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HID Conversion w/ Daytime Brightlites At the Crossroads


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This upgrade is gonna be the death of me.

 

Got the kit from Dan at Daytime Brightlights. They accidently sent me the wrong lamps which delayed the install by 2 weeks due to cold weather.

 

This weekend finally got them installed and they are VERY bright.....BUT it seems when you leave the 2015 Edge on AUTO setting we have Day Time Running Lights that require this long snake of a harness to be installed to give extra juice to the ballasts.

 

Sigh...

 

At some point I have to ask myself how much of a hassle is it worth?

 

There are no videos for this harness just instructions that I must read. He told me there are these gold electrical things on these harnesses that get REALLY hot and do NOT mount them to any plastic in the car, just let them hang. So Ill have ballasts mounted, gold super hot electrical things hanging and a crap ton o f wiring harness all in my engine compartment.

 

I cant help but wonder if there are not just some really bright bulbs at Auto zone I can just buy that will marginally improve the visibility.

 

They have been installed only a few days and have had several cars already give me the hi beam flash informing me my Hi Beams are onwhich they are not.

 

I am at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed.

 

Just had to share a bit of frustration with fellow Edge owners.

 

This does NOT reflect on Dan and his company. He has been great getting me the right parts and advising me all along.

 

If I go through the hassle of the wiring harness (and not frying my electrical system) my lights will still be offending on coming drivers plus Ill have all this wiring nonsense in my engine.

 

Im at the crossroads..

 

D

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Maybe I am not following correctly, but the only issues seems to be coming from leaving the lights in auto mode? Does this issues go away if you leave the lights off and only turn them on when you need them? Or does it need this juice at all times as it doesn't have enough to begin with?

 

Does the harness go from the battery to the switch then to the lights?

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Its a harness that does go to the battery, to the lights and has these gold resistor things. I am really getting spooked about frying my electrical system now with all this extra stuff. My wife's jeep had electrical issues that once they start just grow and grow with no end in sight.

 

The day time running lights seem to be only Auto mode, but thats generally how i leave it in all my cars.

 

The way its running now, according to Dan, i am underpowering the ballasts and it will ruin them. They require MORE power.

 

Are there just better bulbs i can put in my edge and get 30% or so better visibility?

 

I'll gladly eat the 150.00 i spent on these lights to prevent thousands of dollars of chasing down an electrical system issue later on. I am the FIRST to admit i am a novice at aftermarket stuff and not crazy about jacking with the battery (which ties to the cars electical system)

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Stupid question on my part. The 2015's are separate bulbs for hi/low, right? ANY chance (even I think this is unlikely) that you have the DTBL lights in the high beams instead? Hi beams are 9005's, Lo beams are H11's from factory per the manual.

 

As far as adjustment:

 

Locate the vertical adjuster on each
headlamp. Using a Phillips #2
screwdriver, turn the adjuster either
clockwise or counterclockwise in order
to adjust the vertical aim of the
headlamp. The horizontal edge of the
brighter light should touch the
horizontal reference line.

 

Perhaps you could have the dealer verify aim?

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In terms of H11 bulbs the tops one appear to be:

 

PIAA Extreme White 1851 lumens

OSRAM Night Breaker Unlimited H11 1350 lumens

GE nighthawks 1345 lumens

Silver star Ultra 1700 lumens

Philips Xtreme Power

Philips Vision

 

The only issue you will have with any brighter bulb is the life is going to be reduced and sometimes greatly because it "burns" at a higher temperature

 

The other option which you may find a similar issue is the LED path... https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kits/led-headlight-kit-h11-led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kit-with-built-in-fan/2115/4803/

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just stick with your stock lighting, I mean your headlights weren't designed for HID anyway.

Nick, this is sage and sound advice, dude, and its just what i did....sort of.

 

I went to autozone last night and spoke to a guy that seems to know his stuff about lights. He pointed me towards the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra's.

