes under the name Magatech in Japan. The supplier is the Korean trading firm KDG
This is Eddie's comment:
I'm a former clamshell HID user... took it off my truck after a week of driving with it. Low beam pattern spread was actually less than OEM halogen. High beam is a joke. They were so blue, bluer than a cheap blue tinted halogen. The seller says violet hue, those things are going to be extremely purple, probably more than u ever want.

- Hidkits.com solution with a retractable bulb using a spring loaded solenoid. Burner brand is unknown. Ballasts are made in house. "Highlandsun" has tested them and posted results here.

- Autolamps-online solution with a retractable bulb using a spring loaded solenoid. It is based on Philips ballast and burner, which is more or less the reference for quality nowadays.

Things to consider:

Headlight upgrades:

When you have realized that aiming and a throughout cleaning your current headlights still does not satisfy your needs and desires, below are common steps to improve them. This list is based on technical facts described around this faq. If there is something you do not understand, go back and read over again.

1. Simply buy a new stock headlamp ($50-$800)
2. Quality relay harness (~$50)
3a. Mildly increasing bulb wattage (~$50) - requires (2)
3b. Using a higher efficiency 55W bulb - requires fairly new headlamps.
4. Switch from DOT to E-code headlamps in combination with (2).

You are now outgrowing the Halogen bulb and an HID system will take over:

5. HID kit - Usually not recommended for DOT reflector based headlamps or "foggy" curved lens projector systems (~$500).
6. HID kit in combination with (4). (~$700)
7a. Hella 90mm Xenon in combination with (2). (~$600 - $1100)
7b. OEM HID Projector or reflector retrofit in combination with (2). ($300-$600)

Why is a OEM HID headlamp a better choice than a HID kit?
Goto this link

Current regulations:

Current regulations are often called code, thereof the word "E-code", which is regulations set by Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). The 1958 agreement is stored on United Nations server and here is a direct link. The headlamp regulations are regulation 1, so go into section 1-20.

What does the label DOT on a headlamp signify?
It simply means that headlamp is manufactured according to regulations set by United States Department Of Transportation (DOT). Manufacturers are trusted to make headlamps that conform, they do not send in samples for testing. However, if they are found to not conform at a later time, in example in combination with a major accident, big lawsuits will take place against the manufacturer.

Canada and other countries in North america and caribbian have adopted these regulations.

What do the round ECE label on a headlamp signify?
Examples of E-code lables are E1, E6, E11. The letter E means that they conform to ECE regulations. The number afterwords signifies the country. Care should be taken when buying E11, which means it has been manufactured in UK. It might only be useful for driving on the left side of the road, unless it is switchable.
A low number does not signify better product quality, the numbers where (and is) given out in chronological order after agreement to conform with current ECE regulations by United Nations.
Canada have adopted the ECE regulations as well, but this is mostly for convienience - all cars that are made in Canada and imported US cars will carry the DOT label. Probably the only E-code headlamps you will find in Canada are special imported cars or aftermarked parts from Europe.

What does the R/D and L/G settings mean on an ECE headlamp?
According to ECE regulations, if headlight is switchable between left and right side driving, R/D is the setting for right hand side of the road driving, L/G is the setting for left hand side. The low beam Hella 90mm ECE versions have these settings.

How do I know if an ECE headlamp is RHD or LHD?

What kind of retrofits are legal?
Retrofitting of an ENTIRE sealed OEM HID headlamp from a different vehicle keeping all original functions*) intact is legal. Obviously, it must be mounted in the approximate same height and as solid as on the original vehicle. In a court case worst scenario, it will most likely will be used against you, but the right lawyer will be able to defend you.
*)Note that functions consists of low beam, high beam, markers, turn signals, amber side reflector, leveling system (if equipped), cleaning system (if equipped) and AFS system (if equipped).
All other kinds of retrofits are illegal, unless results from a testing lab can show otherwise. The cost of such test is around $10,000 and consists of various environmental, durability, material, aimiability, and so on. Even if you are willing to pay this amount, it is not granted that you will pass. Based on the report you will have to make design adjustments where it failed and go for another test. All in all, designing legal headlamps is not for the DYI mechanic.

