Just wondering what the current thoughts are on getting more light out of the dipped headlights?
HID or LED or ulta halogens?
I will be replacing the alignment adjusters and setting the alignment properly.
I am in California, so no MOT/light inspections to worry about.

 

If you are fixing the adjusters then you will be keeping the Halogen lights? I swapped my original Halogen units with HID versions. There are a TON of threads here regarding that swap so use the search.
The reflectors in the HID are different than in the Halogen I think. Also there are right hand and left hand versions depending on your country. there is a wiring mod you need to do on the HID but it's easy and afaik the original fuse is large enough to handle the HID ballast. I have had mine for over a year without issues.I would stay away from LED unless you really know what you're doing. Unless you do them properly, you will be blinding people.

 

I went for LED. ..

If you go for anything, which is brighter than design intend in HID or halogen, I would expect the current flow to increase... - and this means that there is a good chance that you exceed the level for which the cables in the car are designed for...: Worst case consequence: Your X400 goes up in flames due to an overheating wiring loom.

However, LED technology is that advanced these days that it is brighter than the old OE bulbs (halogen), while LEDs bulbs consume in general less power (=less current flow).
However, do your homework, which LED-bulbs to buy. The lumen-information (=brightness) is relevant, however on some Chinese sites they might just pick some numbers (for lumen) from the sky. I guess it is just a matter of having the right feel for deciding, which listing on the net is legit and which is not...

 

Peter. I have a question. Would it still be risky to put a plug and play HID kit ? I have a kit to install. But the weather is too cold now. I’m aware of some hid kits being higher wattage. The kit I bought is the lower wattage type. Also. I know some Xtypes came with hid from the factory. I would find it hard to believe that Jag would use the same projector light housings for all Xtypes. But different wiring for the ones with the HID option. What do u think ??

 

Well, I REALLY should know the answer to your question, but it is now 27 years ago, that I would have known the answer... (I designed the X400 light-switch electrically, and therefore I would have known (or even specified) the surrounding wiring...).

But a little voice in the back of my head tells me that HID did have indeed a different kind of wiring - I think even specialized relays. After all, the HID option was very expensive, and there would have to be a reason for all those extra costs. The original HID system did have a way higher current demand than the standard headlight bulbs.

About that plug and play kit: It should have the wattage information (which defines the current flow). Normal bulbs have 55W. If you kit is labelled higher than 55W, I would worry.
On the other hand - High wattage labels on Chinese products might simply be wrong. you could use a multimeter and measure current flow and voltage (ideally at the same time using 2 multimeters - check youtube for details). P=U*I (Power (wattage) = voltage * current. This measurement would be done on the to be tested bulb or system and a stand-alone car battery.

But be also aware that HID system have especially at the very moment when you turn them on an extremely high (and short) current spark - which might be too short to measure, but it might still cause problems on the car

 

What led bulbs did u install Peter ?

 

I do not have that information anymore, which ones exactly. Something I found back then on ebay. That seller probably does not exist anymore. I would also check out aliexpress and Temu meanwhile.
I think I went for bulbs with 6000K. That is 6000 Kelvin and this refers to the light-temperature. 6000 would be bright white. (3000K would be warm white, which is nice as illumination inside of a house but not bright enough on headlights).
And I think I went for bulbs, which are promising 8000lm. Well, if I Chinese seller is promising 8000lm, that does not mean anything, but at least there is hope...
8000lm = 8000 lumen = very bright.
It is a bit awkward to convert lm (lumen) into cd (candela), because it all depends on the angel in which the light in lumen gets bundled (the apex angle), but to give you an idea:
If the apex angle is about 65°, then 6000lm would be 6100cd, and 6100 cd is the light, which is being emitted by 6100 candles (you would have to be real fast in lighting up 6100 candles to make sure the first one has not burned down by the time you light up the last one... )

Maybe reading reviews of customers of that seller offers give an insight.

And again: Least of all I would trust power (wattage) information on LED bulbs from Chinese sellers. If they call it 80W, if could be well below 50W. This is where the DIY measuring of the ordered parts comes in...

 

I do not know anymore, which ones exactly - it's long ago. I bought them on ebay - meanwhile I would also check aliexpress and Temu.

I think I bought LED bulbs, with 6000K - that is Kelvin, that is the light temperature, it is bright cold white light.
3000K would be warm white - nice inside of a house, but useless on headlights.

And I think I bought LED bulbs with 8000lm - at least that is, what they were promising - and I find it hard to believe that... - which is, why it is very hard to recommend something.
Finding the right bulb is a matter of finding a seller, which spread the least amount of lies - and that is difficult.

There is also a legal limitation of lumens, which is around 5000lm. How anyone would adhere to this limit is hard for me to fathom, as sellers to not provide you with the correct information.

