Why it is OK to use HID kits on our Edge

[chipworkz]

Edit: This relates to projector housing vehicles only just to be clear.

 

So after I ordered my HID kit from Drive Bright, I started reading all about why you should never use HID bulbs in a Halogen application. They were talking about the alignment of the filament being wrong along with the position of the filament being in a different spot so the Halogen projectors will not work for an HID bulb. I read lots of controversy about this but I never saw an actual comparison in our application. There were lots of people here who said that they work great but no explanation of why they seem to work fine in our cars.

 

Well I just installed my HID kit tonight and took some pictures. As the pictures show, the light is being produce in virtually the exact same spot. Yes there are still differences in how the light is being produced, the shape of it and so on but with it being centered in almost the exact same spot, our projectors do very well with the HID bulb.

 

Side by side of stock HIR2 bulb and 9006 HID bulb

 

Depth from base to approximate center of filament of the HIR2 bulb

 

 

Depth of hot spot on 9006 HID bulb. Caliper was not adjusted so this shows it compared to the HIR2 bulb.

 

View of color differences between the stock bulb and the 6000K bulb.

 

Close up of 6000K 9006 HID color.

 

Close up of HIR2 stock bulb color.

 

Street view of stock HIR2 bulbs.

 

Street view of 6000K 9006 HID bulbs.

 

I am not crazy about the 6000K color and will be changing the bulbs out to 5000K. The distance is about the same which it should be with the shutter system in our lights. You can see a little bit wider with the HID bulbs though as you can see in the upper left corner of the picture when you compare the two. These were taken a couple nights apart and I am not setting in 100% exactly the same spot so take it for what it is worth.

 

I am looking forward to seeing what the 5000K bulbs will look like since with these 6000K bulbs, I am not seeing a huge difference in the output besides the color.

 

I hope this helps explain why the HID bulbs work so well in our cars though!

Edited January 4, 2015 by chipworkz

[candurin]

The issue is more with people putting HIDs in their halogen REFLECTOR housings. There should be zero issues with retrofitting projector housings.

 

Just an FYI, if you rotate your HID bulb so that the return wire is down, you'll eliminate that wedge shaped shadow that you can see in your beam comparison photo (at 3:00 position).

[chipworkz]

Go to HID Planet and there are lots of people who say that you don't want to do it even with Projector housings.

They are shaped different and so on and so on. I am not an expert and I am not saying there aren't any differences, my goal here was just to show the side by side and how close the two bulbs in our application are to each other.

 

As far as the return wire, I could have sworn that it is on the bottom but I will double check, I did notice the shadow as well.

[DKS]

I installed a set of Drivebright HID lights in a 2008 Edge. It did not have HID to begin with. I have yet to have a car flash like I have brights on, nobody has complained about anything, and they are most clearly brighter white than the Silverstar Ultra bulbs they replaced. I am pleased I made the change.

[wannabang]

I have HIDs in my reflector housing. I just aimed them down so that the jagged edges were all below the stock cut-off. That way I have no worries of blinding anyone and still get the distance and width HIDs provide.

[elricfate]

I installed a set of Drivebright HID lights in a 2008 Edge. It did not have HID to begin with. I have yet to have a car flash like I have brights on, nobody has complained about anything, and they are most clearly brighter white than the Silverstar Ultra bulbs they replaced. I am pleased I made the change.

 

So you put the drivebright kit into regular reflectors and got no ill effects? Hmm. I was fearing I'd have to buy a set of projector headlights to retrofit them into.

[TheWizard]

Installing HID capsules in a halogen reflector housing is a definite no-no. It doesn't matter how much you aim them, they will always produce light scatter and glare. You may be able to aim them down enough to keep from getting flashed by other drivers but the problem is still there.

 

Here is an image of a lighting pattern produced by using HID in halogen reflector housings:

 

Notice the upward curve of light at both sides, the two vertical spikes of light near the center and the general scatter of light all over the garage - even well above the door.

 

As chipworkz pointed out, this is caused by the position and alignment of the light source as well as its shape. Halogen bulbs have filaments that create a tubular shaped light perpendicular to the axis of the bulb. HID capsules have an arc that is inline with the axis of the bulb but curved upward in the center due to their own heat. In a projector housing those differences are still there but not as noticeable because the front lens and the internal low-beam shutter take care of shaping the output. In a reflector housing, the curves of the reflector are all that shape the output and those curves are carefully designed to work with a light source that is a particular shape and in a particular relative position.

 

In general, if you're thinking of installing HIDs in halogen reflectors - please don't.

Edited January 4, 2015 by TheWizard

[wannabang]

Yeah, like I said, the beam is jagged. My jagged edges are right down the middle and on the side, but like I said, I just aimed them so that the top of the jagged piece is at the stock light cutoff, and I still have forward light improvement.

[elricfate]

Yeah, like I said, the beam is jagged. My jagged edges are right down the middle and on the side, but like I said, I just aimed them so that the top of the jagged piece is at the stock light cutoff, and I still have forward light improvement.

 

Can you grab a beamshot of your setup? I just want to compare them to what @TheWizard posted.

