[C2U5H]

There's been a lot of talk about H4 HID "retrofits" on here and I wanted to shed some light on the subject (wow, you know I've been waiting a while for that one).

If you don't know, the argument is this: using HID bulbs in headlights designed for an H4 incandescent bulb is stupid, wrong, and sinful ... at least that's how some people tend to make it seem. The reason is because the HID bulbs create and direct light at a different location than an H4 bulb which causes the focus of the beam to be less defined and the low beam cutoff to be less than desirable.

Sure that's true--it's not up for debate. But to the extent that some go through to prove that it's dangerous, like these HID retrofits in OUR E-CODE AFTERMARKET H4 HOUSINGS are more or less machine guns that shoot people in their eyes as they're driving by ... they're not. Stop exaggerating. Of course, if you don't attempt to adjust your headlights correctly and to the best of your ability, yeah--they're bright and they'll get'cha.

I've tested my kit over two nights of driving, both night with two hours worth of driving (so far), with one night including some heavy fog. So that's four hours of driving with these bad boys ... no one flashed their headlights at me. I had my friend drive down my street towards me while I drove the opposite way: he said that you definitely know that they're there, but by no means was it "blinding" or dangerous in any way because I aimed them right. I don't know what kind of proof 'ya want.

Let me make this clear: I'm not debating that my HIDs are a little less focused and defined than my H4 bulbs. I'm just not willing to shell out $600+ for a projector kit--simple as that. I wanted to find out for myself how these things really work instead of reading about it on an internet forum.

So I went online, researched for about two weeks, and ordered a 4300K H4 HID "kit" (with bulbs, ballasts, and wiring harness) from FashTek.com. He's a young, local guy (lives like 30 minutes away from me) and even displays his AOL AIM screen name for customer service-related questions which I did. Very knowledgable, and explained how the bi-xenon kit works, why it's better than other kits, and the research he's done on it. He's not claiming he made it (it's made in China), but he said it was the best, affordable kit he's tested. Total cost including shipping was $205 and shipped to me the next day (probably b/c he's only 35 miles away, LOL). This is a bi-xenon kit, so the high beam and low beam are both HID ... the bulb has a little electromagnet in it that shifts the bulb to reflect the beam higher. It's pretty neat looking going from low to high beam and vice-versa.

Install was easy--took an hour--but I don't have pictures since it's night time right now ... plus I haven't gotten the ballast bolted down exactly where I want them to be (it's hard because the harness is pre-terminated and I don't wanna slice it all up to extend the leads).

But just to appease the masses, here's some before and afters. Now realize, the H4 photos are from about two years ago when I first installed them, and obviously the HIDs are from just now (just explaining why the H4s aren't shot on my garage door):

H4 Low Beams:


HID Low Beams:


H4 High Beams:


HID High Beams:


Just a video of ignition, warm-up, and high beam flash:
[YT]k-oi2F9186U[/YT]

Both bulb sets are in the same Cibie E-code headlamps. The HIDs need to be aimed a little more spread out and a little higher. I aimed them really low to start out just to make sure I wasn't blinding anybody on my maiden voyage.

There is some tweaking to be done ... I've discovered that I can get rid of that above-cutoff glare in the HID low beams if I pull the HID bulbs out of the headlamp a little. What I'm going to try to do is run a thick bead of silicon sealant on the base of the HID bulb, (wait for it to completely dry) and reinstall, I can pull the bulb about a 1/4" "back" out of the housing (kind of like focusing a flashlight). I've already did it by hand and it worked great for getting a distinct cutoff, I just have to see if the silicon will work at keeping it there. I'll also have to bend the clips to keep the bulb in the housing b/c it'll be too tight. I'll work on that tomorrow.

Overall, I'm very impressed of the kit. It was complete. Included 20A & 25A fuses for the control unit power--wiring harness was the definition of plug-n-play--brackets for mounting the ballasts, and crappy instructions (nothing I didn't expect from a kit made in China ... anyone with half a brain can figure out how the harness goes). The right bulb flickers once or twice on warm-up but is rock-solid once it's warmed-up (about 10 seconds from ignition).

I'll post install pictures sometime soon, as well as a driving night video/pictures when I get everything the way I like it.

Cheers!
~J

[C2U5H]

Figured I'd post these up, too. Forgot to on the initial post.

Just trying to show the slight "glare" ... believe it not, the camera kind of exaggerates it. Take it as it is.

Head on, above low beam cut off:


Sorry, I misquoted--this is actually the low beam BELOW the cut off ... the high beam picture just turned out all white, LOL:


To the side, low beam:


~J

[rubidriver]

Pretty cool.

[raskull]

Looks nice, they seem to be miles brighter than the H4's you had. What H4 setup did you have by the way?

