Improving main beam performance

[matthewb]

I got around to fitting the T-Light over the Bank Holiday weekend. A piece of cake although I did need to slightly enlarge the hole through which the HID bulb goes -Tore told me that this is very common. The only difficulty doing the drilling was convincing the wife I wouldn't drill her a new nostril.

I took her over to a local MOT shop to check headlight beam direction and height. I didn't want to use the method of shining the original halogens onto a wall and then ensuring the new HID pattern matched - what if the original halogen adjustment is incorrect? The right-hand light required minimal adjustment but the left-hand light was significantly out of whack - slightly too left and way too low (nothing to do with Tore's kit - the adjustment was like this before I installed the HIDs, I'm sure).

I would recommend everyone does the same - badly adjusted halogen lights almost don't matter as they're so dim that there's very little chance of anyone being blinded by them [] but HIDs are so much brighter that badly adjusted ones could be a real problem for others.

M

 

[John Sims]

I used the Iceshark kit on Beaky. Sadly Iceshark (really nice guy) is no longer with us so the kit is no longer available.

IIRC Icesharks view was, due to the relative low voltage of car electrics, resistance (as in poor connections and decaying wiring) has a dramatic effect on efficiency. To that end merely cleaning up all your connections could see a significant improvement in lighting performance. New bulbs will help but part of their improvement is just through the action of changing the bulb you clean up the connections.

The Iceshark kit included and heavy duty loom to improve earthing and connected the headlights direct to the alternator using the original switch line as a relay. Again from memory 944's don't use relays on the headlamps so you have all the additional resistance of all the wires to and from the switch and across the switch its self.

The result? Modern car lighting levels using conventional legal wattage bulbs. The heavy duty loom would also accommodate high wattage bulbs but the light was so bright you dazzled yourself off reflective road signs. I removed the high wattage bulbs as I was concerned that, had I been involved in an accident and the other party claimed they had been dazzled, all manner of bad things would happen when it became apparent I was using illegal bulbs.

The other problem was the high power bulbs would wipe out any indication of the light of other cars coming around corners so, including the problem with road signs noted above, very bright lights aren't necessarily and big advantage.

 

[option911]

As previously reported, I fitted the HID kit on my dip beam headlamps. The kit arrived in 3 days, and took 20 minutes for one side, older style back plate and 10 minutes for the other side, newer style back plate with screw pegs. It was so easy, despite being a qualified engineer, it really was child simple.
The result is brilliant and so neat. I would strongly recommend them to anyone who hates night driving in a 993.
The picture shows one side completed, side lights LED's still to be done at that time. As previously suggested, I would strongly recommend correct setting up of the lights using a beam alignment tool. As the VOSA letter is full of "should and could" MOTshould not be a problem.

Gavin
R4 ARO

 

[nfearn]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

I used the Iceshark kit on Beaky. Sadly Iceshark (really nice guy) is no longer with us so the kit is no longer available.

IIRC Icesharks view was, due to the relative low voltage of car electrics, resistance (as in poor connections and decaying wiring) has a dramatic effect on efficiency. To that end merely cleaning up all your connections could see a significant improvement in lighting performance. New bulbs will help but part of their improvement is just through the action of changing the bulb you clean up the connections.

The Iceshark kit included and heavy duty loom to improve earthing and connected the headlights direct to the alternator using the original switch line as a relay. Again from memory 944's don't use relays on the headlamps so you have all the additional resistance of all the wires to and from the switch and across the switch its self.

The result? Modern car lighting levels using conventional legal wattage bulbs. The heavy duty loom would also accommodate high wattage bulbs but the light was so bright you dazzled yourself off reflective road signs. I removed the high wattage bulbs as I was concerned that, had I been involved in an accident and the other party claimed they had been dazzled, all manner of bad things would happen when it became apparent I was using illegal bulbs.

The other problem was the high power bulbs would wipe out any indication of the light of other cars coming around corners so, including the problem with road signs noted above, very bright lights aren't necessarily and big advantage.

Hi John

Iceshark was correct in as much as light output varies as the fourth power of the voltage (if I recall correctly), so relatively small increases in voltage have a disproportionately beneficial impact on the amount of light the bulb produces. On the 944 that solution is a good one, because they have fairly decent reflectors to throw the light to where you want it to be.

The 993 by contrast has disastrously small main beam reflectors which don't do a very good job of aiming the light that's available into a location where you can use it. So even doubling the light output wouldn't really help that much in my experience (though I acknowledge others seem to have had good results with better bulbs). What does help is utilising the much better dip beam projector lens with a brighter light. The best solution however would be to replace the dip beam projector assembly with a xenon projector headlamp that will provide both dip and main beam illumination, which is an option with some of the newer aftermarket HID kits.

regards
Nick

 

[matthewb]

The LED side-lights arrived a few days ago. Tore hadn't originally shipped the LEDs with the HIDs as he wasn't happy with their colour. All now fitted and colour balance is brilliant. Took her out late Saturday evening - wow, what a difference. And no one flashed me. Tore's kit is the best hassle-free non-performance upgrade possible (the best sensible performance upgrade possible is an LSD, IMHO).

M

 

[matthewb]

Hi Nick

I clean my headlight contacts and other 'user serviceable' contacts with "Caig DeoxIT D5" once a year - just before winter sets in. As I'm sure you know, just breaking and re-making a contact will clean the contact, but this stuff gives a really good flushing clean and leaves a protective coating.

M