The Purchasing process:
Based on the complexity of automotive lighting and the need to make it safe, it is highly recommended to buy parts from specialist. The internet can sometimes make the purchasing look simple, but it might bite very bad afterwords. Today, many mail order companies sells automotive lighting parts without having a clue of their usage. Evryone wants to get as much as possible for their money, but isn't purchasing the right product you really wanted worth half the price?

Where can a get solid advice?

(They are not listed in any perticular order.)
Susquehanna Motorsports (=rallylights.com)
Daniel Stern Lighting
Suvlights.com
autolamps-online

Why is high tech lighting parts so expensive (or unavailable) in Canada?
European high quality products like Bosch, Hella or Valeo are made in Germany or Netherlands. Normal distrubution route is to US first where US customs takes 3-8% and the importer takes 50%. Then canadian customs takes %20, then the Canadian importer takes maybe %50, so the part that costs CAN$60 in Germany, suddenly cost CAN$180 when u buy it in Canada. Its robbery! Many high tech parts are not even sold here, simply because marked is too small. Conclusion is to tart importing yourself, be patient, translate your order to german if needed and save your $$$$. This does not only apply to lighting parts: all kinds of other small appliences typically made by Philips or tools made by Bosch.

Mail order shopping in US dollars from abroad (like Canada).
Lets say you finally found your headlight parts and now its time to pay. If you are shopping in US dollars from a country that doesnt operate on US dollars, you have pay transaction fee in that country. The fee is usually 3-4% and is hidden in the price. This doesn't matter if you live in the US, because you would have to pay currency transaction fees to your credit card company anyway. If you live anywhere else in the world and order in US dollar, you pay transaction fee twice. Be aware of this when ordering from autolamps (they are located in UK). Ordering in UK pounds and will save some hard earned cash.

General:

Condensation phenonomen on the inside of the front glass
Condensation is deemed to happen if ambient temperature is lower than inside the headlamp and humidity inside of headlight is too high.
From a headlight design perspective, you cannot lower ambient temperature. Not much can be done with temp inside headlight either. However, humidity levels on the inside can be reduced. Most designs usually have 2 or 3 air vents to keep humidity below condensation threshold levels.
This might sound complicated, but the phenonomen is exactly the same as windows in a winter home and humdity levels inside. Too much showering, and bathroom window fogs up. Venting will reduce condensation.
You might wonder why headlamps are not designed to be 100% air tight, so that no humidity enters? Well, that would be in an ideal world with no heat losses in bulbs. As the headlights goes through continous warm-cold-warm-cold cycles as you turn light on and off, the air and plastic will expand and retract. This creates pressure changes, which will move a slight amount of air in and out. So instead of forcing the air to be inside, air is moved through controllable passages, so that minimum of road dirt will enter.

Why does my headlamps sometimes condensate?
- If condensation disappears within a week. Moisture can have been sucked up in high pressure wash. This should normally dissapate within a week by itself.
- If condensation amount stays constant, then there is crack(s) in headlight that lets in water. This can be siliconed, depending where the crack is, or a replacement headlight should be considered.

Integrated versus non-integrated igniter in an HID system
The main reason for not having the igniter (=starter) inside the ballast is restriction in wire length igniter to bulb. Many cars are extremly crampy around the headlights, so having a small igniter build into to bulb plug or into a very small box in the wiring, means that the ballast (which is a bigger box) can be mounted out of the way.

Can automotive lighting be a hobby?
Installing non original automotive lighting parts can be done in a lot of ways serving numerous purposes. To make it cosmetically comform with a car, function better, with more features is an art. Anyone can buy and mount different pre made lighting parts that are specifically designed for a certain vehicle. Very few have the skills and ingenuety to create new combinations and take cosmethics and function to a new level.