[wannabang]

Maybe once night time comes, if I remember. We got our first snowfall (4" so far), so it'll require some ambition to go outside. I'll do my best.

[elricfate]

Maybe once night time comes, if I remember. We got our first snowfall (4" so far), so it'll require some ambition to go outside. I'll do my best.

 

Right there with you. I shoveled everything today. If you can do it against the garage door or something similar that would be best to see the jags from your reflector.

[cxxxv]

So all you did is replace the bulbs. You did not actually install an HID system.

[4edge]

I am finally in this site where i was looking for years to be in there. I finally got my 2015 Ford Edge and want to share what i have done to it. I did some lighting upgrades to it. I changed my headlights to hids 5000k and all the interior and exterior lights to leds. I was very curious about the price for the complete package i got because it seems to be very expensive in comparison to the lights people sell on eBay but i am extremely happy with the lights i bought. My headlights are amazing, I really love the look of m y car now.

Here is the link where i got them from.

http://vanquishauto.com

I am planning to buy the hids for my wife's car but not sure if i should go with 5000k or 4300k? They told me 4300k is the best color i should go with but i had 4300k before in my 2015 ford explorer and they look yellow, i did not buy them from vanquishauto.com , I got them from amazon and i did not like them like the 5000k kelvin.

Now I am looking to upgrade my tail lights to smoke., does anyone here know anything about it? Any feedback will be appreciated.

Edited January 11, 2017 by 4edge

[Vhalen50]

For the tailight smoking, ive heard that most shops will reccomend them being removed and painted. Which can be costly. I had a shop quote me for around 250-300 just for smoking tailights.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

LaminX makes some good appliques for headlights and taillights. If you wanted to paint them instead, I assume you could DIY after thoroughly masking them off, with plastic paint & clearcoat after. VHT has been another goto for a sprayon product, but apparently it doesn't last very long either.

[akirby]

Please don't smoke the taillights unless you compensate with a brighter bulb. I've seen some that were barely visible at night and completely invisible during the daytime. It's just not safe.

[enigma-2]

Not to mention illegal. If you modify your lights, taking them out of compliance and get rear-ended, you will at fault!

[macbwt]

Never quite understood why you want to darken your lights when night vision and lighting are an import safety to avoid people, animals, objects etc when driving at night.

[akirby]

Because being cool is more important than being safe.

[fishx65]

Please don't smoke the taillights unless you compensate with a brighter bulb. I've seen some that were barely visible at night and completely invisible during the daytime. It's just not safe.

I agree. Back in my young punk days I had those AVS black out covers on the tail lights of my brand new white 1995 Ford Explorer. I looked really cool until I took a shot in the back from a Ford Escort. I was OK, he wasn't. I think the only reason I didn't get a ticket was because Mr. Escort had a few to many beers which kept the cops occupied. The next day I removed both the front and rear light covers.

[robg253]

so I got the HID in my edge and I ordered a LED ket but... I did not know they were HID in there so, when i pulled the HID out I was not sure how I was going to install the LED bulbs? i think a plug and play but the bulbs look vary different will the LED fit in the spot and turn in like the HIDs?

I know this is dumb question but I need the help lol

[TheWizard]

If you already have HID headlights, why would you want to change them to LED? Aside from the fact that nobody makes an LED replacement bulb for factory HIDs... if they did you would lose effective lighting output for the small benefit of no warmup time and possibly longer bulb life.

 

On the other hand, if you're replacing factory halogen headlights, the replacement LED bulbs should plug right in although you may have issues with space at the back due to the cooling fan or heat sink. And unless you paid a premium price for top-of-the-line LED bulbs (such as Diode Dynamics or V-LEDs), you're still going to lose effective lighting. You would be much better off replacing halogen bulbs in projector headlights with a good HID kit. Please, don't even think about replacing halogen bulbs with either HID or LED in reflector headlights.

 

Now, if you're talking about replacing other bulbs besides the headlights (ordinary incandescent bulbs) with LEDs, they should be exact plug in replacements. Just be sure to match the bulb numbers (i.e. replace a 3157NA turn signal bulb with a 3157 amber LED bulb).

[robg253]

so the HID in the stock sport suck I have had HID in a lot of rigs that all look better but more importing, they are not bright I live close to seattle and we get a lot of rain and at night the stock HID just are not bright. so maybe I need to up grade the HID bulb? not sure if I can at least I could get some that are a better color then the 4k or whatever is in there. I am thinking 6k not sure what do you think?

[candurin]

6000K will be worse in the rain (whiter/more blue) than the stock 4300K due to a number of factors.

 

You can upgrade your d3s hid bulbs (e.g. http://www.theretrofitsource.com/components/bulbs/d3s-morimoto-xb-hid.html) or with another Phillips bulb (the OEM one is pretty good!).

 

Additionally, you upgrade your ballasts to 55w versions and you'll gain 20-30% increase in lumens (approximately and varies dependent on temperature and bulb).

Edited March 25, 2017 by candurin

[RC Mike]

Ding dongs with HID hack jobs are a menace. Very selfish people.