Best HID ballasts?

[nando]

My 35 w hids are so much brighter and reach so much further than my old 9006 bulbs that if anything was even half that much brighter than they are now...

IE 50 w and better projectors....

They would be blinding.

I would like them a bit brighter someday. But I think anyone who does this upgrade will be ecstatic.

Truly bright halogen bulbs are probably close. I wont do a comparison. But they cost nearly what my set cost or at least half what my hid set cost, and they CLAIM they last 10% as long. so that is just too expensive.

When I find some realie projectors in the junkyard someday Im taking them believe me. If I had a figure like...30% brighter or something itd be easier to walk down that road.

ALSO, im not interested in hid brights at the moment. Halogen brights are still meeting my needs.

here's the secret: the 55w kits aren't any brighter (at least not significantly). None of the OEMs make 55w HIDs, it's an aftermarket thing. heck, my new 35w kit is brigher than my 55w kit, because they just burn out the bulbs faster.

[nando]

Ya its only weak cause its no enforced. My friend fails cars for inspection if they have HID swapped.

you'd better not lower your car, or install a chip (emissions tampering), remove an airbag wheel, swap motors, put on aftermarket rims, because it could be ILLEGAL!

come on.. that has to be the lamest argument ever. also, we don't have inspections here. I've had numerous state patrol/sherifs/local cops see my car and never say anything about the lights. one even stopped me to tell me that one was out (the plug had come loose, I knew it but it was in the middle of my drive to work and I was almost there). never said anything about the lights themselves.

Hella projectors (and all "euro" ellipsoids) are illegal in the first place. So is using your fancy FXR projectors with a lense meant for a different projector. Whats your point? does it make you feel mightier because your friend will let your car pass inspection, but not mine? who cares?

Thought I will add this. If its such a legal better way to do lights than answer me this. Why does Hella and or Sylvania, two of the largest light makers, jump on the bandwagon? Oh wait your going to say thats what after market is for. Well I know for a fact that Hella will not sell its products to any vendor that sells HID kits that it knows of.

I don't even know what this paragraph is trying to say? They won't do it because it's illegal. Nobody was arguing otherwise.

[stamar]

My 35 w hids are so much brighter and reach so much further than my old 9006 bulbs that if anything was even half that much brighter than they are now...

IE 50 w and better projectors....

They would be blinding.

I would like them a bit brighter someday. But I think anyone who does this upgrade will be ecstatic.

Truly bright halogen bulbs are probably close. I wont do a comparison. But they cost nearly what my set cost or at least half what my hid set cost, and they CLAIM they last 10% as long. so that is just too expensive.

When I find some realie projectors in the junkyard someday Im taking them believe me. If I had a figure like...30% brighter or something itd be easier to walk down that road.

ALSO, im not interested in hid brights at the moment. Halogen brights are still meeting my needs.

[bmwguy325is]

The light doesn't "go everwhere". The cutoff is sharp and well defined. And no, i do not get flashed, not once in 5 years.

Now you're going to talk about legality? Weak argument.

Ya its only weak cause its no enforced. My friend fails cars for inspection if they have HID swapped.

Yeah - when mine worked the cutoff was pretty sharp - especially compared to sealed beams. This is with cheap 5000k bulbs. Later replaced with morimoto 4300k bulbs.

I know what they look like Ive had some. Either way you guys will do what you will and think what you think.

Thought I will add this. If its such a legal better way to do lights than answer me this. Why does Hella and or Sylvania, two of the largest light makers, jump on the bandwagon? Oh wait your going to say thats what after market is for. Well I know for a fact that Hella will not sell its products to any vendor that sells HID kits that it knows of.

[Turf1600]

Yeah - when mine worked the cutoff was pretty sharp - especially compared to sealed beams. This is with cheap 5000k bulbs. Later replaced with morimoto 4300k bulbs.

[nando]

The light doesn't "go everwhere". The cutoff is sharp and well defined. And no, i do not get flashed, not once in 5 years.

Now you're going to talk about legality? Weak argument.

[bmwguy325is]

So, regarding looking cool....

Are you suggesting that rebased 4300k HID bulbs in US ellipsoids are not an improvement over my stock sealed beams? Because let me tell you what....when both of my bulbs actually fired with the shitty ballasts I had the light output was pretty impressive. Reflective signs would light up hundreds of yards away. However, my sealed beams put out about as much light as an oil lantern on a windy day.

