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Hi,
Kindly help how to install HID Bi-xenon conversion kits for my jaguar x type 2002 2.5cc. am tired with my usual halogens, What do i need to have and do i need the flicker cancellations for each bulb?
<p>I've moved your post to the X-Type section for greater visibility/response. The Forums Feedback and advice section is for posting issues with forum itself</p><p>regards,</p><p>Steve </p>
levi, when it comes to HIDs, check your local laws. Everything that I am going to say here is dealing with US/Canadian vehicles. Your laws may be different as I know that if you have a car in England, upgrading a halogen equipped car to HIDs is illegal (not so in the US). So, what rules apply to you may vary.
Atleast here in the US, the only legal bulbs that you can run that are HID are 35W bulbs. Those are the only ones that have the "DOT Approval" stamp associated with them. Running the above mentioned 55W bulbs can get you pulled over by the local police for having too bright of bulbs.
May I ask why you are looking for the bi-xenon bulbs? The X-Type has separate high and low beams. So, you shouldn't need the bi-xenon bulbs (much more expensive than 2 sets of HIDs).
When it comes to HIDs, you are going to get what you pay for. I have run the $20 specials, I have run the $100 kits. The $100 kits worked for much, much longer. The cheap kits have ballasts that will fail after about a year of use. If you can, find some Maxlux ballasts. Been using them for 3 years and no issues. You can probably use some Denso ballasts as these are normally the OEM grade ballasts, so, the life is going to be much longer. The downside is that the Maxlux and Denso ballasts are going to be bigger in size than your cheaper "slim line" ballasts. But, do you want to be tearing your car apart every year replacing the ballasts? Your call.
I will also recommend getting HID kits that are specifically made to replace H1 bulbs. A lot of the kits are universal and apply to 10 different styles of bulbs. While they may be slightly cheaper, you are going to have a lot more work on your hands. if you get an H1 specific kit, it will be literally plug and play. No cutting of wires should be needed.
The other series of questions that I will ask you relates to what you are trying to get out of the HID bulbs. Are you after brightness or color? Even in the 35W bulb range, there can be a significant difference in brightness of the bulbs. The maximum brightness bulb is the 4300K bulbs (at 3100 lumen, or twice the brightness of your halogen bulbs). You step up to 6000K bulbs, you drop to 2900 lumen. You go with 10000K bulbs, you are down around 2300 lumen. So, as you can see, the color of the bulb has a definite effect on how much light you get.
If you are more interested in color, then here is a simple explanation of what you can expect:
3000K: very yellow bulb (only recommended if you are planning on using these as fog lights)
4300K: mostly white light, but light may appear slightly yellow and if you look at the light, it will have a slight yellow halo (ring) near the center
5000K: snow white light with no color variation in it
6000K: most snow white light with a slide blue halo
8000K: light has a blue tint to it and is deviating from a white light (read as can be grounds for the cops to pull you over due to not having the proper headlights)
10000K: very blue, starting to go towards a purple color
15000K: very purple or possibly pink in color
As you can see, paying attention to the "bulb temp" is very key. Hate to see you get something that you can't use.
As for your high beams. The quick start HID systems are going to be what you are after. As for running 35W or 55W bulbs, that is your call. But, this is what I will propose to you: run the 55W bulbs all you want when you are the only one on the road; but if someone is coming the other way, TURN THEM OFF. I say this as I am sure you would be pissed as all get out if someone was coming at you with lights that made it appear like it was a 747 coming in for a landing.
If you need more, please let me know. As you can see, I have done a litlte bit of research into the HID bulbs.
levi, when it comes to HIDs, check your local laws. Everything that I am going to say here is dealing with US/Canadian vehicles. Your laws may be different as I know that if you have a car in England, upgrading a halogen equipped car to HIDs is illegal (not so in the US). So, what rules apply to you may vary.
Atleast here in the US, the only legal bulbs that you can run that are HID are 35W bulbs. Those are the only ones that have the "DOT Approval" stamp associated with them. Running the above mentioned 55W bulbs can get you pulled over by the local police for having too bright of bulbs.
May I ask why you are looking for the bi-xenon bulbs? The X-Type has separate high and low beams. So, you shouldn't need the bi-xenon bulbs (much more expensive than 2 sets of HIDs).
When it comes to HIDs, you are going to get what you pay for. I have run the $20 specials, I have run the $100 kits. The $100 kits worked for much, much longer. The cheap kits have ballasts that will fail after about a year of use. If you can, find some Maxlux ballasts. Been using them for 3 years and no issues. You can probably use some Denso ballasts as these are normally the OEM grade ballasts, so, the life is going to be much longer. The downside is that the Maxlux and Denso ballasts are going to be bigger in size than your cheaper "slim line" ballasts. But, do you want to be tearing your car apart every year replacing the ballasts? Your call.
