H4 Lighting

What output can you go to with a H4 bulb before you have to start using Ballasts? 6000k?

I think I just figured it out. A regular H4 bulb doesn't matter. But if you run a Xenon H4 bulb, then you require the ballasts. Basically all you need are the ballasts. The headlight harness plugs in the ballast and the ballast runs to the Xenon bulb. Can someone confirm this?

One more thought I just have to throw out here. This seems to easy, so maybe it isn't. But all that is required to run a Xenon bulb is the Ballast. Xenon bulbs run at 35 watts so a harness upgrade isn't even neccessary. Does the cost of the Ballasts and Bulbs drive everyone away? I will agree that the bulbs are not cheap, but Ballasts from other vehicles can be had on ebay for some decent prices. If I am missing something big here, feel free to point it out.

The arc in a zenon bulb is different, and the light pattern will be off unless you upgrade to a lens style reflector. At least that's my understanding.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

87manche said:

The arc in a zenon bulb is different, and the light pattern will be off unless you upgrade to a lens style reflector. At least that's my understanding.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

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Thanks for the link. I have been on his website before but had never read that. Everything is crystal clear now.............:thumbup:

So now I'll throw this out there. Does anyone know of any Major or worth mentioning differences between IPF, Cibie, and Hella Housings?

???

The "Xenon" bulb is usually still an incandescent filament - the envelope is just filled with Xenon gas (a heavy "noble" gas, and therefore chemically inert,) to prevent rapid oxidation of the tungsten filament. Nearly all incandescent bulbs will NOT require a "ballast."

The "ballast" is usually required for fluorescent, neon or HID/Arc lights - since there is no direct connection between poles, a mch higher voltage is required to "make the jump" between poles. The "ballast" is little more than a step-up transformer that increases the voltage.

The "6000*K" you're referring to is "colour temperature" - the higher the "temperature," the stronger the white colour, and the more glare you can get from it. A higher colour temperature is not necessarily a good thing. I'm not sure how it works, but you can start with Daniel Stern Lighting, and SureFire usually has good lighting tech online (even though it's more for handheld lights, it's good tech.) You can also try Googling "Color temperature" for more information...

5-90

5-90 said:

???

The "Xenon" bulb is usually still an incandescent filament - the envelope is just filled with Xenon gas (a heavy "noble" gas, and therefore chemically inert,) to prevent rapid oxidation of the tungsten filament. Nearly all incandescent bulbs will NOT require a "ballast."

The "ballast" is usually required for fluorescent, neon or HID/Arc lights - since there is no direct connection between poles, a mch higher voltage is required to "make the jump" between poles. The "ballast" is little more than a step-up transformer that increases the voltage.

The "6000*K" you're referring to is "colour temperature" - the higher the "temperature," the stronger the white colour, and the more glare you can get from it. A higher colour temperature is not necessarily a good thing. I'm not sure how it works, but you can start with Daniel Stern Lighting, and SureFire usually has good lighting tech online (even though it's more for handheld lights, it's good tech.) You can also try Googling "Color temperature" for more information...

5-90

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I learned all of that this morning, interesting reading. I've pretty much figured out what all the differences are. A Xenon/HID retrofit is not a good idea. The housings we have aren't built for them and it just won't do anything positive.

My main thing now is the different housings we are offered. Cibies are the most expensive at $61 each. Now as far as I can tell the Hella and IPFs aren't any different. But I really don't know.

I've actually done a full retrofit of s2000 projectors and HID bulbs and ballasts in my Accord.

I've thought about trying to do something to the XJ too, but haven't yet. There are some things to consider. First a halogen H4 bulb has two elements, one for high beam and one for low beam. Replacing this bulb with a rebased HID bulb means of course no more high beams. This may or may not be a problem for you if you have aftermarket driving lights. Second issue is that if the HID bulbs arc point isn't precisely where the low beam element sits in the housing (assuming you have aftermarket H4 housings) then the projected beam pattern will be completely hosed. This one is very hard to predict or control unless you are able to do the rebasing yourself or modify it. If you look at a standard dual-element H4 bulb, there isn't much distance between the high and low elements, so you can see just how sensitive the housing is to the placement of it's light source.

Another thing I will mention is about the 35W comment. Yes it is true that when fired up an HID bulb only uses 35W, or more specifically in a 12V system it is pulling approximately 2.9 amps. This is of course lower than the 4.6 amps a normal 55W halogen bulb pulls. What you need to consider is the startup current. In order to fire up an HID bulb the ballast must first apply a very high voltage (thousands of volts) to get it to arc. Once that occurs it takes much less voltage (80-90 volts) to keep it arc'ing. I measured a startup current of around 8-9 amps before it quickly settles to 2.9 amps. I haven't looked into the gauge of the stock harness to the headlight, but my guess is that it *should* be able to handle momentary peak currents of 8-9 amps without melting. You *should* be able to get away without a wiring harness. I did not use a wiring harness on my Accord retro and haven't had any problems with it yet.

