How to Retrofit HID (Xenon) headlights into LX470 (1 Viewer)

[Jim_Chow]

Well, the only way to get ECE (e-code) HID lamps is to swap the projector. The ECE lamps (I have halogen e-codes on my older toyota) throw up a high pattern to the right side to illuminate road signs. I can always see the signs well lit up (from my headlights). If you've ever driven in front of a car w/ ECE lamps, the light are very dim, but the guy in the right lane gets blinded by what appears to be a high beam. But only 1/4 of the reflector looks like it's on high w/ the other 3/4 on low. This is probably why ECE lamps aren't legal here. In Europe, you have more two-lane highways rather than 10-12 lane mega freeways. One good thing is at night, you know a car wanting to turn right (to go in your direction) is less likely to cut it since he's temporily blinded by your ECE lights! The high beam patterns are also highly focused...mine make a small square in the distance w/ no light wasted to the sides or up.

There are really two ways to properly use HID lamps. One is to splice in a HID projector where the focal point matches the light arc of the bulb. The other is to shim & calibrate the HID bulb base so the light arc appears at the exact location of the halogen projector. This is what the xenondepot re-based bulbs do. I'm not sure if any other "conversion kit" makers do this. Anyways, I don't think this method would work well with a reflector lamp like in the LC, but seems to work well in the LX projectors (have you ever seen an OEM HID reflector? I haven't...maybe by the nature of HID, one needs a projector housing to make it work well?)

 

[hoser]

Just curious...why didn't you use the kit from Xenondepot.com? I just ordered mine....should only take an hour to install.[/URL]

There is very little information on the web about using halogen projectors as HID projectors. There is even less information about using LX470 projectors as HID projectors. I almost bought the xenondepot kit as people seem to like it. But the cost was about the same ($379) and I wanted a system that was designed to be HID from the beginning. If the results were unsatisfactory for me, I would have to buy new HID bulbs at $100/pr plus new HID reflectors.

I have seen other HID conversions into Halogen projectors that were not too good. But I have also seen ones that worked well enough. I'd like to compare my retrofit with a xenondepot kit. I am happy with the results but from the beginning I wanted to use S2000 projectors. These Bosch projectors were basically free since buying the components separately were the same price or more. I suggest anybody doing a retrofit like this to consider the Hella projectors as they are shorter and so the projector doesn't protrude out as much and you can use the OEM projector retaining ring.

I'm not an optics engineer. Bottom line for me was using the stock Halogen projector might give me satisfactory results but doing the retrofit was a sure thing. On the plus side for using the existing OEM halogen projectors, the H1 filament is oriented the same way as the D2S HID filament (front to back rather than horizontal). This is not true for many "conversions." In any case, both methods are a good upgrade from stock lighting.

As for reflector based HID's, there are actually a lot of them. One that comes to mind is the '00-'03 Acura CL's.

Here's some interesting reading from Daniel Stern:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

And some more reading about hotspot tuning for using HID bulbs on Halogen projectors.
http://faqlight.carpassion.info/projector-unit.htm

 

[cary]

Read the lighting faq on the 80 page for reasons why HID conversion kits don't work. The reason that hoser's works is because he didn't just swap bulbs but used the proper housings.

 

[hoser]

Just wanted to add something Jim pointed out. Xenon depot's rebased bulbs are $270/pr and the standard HID Phillips D2S bulbs are $79/pr. Sure it'll be awhile til you replace the bulbs but one day you'll need to. Hopefully by then, both types will be cheaper.

 

[subspd]

If this was done on a LC would there be problems getting the alignments right? Since it would involve cutting the housing to place the projector.

 

[Jim_Chow]

If this was done on a LC would there be problems getting the alignments right? Since it would involve cutting the housing to place the projector.

That's the hard part. You'd have to be extra careful in calibrating the aim or risk blinding everyone on the road.

Those xenon depot replacement bulbs are pricey, but at least they re-base and recalibrate their bulbs so the arc of light appears at the same location as the focal point of the projector. If they last 3-4x longer than conventional bulbs as they claim, that works out to about $80/pr for the life span of a conventional bulb (400 hrs?)

Hoser, how did you know how to disassemble the projector before you did it? (ie, baking it in an oven, etc.)

 

[aedgington]

Beautiful conversion. I think this is the only way to go. I was reading about another retrofit using the XD kit, but I think this comparison shows there is no comparison between a true retrofit and a kit. Excellent job.

 

[hoser]

If this was done on a LC would there be problems getting the alignments right? Since it would involve cutting the housing to place the projector.

Once you remove the outer glass cover, I suggest you reinstall the headlamp and then apply painter's tape to some of the surfaces (but not on the chrome-like reflective pieces) and draw lines pointing to the front of the vehicle on both planes. That way you have some idea was is straight since almost all headlamp casings are odd shaped--it's difficult to see which way points straight ahead. Once you get projectors mounted in the general direction, you can fine tune it with the stock adjustment screws. It's not until after you aim the headlight will you reinstall the glass lense.

There are a few people that can do the retrofit for you. It'll cost anywhere between $1k-1500k for a single projector retrofit including the wiring harness and all the parts.

You can check out some retrofits here (look for HID projector retrofit into OEM reflector headlamp):
http://www.hidretro.com/

Jim, baking the headlamp in the oven is common practice in the retrofit community. I initally was going to use my heatgun and work it slowly but I simply could not find my heatgun around the house. The oven thing work out fine and was much easier.