What equipment is needed to power up HID in your living room?
One of these three 12V should do the trick:
- One of of those very handy booster packs that comes with 17Ah battery, a tiny 10W charger and huge battery clamps. Probably the lowest price and most practical.
- Any car/RV battery.
- Any DC regulated power supply giving out at least 10Amps.

Note: Running HID systems right on a battery charger without a battery is NOT recommended. Chargers doesnt have DC filter capacitors and makes life hard for the HID ballast. It might even lower the life of ballast and/or bulb. Adding a filter capacitor easily increases viltage to above 17V which is outside the 9-16V range specified by most ballasts.

How do I clean a reflector lamp?
Cleaning the outside of a headlight should preferrably be done with soap and water, and is considered very streigth forward.

However, cleaning the inside of a headlamp becomes more tricky since you will face the same challenges as cleaning the inside of a bottle:
Remove the headlight bulb.
Remove the headlight from the car.
Fill the headlight about 1/2 full of distilled water and put in a few drops of dishwashing liquid.
Cover the bulb opening and shake the housing for a minute or so.
Pour out the soapy water.
Fill the headlight about 1/2 full of distilled water.
Shake, drain.
Repeat rinse.
Rinse again with 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol added (promotes drying).
Drain.
Let headlight dry, open end down (overnight), or you can use a hair dryer to speed things up.
Reinstall headlight.
Reinstall bulb.

How do I clean my projector lenses and mirrors?
The first rule is do not clean any optics but if you just have to this is how. DO NOT TOUCH THE PARABOLIC REFLECTOR ATTACHED TO THE PROJECTOR LENS. You will permanently ruin it because fo the oils from your hands. If you feel uncomfortable, use some clean latex gloves. But never stick you hand and attempt to clean any of the projector except the very outside. If light from the HID bulb doesnt shine on it, then you can touch it with your bare fingers. But if light shines on it, it is best not to touch it. To clean it, you can take it to a camera repair shop. I lectured the guy for 45 minutes on how expensive and delicate these were. He finally got the point, used special optical stuff and did a great job. You can only use pure solvents such as pure isopropyl alcohol(100%) or pure methanol (a toxin that can accumulate in your body if you mishandle it),

If you want to clean it yourself here is how. Do not use tap water. If you ever have to use water on optics, use deionized/distilled water that you can find at your pharmacy. To clean, use only natural cotton(as opposed to that synthetic stuff that girls use)that you can find in pharmacies as well. Never apply pressure to optics. This means if you rub a piece of natural cotton soaked in pure isopropyl alcohol on the optics, then the only pressure applied is the weight of the cotton itself. DO NOT PRESS ON ANY PART OF THE OPTICS. Grab the cotton or sterilized/lint-free cloth by a VERY small corner and drag it across the surface of the lens. Using only the pressure fo the cotton. Then as you drag it across the surface use a rolling motion so that as you pick up dirt and grime you dot re-expose it to the surface. This may require lots of cotton and time. Please go to the links page to find a link to excite.com and several webpages on the clening of precision optical mirrors.

What do the board members mean by projectors? Have they done a headlight conversion or bought aftermarket HID projector housings?
No. The members have taken out the acutal projector units from OEM projector housings. Housings contain the projector units. What you normally see of the projector is the front lens but never the parabolic mirror because that part is covered by the housing. Click the following link to see what we mean by a projector unit:
Projector Unit

What is needed to start my OEM HID projector retrofit?
1. OEM HID Projectors - see separate page.
2. Ballasts (igniter may be needed if it is a separate component as in Audi TT and BMW 3 Series)
3. 2 HID bulbs (D2S)
4. Relays fed via >12AWG wire from battery (Upgraded headlight harness)
5. Much thought and preparation (extremely important that you plan everything)
6. Ingenuity and detailed planning(if you need to overcome a problem, look around the house...a coke can helped me)