I wonder how that electromagnetic bulb moving thing will stand up to the rigors of offroading. I will admit though, the way it looks when you flash your high beams does look pretty cool. :P

Nice write-up.

[Twitchy]

The H4's totally changed my driving experience for the better especially for work going down lease roads with lots of critters standing just off to the side wondering if they can make a dash across the road.

[rubidriver]

Any way to get some matching fogs?

[Twitchy]

try some PIAA's, I run a set of 6" PIAA's on the front bumper and they rock for additional light.

[rubidriver]

Originally Posted by Twitchy

try some PIAA's, I run a set of 6" PIAA's on the front bumper and they rock for additional light.

Im talking about HID fogs. When I say fogs I really mean driving lights, I dont think HID lights would work great in the fog. I think it would be bad *** to have matching HID driving lights.

[C2U5H]

Originally Posted by rubidriver

Any way to get some matching fogs?

Originally Posted by Twitchy

try some PIAA's, I run a set of 6" PIAA's on the front bumper and they rock for additional light.

you can get the same type of kit in pretty much any bulb size, but I'm probably going to try a set of these and see how they do compared to an incandescent aux light (click the picture to go to the product page):



For more expensive alternatives, look at KC HiLites' and LightForce's HID aux lights.

~J

[Laloggia]

I also have the 4300k H4 HID kit and love them...i can actually see the road signs now. Have had them for about a month and have never been flashed by an oncoming car. I also pointed them slightly down and to the right. These are a must have.

[C2U5H]

Finished bolting down the ballasts and getting all the wiring cleaned up. It's not the most beautiful install ever, but it's relatively clean. I'll be adding some wire loom and heat reflective tape whenever I get my butt to Lowes.

Like I said before, the wiring harness is pre-terminated and I didn't want to hack it all up, so I had to get to thinking how to get the passenger side harness run across the front of the Jeep ... I chose to go along the top of the front clip along the radiator top/cap (that's why I'm going to wrap it in heat reflective tape).

Here some install pics:

Here's the driver's side ballast. I wanted to mount it as high as possible to keep water and dirt away, so I bolted it to the top of the fuse panel. It's right at home there. And can you tell it's time for an auxiliary fuse box? LOL.


Just a closer look at the driver's side ballast ... has plenty of hood clearance and is vibration-free:


There's really no way to mount the control unit ... no tabs or holes or anything, but it fits perfectly press lightly in between the A/C line and air box ... don't worry there's literally no pressure being put on the control box or the A/C line ... just enough to keep it there:


Passenger side bulb ... the new HID bulb extends a little farther back than the H4 bulb did but it has plenty of room. You can see the old H4 female connector that the kit uses as the relay signal, and you can also see how the driver's side harness heads over that way up and in front of the radiator:


Driver's side ballast bolted to an existing hole above the shock mount. Grounded to the same bolt:


Driver's side bulb ... because it extends a little further back than the H4 bulb did, you have to unbolt the front stock horn to get the bulb in there right:


Making sure it still works with a little help from Jaxson and Josie:



I'm going to leave the headlight bezels off so I can tweak the aiming tonight.
~J

[theripper66]

i was thinking of trying this on my 1990 cherokee. i bought Delta's h4 conversion and they are way better than stock but still dont satisfy me. im guessing that i could buy the same kit you did and install in on my rig?

[C2U5H]

Originally Posted by theripper66

i was thinking of trying this on my 1990 cherokee. i bought Delta's h4 conversion and they are way better than stock but still dont satisfy me. im guessing that i could buy the same kit you did and install in on my rig?

Right now, since every kit/bulb is made a little differently and different aftermarket headlights (E-code or not) will effect the light pattern a little more or less ... so it's really just up to you whether you want to take a gamble, shell out ~$200, and see how it goes. I can't see a properly-aimed aftermarket E-code lamp being any worse than "okay." Some or probably better than others, but since there's only a handful of us that have tried it, we don't know yet!

~J

[theripper66]

very true. im super stoked to try it but at the same time 200 bucks for a college student is a gamble and a half. but weather i do it next month or next year im super excited to see how it goes and hopefully learn something along the way.

[NJHCx4xLIFE]

Originally Posted by theripper66

very true. im super stoked to try it but at the same time 200 bucks for a college student is a gamble and a half. but weather i do it next month or next year im super excited to see how it goes and hopefully learn something along the way.

You could try the vvme kits for a lot less money but you also don't get any support from them. Trying to understand thier responses to questions on shipping was hard enough. Seems the vvme kits last as a lot of what I've read on forums for all different types of cars seems to suggest the kits last just fine. I'm definitely reconsidering though after seeing this thread and might just wait and get this kit considering it is shipping from the US and you can get in contact with them if there is an issue.