Driving Lights - D3/RRS

I have a very simple question, please excuse my ignorance.

I have a 2009 D3 with the Bi-Xenon lights.

Is the HID highbeam upgrade as simple as replacing the high beam globe or is it more complex.

I do not do many country miles, but have to date found the lighting to be more than adequate for my driving. Early on I in my ownership I did a trip down to Adelaide and a couple of the days ended late and I found the high beams excellent, but if an HID upgrade was simple then it would be a relatively cheap and easy improvement.

I would not contemplate a set of driving lights unless I get around to doing some outback touring and this would be combined with the fitment of a bar anyway.

Again apologies for the very simple question but the discussion about light spectrums etc has flown well over my head.

George.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike_S

The HID replacements you have for the high beams, don't suppose you have a link or details of them to hand do you?

---

Mike, the HID replacements are for the quartz halogen infill high beams. I purchased H7 55W HID's at 6000k colour from eBay Australia. Seller was in Aust & had Aust stock. Sellers name was "celli_electronics". The ballasts incorporated "integrated canbus & warning light cancellation technology". So no error codes on the D4's computers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DiscoWeb

Is the HID highbeam upgrade as simple as replacing the high beam globe or is it more complex. ...
Again apologies for the very simple question but the discussion about light spectrums etc has flown well over my head.

---

George, the upgrade was easy. Change QH bulb for HID bulb. Drill hole in the plastic cap LR has fitted in the back of each headlamp to access the HQ bulb. Fit HID replacement grommet and wiring loom. Zip tie HID ballast, plug in HID wiring loom to L/R HQ bulb plug. Easy as. The most difficult bit is the hole saw drilling in the plastic cap.

Re colour spectrums, the following info I've ripped from a HID replacement bulb's web site:

It is a common misconception, that the higher you go in colour temperature, (8000k, 10000k, 12000k) the brighter your headlights are. This is false. The higher you go in colour temperature the lower the actual amount of light that is put onto the road.
So what colour do you choose? 4300k is the OEM standard of factory HID lighting systems, which as mentioned is bright white with a slight yellow hue. 5000k is as close to pure white as you can get. 6000k is the most popular, as it is bright white with a slight blue tinge. Any higher than 6000k and you get a more noticeable blue tinge right up to 12,000k which is a blue / purple light.

Colour Temperature (Kelvin)

Colour Description

3000K

Yellow light (suitable for fog lights)

4300K

White light with tinges of yellow (OEM standard)

5000K

Pure White Light

6000K

White light with tinges of blue

8000K

Distinct blue colour light

10,000K

Bluish-green light

12,000K

Bluish-purple light

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DiscoWeb

I have a very simple question, please excuse my ignorance. I have a 2009 D3 with the Bi-Xenon lights. Is the HID high beam upgrade as simple as replacing the high beam globe or is it more complex. George.

---

The link below is to a thread on disco3 where they are changing the low beam quartz to HID. There are a couple of jpg's showing drilling the rear of the low line D3 lamp casings and mounting the ballast.

Where you already have the high line HID projectors, I think the H7R bulb could to into the quartz high beam hole in the same manner.

DISCO3.CO.UK - View topic - HIDS4U HID Conversion Kit Anti Glare - STOP HID Glare

for HID info

The Retrofit Source online: headlight upgrades for all applications

go to TRS Tech for an explanation of HID.


this link for LED light bars & HID

Home - Vision X USA

There is no upgrade for HID globes, as stated by others you need around 4000k which is OEMish.

There are some excellent upgrades for projector lenses & units [see above link] , etc, see above link & to a lesser extent reflector units, which don't apply to Discos.

You cannot fit a HID to a halogen reflector and get a best result. The focus is different as the HID globe is longer. Thats what causes the glare problem.
After market units use a system where the globe move back and forth to give a "bi" effect, not the correct shutter system. Most shutters are switchable left hand drive to RHD, just swap the shutter around.
From memeory the high is not great as a lot of light is lost due to the light design, so a dedicated high beam/driving light is better.

but,

A lot of cars have halogen high beams as the HID takes too long to come on and if repeatedly flashed the unit over heats and will switch off to protect itsself.

HID are illeagal to fit unless the light has a self levelling adjustment.
HID only draw 35watts, so easier on the electrics.
A good HID should have less glare because of the cut off. Usually its halogen converted units that have too much glare.

The Jaycar units , Response, use the globe moving system. Don't buy.

I have a HID in my motorbike, Duke 907, and its only good for two reasons, a/ less watts needed in a marginal charging system, b/ more glare works well to warn drivers!!
Lights are still crap at night for the focus reasons.

All light we see is reflective, yellow lights are just lower luminance so they appear to reflect less, but they may give more contrast in the snow, its why we wear yellow goggles!


Is amber light better in foul weather than white light?

From the Vision site;
Amber colored lights perform better in foul weather conditions such as fog, snow, and rain because they remove the blue light waves from the spectrum. Blue light is the hardest color for the eye to work with because of its short wave length and because of the glare that this creates. When the amber light hits and bounces back off the snow, fog, or rain, etc., because there is no blue light, there is less glare that blue light provides in "backscatter" off of the visual obstruction, making the amber light less distracting to the eyes and therefore making it a better performer in foul weather.

I'm just going to put a pair of lights on the ARB bar. Just need to decide 2 things:

1. Brand of light. Really like the Hella alloy ones but at $1500 each from a dealer...

2. Rectangular or Round? There's a few pictures I've found with round, and they look OK, but have not seen any with the rectangular lights.

I gather that rectangular lights lend themselves to wide beam fog type beam patterns; round lights to distance lighting.

In reality, with Hella one can purchase either way; with Light Force, I think about all they have is different diameters of round.

If one is putting $3,000.00 worth of lights on the front of the 3, I think I would be insuring each light individually. That makes a windscreen look cheap. I think I might want to mount them up real high, keep them dirty, and hope no one notices them.:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bbyer

I think I might want to mount them up real high, keep them dirty, and hope no one notices them.:)

---

Might have to mount them backwards for protection from stones at that price!

For the money, they are not worth it - just look spectacular with the metal body and the way they are constructed.

Lightforce are a nice brand, and a possibility as is IPF. I tend to shop at the high end of the market these days, and usually end up with somthing that is well supported both locally and overseas as you never know when you may need parts. Some of the cheap chinese lights are changed so often that you are screwed if you want to get parts.

On the other hand, they are so cheap, you can just replace them I guess. Time to go looking seriously for lights I guess at the next 4wd show in February (I'm not in a hurry)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Graeme

Might have to mount them backwards for protection from stones at that price!

---

I must have jinxed myself with this comment as my 3 months old windscreen now has a significant crack from a rock thrown by a truck that just had to cut a slight bend.

Ouch!

Sorry to hear about that. Not going to be cheap unless you have a 'free yearly windscreen' in your insurance.