HID Bulb and Ballasts... Which combo are you using? (1 Viewer)

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That’s a great thread and no, it’s not “covered” there.
A few people mentioned what they were going to run but there isn’t really a thread where people described their thought on the output of various combinations.
In that thread, Nick from TRS I believe, said something about the 55 watt ballasts causing issues with mini H1 projectors but also said that the current model of projectors are of much better quality and perhaps it wouldn’t be an issue.
According to the TRS website, the 55 watt ballasts will yield a +20% lumen output while the 5500k HID also yields the greatest lumen output.
Just thought a thread with specific information related to the bulb, ballast combo would be handy. I’d like to know myself.

You do not want to run a 55w ballast in the Mini H1...... Do you have your lights adjusted high enough? 35w and 6500k bulb should produce a nice output. All the pictures on my site are 35w and 4500w bulbs.
 
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Got Lou's retrofit, currently running:

D2S 5.0
55w Morimoto ballasts
Morimoto relay harness (may need to replace the relays as I'm having intermittent issues)
4200k Osram Night Breaker bulbs


Like others have said on previous posts, halogen high beams get washed out by the HID lights.
I tried the Morimoto bulbs that Lou included with the retrofit (XB50 4800k?) and wasn't a fan of the temp of the light, too cold for my taste.
Replaced those bulbs with 4200k Osram bulbs, less white and more yellow tint to the light. I'm really happy with the current set up.
 
You do not want to run a 55w ballast in the Mini H1...... Do you have you lights adjusted high enough? 35w and 6500k bulb should produce a nice output. All the pictures on my site are 35w and 4500w bulbs.

Yeah, I believe they are adjusted correctly.

I just think the 6500k bulb is a bit too blue and not putting out the luminosity I was going for. I'm going to pick up the 5500k bulbs and give them a go.
 
I've recently had many conversation with Jason (The Headlight Guy) and Ceasar from Lightwerkz neither run 55w in any of the retrofits they do and they've been in the business a long time.
Jason's go to combo is AMP: HYLUX 2A88 CANBUS 35w Ballast and the D2S: CSRAm CBI 5500k Bulb... using the Hylux ballast also requires a D2S Ballast adapter. Buying the parts separately is more expensive and I will most likely offer this combo as a option but these two swear by the reliability of the Hylux ballast and the CBI bulbs. I've used the Morimoto combo to keeps the price down and I personally like the 55w and 5800k color but I've have used different bulb a ballast combo's for those that request something different.
 
I've recently had many conversation with Jason (The Headlight Guy) and Ceasar from Lightwerkz neither run 55w in any of the retrofits they do and they've been in the business a long time.
Jason's go to combo is AMP: HYLUX 2A88 CANBUS 35w Ballast and the D2S: CSRAm CBI 5500k Bulb... using the Hylux ballast also requires a D2S Ballast adapter. Buying the parts separately is more expensive and I will most likely offer this combo as a option but these two swear by the reliability of the Hylux ballast and the CBI bulbs. I've used the Morimoto combo to keeps the price down and I personally like the 55w and 5800k color but I've have used different bulb a ballast combo's for those that request something different.

That's interesting. Thanks for passing the information along.

I guess the difference is in how to Hylux ballast performs over the Morimoto? Can you actually run the D2S bulbs in the Mini H1 projectors with adaptors?
 
That's interesting. Thanks for passing the information along.

I guess the difference is in how to Hylux ballast performs over the Morimoto? Can you actually run the D2S bulbs in the Mini H1 projectors with adaptors?
NO. He is using an AMP ballasts to D2S bulb adapter. Like this:
 
Here’s a great example of bulb color and ballast.
The lights are a quad set I built for my 80. The larger projector is a D2S 5.0 running a 50w ballast and 5800k Morimoto Bulb. The smaller projector is running a 35w ballast. In the first pictures I’m running a 4500k bulb and it did not color match the D2S so I bumped it up to the 6500K bulb and it’s just about the same and pure white

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Alright, so I've got a set of TRS Morimoto H1 4500k bulbs and 35W ballasts coming. Going to do a TSX-R lens retrofit in the factory projector bowl to start with square squirrel-finder holes blocked.

I've read through this thread, the LX Headlight Upgrade Database, and 30+ pages each of @Luke111 's and @2000UZJ 's fantastic threads. One thing that I can't find addressed here or anywhere else on the forum is the use of the Canbus harnesses instead of the large HD relay. I know the LX is not technically a Canbus vehicle, but a couple have mentioned it should work, particularly @DirtDawg. It's just a large capacitor/resistor that helps fire the ballasts. After that, the continuous draw from the ballasts should be similar or less than the factory halogen bulb draw, so I'm not worried about the factory wiring going up in smoke. From my experience retrofitting previous German vehicles, Canbus is such a cleaner install not having relay harness wires running all over the engine bay.

Anyone have good/bad experience or more knowledge about using a Canbus setup in their LX? I ordered mine that way, so I'll let you all know if nobody else has tested it before. Highly doubt I'm the first though.
 
Update: installed a Morimoto HID setup into my LX using a Canbus setup instead of the typical wiring harness to the battery. It works great. Much simpler in my opinion. Just install one HID loop on each side, triggered by the factory wiring. The Canbus piece (top of the wiring loop in the photo) acts as a capacitor to help fire the ballasts and as mentioned in this thread and others, the continuous draw when the HIDs are on is low enough to be supported by the factory wiring. Plenty of space for everything behind each headlight and corner light, no messy harness running across the engine bay.

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