Thread: Driving Lights - D3/RRS

Originally Posted by Geedublya

Usually Bi Zenons use the same HID bulb for low and high beam with a mechanical shutter changing the light spread. This prevents any problems with the HID taking time to warm up.
As far as I can tell the Bi Zenons on the D3 work this way with an auxiliary QH high beam light also.

I am planning to upgrade the QH hi beam to HID and then look at driving lights if that is not enough. I like the Lightforce but had it pointed out to me that the mounting bolt sticks out where anyone can access it which is always a concern here in Sydney. I intend to go with either Hella, IPF or 2 small LED (winch in the middle) bars if required.

That's exactly how my MY 2010 D4 SE works. Shutter partially covers Bi-xenon bulb at low beam and lifts for high. The Halogen 'fillers' then come on too.

Hi Garry,
I've been running Hid's for years now. With the set up on the D1 I had both HID's in the headlights and spotlights and it's like drivng around inside the MCG with all the stadium lights on, absolutely brilliant. The spotties were just the good ol' hella rallye 4000's with the 4500k HID insert kit in them and I still have them on the D3 and will never part with them. Personally I think that anything in the 4000k-6000k range is ideal. I noticed significantly less eye fatigue when doing long night driving stints and with 1 broad beam and 1 spot beam in the spotlight setup it gives me ample coverage in all directions. The spotties were purchased in 1996 and converted to HID in 2006.I have never replaced the HID bulbs. Considering it still only costs about $500 for the spot lights and $300 for the HID conversion kit it not a bad option. The rallye 4000's are a full offroad unit with a steel housing and if you smash a lenses you can buy it as a seperate item, same applies to the reflector if it gets damaged, something that some lights don't enable you to do.
Just for interests, the HID spotlights still wash out {over power}the bi-xenon headlights on the D3.
Another thing I found when I was travelling alot in the D1, with so much light out front, was the oncoming drivers would be flashing their high beams when they were still 5 km's or more away {WA alot of long flat roads} So I would probably say to much light even with the lights set a little more down angle than I would normally, not to mention when cornering or cresting hills, the lights completely wash out anyone else's lights {unless they had HID's too} and it's hard to know they are coming until you have given an eye full of white lights. This does tend to make people unhappy .Just something I think people should consider when setting up a lighting package. If you do go HID Garry look at the ones made in Japan ie Phillips {which is what I am running} etc apparently they are more reliable than most and a reasonable cost.
I must however confess I too would like to get the LED spotties up front just to see how good they are!!!!
I'm sure you will see a clear path after all the good advice from the forum Garry too cooolllll!!!

Originally Posted by NomadicD3

Just for interests, the HID spotlights still wash out {over power}the bi-xenon headlights on the D3.

..as do the D4's halogens when converted to HID.
I have a pair of old Narva 4x4 Off-Roaders converted to HID that were fitted in a hurry to temporary brackets when I found the D4 had possum lights, but have not felt the need to refit them (to the bull-bar if they were refitted) since the halogen high beams were converted to HID and they work so well. No-one can steal them either.

Ive had no reliability problems with BiXenons, my first D3 did 168000K's no repalcements and the new D3 has done around 20000k's since I installed the BiXenons and no problems as yet (touchwood!)

Just my 2 cents worth... and apologies for the soapbox!

Having tried HID's in 2 vehicles, - and discarded in one of them, IMHO there is no need at all for HID's as a low beam. Especially as a retrofit, which as far as I know, is technically against the ADRs.

Without going into boring detail, the older optics cannot meet the far more stringent requirements that is demanded by HID lamps. Well, not by the bulbs, obviously, but by the unfortunate buggers who are driving toward them!!!

In short, something like 10% (of 1200 lumens) unwanted spillage above the low-beam cut-off with a QH bulb is only around 120 lumens. Not ideal, but not a real worry. But now with around 3000 - or more - lumens, that little 10% has grown to 300 - or more - lumens which is now a distraction and painful as well.

Added to that is the fact that the old headlamp reflectors/lenses are not doing a 100% job with the HIDs...and the odd extra load in the back tonight..means that your low beam is now a real danger to others.
And don't believe that the LR 'self-levelling' will take care of your perfect headlight aiming...it won't 'cos it only sets the level in relation to your axle to body height... and makes no allowance for your rear tyres being a bit flatter on the bottom with the extra load (see above!)

For high beam, go as bright as you like...except that now you must dip your lights - as does the other guy - several km further away than you would have if you'd kept the original halogen filament globes... Effectively both of you will be travelling a LOT longer on your low beams.... unable to see Brer Kangaroo or Brer Wombat or brer camel/horse/cow wandering across the dark spot. Being big tough blokes, we won't worry about brer Rabbit.....

This applies a lot in WA where we have miles of flat roads out in the never-never.

