5000K HID - Information, Installation, and finished product pictures and video.

Actually, on second look, its not exactly the same kit. Its very, very similar though, I suspect it might be the same kit rebranded. Mine is from xentec.

I personally thought they were more than an inconvenience. They were a total pain in the nice person. I guess thats how they get the ballast so slim - by taking out half the parts and putting them in another box. The little brick was too heavy to just zip tie to the wires coming back the other way, I felt like if it swung around it might slowly unstick the ballast.

The ebay auction was also very deceptive and didnt show the little breakout box - thats why I bought it in the first place.

It looked like this:

"HID, Xenon, McCulloch, HID, top hid, brightest hid, McCulloch HID, Conversion, HidGarage XENTEC ULTRA SLIM HID KIT

Anytime you're putting in HIDs you have to be imaginative and find space for those little ballasts. Finding space for two linked boxes made the whole process way more difficult. I highly recommend people just get the ones with the single ballast and no breakout box like this:

http://www.amazon.com/XenTec-conversion-8000K-Single-thunder/dp/B000O54P16

I've actually had that same kit running for 2+ years on a celica without a problem.

I would be really worried about velcro - a pothole could probably break that loose, and then god knows what can happen if its banging around the engine bay. I'd at least zip tie it down just in case.

Yeah, the weather certainly didnt help. I wasnt even out there for long before I was drenched in sweat. Really irritated that I went through all that for nothing, but its such an easy mod that I had it ripped out and the halogens back on in under 5 minutes.

Either the ebay seller can take it back gracefully, or Ill reverse the charges on my credit card and he'll get screwed out of more than I paid. In a way I'm actually kind of happy that it died ASAP, that way I can get rid of it and get a proper one piece ballast. Not to mention I swear the seller gave me a 5000K bulb when I specifically asked for 4300K.

 

You might want to look into a relay kit. I had the same issue with my HIDExtra kit and once I got the relay in, it worked great no problems! Well, there was one problem but I think that's more my fault. With the relay kit, I mounted the relay itself a little too far down in the engine bay and it got wet and eventually failed. Being only $16, I just picked up another and mounted it in a better location and ran it along the wiper cowl rather than along the front of the engine bay.

 

what is the function of the relay kit?

 

^^ Its so that the ballasts draw power directly from a 12v source rather than the headlight connectors. It makes it so that the h11 connectors just function as a switch.

lulz - hows your cutoff? Mine aren't flat and its a bit annoying. I'm wondering if my cutoff is out of the norm since i have a few friends with OEM projectors on their scions who have a pretty flat cutoff (for halogen projectors).

 

Its similar. I'll try and snap a pic but I sold my camera and I'm waiting for my new one to get delivered. I'll see if I can borrow my friends and load it up though.

 

I get it on the relay but where does the 12v source come from then?

 

Yup, that's exactly how I ran my relay.

 

I reseated my bulbs last night and my cutoff is pretty good now. Not bad for halogen projectors anyway. Still considering a retro though

 

So the ebay seller sent me new ballasts, the larger, less expensive type.

These are night and day superior to the "slim" ones. First off, they didnt blow immediately. Theyre fatter, but not really much larger, but having just one box to mount instead of two just makes the whole process a million times simpler with the limited space available.

Still two problems though - first, theres still some mild flickering/twinkling. Its not like a strobe where it clearly goes on and off, but it's not entirely stable in brightness like it probably should be. I googled it, and some people seem to recommend using a relay to fix the problem, some recommend a capacitor. Which is the right way to go?

Also, these are most definitely not 4300K bulbs. They are 5000K or 6000K. I want pure OEM white, not this blue stuff. Does anyone know a reliable place/seller to get true 4300K bulbs?

Overall I'm satisfied though.

 

This is the ridiculous shade of green the HID bulbs I have put out. Theyre also rather terrible at lighting up the road.

Above is a "white" LED, which is probably 6000-8000K. To the right is the standard halogen high beam.

God only knows what color temp that "4300K" bulb is. I'm guessing they just grabbed two bulbs off a shelf and hoped I wouldnt notice the difference.

 

I have a set of slim ballasts and a set of regular ballasts and the output and consistency of the bigger ballasts is night and day. The larger ones also have a fast warm up time and the slims which seem to have a slightly bluer look even with the same bulbs.

edit: BTW, flickering is a sign of a bad ballast so swap those for some new ones and it should fix the problem. I'd also recommend a relay because it'll give a constant power and save your OEM plugs.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely going to order a relay and see if that helps with the flickering. It's very mild and I could probably live with it honestly.

I've also noticed the larger ballasts are about a million times cooler - the slim ones will burn your fingers if you touch them, the larger ones just get a little warm.

They say theyre going to swap out the bulbs after I sent them a picture - thats the bulbs after about 20 minutes. Theyre noticeably bluer for the first minute or so, then they even out to a nice lime green.

I actually like the LEDs though - they look much bluer in the pic because theyre the dimmest of the three lights and that seems to put more of the color into the picture. But IRL they look like a good 6000-8000K which looks great combined with a proper 4300K.

 

Got in touch with the seller, and they claim that they correctly sent me 4300K bulbs. Impossible. Theyre noticeably blue looking at the lights, and the light up the road extremely poorly due to the blueness. So there's no way I can buy another set of bulbs from these guys. In fact, I'm way of buying bulbs from anyone at this point, especially cheap ones.

I'd really like to order proper 4300K bulbs from someone, but I cant figure out how to tell the quality from the crap. There's no way for me to know with this aftermarket junk whether the bulbs I'm looking at are the same cheap crap marked up, or whether theyre actually superior with some decent quality control.

Can anyone recommend somewhere where I can buy quality bulbs, that are actually the color theyre supposed to be?

 

check this out, bulbs alone are $160
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...one-using-55w-hid-ballasts-2.html#post1098945




here they are
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Phil...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories



found these rebased philips bulbs
http://www.xenonfactory.com/products/hid/rebased.htm