I will also recommend getting HID kits that are specifically made to replace H1 bulbs. A lot of the kits are universal and apply to 10 different styles of bulbs. While they may be slightly cheaper, you are going to have a lot more work on your hands. if you get an H1 specific kit, it will be literally plug and play. No cutting of wires should be needed.
The other series of questions that I will ask you relates to what you are trying to get out of the HID bulbs. Are you after brightness or color? Even in the 35W bulb range, there can be a significant difference in brightness of the bulbs. The maximum brightness bulb is the 4300K bulbs (at 3100 lumen, or twice the brightness of your halogen bulbs). You step up to 6000K bulbs, you drop to 2900 lumen. You go with 10000K bulbs, you are down around 2300 lumen. So, as you can see, the color of the bulb has a definite effect on how much light you get.
If you are more interested in color, then here is a simple explanation of what you can expect:
3000K: very yellow bulb (only recommended if you are planning on using these as fog lights)
4300K: mostly white light, but light may appear slightly yellow and if you look at the light, it will have a slight yellow halo (ring) near the center
5000K: snow white light with no color variation in it
6000K: most snow white light with a slide blue halo
8000K: light has a blue tint to it and is deviating from a white light (read as can be grounds for the cops to pull you over due to not having the proper headlights)
10000K: very blue, starting to go towards a purple color
15000K: very purple or possibly pink in color
As you can see, paying attention to the "bulb temp" is very key. Hate to see you get something that you can't use.
As for your high beams. The quick start HID systems are going to be what you are after. As for running 35W or 55W bulbs, that is your call. But, this is what I will propose to you: run the 55W bulbs all you want when you are the only one on the road; but if someone is coming the other way, TURN THEM OFF. I say this as I am sure you would be pissed as all get out if someone was coming at you with lights that made it appear like it was a 747 coming in for a landing.
If you need more, please let me know. As you can see, I have done a litlte bit of research into the HID bulbs.
Many cars in the UK have HID's so I very much doubt they are illegal. I have replaced many cars standard bulbs with HID's and they have sailed through the MOT and have had no issues. The problem arises when you get the young boy racers who fit the incorrect HID kit for their car or fit them incorrectly which causes a mass of light and having no pattern for the MOT test.
twinstacks, my understanding of your laws is that if the vehicle was equipped with HIDs from the factory, then all is legal. It is when you place HID bulbs in a non-HID housing that there are issues. The issue as I understand it is that HID housings have a focusing lens to keep the light aimed the correct direction where the non-HID do not have this feature and therefore the light can possibly shine in places where it is not desired. So, to keep things as black and white as possible, the law was written to make it so only HID bulbs can be installed in HID housings.
twinstacks, my understanding of your laws is that if the vehicle was equipped with HIDs from the factory, then all is legal. It is when you place HID bulbs in a non-HID housing that there are issues. The issue as I understand it is that HID housings have a focusing lens to keep the light aimed the correct direction where the non-HID do not have this feature and therefore the light can possibly shine in places where it is not desired. So, to keep things as black and white as possible, the law was written to make it so only HID bulbs can be installed in HID housings.
Thermo you are indeed correct. I must admit that I did not know that they could not be swapped over the reason being that everyone that I did was a projector headlight and this seems to work ok as they contain the light as normal, the problem arises when they are put in reflective headlights and this causes the light to shine everywhere, i include what I read as follows
from the dft website: Thanks
For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.
Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:
1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.
2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).
3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.
In practice this means:
1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.
2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.
3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.
Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.
In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.
If you require any further information regarding the regulations covered by this fact sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:
Transport Technology and Standards 6
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR
Could some of you with x types post some pictures of your high beams on against a wall? I'm trying to determine if the high beam is supposed to be directly over the bright position of the low beam. One of mine is and the other has the high beam to the inside of low beam.
Great question as I didn't have much of a clue when I did my conversion. I put HID's in my low beam projectors and my fog lights. They are 6000K's so IMO a perfect balance between brightness and HID color. They look really good on the car and many people at car shows think they are OEM. I got the Maxlux kit which are DOT approved in the US and they have a 3 year warranty on all of the parts. Also, the have the alti flicker built in since X-Types have computer controlled headlights. Additionally, if any car has projector housings for low beams you are safe to put in HIDs.
08-11-2015, 10:58 AM
