Hey guys im trying to find out if anyone has changed out their headilghts to something with a neon tint to it. Similar to HID lights, or the BMW style. If you have what did you use, hows it look. i dont want to screw up anything but i miss my bmw lights.

Hey guys im trying to find out if anyone has changed out their headilghts to something with a neon tint to it. Similar to HID lights, or the BMW style. If you have what did you use, hows it look. i dont want to screw up anything but i miss my bmw lights.

well, these are nice I had them on my gto and now I got some for my G8, there nice inexpensive and easy to install.

http://www.prolightstar.com/nokya-arctic-white-h11.html

I forget which are the headlights h9 or h11 both are same price.

How about a true HID kit from one of our sponsors? Then you get the looks and awesome light output. Hopefully my kit has shipped and I will post pictures once it's installed. I went with a 55W slim ballast kit using 5000k bulbs. My night vision sucks, so every bit of usable light helps me. I'm not so big on colored headlights that compromise ones ability to see better while driving down the road.

how hard are these universal kits to install? I had thought about doing HIDs on previous cars, but I don't want a bunch of messy wiring. Just plug and play. Comes from 4 years of working in car audio. Go Figure.

Well according to the GTO forum, they are easy to install. With the adapter harness you hook up a positive and ground to the battery, it's fused inline, and everything else plugs into the ballast or OE headlight harness. You disable the DRL system by pulling fuse 21 if I remember right. I will do a write up when I install mine, but it seems all you need to do is drill a hole in the dust cover on the back of the projector, install the gromet, and run the wires. The ballasts are very small and easy to mount under the hood. The GTO guys put them near the frame rails on the front clip, so that is what I'm shooting for as well.

That would work for me. :)

How about a true HID kit from one of our sponsors?

:search:
A quick search would have taken you to this thread:
http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1946

You disable the DRL system by pulling fuse 21 if I remember right.

This is good to know either way... I hope you're right. I hate DTRL so that'll be one of the first things I do.

:)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you flip the light switch to the "off" position, doesn't it turn off the DRLs? I know it's a spring loaded toggle switch, but when I flipped it to off (which is a counter-clockwise turn) my light indicator on my dash went off...

Well according to the GTO forum, they are easy to install. With the adapter harness you hook up a positive and ground to the battery, it's fused inline, and everything else plugs into the ballast or OE headlight harness. You disable the DRL system by pulling fuse 21 if I remember right. I will do a write up when I install mine, but it seems all you need to do is drill a hole in the dust cover on the back of the projector, install the gromet, and run the wires. The ballasts are very small and easy to mount under the hood. The GTO guys put them near the frame rails on the front clip, so that is what I'm shooting for as well.

I dunno y u wanna turn off ur DRL's i know some of the kits that u have to do that and if u dont u'll burn a fuse or somethin like that, the kits that I have on my car (also installed them on more then 15 cars now) didnt have to take any fuses out and the DRL's r running perfectly, they r just plug n play and since the G8 has 2 lights (high and low, correct me if im wrong) unlike the GTO one bulb for both, the installation becomes easier, no grounding, or wires to the battery, u just have to plug the harness and thats all it is, the worst part of it is finding a spot for those harnesses, in my car ive got 6 ( 2 high, 2 low, 2 fog). I can send u a link just PM me.

The reason you need to disable DRLs with HIDs is because the wear on HID "bulbs" comes from turning them on and off. The more times you cycle them the faster they wear out.

Also for anyone onsidering HID retrofit kits, I recommend reading my post here: http://www.g8board.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43853&postcount=43

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you flip the light switch to the "off" position, doesn't it turn off the DRLs? I know it's a spring loaded toggle switch, but when I flipped it to off (which is a counter-clockwise turn) my light indicator on my dash went off...

Yea it does, lot easier then pulling fuses.

Hey thanks to all you guys, any prefered vendors that i should look into?

Yea it does, lot easier then pulling fuses.

this is ture but the trouble with that is that the lights still come on when you start the car, and then you are turning them off again. you dont want to have all the on/off going on. with the fuse out they dont come on till you need them and turn them on. last much longer this way.

Yea it does, lot easier then pulling fuses.

Question; to disable DTRLs, do you remove fuse or relay? And will the auto lamp function still operate?
On some vehicles, if the DTRL function is turned off or disabled, the auto lamps will not operate.