To explain, what 8000lm is: 8000 lumen. Converting it into cd (candela) is a bit awkward, as it all depends, how the light is being bundled (the apex angle), but to give you an idea:
8000lm at 65° apex angle = 8130cd. And to explain 8130cd: That is the brightness of 8130 burning candles...
And if you want to replicate that, you would have to be might fast in lighting candles, as lighting up the the 8130th candle would be tricky before the first candle has burned down...

But wattage on LED bulbs is probably the most unreliable information given by Chinese sellers: a 80 Watt bulb could easily have less than 50 Watt - this is where DIY measuring comes in place...

I think, if a seller promises something like 50.000lm or 100.000lm, it would be save to discard him, as he obviously does not know, what he is talking about.... - I just checked: You find those on ebay... You will even find 500W, 200.000lm bulbs, where you can be sure that those data are pure inventions. I stopped looking for higher numbers on ebay, as this gets just too ridiculous.... I have no doubt, that you will find a seller, who will promise you bulbs with the brightness of the sun's surface, if they can sell their crap like that...

Note that typical halogen headlight bulbs have up to 1200lm.

 

I wrote my reply above about 6 hours ago, but for some reason, it has to be checked and approved by moderator first, so that the answer is only now visible - about 6 hours later...

 

I have HID, no problems, if you go a different (k) rating i.e. I went cool white, it takes a little while to get used to the difference. Even though it has more lumen output, your brain has to learn the difference from the old yellow-white color. All of my lights in front are the cool white color. All lights exterior other the halogen high beams and HID's (excluding blinkers because you have to install an electronic compensator) I changed to LED. I also added LED strip lighting on the interior, under the hood and in the trunk for WAY better illumination.
You can search my posts for pics if interested.

 

I’m almost 100% sure the aftermarket plug and play hid kit I bought is 35 watts.

 

Peter - your post was forced into moderation because you had the word Temu in there. In the past 2 weeks, the forum has been inundated with spam for Temu coupons so IB added Temu to the keyword ids for spam - any post with Temu is now reviewed by a moderator and approved or rejected. My apologies for the delay as I've been at work all day with no access to the forum and just saw/approved your post

PS - it even forced this post in response to you into moderation - so it's working

Cheers,
Steve

 

I made very positive experiences with that online-sales-platform, which is apparently not allowed to be named here. I bought a lot of stuff there without problems.
Obviously, they are also selling crap, but with a bit of technical understanding, you should be able to judge before ordering, what's crap and what's good and cheap.
I would not recommend buying stuff on that not-to-be-named-platform, which pugs into the power outlet (220 / 240 / 120VAC), plus toys from there might be dangerous.

I just noticed that my posts are visible here meanwhile.
The reason as to why there are now 2 nearly identical posts of mine above in response to the question, which bulbs I have, is that I could not understand, where the post went, which I just wrote, so I started typing again...

 

A lot of folks have had positive experiences with them - the issue we had recently were several new members to the forum just spamming us like crazy with posts offering coupons to that site (close to 200 posts in less than a week) and nothing more.

 

@NYCJAG2006
I have 35 watt, there are MANY posts by Thermo (the guru) on this forum as to how, what, why if you're interested.

I forgot to mention I also changed all my interior light (with addition of strip lighting) to LED with the biggest obstacle of the sun visor lamps (with a resolution) in my thread.

 

I am going to chime in here and hopefully answer some of the questions that are lingering out there.

The first is HIDs and why the wiring change. Lets first start with factory HIDs are 3300K 35 watt units (NOT!!! 50/55). Standard halogen bulb output 1200-1500 lumen of light, 35W HIDs output around 3000 lumen. So, right there you are doubling the light output and getting a technology that is more efficient at making the light. So, you are probably then asking yourself, why the change in wiring for the HIDs and needing the extra ground wire (wouldn't that handle MORE current?). The issue comes, HID bulbs require a ballast (think of it as a voltage changer). HID bulbs continuously run on about 85 VDC. You need this voltage to be able to arc across the small gap between the 2 electrodes. The reason for the extra ground wire is that to get that arc initially going, the ballast needs to up the voltage to around 23,000 volts (yes 23KV). Obviously, even a little current in this mode is going to be a lot of current draw at 12 VDC. It is to the tune of around 20 amps per ballast. Your 55 watt halogen bulbs only pull around 4 amps each. Also, if you "starve" the ballasts of current (ie, trying to run them on too small of wiring), the needed 23KV of voltage cannot be generated and therefore you don't get the needed arc to make the HIDs work. So, if there is a downside to HIDs, it is that they need good wiring. You skimp, you are likely to have problems. If you need help or have questions on what wiring is needed, please ask.