What safety precautions do i need to take when working on headlights?
Most headlights seem to be composed of a fiberglass compund, that can be extremely irritating when inhaled. If you cut or grind these headlights, the grainy texture of the plastic sill cause it to become a very fine dust that can agitate the throat and compromise your respiratory sytem. Therefore, you can either use a paper mask that aids against fiber glass or toxic dust, or you can get a respirator that is much more costly but safer. Second, gogles are necessary to keep the tiny shards of glass off of your cornea. Third, wear garments that cover you skin and if you are extremely sensitive, wear gloves and a neck cover.

When using a dremel also becareful. Most of the bits can cause serious lacerations u cutting through vessels and tendons. Hold the dremel with two hands and make sure that the electrical cord is away from the you and the dremel.

What car has the brightest projector OEM HIDs?
As per Aug 2002, a very unofficial survey was held on the board. Here is the result:

(Year, Brand, Model, classification, amount of votes)

APC headlights, quality and price
APC makes headlights for several trendy automobiles. When mounted, they look really great. Unfortunatly, the build quality and function quality is not as high as OEM. Which makes sense, most of them are cheaper than OEM. In addition, they are made in smaller quanteties than OEM, and should call for lower margin. You may wonder, how they actually conform to DOT standards? Well, the minimum requirements of the DOT standard is not very hard to accomplish. But to satisfy todays demanding customers who have been looking at $1500+ BMW headlights, well thats a hole different ballgame. Unfortunatly, very few people would be willing to pay that much. So they have found their niche in the "good looking" segment, and they do it well. What you should know is that the projector unit is made of thick cast steel, with relatively uneven reflective surface, compared to projectors from Hella. Most APC headlights until 2002 utilizes the same projector unit carrying a H3 bulb. H3 bulbs are mostly used in fog lights and thats excatly how the beam looks like. A wide cloud relatively close to the front of the car. Please dont even consider putting overwattge or HID in them. New for 2002 is use of 9005/9006. It has been seen in 88-91 Civic/CRX headlights. Beam pattern is not reported better. Reflector was partially dirty on arrival.

What is the quality of other, almost generic type headlamps?
Ebay and many other internet stores are filled with low quality headlamps of all kinds of origin. Examples of this are Matrix, Diamondback, Denji etc etc... What they all share is that they are low priced. Some sealed beam H4 Diamondbacks can be had for $30. If a headlamp is cheaper than OEM, be sceptical! Remember that to make a world class headlamp, very advanced CAD/CAM equipment is needed in addition to qualified engieneers. You have to ask the question: Will $30 cover this cost? $30 is way to little. You have to double it.
All headlamps should minimum comply to either DOT, SAE or ECE. Not that it takes much to comply to SAE regulations, but its better than nothing. Be aware that there are smart sales people out there: Examples of advertised product having the SAE label, but what you get in the mail does not have any labels. Conclusion to this is to: Buy brand name products that has an organisation that stands behind the product. Brand names are typically OEM prouducers as well. They are listed in the OEM HID database on this site.

How do I aim my headlights right?
 The U.S. vertical aiming standard is 2.1" of drop at 25', or 8.4" per 100'. Measure the distance from ground to the headlight centers, and aim the flat part of the beam cutoff at 25' distance (against a vertical wall) to be 2.1" below the headlight center height. Cover one light with something while you're aiming the other light, and repeat for the 2nd light. Aim the lights straight ahead for the horizontal. This applies to all headlights: projectors and reflector based. However, you might be able to aim projector a few degrees higher due to sharper cutoff.

Counting the number of cars per day that flashes you because you have annoying lights is not the way to measure if you have your headlights correctly aimed or not. That will only create more hate against brighter light. What you should do if you are in doubt that your headlight is aimed too high or sending out too much glare, compare the amount of light that is emitted above cutoff to other cars of with similar headlight design: Place the cars 25ft away from a white wall (in the dark), or simply walk around the front of each car at different hights and compare brightness above cutoff. If there is more than a minor difference, you have work to do: Aim them lower and/or more to the right. If you are using higher lumens bulbs, you might have to insert additional shields. If you are unable to find a solution (even with experts help), go back to stock lighting, and start look into finding donor/aftermarked projectors.