 

Last night in 20 degree temps i pulled my HID kit and put in one OEM bulb and one Ultra (to justify the 55 dollar price tag on bulbs). The Silverstar's are in fact whiter and brighter than OEM bulbs. So i changed the OEM and now have two Silverstars that will give me brighter lights than OEM but keep me from blinding on coming traffic.

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You can replace the H11 bulbs with H9 to get a significant increase in light output (about 50% more) while maintaining the same halogen bulb design (for the beam pattern purists). It is true that the H9 bulbs won't last as long because they are designed with filaments optimized for output rather than longevity but you'll still get a couple of years of normal use out of them.

H11 bulbs: 1400 lumens, 2000 hours nominal life

H9 bulbs: 2200 lumens, 500 hours nominal life

Edited by TheWizard
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The color is just for appearance. Generally, all things being equal, a slightly yellower bulb will actually provide better usable light. That's why all OEM HIDs are 4100K - 4300K rather than the whiter 5000K or bluer 6000K that the aftermarket seems to prefer. Halogen bulbs are made "whiter" by tinting the glass slightly blue to filter out the yellow range of the spectrum. That will produce the look that people want but also reduces the actual light output - sometimes significantly depending on how much tint is used. I've seen H9 bulbs that are tinted so blue that they actually produce less usable light than an H11.

 

There is no free lunch. Silverstar H11 bulbs overdrive their filament to produce more light at the expense of significantly shortened life. Sylvania doesn't publish the nominal life of their bulbs in any easy-to-find places but the ratings I've seen come in around 125-150 hours - about 1/4 the life of the brighter H9 bulb and a small fraction of a normal H11 bulb.

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The color is just for appearance. Generally, all things being equal, a slightly yellower bulb will actually provide better usable light. That's why all OEM HIDs are 4100K - 4300K rather than the whiter 5000K or bluer 6000K that the aftermarket seems to prefer. Halogen bulbs are made "whiter" by tinting the glass slightly blue to filter out the yellow range of the spectrum. That will produce the look that people want but also reduces the actual light output - sometimes significantly depending on how much tint is used. I've seen H9 bulbs that are tinted so blue that they actually produce less usable light than an H11.

 

There is no free lunch. Silverstar H11 bulbs overdrive their filament to produce more light at the expense of significantly shortened life. Sylvania doesn't publish the nominal life of their bulbs in any easy-to-find places but the ratings I've seen come in around 125-150 hours - about 1/4 the life of the brighter H9 bulb and a small fraction of a normal H11 bulb.

Thanks Wiz,

 

Now with all that you said...is there any danger that the bulb its self is too HOT for the fixture and could create a problem of melting the housing (or other issues)?

 

D

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think of driving your car at redline 24/7, even at idle you're sitting at a stoplight with the engine at redline. That's what the silverstars are doing which is why their lifespan is not the greatest

Makes sense.

 

Does that particular bulb create any extra heat issues i should be concerned about?

 

D

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Thanks Wiz,

 

Now with all that you said...is there any danger that the bulb its self is too HOT for the fixture and could create a problem of melting the housing (or other issues)?

 

D

 

No, although the bulb will run a little hotter due to the brighter filament design, the difference is not significant and will not cause any problems with your housings.

 

 

Wizard,

I am reading both of your posts above and am a tad confused.

In one post you put the H11 at 2000 hours but in the post that follows say the Sylvania H11 gets maybe 150 hours. Is that a lifespan issues with the Sylvania Brand specifically?

 

D

 

Not specifically with the Sylvania brand but generally with all brands of "premium" halogen bulbs that are brighter than the standard for the bulb size - GE, Osram, Philips, PIAA and several others make brighter bulbs that all suffer shorter lifespans. Nick is correct... basically the brighter bulbs are designed to "overdrive" the filament so that they produce more light at the expense of bulb life.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Denicio,

 

Not sure why you are having a brightness issue with oncoming drivers. We have sold dozens of our HID kits to 2015 Edge owners and have had only good things said about the performance. Please confirm that you have the bulbs properly seated in the projector housing with all of the tabs inserted in the respective slots. If the bulb is misaligned, it will throw the beam of light at a strange angle that could cause problems with oncoming drives.

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