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and it was installed today. I couldn't get an answer from anyone that I had talked to, so I assumed I had everything I needed -- apparently not. This kit covered my low beams. As of right now, I'm driving a car with pretty HID lights as low beams, and dull yellowish lights as high beams (hoping I don't, for some reason, get pulled over for this).
Should I have ordered 2 of the same kits? One would be low beam and one for the high? I feel like my question was answered above, but then I started reading into the different bulb wattages and it threw me off. Can I just buy LED replacement bulbs? Sorry for what probably sounds like a repeat question.
Ibheav85, yes, the kit that you bought only does a single set of lights (ie, low beams or high beams, not both). So, you would need to get a second set of bulbs like that to convert your high beams should you so desire.
As for having different colored bulbs between your low and high beams, there is no requirement that I am aware of in any of the 50 states that dictates that the bulbs between the high and low beams must be the same color. The only requirements I am aware of for headlights is that they must be of a "white in nature" color and of an acceptable brightness (not too high, not too low). Hence why I am a big stickler about using 35W HIDs. Those fall on the upper edge of what is deemed acceptable. If you get the 50W HIDs, then yes, you can be pulled over for having too bright of headlights. Granted, this is my thought process when it comes to high beams, go ahead and put in the 50W HID bulbs in the high beams, no one should be coming at you with those on. So, if they are off, how is the cop going to know what you have in there and therefore pull you over. If you do have high beams on when passing someone, then you deserve to be pulled over (regardless of whether you have HIDs in there or not).
As for LED bulbs, I have been doing a lot of experimenting inside my house with LEDs and this is what I am finding: LEDs are great if you are looking at them from any distance or if you are needing to light up something immediately in front of you. But, if you need to have the light go out say 100 feet, light up something and then have that light come back to you, you are not going to be happy with LED bulbs. I have problems keeping a room 20x20 feet lit up with LED bulbs. Take a look at the new Audi A8's and how the LEDs are in those. They light up the ground in front of the car very well (for the first 30 feet or so). But then you will see how the light immediately falls off. I haven't sat in the seat of an A8 to see how it looks there, but I can imagine what it does look like.
I have created my own LED "fixture" for my back yard. I replaced a 60W incandescent bulb (rated at 800 lumen) with a 9W LED array fixture (rated at 2500 lumen). The light fixture on the side of the house is very bright when looking at the house. It will throw a shadow out for a long ways. But, trying to spot something out in the distance was better with the incandescent bulb.
Just some information to think about. Atleast with the current technology available, HIDs are the best that you will get for automotive lighting if you need to see things in front of you. LEDs work great if you just need to shine a light for others to see (not you).
Just to let you know I sent Maxlux messages aka emails through their website with no response back, and I could not find a phone number to reach them on. I ended up just ditching the idea of having decent lighting in the jag...
Ibheav85, yes, the kit that you bought only does a single set of lights (ie, low beams or high beams, not both). So, you would need to get a second set of bulbs like that to convert your high beams should you so desire.
As for having different colored bulbs between your low and high beams, there is no requirement that I am aware of in any of the 50 states that dictates that the bulbs between the high and low beams must be the same color. The only requirements I am aware of for headlights is that they must be of a "white in nature" color and of an acceptable brightness (not too high, not too low). Hence why I am a big stickler about using 35W HIDs. Those fall on the upper edge of what is deemed acceptable. If you get the 50W HIDs, then yes, you can be pulled over for having too bright of headlights. Granted, this is my thought process when it comes to high beams, go ahead and put in the 50W HID bulbs in the high beams, no one should be coming at you with those on. So, if they are off, how is the cop going to know what you have in there and therefore pull you over. If you do have high beams on when passing someone, then you deserve to be pulled over (regardless of whether you have HIDs in there or not).
As for LED bulbs, I have been doing a lot of experimenting inside my house with LEDs and this is what I am finding: LEDs are great if you are looking at them from any distance or if you are needing to light up something immediately in front of you. But, if you need to have the light go out say 100 feet, light up something and then have that light come back to you, you are not going to be happy with LED bulbs. I have problems keeping a room 20x20 feet lit up with LED bulbs. Take a look at the new Audi A8's and how the LEDs are in those. They light up the ground in front of the car very well (for the first 30 feet or so). But then you will see how the light immediately falls off. I haven't sat in the seat of an A8 to see how it looks there, but I can imagine what it does look like.
I have created my own LED "fixture" for my back yard. I replaced a 60W incandescent bulb (rated at 800 lumen) with a 9W LED array fixture (rated at 2500 lumen). The light fixture on the side of the house is very bright when looking at the house. It will throw a shadow out for a long ways. But, trying to spot something out in the distance was better with the incandescent bulb.
