RetroFit or Not? HID Technical Review Video
RetroFit or Not? HID Technical Review Video
I just discovered this video on YouTube. The producer discusses the many negative claims made regarding HID headlight conversion.
Is it really necessary to retrofit projector housing if you want to upgrade to HID? Maybe not..
It's a great video and worth a watch if you want to learn more about HID bulbs
Is it really necessary to retrofit projector housing if you want to upgrade to HID? Maybe not..
It's a great video and worth a watch if you want to learn more about HID bulbs
Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,295
From: Wandering around.
A week late... but here goes.
This topic was a vendor created topic... so there will be some bias here.
Then, this is not what is considered a "retrofit." A retrofit is actually replacing the reflectors with HID projectors. This is more commonly called a plug and play (PnP) kit.
That being said, I do agree to SOME extent with the guy in the video. He's actually pretty wrong about WHY there's a cutoff. It's not because of that wire, but because of the reflector itself. Low beam reflectors in dual bulb headlights are reflectors that create a dark zone ahead (upper front portion of your view from car). The upper part of the reflector, reflects light out and downward using a curved surface to cover as much area as possible. The lower part reflects light straight up or straight out, with no angle to cover the area in between.
What the guy in the video doesn't touch upon, are single bulb, dual beam headlights, which is what is on the Fit and plenty of other cars. In our case the bulb is specifically an H4/HB2/9003 (different names for essentially the same bulb).
It creates TWO beam patterns from the same bulb, because there are TWO filaments in the bulb.
In a single bulb housing, the single reflector is designed to produce light in what would be a dark zone of the low beam pattern. What creates the actual dark zone in the low beam is a tiny little cup near the low beam filament that blocks light from shining onto the lower half of the reflector.
This is important, because one of the other factors (a MAJOR one at that), are the people that install single beam versions of PnP HID kits in a dual beam reflector housing... and usually, it's the high beam version. That means there's NO cut off, since it's a high beam pattern. They are, in effect, high beaming everyone, everywhere they go.
There are two "dual beam" versions of PnP HID kits... usually called Hi-Lo version with HID for low beam and halogen for high beam. In reality, this is no better than single high beam setups. It's missing a crucial detail... blocking light from shining on the bottom of the reflector in low beam mode.
The other version, usually called "Bi-Xenon" (be careful, some use this name for the other version and vice versa), has only one light source, the HID capsule. It creates dual beam patterns using BOTH a solenoid to move the capsule with small shield AND a huge shield with an opening to block most of the light. When in low beam mode, the small shield lines up to block any light from going through the opening in the bigger shield. When it flips to high beam mode, the smaller shield moves with the capsule so that light does go through the opening. The opening might not allow ALL of the downward light, but it's more than enough. The movement itself mimics the different position of the high and low filament of the halogen bulb.
The problem here... is just like the guy in the video stated... different companies have differing quality. Namely, in how the smaller shield lines up with the bigger shield in low beam mode. Some light "leakage" is acceptable to have just enough light so it isn't an absolute dark zone in your field of view (like you can actually see buildings and people, though faintly)... but too much light getting through would make it utterly useless (since it would be no different than high beaming everyone).
This topic was a vendor created topic... so there will be some bias here.
Then, this is not what is considered a "retrofit." A retrofit is actually replacing the reflectors with HID projectors. This is more commonly called a plug and play (PnP) kit.
That being said, I do agree to SOME extent with the guy in the video. He's actually pretty wrong about WHY there's a cutoff. It's not because of that wire, but because of the reflector itself. Low beam reflectors in dual bulb headlights are reflectors that create a dark zone ahead (upper front portion of your view from car). The upper part of the reflector, reflects light out and downward using a curved surface to cover as much area as possible. The lower part reflects light straight up or straight out, with no angle to cover the area in between.
What the guy in the video doesn't touch upon, are single bulb, dual beam headlights, which is what is on the Fit and plenty of other cars. In our case the bulb is specifically an H4/HB2/9003 (different names for essentially the same bulb).
It creates TWO beam patterns from the same bulb, because there are TWO filaments in the bulb.
In a single bulb housing, the single reflector is designed to produce light in what would be a dark zone of the low beam pattern. What creates the actual dark zone in the low beam is a tiny little cup near the low beam filament that blocks light from shining onto the lower half of the reflector.
This is important, because one of the other factors (a MAJOR one at that), are the people that install single beam versions of PnP HID kits in a dual beam reflector housing... and usually, it's the high beam version. That means there's NO cut off, since it's a high beam pattern. They are, in effect, high beaming everyone, everywhere they go.
There are two "dual beam" versions of PnP HID kits... usually called Hi-Lo version with HID for low beam and halogen for high beam. In reality, this is no better than single high beam setups. It's missing a crucial detail... blocking light from shining on the bottom of the reflector in low beam mode.
The other version, usually called "Bi-Xenon" (be careful, some use this name for the other version and vice versa), has only one light source, the HID capsule. It creates dual beam patterns using BOTH a solenoid to move the capsule with small shield AND a huge shield with an opening to block most of the light. When in low beam mode, the small shield lines up to block any light from going through the opening in the bigger shield. When it flips to high beam mode, the smaller shield moves with the capsule so that light does go through the opening. The opening might not allow ALL of the downward light, but it's more than enough. The movement itself mimics the different position of the high and low filament of the halogen bulb.
The problem here... is just like the guy in the video stated... different companies have differing quality. Namely, in how the smaller shield lines up with the bigger shield in low beam mode. Some light "leakage" is acceptable to have just enough light so it isn't an absolute dark zone in your field of view (like you can actually see buildings and people, though faintly)... but too much light getting through would make it utterly useless (since it would be no different than high beaming everyone).
Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 147
From: Florida
Never put a HID bulb in a housing designed for a halogen light - especially a reflector based halogen. While putting a HID bulb in a halogen projector (not applicable with the Fit) is safer than a reflector based, you will still get plenty of glare and light leakage from the squirrel finders which can blind oncoming drivers. These are two totally different types of technology, and should not be interchanged without doing a proper retrofit (bulbs, ballets, housings, and lenses). For more info on lighting, check out: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 4,295
From: Wandering around.
Never put a HID bulb in a housing designed for a halogen light - especially a reflector based halogen. While putting a HID bulb in a halogen projector (not applicable with the Fit) is safer than a reflector based, you will still get plenty of glare and light leakage from the squirrel finders which can blind oncoming drivers. These are two totally different types of technology, and should not be interchanged without doing a proper retrofit (bulbs, ballets, housings, and lenses). For more info on lighting, check out: Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
"Don't buy PnP kits, don't even do the retrofit... just buy your plain old halogen bulbs, that I happen to sell."
Even at the end of that article, he says (I'm paraphrasing)... everything HID manufactures do after this article is bullshit.
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