H4 Lights A Few Questions:

My sealed bulbs have finally hit the sack and i would like to replace them with a conversion upgrade pair. After reading and searching several other posts here, i find that lenses brand, bulbs and the harness are the most important things to get good results.
Basically i narrowed out my decision to 2 units, the Hella Ecodes and the IPF units. Originally i looked into the CIBIE units from daniel stern lighting but he his unfortunately out of stock and to be honest the lenses are a bit expensive. This leaves me with the IPF and Helle Ecodes units which i have heard both good and bad things about.
The Hella Ecodes, i have read have aiming issues where setting up the low beams properly will cause the high beams to be up in the trees ? Is this true ? Any pics of this ? Peoples experience ?
How do the hella units compare to the IPF units ? Beam Pattern ? Pics ? Aiming issues ?

Thanks,
Pete

jeepsrock said:

My sealed bulbs have finally hit the sack and i would like to replace them with a conversion upgrade pair. After reading and searching several other posts here, i find that lenses brand, bulbs and the harness are the most important things to get good results.
Basically i narrowed out my decision to 2 units, the Hella Ecodes and the IPF units. Originally i looked into the CIBIE units from daniel stern lighting but he his unfortunately out of stock and to be honest the lenses are a bit expensive. This leaves me with the IPF and Helle Ecodes units which i have heard both good and bad things about.
The Hella Ecodes, i have read have aiming issues where setting up the low beams properly will cause the high beams to be up in the trees ? Is this true ? Any pics of this ? Peoples experience ?
How do the hella units compare to the IPF units ? Beam Pattern ? Pics ? Aiming issues ?

Thanks,
Pete

Click to expand...

I haven't any pix, but I've not had any trouble with either the Hella E-code or the Hella Vision Plus bowls. I ran the VP bowls with 55/80W bulbs on RENIX (no wiring upgrade) for a couple of years on my wife's rig, and I run the E-codes with 90/130W bulbs (upgraded wiring) on my own rig.

If you get the E-codes, you do have to pay a little more attention to how they're aimed, but I've gone into that in detail. Result? I've been running them for years without getting flashed by oncoming drivers, or pulled aside by John Law. Although, the 130W Super White full beam is fun for striking back at riceboys with those stupid "bloo" headlamps...

Both bowls and whatever lamps you want for them (provided they're Hella!) can be had from Susquehanna Motorsports at www.rallylights.com. Probably cheaper than anything locally, and shipping from PA isn't bad at all. Factoring in shipping, I find his prices are even better than International Truck - which is where I used to get my Hella lighting.

N.B. If you set up the aiming properly with the E-codes, you actually get the low beam aimed a touch lower (due to the sharper cutoff,) but your full beam is aimed just about dead ahead - which is where you want it. Also, either beam gives you fuller side coverage, which is handy on those dark mountain roads...

Well i talked some more to the guys at rally, and that with your posts here convinced me to purchase a set of hella ecodes and some hella bulbs.

I purchased:
H6054N Kit with Hella Premium 100/80w Xenon +100% H4 Bulbs Price: $105.88
HL28000 H4 Male Connector & (2) HL28001 H4 Female Connector to make my own harness.

Thanks guys, will post pics when i am done if you guys are interested.

Pete

Well guys its all in, but i cant get u pics until the rain stops. Just wanted to let you guys know i didnt forget.
Pete

what's involved with making the harnesses? I drove my new (to me) XJ last night and the sealed beams are worse than I remember on my TJ (which got the Hella VP upgrade). Cut the plugs off the stock harnesses and solder the new ones on you bought for a plug-n-play?

The harness i made myself was very easy and intuitive, i didnt think it was justified paying 50$+ for it. I purchased the H4 connectors, bulbs, and hella ecode enclosures from rallylights and the relays and sockets where purchased locally from an electronics store. The harness basically allows the stock switching circuit to be used and allow a larger wires to provide more current to the lights. This is done by using a relay, the magnetic coil wires are ran from the stock harness via a connector. The stock switch in turn energizes the coil and therefore allows current to flow thru the switch. If anyone would like a more in depth explanation and diagram, i will be more than happy to explain.
After the harness was made i installed the bulbs in the headlamp enclosures. I carefully installed the new hella enclosures/bulbs to the new wire harness connector. One small issue i ran into was i realized the stock connectors have a small footprint to them and allow the headlamp to fully sit in all the way. The custom harness/connector was a bit larger and bc of the clearance (the space behind the lamp area) it was hard to get it to fit, it was tight but it made it.
I proceeded to try my best to aim the headlight properly, i must say the results are quite big. The pictures have been taken in night mode without flash.

I had some problems finding pics of the Hella Ecode system here before, so here you guys are..Like i said i think it was worth the ~$150 total investment.

The bulbs are the Hella Premium 100/80 Xenon bulbs.

LowBeams:



HighBeams:



Lows In Alley:



Highs In Alley:


Thanks,
Pete

Looks good. Made a good choice going with ecodes. I just did the same thing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=180212510030&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=008

Here is a cheap double relay setup that I'm gonna try to use. If mounted near the headlight I think It'll be pretty much a premade harness. One on each side.... two relays per headlight (1 high/1 low).... wire a beefy positive cable (fused) and negative cable to the battery/fusebox and you should be good. I like this 4 relay approach because I don't want to end up without any low beams because one fuse or one relay went out. I think the pre attatched wires should be enough to connect to the factory harness and the new h4.

even did a getto schematic

jeepsrock said:

I purchased:
H6054N Kit with Hella Premium 100/80w Xenon +100% H4 Bulbs Price: $105.88
HL28000 H4 Male Connector & (2) HL28001 H4 Female Connector to make my own harness.

Click to expand...

Is that kit part number for the E codes or the VP bulbs?



From your pictures, it looks like there is a dead spot right in front of the Jeep with the highs on. Is it noticeable, or is it just how the picture looks?