91 Jeep Project said:

My main thing now is the different housings we are offered. Cibies are the most expensive at $61 each. Now as far as I can tell the Hella and IPFs aren't any different. But I really don't know.

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I have & use both the Hella E-codes and the IPF (non MSR) lenses... Using similar bulbs and harnesses: IPF upgrade harness and Hella 130w high/90w low H4 bulbs... I can't tell any meaningful difference in the beam pattern... both offer a pretty sharp horizontal cut-off when the lows are selected.

I get a lot better life from the Hella H4 halogen bulbs (130/90) than from the two types of IPF H4 bulbs I've tried (170/110 halogen and 60/55 'magic-J/"xenon") Those 170/100 dealies were bright though :sunshine:

20/20 Hindsight I'd probably stick with Hella for the lenses, and certainly for the bulbs. Dave at Susquehanna MotorSports- www.rallylights.com -has always taken good care of me, fair prices and fast service.

Well, I've got the Hella E-Codes and the Hella Vision Plus housings (got both sets from Susquehanna Motorsports - www.rallylights.com) and I'm quite happy with them. I do more driving at night and more long-range driving, so I've got the E-codes.

My wife get the HVP housings, with 55/80W "Super White" bulbs, and she's happy with them. The sharper dip beam cutoff and "fuller" full beam both make for excellent visibility over stock, which is what I was after. I haven't modified her headlamp wiring yet, she'll get the prototype of my headlamp harness that I've designed.

I've got the E-Code housings with 90/130W bulbs, and a homebrew harness (somewhat different from what I plan to offer - I had to make it work with a "wig-wag" box.) All I can say is "Damn!" - again, I'm running the Super White bulbs from SMS, and it's fun when I'm on the freeway at 0200 and some kid gets behind me with the "bloo" headlights they all seem to like (I hate those.) I get in behind him, give him a flash, and there's just one big eyeball in the rearview mirror...

The housings that I've got have all got actual cut/ground glass lenses, and metal reflector bowls - making for a rather durable housing.

Why did I get the Hellas? I didn't see any Cibie dealers, and I've often founr PIAA to be pricey - besides, I've got loads of experience with Hella, and they've never failed me.

If you've got a RENIX XJ, the stock wiring will live with an 80W full beam for a while, but not if you use them often. The ChryCo-spec XJ went down a little on wire size, and if you're going to upgrade your bulb wattage, a wiring harness is indicated. I'm expecting parts to show up this week for my revised prototype, and it will be in proto cycle for a month after that (which should hopefully start this week-end.) I'm designing it to work with ANY H4 bulb that can currently be had - up to 200W per filament.

5-90

I do alot of night driving as well. I'm more then likely going to go for the Hella E-Codes, Narva 90/100 bulbs and some sort of harness, IPF, BOR, whichever. It should prove to be a worthy upgrade. I've heard nothing but positives about all of it.

Any links to the wiring harness info? Not sure what IPF and BOR are...

I have the Hella E-Code housings, they have a nice cutoff but I think they definitely need higher wattage bulbs.

smithz said:

I've actually done a full retrofit of s2000 projectors and HID bulbs and ballasts in my Accord.

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So did you gut the entire back side of the Accord housing and put the S2K projector housing in? How did you mount it and were you able to retrofit the auto level motors also?

I too feel an entire HID projector would be the best retrofit since all the optics are self enclosed within the projector, then just mount it behind a clear lens in the transplant vehicle. It's really the only way to keep the light going where the factory intended it.
I agree that an HID bulb in an H4 housing is a bad thing due to excessive glare caused by the HID bulb length.

IPF is, well, IPF. And BOR stands for Big Offroad.

The only place I have seen the IPF kit is at http://www.rocky-road.com/

You can find the BOR kit at http://www.bigoffroad.com/

DJ....do you realize you responded 8 times to your own post?

JEEPZZ said:

So did you gut the entire back side of the Accord housing and put the S2K projector housing in? How did you mount it and were you able to retrofit the auto level motors also?

I too feel an entire HID projector would be the best retrofit since all the optics are self enclosed within the projector, then just mount it behind a clear lens in the transplant vehicle. It's really the only way to keep the light going where the factory intended it.
I agree that an HID bulb in an H4 housing is a bad thing due to excessive glare caused by the HID bulb length.

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Which leaves the unanswered question: Where can you find a HID housing for a XJ? The only ones ever made that I am aware of are no longer in production.

0313 said:

DJ....do you realize you responded 8 times to your own post?

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DJ for president ya'll, I'm outie...............

10 times.

Looking forward to a headlight upgrade! We have lots of deer, moose, and black bear round here! Moose are a bummer as their body weight is windshield high and their fur does not reflect light! At least whoever hits em gets first dibs on the meat!

Oh and 6000k, is that 6000 thousand? whoa! lol (think you just may need a harness upgrade for that)