 

[hoser]

Those xenon depot replacement bulbs are pricey, but at least they re-base and recalibrate their bulbs so the arc of light appears at the same location as the focal point of the projector.

Even though the XD bulbs are recalibrated, I'm not quite sold on the idea. Here's an excerpt from the Daniel Stern Link I posted above:

"A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source -- the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.

When designing the optics (lens and/or reflector) for a lamp, the characteristics of the light source are *the* driving factor around which everything else must be engineered. If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly."

 

[gijoebruin]

Beautiful conversion. I think this is the only way to go. I was reading about another retrofit using the XD kit, but I think this comparison shows there is no comparison between a true retrofit and a kit. Excellent job.

I don't think you can compare the two pictures. In the hoser picture you can see more of the HID beam. Notice how much of the hood is showing in both pictures. Also the distance of the beam is decieving. In the hoser picture you have the road curve directly in front of the beam.

Also...we are talking a 1 hour install vs a 2-3 project.

Cost on the XD was $379 shipped in April.

This was an easy choice for me. I'll post a lot of pics once I get mine installed this week.

 

[aedgington]

I don't think you can compare the two pictures. In the hoser picture you can see more of the HID beam. Notice how much of the hood is showing in both pictures. Also the distance of the beam is decieving. In the hoser picture you have the road curve directly in front of the beam.

Also...we are talking a 1 hour install vs a 2-3 project.

Cost on the XD was $379 shipped in April.

This was an easy choice for me. I'll post a lot of pics once I get mine installed this week.

What I'm looking at isn't distance so much as peripherary light.

 

[hoser]

I don't think you can compare the two pictures. In the hoser picture you can see more of the HID beam. Notice how much of the hood is showing in both pictures. Also the distance of the beam is decieving. In the hoser picture you have the road curve directly in front of the beam.

Also...we are talking a 1 hour install vs a 2-3 project.

Cost on the XD was $379 shipped in April.

This was an easy choice for me. I'll post a lot of pics once I get mine installed this week.

I agree it is difficult to compare light performance from pictures. I am not going to knock the XD kit because it is far easier to install and seems to produce good lighting... well at least people seem to be happy with it. The XD kit produces a very similiar beam pattern to stock... just brighter.

 

[aedgington]

Jim, baking the headlamp in the oven is common practice in the retrofit community. I initally was going to use my heatgun and work it slowly but I simply could not find my heatgun around the house. The oven thing work out fine and was much easier.

All the cool BMW owners who want clear corners bake our lights

 

[faxsmoulder]

Hi Guys,

Im very new here and i'm driving this Lexus LX470. I installed a HID kit a year ago and finally realize why is my Driving Lamp isnt as bright as it suppose to be. Hoser is correct, that i need to replace the Projector Lamp "Lens" to HID type instead currently using the Halogen type. My driving light is like HOSER before he retrofit his HID projector lens. Seen the picture before and after that was really amazing. That should HID suppose to be.

Anyone has any idea if i buy the whole new 05/06 head lamp would it fit into my 02 LX470. I'm also planning to facelift the rear lamp to LED type. That was so so amazing. I hope the 05/06 headlamp comes with HID projector LENS.

 

[mot]

faxsmoulder,

Unless I'm mistaken hoser installed the whole projector assembly and not just the "lense".

And as to why your high beams are dim, again unless I'm mistaken it "seems" dim because your low with HID is so much brighter, throwing so much light right in front of you, making it more difficult to see (for your eyes to see) further down the road with your poor halogen highs.

Not sure if the 100's lows turn off when you flash/turn the highs on (doubt it), but if that were the case, then it takes a few seconds for your eyes to get adjusted to seeing something not as bright (things afar with highs one) after seeing something bright (close by with your HID lows on).

You can try putting in the HID replacements in your highs, but I would not recommend that as HID's take something like 20-30 seconds before reaching optimal brightness and they don't like to be "flashed" too often, either.

Maybe a brighter highbeam bulbs with beefier harness or HIR bulbs might be in order. I think there's a FAQ section on lighting, perhaps in the 80's section.

Anyway, welcome aboard and good luck!

Mot

 

[SALEH]

hoser their is any kit to make my LC Projectors head lights ??

 

[faxsmoulder]

Mot:

Well my Low Beam is dim not High Beam. The effect is exactly like how HOSER put those 2 example pictures before and after. So i think to maximize the perfromance of my HID i need to retrofit the projector module with Borch e46 module. I think this would be best affordable wat instead changing the whole front headlamp. Still dunno if that would fit into my LX 470

 

[mot]

Mot:

Well my Low Beam is dim not High Beam. The effect is exactly like how HOSER put those 2 example pictures before and after. So i think to maximize the perfromance of my HID i need to retrofit the projector module with Borch e46 module. I think this would be best affordable wat instead changing the whole front headlamp. Still dunno if that would fit into my LX 470

I see.

I think with a little research (which hoser has done the fruit of it), wrenching and creativity, anything is possible.

Good luck!

 

[HearMyLX]

low quality.. pictures taken off my cell phone

 

[faxsmoulder]

hearmyLX:

Nice ride buddy. Very Very Bright. U fitted with aftermarket HID? hehe nice dude mind to share wat you had done to that car on the headlamp including the foglamp.

Well i love to drive in Bright light cuz i clock myself alot during night time.

cheers