With that said - what do you mean by "looking cool"? Does it look cool to have improved vision? I don't get your point.

I had real Hella ballasts dont rember what kelvin bulbs i had. Yes the are bright as hell cause the light emitted goes everywhere. It has no real good focus. Plus bottom line its illegal do the swap. Yes I know who has been caught? Try driving in Arizona LOL. The laws will catch up sooner or later. The other thing is the lack of focus is so annoying to on coming traffic. (insert) I have swapped HIDs I dont get flashed comment.
My real test was my favorite set of back roads on a moonless night. I almost wrecked from my lack of vision with HIDs. I swapped to high end hella bulbs and they worked 10xs better. A reflector is not a great thing to judge off of. My euro beams and Hella bulbs light up road signs before other cars on the road. How bout some animal in the road with no reflective paint on?
Oh and to answer your question go to the junk yard and get some ballasts from a euro car that had phillips or hella ones. Than cut the pig tail like the sweat shop kids do to work with your bulbs.

[stamar]

If you really wanted city lights, you could put led "bulbs" in. they "should" never need replacing.

or ccfl

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/216788347/CCFL_Angel_eyes_kits_for_BMW.html

would not last forever like an led but much cheaper.

Been done obviously but a reasonable project with drills. I would like that someday, seems like 20$ plus the wiring and drilling seems reasonable.

[stamar]

Would the cost leader be finding them in a junkyard?

ps if that last video was the easy way to do it Ive got these projects way on the back burner.

drawing out lines on plastic with a sharpie and carving them with a dremel tool is very advanced level to me.

Im glad I know about them though thanks.

[e30trooper]

e30trooper, if i send you my smileys, can you make them like yours? haha how much?

I would love to tackle this myself, but I don't have the time.

I could but it wouldnt be cheap. I looked today the mini h1 projectors cost 130 shipped. Thats not to bad. I might make a set and see how fitment is. The fxr is a much better projector but fitting them is hard. Anyway ill do some work soon and see how it goes.

[Turf1600]

And again old argument just my If you want to look cool do it.

So, regarding looking cool....

Are you suggesting that rebased 4300k HID bulbs in US ellipsoids are not an improvement over my stock sealed beams? Because let me tell you what....when both of my bulbs actually fired with the shitty ballasts I had the light output was pretty impressive. Reflective signs would light up hundreds of yards away. However, my sealed beams put out about as much light as an oil lantern on a windy day.

With that said - what do you mean by "looking cool"? Does it look cool to have improved vision? I don't get your point.

[DaveSmed]

ANY stock E30 light is designed to take light from a filament that is l-r coiled not length wise like HID.

Nitpicky point, but MOST stock E30 lights are designed for longitudinal filaments. H4, H1, 9005, 9006.....

[bmwguy325is]

I do not understand you.....

I am guessing people helped you get my point. I have ran HIDs in my euro lights. They were bright as all could be 10 feet in front of the car. But when I started not seeing things at night I switched back to halogen bulbs.

whats hes saying is be a cool guy like me ,Go big or go home.
theres a few of us on r3v running a true HID set up, using a projector MADE for HID's. Your 20+ year old projectors are not designed for hid's.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Some may argue that this is a biased report cause the guy sells light. But the science is there. Best analogy is square peg round hole. ANY stock E30 light is designed to take light from a filament that is l-r coiled not length wise like HID.
And again old argument just my If you want to look cool do it.

[DaveSmed]

My projectors are NOT 20 years old, thanks ;)

This makes an absolutely MASSIVE difference in output. Old housings are pretty much shiate.

...and I'm not about to cut up a set of $500 hella ellipsoids (which are now NLA)

NLA? Which ones? I have the colorlines. Thought they still made them.

[nando]

My projectors are NOT 20 years old, thanks ;)

My cutoff is plenty sharp. I'm not blinding people, my light output is far better than stock, and I'm not about to cut up a set of $500 hella ellipsoids (which are now NLA) for a slightly better cutoff. What a modern projector gets you is more efficient use of the hid's output, anyway, but the difference isn't big enough for me to worry about.

If you read TRS, they say even most of the OEM hid projectors, including BMW, are not very good. So just because it's newer, doesn't mean it's better.