My own suggestion is HID (or LED) driving lights, maybe more spread than spearing 5km down the road, and keep the colour temp low. Higher values such as 6000 K tend to flatten detail in the foliage...and make the road surface seem SO much like 'daylight'.... that you don't notice the fact the bush is super-bright, AND 'washed out'.

Biggest laugh though, is the most efficient HIDs are at the low end - colour -and the blues/violets barely as bright on the road as a good '+50' halogen! - they just annoy everyone a lot more, and hopefully attract more Cops...

Others have already pointed out the value of 3000 to 4000K and they're absolutely correct. (I'm retired from a Graphics / Printing / Photographic life...) And yes, a filament will contain a smooth progression of colour from red to blue and even to UV. The hotter it burns, the more the balance shifts toward the blue end - the more green, blue and ultra-violet is produced.
This is the science behind +30 and +50% halogen bulbs, they internally reflect more infra-red, therefore cook the filament to a higher temp for the same current drawn, and produce more and 'whiter' light.

My other car ? - Wife's Jap import with Japanese Domestic Market "JDM" headlights, the low beam pattern is a slightly rounded straight line, with NO annoying or useless up-kick to the kerb. I've got 3000K bulbs in them, individually hand-focussed to perfection, and aimed a little bit lower than the older - 35 watt - halogens were.
- The dipping HIDs are gathering dust in my shed.

As a parting shot, just take notice of the newer Chrysler abominations, they come with HID's as standard.... are their lights (in your mirrors or in your face..) easy on your eyes ? Or anyone elses...

Enought steam for one night!

Originally Posted by superquag

Biggest laugh though, is the most efficient HIDs are at the low end - colour -and the blues/violets barely as bright on the road as a good '+50' halogen! - they just annoy everyone a lot more, and hopefully attract more Cops...

Others have already pointed out the value of 3000 to 4000K and they're absolutely correct. (I'm retired from a Graphics / Printing / Photographic life...) And yes, a filament will contain a smooth progression of colour from red to blue and even to UV. The hotter it burns, the more the balance shifts toward the blue end - the more green, blue and ultra-violet is produced.
This is the science behind +30 and +50% halogen bulbs, they internally reflect more infra-red, therefore cook the filament to a higher temp for the same current drawn, and produce more and 'whiter' light.

My other car ? - Wife's Jap import with Japanese Domestic Market "JDM" headlights, the low beam pattern is a slightly rounded straight line, with NO annoying or useless up-kick to the kerb. I've got 3000K bulbs in them, individually hand-focused to perfection, and aimed a little bit lower than the older - 35 watt - halogens were.- The dipping HIDs are gathering dust in my shed.

I regard this discussion on colour temperature really informative. I have regarded the head light colour as important but did not know why or what it was all about - just that for some reason, it seemed to matter.

Off hand, what is the approximate colour of the 35 watt OEM "Bi -whatever" bulbs in the projector, (this is what I call the round Fresnel type thick glass lens), headlamps on the D3? I have an LR3 but I expect they are the same as for the D3, except the aiming, RHD vs LHD.

I do not have any driving lights, just the standard setup and think it is pretty good, at least for my dark time driving which is mostly snow/winter. In summer, the sun does not set until about 2200 h and is back up by 0400 so lights do not matter much. Winter is different - dark from about 1600 h to 0800h.

Originally Posted by garrycol

what happens if you need to flash your lights - do they go on and off quick enough?

Flashing the replacement HID high beams when your headights are turned off is a different experience. The main beams don't come on, just the high beam inserts (in a MY10 D4 SE). The first flash is very intense and quick like a camera flash and really gets attention. Subsequent flashes are a bit feeble and washed out but are still noticeable.

The replacement HID high beams take about 5 seconds to come up to full power the first time you flick them on, but there is no real delay for them to come back up after dipping them.

Going back to your initial problem with insufficient range, it might be worth starting with the simplest solution first. Try changing the vertical adjustment of your headlights to see if that fixes the problem. The standard headlights are very good (subject to the possum spotting defect) and the low beam has a distinct cutoff line that gives a good guide to avoid setting them too high and annoying other drivers. As part of the attempts to fix my possum defect the dealer helpfully adjusted mine down so that the halogen high beam was at road level but this left the low beams cutting off just in front of the bonnet - OK for urban areas with street lights but unsafe above 60km/h on country roads. I adjusted the lights back up to restore a useable low beam and fixed the possum lights with HID. Pretty happy with the result and factory low beam is excellent.

Thanks for that - I was concerned that HIDs would mean headlight flashers would no longer be effective.

Thankfully my current highbeams are not looking for possums but just seem to run out of puff when is is really dark and no street lights - I also find that while spread at distance is fine, closer in the spread is not so good.

On the basis of advice on here I think I will go for HIDs (warmer range) to replace high beam and see how that goes.

Thanks to everyone for the advice - good stuff.

Cheers

Garry