Just some information to think about. Atleast with the current technology available, HIDs are the best that you will get for automotive lighting if you need to see things in front of you. LEDs work great if you just need to shine a light for others to see (not you).
Anyone, Thermo, I purchased the Maxlux 50W for the high beams but didn't get the suggested harness. I previously missed needing to replace the harness. All good. I'm guessing I can get around this by retrofitting a generic harness.
I'm just not sure about replacing this harness and don't see that written up. Anyone? Thanks!!!
Jag4, the harness that you would need is nothing really fancy. In short, you are going to take the positive wire to your high beams and apply it to the actuation side of the relay (pin 1 of a standard relay). You will then run a wire between pin 2 and chassis ground. Both of these wires can be say 22 gauge wire or larger as the amount of power flowing through this wiring is going to be minimal.
Now, for the main power. You are going to want to run 16 guage wire at a minimum between your source of power and terminal 3 of the relay. You will need to make sure that your relay is rated to handle up to 40 amps (most are rated for only 30 amps and while this may work for a short period of time, the initial current draw of the 50W HIDs are about 35-40 amps per bulb and is going to result in damage to the relay contacts over time, resulting in their failure). You will then attach the red wire from the ballast to Pin 5 on the relay.
You can then take the black wire from the ballast and tie that directly to the body of the car. This should result in your HID bulb lighting up.
Please note that you are going to need to do this 2 times, once for each bulb. Otherwise, you are going to need to find a relay that is rated for 80 amps to handle the starting surge. It will also be recommended to install an 80 amp (or a 100 amp) fuse between your power source and the relay(s). That way, should you have a problem with the high beams, it will only affect the high beams and not kill the entire electrical system of the car.
Jag4, the harness that you would need is nothing really fancy. In short, you are going to take the positive wire to your high beams and apply it to the actuation side of the relay (pin 1 of a standard relay). You will then run a wire between pin 2 and chassis ground. Both of these wires can be say 22 gauge wire or larger as the amount of power flowing through this wiring is going to be minimal.
Now, for the main power. You are going to want to run 16 guage wire at a minimum between your source of power and terminal 3 of the relay. You will need to make sure that your relay is rated to handle up to 40 amps (most are rated for only 30 amps and while this may work for a short period of time, the initial current draw of the 50W HIDs are about 35-40 amps per bulb and is going to result in damage to the relay contacts over time, resulting in their failure). You will then attach the red wire from the ballast to Pin 5 on the relay.
You can then take the black wire from the ballast and tie that directly to the body of the car. This should result in your HID bulb lighting up.
Please note that you are going to need to do this 2 times, once for each bulb. Otherwise, you are going to need to find a relay that is rated for 80 amps to handle the starting surge. It will also be recommended to install an 80 amp (or a 100 amp) fuse between your power source and the relay(s). That way, should you have a problem with the high beams, it will only affect the high beams and not kill the entire electrical system of the car.
Jag4, the harness that you would need is nothing really fancy. <snip...>
Hi Chris, If you have time, I'm attaching a simple diagram for reference. Sanity check, please confirm?
Q: Because the power source has changed, how are the headlights tied back to the cabin headlight controls? I'm hazy on the ballast-to-the-highlight harness portion of the project.
Jag4, you have the right idea. But, you are forgetting the part of the relay that is used to actuate the relay. If you get a single large relay like this, you are going to find that it will have 3 large terminals and 2 small ones. The 3 large ones handle the high amperage portion of things, which is what you have drawn. Please note that if you look at the relay, you will see some terminals that will be labeled "NO" or "N.O." and then another terminal will be labeled "NC" or "N.C.". Finally the third large terminal will be labeled "COM". In short, your fuse is going to attach to the "COM" terminal. The 2 red wires coming from your ballasts are going to to only the NO/N.O. terminal.
So, this leaves the two small terminals. These should be labeled something like "+" and "GND". The GND terminal will get attached straight to the chassis. The + terminal will have a jumper wire that run between that terminal and the wire that was attached to the center post of either high beam (either bulb will work, doesn't matter). So, what is going to happen is when the car attempts to turn on the high beam bulbs, that power is going to go to the relay instead. This is going to cause the relay to pick up and move internally. This is going to cause the wire that is attached to your 80 amp source to be connected to the red wire of your ballasts. This is going to apply power to the ballasts and allow them to light up the 50W HID bulbs.
Where things may be confusing you slightly is that you are using one relay to power a second relay. Do not over think it. In short, the 80A relay is not going to pull 110 watts of power like the old bulbs did. It may pull say 1 watt. But the stock relay is not going to care. It is simply acting as a remote switch. The high beam relay is then going to actuate a second "remote switch" (your 80 amp relay) to power the ballasts.
02-13-2015, 10:27 PM
