Main beam bulb upgrade

[mbrands]

I've just ordered the 993 Xenon upgrade kit from hids4u.co.uk for my low beams and now I want to upgrade the high beams.

On a previous thread the Osram Silverstars were recommended from powerbulb.co.uk. Can anyone be more specific about which exact Osram Silverstar to get (including wattage). I only saw the H7 and was confused because :

1. Powerbulb.co.uk's website seems to recommend the same bulbs regardless of whether you click on main beam or low beam (surely the bulbs should be different ?).
2. The Silverstar H7 appears to be a Xenon bulb, and I understand that Xenon bulbs are not ideal for main beam use, because they take a second or two to achieve their full brightness.
3. The website says that the Silverstars are suitable for H4 and H7 lamps and the lady at hids4u said the 993 has H1 (I am not near my car at the moment, so cannot check -but I hope she's right and that I am getting the correct low-beam upgrade from them).

Can anyone shed any light on this please ?

 

[mbrands]

Excellent. I'll be ordering them tomorrow. Thanks for clearing it up Maurice.

 

[Robertb]

Mbrands,

Which HID kit did you order?

thx,

 

[oceancarrera]

Hint: request 5000k bulbs. They are brighter/whiter than the bluish 6000k bulbs they supply. Best upgrade I've made to the 993 ever.

After upgrading the low beams, you will want to upgrade the sidelights so they match in colour temp output. I recommend getting white Quad BA9 LEDs... there's a good source of them from Aceparts.

 

[Sundeep]

ORIGINAL: MoC2S

Inline .... cheers, Maurice []

ORIGINAL: mbrands

I've just ordered the 993 Xenon upgrade kit from hids4u.co.uk for my low beams >> good show !! any questions on the kit to Sundeep, please ...
and now I want to upgrade the high beams.

On a previous thread the Osram Silverstars were recommended from powerbulb.co.uk. Can anyone be more specific about which exact Osram Silverstar to get (including wattage).
>> you need H1s .. this is the bulb fitting for dipped and main ... 55W
I only saw the H7 and was confused because :

1. Powerbulb.co.uk's website seems to recommend the same bulbs regardless of whether you click on main beam or low beam (surely the bulbs should be different ?).
>> Nope .. same fitting and wattage
2. The Silverstar H7 appears to be a Xenon bulb, and I understand that Xenon bulbs are not ideal for main beam use, because they take a second or two to achieve their full brightness.
>> 'Xenon' bulbs and HID are different technologies - the bulbs are normal filaments burning in an atmosphere including xenon gas, HID is an arc light struck across an atmosphere including xenon gas - not the same thing at all !
3. The website says that the Silverstars are suitable for H4 and H7 lamps and the lady at hids4u said the 993 has H1 (I am not near my car at the moment, so cannot check -but I hope she's right and that I am getting the correct low-beam upgrade from them).
>> H1 it is .. don't try for higher wattage in main beam as the bulb mounts are PLASTIC [:'(]

Can anyone shed any light on this please ?
>> where's the emoticon of a torch bearing geezer (perhaps [:-])

H1's high and low, which always made it useful for carrying spares !

now now old chap, if there is a question on the hid's in the 1st instance one should contact he supplier, but you know me, always willing to help where I can..... but I can curious to understand why you felt the need to quote me directly on this one?

 

[Sundeep]

no worries []

a potential fitting question, which I did myself, from what I can tell everyone has found it quite easy.....all of about 20-30 minutes..... ! just finding a 22mm drill bit took all the time !

 

[mbrands]

OK, the pressure is on. I was tempted to outsource this but I see I'm going to have to fit these myself now in 20-30 mins otherwise I'm going to feel like a complete spanner.

Robert - The kit I got is called the Pilot HID Conversion Kit (Colour Temp 6000k - Bulb type H1). On the hids4u.co.uk website it is listed under Products, then scroll down to 993. You can also call them and they will walk you through it if necessary. I called them because in a previous thread I got confused because people seemed to be referring to 3 different kits ranging in price from 199 to 239. Apparently they have reduced it down to one now, costing 225 + S&H.

OceanC, I didn't see your message in time, so got the 6000k bulbs. Agree with you wrt colour temp matching the side lights and will check out the Quads you recommend.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I have upgraded both Normal beam with HID's and high beam with Phillips 50% brighter H1's (same wattage) and the sidelights from http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/ they provide the BA9's wide angle (6 LED's) and the normal (4 LED's) however you will see a slight glow in the sidelights when you apply the brake pedal don't panic this is normal as LED's require such a small amount of current to make them light it's just a return on the wiring only just visible in dusk or darkness not during the day, also some LED's work reverse polarity so you will have to turn the plug round on the sidelight fitting and file off the plastic key way so that the plug fits the other way round. The wide angle BA9's from ultraleds will work without changing the plug round.

Hope this helps

 

[mbrands]

OK, this is a really dumb question, but when you have the head lamp unit out of the car, which one is the main beam and which one is the low beam ?
Is the upper one with the really fat lens the low beam, or is it the lower one with no lens and just a reflective surface ?

I think it's the lower one, but I don't have my car with me so can't test to find out for sure...

 

[mbrands]

Aha, so it is the upper one. Thanks Maurice.

By the way, I seem to remember reading an article somewhere about how to make the beam cutoff change for driving in Europe. Was it in this forum ? I searched for it, but could not find it.

 

[mbrands]

Yes ! Although, when we were at Brands you carefully explained how to take the lamp apart and clean the inside, but I was not paying close attention to which was the main beam and which was the low beam.

Part of the problem is that I was working on the near side (left) headlamp. It turns out that my new HID bulb does not fit through the bulb opening on the projector lamp, which is what made me question in the first place whether I was working on the correct unit.

I have now gone and collected the driver side (right) headlamp and with this headlamp there is no problem. The bulb slides through the aperture for a perfect fit. So, right headlamp no problem.

It so happens that I have two left headlamps, one is made by Bosch in Germany and the other by Automotive Parts in the Czech Republic. My HID bulb does not fit in either of these. The right headlamp is made by Bosch in Czech Republic and both the HID bulbs could fit through the required aperture.

So, while I would expect left and right headlamps symmetrical, it would appear (based on my sample of 3) that the bulb aperture on the projector unit is slightly smaller on left lamps than it is on right lamps. Visually, they all look the same to me.

Has anyone experienced this before ? I am inclined to use a file to tweak the opening, but don't want to get filings all over the reflective surfaces. Any thoughts anyone ? (I tried to upload a picture, but my 285KB image was too big)

 

[oceancarrera]

ORIGINAL: mbrands

So, while I would expect left and right headlamps symmetrical, it would appear (based on my sample of 3) that the bulb aperture on the projector unit is slightly smaller on left lamps than it is on right lamps.  Visually, they all look the same to me.

Has anyone experienced this before ?  I am inclined to use a file to tweak the opening, but don't want to get filings all over the reflective surfaces.  Any thoughts anyone ?  (I tried to upload a picture, but my 285KB image was too big)

I think you're on to something here... This was exactly the same experience as I had when I fitted my HIDs. Interestingly, others on another forum have also voiced that 'one' of their units required filing... which one though? I used a file but had the unit inverted so that the filings would drop out.

 

[mbrands]

Well, once I got the file out and made the opening fractionally larger, the whole installation was easy and took no time at all.

Strange about the slightly smaller opening tho.

Thanks for you help everyone.