Xenon conversion kits

[marcus]

Got an email from Euro Car Parts promoting these HID headlight conversion kits.

Any good? Worth the money? Worth doing? Sacrilege?

[Nate]

construction and use offence to fit them into lamps marked for use with a halogen bulb, or to cars without healight washers or level control. should also be an mot fail, but may testers don't seem to bother about them.

because they generate light in a different way to a filament bulb, the lenses and reflectors don't focus the light correctly. this can lead to dark areas on the road infront of you (bad for you) and blinding oncoming traffic (bad for both of you) and mot fail for incorrect beam pattern, or no pattern at all.

[marcus]

Umm... I guess that'll be a no then...

Are you an MOT tester by any chance, this isn't the first time you've replied chapter and verse... :)

Thanks.

[marcus]

Just had a look at my front lights, trying to work out what bulbs they use (not had to change them in ten years), the large outer ones are clearly marked H4 right in the middle, the smaller inners have no markings for bulb type... my Haynes says H1 but the illustration shows two equal sized lamps in the cluster, not a larger outer and smaller inner...

[ianaudia4]

The inners are H1, main beam! the only exception to this is the early GL's that had foglights where the main beam are on yours!

You could just get uprated bulbs, both mine have these and make a bit of a difference.

[marcus]

Ta very much, I'll scribble that down in my Haynes to avoid future confusion!

[the edmundator]

If you want the standard lights to be brighter, you can also put relays in (either make your own or buy ready-prepared kits from the likes of eBay). I expect you could probably find a guide on how to do this using our friend Google.

[Nate]

Umm... I guess that'll be a no then...

Are you an MOT tester by any chance, this isn't the first time you've replied chapter and verse... :)

Thanks.

Nope, not a tester. Have worked in the motor trade for (worryingly) knocking on 20 years. That makes me feel trousers old!

relays into the system are a good idea. I did this on my old mk3 caddy, and the difference it made was unreal. I did post up a pic with one side standard and the other thru a relay to demonstrate the difference.

also heard very good reports on the Phillips "ice white" or whatever they're called bulbs. Mixed with some relays, that's probably a winner.

if you've got access to a multimeter, measure the voltage over the headlight bulb (with the lights on, obviously!) Compared to voltage over the battery. On the caddy I was loosing about 3.5v thru the headlight switch. Small wonder the lights were dim

[marcus]

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a go.

3.5V seems like a lot, perhaps a combination of switch, connectors and wiring?

Presumably the setup you're describing has the lights connected directly to the battery via a fuse and a relay, with the relay operated by the switch? In which case, it would probably make sense to use heavier gauge wire.

[mark1gls]

Kit from ebay, there is others on there look under Mk1 golf (same light set up)
Or you can make your own, lots of info on the net.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Push-Fit-Syst ... 461406b7fd

[marcus]

Just found Nate's original 'how to', I'll shut up now...

[Nate]

Just found Nate's original 'how to', I'll shut up now...

thanks, saves me looking for it :)

[marcus]

eBay kit looked good but only handles main lights, not inner spots, so it will have to be homebrew affair... but looking at Google maps, there seems to be a complete dearth of auto electrical factors in North London, quite strange.

[Nate]

plenty of places to order online. even halfords is reasonably priced for electrical bits if you can blag a trade card

[mark1gls]

Im making one this winter and got most of my bits from the scrap yard, found relays x4 (mk3 golfs and passats), couple of headlight contections (Mk2 golf) and most of the wiring all for £3.