There is a DRL relay in the panel on the driver floor kick panel. Remove the DRL relay that is closer to the firewall. Stops the DRL's and has no effect on the auto H/L's.

How about a true HID kit from one of our sponsors? Then you get the looks and awesome light output. Hopefully my kit has shipped and I will post pictures once it's installed. I went with a 55W slim ballast kit using 5000k bulbs. My night vision sucks, so every bit of usable light helps me. I'm not so big on colored headlights that compromise ones ability to see better while driving down the road.

Did you ever get around to installing the ballast hid kit on your car? Im curious as to how they look. Im eager to purchase a kit, but i dont know what company makes the best kits.

Did you ever get around to installing the ballast hid kit on your car? Im curious as to how they look. Im eager to purchase a kit, but i dont know what company makes the best kits.

I'll be installing them this weekend. I will take plenty of pictures of the install and any brackets I fabricate on my shear and box/pan brake. I'm not sure if any are needed, but I really like a ultra clean install.

The reason you need to disable DRLs with HIDs is because the wear on HID "bulbs" comes from turning them on and off. The more times you cycle them the faster they wear out.

Also for anyone onsidering HID retrofit kits, I recommend reading my post here: http://www.g8board.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43853&postcount=43


I believe the real reason that you you should disable DRL's is that HID's are not meant to run on the lower power that DRL mode gives your headlights.

I believe the real reason that you you should disable DRL's is that HID's are not meant to run on the lower power that DRL mode gives your headlights.

Exactly.

HID's are designed to run at full power all the time. Partial/lower power to HID's will ruin the ballast. Many cars (from the factory) run HID's as their DRL's - but that's because DRL mode for HID's is full power all the time. In addition to pulling the relay, you may also need to upgrade the headlight fuse to run HID's. While HID's are more energy efficient when they're on, they use a lot of energy on start up.

mrl

I'm running a sub-harness to get full battery power to the ballasts. The only thing the stock harness will do is trigger the lights on and off using the relay within the add on harness. The DRL's will work, I just don't want to run the HIDs all the time. If you do not use an upgrade harness, then you need to disable the DRLs. I would not recommend upgrading the fusing within the panel since the wiring and fusing is usually sized together. There are times larger wiring is used, but that is not to say the headlight switch, or lighting control module can handle that increased draw. The high power harness eliminates that issue by drawing power for the ballasts directly from the battery through it's own dedicated fuses harness.

I'm running a sub-harness to get full battery power to the ballasts. The only thing the stock harness will do is trigger the lights on and off using the relay within the add on harness. The DRL's will work, I just don't want to run the HIDs all the time. If you do not use an upgrade harness, then you need to disable the DRLs. I would not recommend upgrading the fusing within the panel since the wiring and fusing is usually sized together. There are times larger wiring is used, but that is not to say the headlight switch, or lighting control module can handle that increased draw. The high power harness eliminates that issue by drawing power for the ballasts directly from the battery through it's own dedicated fuses harness.

EXACTLY!!! I also have a relay kit that runs off the battery. It works perfect! My first set was used as a plug and play only but the low voltage shorted my ballasts. Sinces using the relay kit I no longer have that problem. Also instead of disabling the DRL's, I just hold my light switch to the left before ignition to keep them from coming on!

I believe the real reason that you you should disable DRL's is that HID's are not meant to run on the lower power that DRL mode gives your headlights.

That's true as well, but even at full powere cycling them on and off frequntly (as DRLs will do) is will severly shorten their life. Probably want to disable the auto headlight feature too.

EXACTLY!!! I also have a relay kit that runs off the battery. It works perfect! My first set was used as a plug and play only but the low voltage shorted my ballasts. Sinces using the relay kit I no longer have that problem. Also instead of disabling the DRL's, I just hold my light switch to the left before ignition to keep them from coming on!


i have HIDs and it takes maybe 30 seconds to take out the relay just pull it with your fingers and it comes right out. now, even tho you turn the switch to the left, the car still thinks it wants to turn the lights on so it will still send a little energy to that relay when you startup. basically the car is focused on starting before it takes a split second to realize that not to turn the lights on.

and if you want to have your daytime running lights on, then when the cars on turn the key all the way to the left. its just like turning it to the left only the other direction and you dont have to remember to hold the switch at every startup.

