Hey all...

After messing with blue bulbs, DC:DC converters etc. finally decided to stop messing around and put some real High Intensity Discharge bulbs into the parabolic headlights.

The main problem with conversions in general is that the filament of the bulb is longer than the HID arc, or shorter, and it is in a different place.

The D2S/D2R HID bulbs are 1mm higher than the stock H1's, meaning that if they are correctly centred in the holder(more on this later) then the light distribution will be equal to that of the H1 - the filament length of a H1 is also very close to that of the D2S/R.

(In case you are wondering, a D2S is for a projection headlight, a D2R is for a reflection - the difference is that there is a black masking on the bulb for reflection headlights, but due to the bulb shield on the parabolics, this is not necessary...

The headlight design of the parabolics does however cause one issue - the shield has issues with the 'hotspot' buffer - there to protect oncoming motorists against looking onto the very top of the bulb - (normally this is painted on the bulb) - the extra length of the D2S bulb will result in the return wire touching this part of the sheild.

The return wire does carry a voltage - it appears to be isolated from negative ground (presumably for safety reasons) but the heat may be an issue - even with raising the bulb 1mm to align it correctly in the holder this is too close. This part will probably have to be cut off - not entirely legal unfortunatly, but a lot of healights these days do not have this shield.

The other issue is the size of the D2S bulb skirt means that aligning it exactly in the centre of the holder is impossible - part of the bulb skirt (about 1-2mm) needs to be ground off. The actual mechanics of this I am still working on, but a holder should be made soon, sooner if I could find a talented machine shop to make one out of aluminium...

As for converting the high beams, or the standard magna headlights (H4) - forget it - the H4 does not have the shield like the H1, which results in an awful beam pattern, and way too much glare for other drivers. The non-parabolics are a pretty ordinary headlight design anyways :P

OK - The piccies...

Cheers
Heath Young

heath, that's cool! i have been wanting to do this! do you have the parabolic headlights, i have the Ghey ones! i have been wanting to do the conversion, but the cost is to high, i can get e unichip, or a set of aftermarket cams for the cost down here in vic!,

have you got any pics? of the before and after results???
what is the cost??

very interested?

Were did you get them?
What was the doner car.. as they look second hand?
And of course what sort of money are they?
PM me if you are a little embarased about the cost :D
Haydn

Ok - the full story so far...

This is an unfinished project, still in development.

The source for the HID Bulb/Ballast was from a HID worklight I bought from ebay - I only have one at the moment, I will be importing two bulbs/ballasts from germany, at a cost of $600 for the two, landed.

The ballast is about the only thing that is differnt between the different makes/models of cars, there are only two types of HID bulb in existence - D2S and D2R - both 35W.

The parabolic headlights are second-hand, they were $550 for the pair, seems to be the going rate :P

The current issues faced are still
1) Return wire hitting shield - bad.
2) Need holder machined to suit
3) Need two more bulbs/ballasts :P

Investigated the japanese conversion kits, the majority are...
A) NOT Beam corrected
B) Cheap plastic bulb holders, with non-genuine (ie. last 50 hours) bulbs
C) Poorly designed ballasts incapable of hot-starting the bulbs

These are the parabolic grey headlights BTW...

If I get this working, remember, even if the beam pattern is as good as with halogens, it still aint legal...

I will post some piccies with the bulb secured properly in the holder, not off-centre like it is now once I sort out a holder.

Even if this doesn't work, I still have the driving light from hell (the worklight)

Cheers
Heath Young

Youll also find that your aluminimised housing is going to crack and go brittle from the heat the HID put out.. (spoken to the guys who make the Parabolics at Stanley )

This is interesting actually....

The difference in heat output between halogens and HID is remarkable.

The heat coming off the halogens is pretty solid - you can feel the heat in the light when you put your hand in the beam, with the HID, you can *barely* feel any heat at all.

This is the main reason why short arc xenon bulbs are used in LCD/DLP/LCOS video projectors - they have an extremely low output of infra-red. They also produce more lumens per watt as they are not generating roughly 60% heat!

Lightbulbs have lousy efficiency...

So basically - you have a standard 55W halogen vs. a 35W xenon bulb - even if the luminous efficiencies were the same (they aren't), you would have less heat from the HID bulb.

The problem occurs from the triatomic oxygen production due to the intense UV output of the bulbs - the glass front of the headlight stops it from going anywhere else, but it still could cause corrosion eventually...

Cheers
Heath Young

MY lens covers... TJ Sports.. are a plastic compound. not glass.
I wonder how they would go.
I have read that the HID is a colder temperature light, so I dont think that they would melt or anything.
Haydn

The problem with the HID bulbs is that the envelope is quartz, and the surround is quartz, both which pass UV quite significantly.

The glass on the headlights blocks 98% of the UV output, and also does not suffer from 'solarisation' that occurs with plastic lens covers.

I think that the plastic ones could yellow quite quickly unfortunatly due to the uv content of the light :(

Cheers
Heath Young

Hmmm interesting.
Haydn

You seem to know your shit heathyoung are you a lighting?, optics engineer( don't know the correct term)

The problem with the HID bulbs is that the envelope is quartz, and the surround is quartz, both which pass UV quite significantly.

The glass on the headlights blocks 98% of the UV output, and also does not suffer from 'solarisation' that occurs with plastic lens covers.

I think that the plastic ones could yellow quite quickly unfortunatly due to the uv content of the light :(

Cheers
Heath Young

Yeah this is what i was meaning about the housing becoming brittle.. Not the heat.. (me doesnt know to much about the UV content and stuff.. was just passing on the info from the Developers)