Now, for LEDs. I will admit that I have not gotten deep into this subject when it comes to automotive headlights, but I do a lot with LEDs in general. First thing I will tell you is the heat is an LEDs biggest enemy. You run an LED hot, you WILL!!!!! loose the amount of light you are told you will get (ie, will tend to dim rather quickly, not hours, but do not be surprised if the bulbs only last a year or two). So, the cooler you can make an LED run, the better off you are. So, what does this mean? It can be summarized in 2 ways: 1) lower wattage, or 2) bigger heat sink. I know what a lot of you are thinking, more wattage means more light! That is complete BS. You look at commercial LED light bulbs for your house, most are running around 80 lumen per watt. I have made a 3500 lumen light that only consumes 9 watts of power (or around 400 lumen per watt). I have plans for a 10,000 lumen light running on 9 watts. Now, I will admit, this comes at a cost of size. So, this brings me back to the heat sink. All heat sinks follow a generic heat transfer equation (amount of heat dissipated = a constant for the type of metal used to transfer heat times the surface area times the difference in temperature of the source of heat and what it is cooled by, or Q = UA (Delta T)). You cannot really control the cooled by temperature as that is going to be whatever the outside temp is. There is some control over it in the fact that you can have engine bay heat getting to the cooling fins and that raises that temp. So, you are really left with the surface area and the type of metal used. Unfortunately, some of the best heat transferring metals are also very expensive. So, you think they are going to use that for generic LED lights. Don't plan on it. So, that means your surface area has to go up to be able to transfer the needed heat. So, you are looking at a bigger heat sink. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of room to place a heat sink in the X-Type without cutting the back of the headlight housing. Now you are risking water inside the headlight housing and that poses a bunch of other issues.

The final thing I will propose when you are considering upgrading the lighting to your car is this: imagine you are the driver of the car coming at you, how are your eyes going to feel? I am not saying that 5000 lumen is too much, or 8000 lumen is too much. Each has their place. This is where the design of the headlight assembly has EVERYTHING!!!!!!! to do with it. The higher in lumen you go, the more of a defined (and limiting) cutoff point you need. The X-Type DOES NOT!!!! have that defined of a cutoff point. So, unless you are changing out the internals of the headlights, going much above 3300 lumen, I think you are going to find a lot of drivers are going to have an issue with your headlight choice. I know when I had my X-Type with factory HIDs installed, a number of my friends said my car's headlights were very bright. So, you start putting in 5000 lumen anything, you are going to **** people off. Plain and simple. You want/need more lighting, you are going to need to upgrade more than just the bulb when it comes to the X-Type.

I will leave with one final "food for thought" item. I am sure everyone has heard the "deer in the headlight look" or "the bug looking at a bug zapper light" expressions. That is a true thing. When a bright light is coming at you, you will naturally turn into that light. You have to fight to not to. That is how our brains are wired. So, now, you put in those "bright headlights", how many cars do you plan on avoiding? Please keep in mind that all that is said above about "too much light" or the like is out the window when looking at the high (main) beams. Light up the world!!!!!! But, at the same time, you should NEVER!!!!!! have your high (main) beams on when passing someone.

 

This is the kit I got. I just put it together on a spare headlight housing I had in the garage. The wires seem pretty good to me. It’s all plug and play. Like I said I think it’s a 35 watt kit. Lemme know what u guys think. I don’t wanna ruin my cat by using it if it’s not safe to install. Thx for any info.

 

NYCJAG2006, Xentec is what I went with and had good luck. Now, I will admit, my kits had 1 difference that I do not see with yours. That was the wiring had a rubber grommet that allowed the wires to go through the back of the headlight cover and the grommet formed a seal to keep things water tight. This does a few things for you. 1) less things in the headlight housing so less likely to have something break, 2) the ballast can be mounted in a position to get it away from heat which will help it last longer, and 3) allows you to ground the ballast to the frame of the car vice having to rely on the factory wiring (this helps with the lights being able to start).

One other note, when putting in the HID bulb, make sure that thing is sparkling clean. Any sort of finger/skin oil on the bulb will shorten its life. Dirt, same.

 

As Chris (Thermo) wrote:
Make sure that the bulb is clean, before you put it in. Best is never ever to touch the actual bulb, second best is to wipe off all possible remnants to fat/oil before you put it in.
However, I think the reason to do so is not so much to protect the bulb itself, but to protect your headlights - or more specifically: the reflector of your headlights...
The bulb will get quite hot when in operation, and the effect of this is that all fatty remnants (there is always "fat" on your fingers) will evaporate off the bulb and then the evaporated fat will "settle" anywhere it can, i.e. e.g. on the reflector inside of the headlights and make it dull...And a dull reflector does not "send out" much light...

 

Thx Thermo and everyone else. I do have the grommets to put in the back of the headlight housings. Thermo can you tell me more about how to put the hid ground wire to the car frame please ?