That's true as well, but even at full powere cycling them on and off frequntly (as DRLs will do) is will severly shorten their life. Probably want to disable the auto headlight feature too.

Let me chime in here. I have a 2002 GMC Envoy that a week after I bought it I installed a Phillips HID headlight system in it and it is still going strong here in 2008 without disabling the DRLs.

The issue I had with the DRLs, is something called Pulse Width Modulation (I think). Instead of your headlights (conventional bulbs) receving less than 12-14V so your headlights are on dim with DRLs, a pulse of voltage 0V, 12V, 0V, 12V is sent to the headlight continuously. Since that voltage is what is used to switch the relay on and off for the HIDs which then takes power from the battery to the HID lights, the relays have a loud hum and the HIDs actually flicker or stobe. I don't know how the G8s run the DRLs, but if it is the same, you just have to install a small capacitor (as I did) in line before the relay to filter out the 0V, 12V pulse , so the relay only sees the 12V and the HIDs work great.

So I don't really think the cycle time of the bulb is the issue with reduced longevity, but agree that it is the overall hours the bulbs are in use, but they should last much longer than a conventinal headlight bulb. Just my $.02.

HID bulbs don't wear from use, they wear from startup.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) systems in cars are similar to street and stadium lamps, but are filled with xenon gas instead of argon to facilitate faster warmup times (HIDs take about a minute to reach full brightness.) They produce light (much whiter than halogens, with a tinge of blue on the outside edges) by creating an arc between two electrodes at either end of a quartz or aluminum oxide tube. The tube is filled metal halide salts, which vaporize under the heat from the arc (approx. 2000 F) and turn into light producing plasma. When the arc is turned off the metal halide vapor cools and recondenses into its original "salt" state. HIDs utilize an external ballast with an ignitor that pulses several thousand volts through the bulb for startup, then regulates the system at either 85V (D1 and D2 systems) or 42V (newer, mercury-free D3 and D4 systems) during normal operation. Once warmed up most HIDs put out between 2800 and 3500 lumens using 35-38 watts.

Also, unlike halogen bulbs which "wear" continuously HID bulbs only wear during startup, when a small amount of the anode and cathode material (usually tungsten) is burned away. Thus the lifespan of an HID bulb is almost entirely determined by how often you turn the lights on and off. Most HID manufacturers rate the bulbs for a lifespan of 2000-2500 hours for the average user. If most of your night time trips are short (or for some reason you enjoy turning your lights on and off) you'll get closer to the lower end of that range, if most of your night trips are long it should be near the upper end.

HID bulbs don't wear from use, they wear from startup.

High Intensity Discharge (HID) systems in cars are similar to street and stadium lamps, but are filled with xenon gas instead of argon to facilitate faster warmup times (HIDs take about a minute to reach full brightness.) They produce light (much whiter than halogens, with a tinge of blue on the outside edges) by creating an arc between two electrodes at either end of a quartz or aluminum oxide tube. The tube is filled metal halide salts, which vaporize under the heat from the arc (approx. 2000 F) and turn into light producing plasma. When the arc is turned off the metal halide vapor cools and recondenses into its original "salt" state. HIDs utilize an external ballast with an ignitor that pulses several thousand volts through the bulb for startup, then regulates the system at either 85V (D1 and D2 systems) or 42V (newer, mercury-free D3 and D4 systems) during normal operation. Once warmed up most HIDs put out between 2800 and 3500 lumens using 35-38 watts.

Also, unlike halogen bulbs which "wear" continuously HID bulbs only wear during startup, when a small amount of the anode and cathode material (usually tungsten) is burned away. Thus the lifespan of an HID bulb is almost entirely determined by how often you turn the lights on and off. Most HID manufacturers rate the bulbs for a lifespan of 2000-2500 hours for the average user. If most of your night time trips are short (or for some reason you enjoy turning your lights on and off) you'll get closer to the lower end of that range, if most of your night trips are long it should be near the upper end.

OK...good tip.....good to know.:wink2:

Did you ever get around to installing the ballast hid kit on your car? Im curious as to how they look. Im eager to purchase a kit, but i dont know what company makes the best kits.

Installed:

http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3450