Why is projectors more picky to aim? *NEW*
Projector units has sharper cutoff reflector units. With the sharper cutoff, comes also need for aiming withing smaller tolerances. If you have projector units that came with your car, rotation adjustment is done at the factory. For those of us who plan or have retrofitted a projector unit into a different car, already know or will run into this. With reflectors you might not notice much if rotate them 4 degrees. 4 degrees seems awfully little. But here is a beam presentation of a projector unit that has been rotated 4 degrees. You immedatly see there is something awkward, and over time you will annoy yourself to death. Light will be totally missing in a sector on the right flange. This is were you normally will se playing kids on the side of the road.
 

Can I use English or Japanese headlamps in other countries?
From a legal point of view, probably not. As you probably know, they drive on the left side of the road and will therefor have the well known rigth side beam flare on the left side instead of the right side. A reflector based headlamp can be taped and will lower the glare. A projector headlamp might have a turnable reflector so that the flare turns up on the other side. But that is only possible if the cutoff line is a straight V form. Many projector lamps have a "Z" beam, and you should be able to flip the shield around. Flipping the shield will lower the total output, because the reflector and shield are designed to work as a pair.

What is the difference betwen cd an lm?
Both lm (lumems) and cd (candela) is a measurement of the amount of light. Comparing them would be like testing apples and oranges. Lumens is a measurement of the total light coming from a light source. The number will (theoretically) be the same whether you are using optical mirrors or lenses to increase brightness to a certain direction.

Candela, on the other hand, will increase drastically if used with optical mirrors and lenses. A good example here is a spot beam driving light with a 5 dregree narrow beam opening. Even with a 55W bulb, several hundred thousands of candela can be achieved. For reference, 1 candela equals to the brightness of one good old candelight. Both ECE and DOT regulations has limitations of maximum candela at certain spots in the beam.

For the technical interested, here is the formula:
For a spherical light output, lumens = candela * 4pi. (For incandescent bulbs most manufacturers use 12.57 as "4pi".)
For a directed beam, lumens = candela * 0.00024 * (beam angle)^2 where beam angle is in degrees.

How can I measure brightness of headlamps?
Headlamp manufacturers uses a sophisticated calibrated light meters. However, for home use, this is an example of a light meter:
http://www.arabidopsis.com/main/cat/PPF/qss01new.htm
A light meter can be obtained from a variaty of places: photo stores, lamp stores, or can be rented on a daily basis from a professional equipment depot for a low price.
Headlamp manufacturers measure certain spots in the beam. Explained simply, the light in those spots has to be below or above a certain value measured in luminous flux to comply with a desired standard (DOT, ECE, harmonized, etc...)
All the details are described here: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29wgs/wp29gre/grenwdoc/gre2001-28.pdf
Many bulb manufacturer gives out the lumens value, but that is a measurement how powerful the bulb is, not how powerful the combination of optics in the headlamp AND bulb is.
Comparing 2 different bulbs can be done with somewhat scientific result at certain spots on the road, lets say at 50 and 100ft, and left, center and right. That should be 6 measuring points.

Does it exist any aftermarked headlight modules?
Yes, it does. Hella makes them and the quality is excellent. See here for more details.

What has been updated on this FAQ lately?
Checkout the update page for recent updates.

Where can I ask questions?
Please visit the online forum. In case network54.com is down, use Alternate forum. There are plenty of people that are willing to help you.

How independant are the authors?
None of Authors (mentioned on the front page) are affilliated with Philips, Osram or any other company. This FAQ is written solely based on what has been discussed (sometimes to death) on the forum, which may or may not be 100% corect.

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