HID Option?

[NORTON]

solder,
Those patterns look pretty good. What do you think when you are out in the real world?
Some labeling of the pics would be good, for instance, on the second from the last;
>what is that part of the pattern above the Lo beam cutoff line?

>On the first pic; the silicone rubber seal is out of its groove.
>Are all 3 tabs the same and you have to clock it, 1 of 3 clocking positions, to get the correct pattern?

EDIT: solder, it looks like you added titles for some of the pics.
Again that second to last pic has a bad section above the Lo beam cutoff line. It was not there with only the right LED.
I suspect the left LED is not clocked in a good position.
This very similar to the pattern I posted on the bottom of page 2 of this thread. As I twisted the bulb I got a good pattern but it was almost at the removal position.
Twist the left side bulb and see if you can get it to match the pattern the right side is displaying.

That picture shows a Lo beam pattern that is not safe, and rude at the very least, to oncoming drivers.

 

[nozferatu]

Can you take a picture of what they look like from the front?

How are they clocked inside the headlight housing? What color are they or do they look like?

 

[solder]

solder,
Those patterns look pretty good. What do you think when you are out in the real world?
Some labeling of the pics would be good, for instance, on the second from the last;
>what is that part of the pattern above the Lo beam cutoff line?

>On the first pic; the silicone rubber seal is out of its groove.
>Are all 3 tabs the same and you have to clock it, 1 of 3 clocking positions, to get the correct pattern?

EDIT: solder, it looks like you added titles for some of the pics.
Again that second to last pic has a bad section above the Lo beam cutoff line. It was not there with only the right LED.
I suspect the left LED is not clocked in a good position.
This very similar to the pattern I posted on the bottom of page 2 of this thread. As I twisted the bulb I got a good pattern but it was almost at the removal position.
Twist the left side bulb and see if you can get it to match the pattern the right side is displaying.

That picture shows a Lo beam pattern that is not safe, and rude at the very least, to oncoming drivers.

I'm amazed that you can see this stuff (particularly the gasket) ... I will double-check the gasket on both bulbs and will confirm the clocking on the left side bulb. I'll then retake the photos.

Yes, there are 3 tabs, but for some reason the bulbs will only lock into two positions (as noted by Dinoco) -- horizontal and vertical. Mine are clocked in the horizontal position (LEDs are emitting to the left and to the right).

Can you take a picture of what they look like from the front?

How are they clocked inside the headlight housing? What color are they or do they look like?

Sure, from what distance?
They're clocked horizontally (see above). The bulbs are 6000K.

 

[nozferatu]

Sure, from what distance?
They're clocked horizontally (see above). The bulbs are 6000K.

Ok I understand...the actual face on which the LEDs are sitting on are perpendicular to the ground. That's exactly how mine were and that's the ONLY clocking position that will give you a nice clean horizontal line cut-off of light emitted from the headlight units.

It doesn't matter from what distance you want to take the pics..I was just wondering if you could get a close up of the bulbs when mounted inside the unit and also a few from the front to show the true color of the light emitted. I know that's hard to do but give it a shot if you have time.

Cheers.

And NORTON,

I completely disagree with your assessment that the pattern he has is wrong. It's spot on...it's horizontal and flat and on par with the halogen as it should be. That's the one with the mix.

 

[NORTON]

And NORTON,
I completely disagree with your assessment that the pattern he has is wrong. It's spot on...it's horizontal and flat and on par with the halogen as it should be. That's the one with the mix.

Look at the pattern I posted on page 2 of this thread.
Look at the second to the last picture just posted by solder. They are very similar, and not right.

There is a BIG Blotch above the Lo beam cutoff line.
That is not there in any of the other 'mix' pics he posted. Do you see it? I'm not making this up.
I suspect it is only coming from one side because it's not there in the other pics of one Halogen and one LED.

I shouldn't be talking..... I too am running a "Not Nice to Others" pattern from my HID installation.
I'll really try to post my pics comparing the HID to Stock, soon, and I mean it this time.....

And then I'll go back to the stock bulbs, until we finally find an LED solution that works correctly.
I'm tempted to go for the 'High Performance' Halogens, the ones with a stated life of 250 hours. Geez, I'll just turn off the DRL during daylight hours....

 

[solder]

I fiddled with the clocking, is this any better?

Low beams:

Hi beams:

View from front of car:

 

[NORTON]

I fiddled with the clocking, is this any better?

Very nice Lo pattern !! You found a winner !!

What happened to the Hi pattern? But that will do..

I don't know what you are supposed to see with the pic of the front of the car... Those are headlights, on the front of a car....

So, HOW did you 'fiddle with the clocking'?
Those three tabs should be in the locked position.
How did you lock the bulb in the position that created that proper Lo pattern?

I considered trying some external means to hold the one bulb in the unlocked position. Some dabs of silicone sealant? It would work and it's not permanent....
And this was only the right bulb (for me) that needed to be held in an 'unlocked' position, the left bulb was correct when locked in.

 

[solder]

I fiddled with the clocking, is this any better?

Very nice Lo pattern !! You found a winner !!

Yay!

I don't know what you are supposed to see with the pic of the front of the car... Those are headlights, on the front of a car....

Hey, don't ask me, nozferatu asked for the photo, hehe.

So, HOW did you 'fiddle with the clocking'?
Those three tabs should be in the locked position.
How did you lock the bulb in the position that created that proper Lo pattern?

I considered trying some external means to hold the one bulb in the unlocked position. Some dabs of silicone sealant? It would work and it's not permanent....
And this was only the right bulb (for me) that needed to be held in an 'unlocked' position, the left bulb was correct when locked in.

I did what you suggested -- "As I twisted the bulb I got a good pattern but it was almost at the removal position." You bring up a good point that it's liable to slip. For these bulbs, there is probably a solution, which I discovered by accident -- the bulb assembly is actually two plastic pieces. One is an inner piece with the LEDs, the other is an outer sleeve with the locking tabs. When playing with the clocking a couple of weeks ago, the two pieces came apart on one of the bulbs, so I superglued them back together (to match the other intact bulb).

So, I could deliberately break the glue bond and reglue the lock ring in a slightly offset way such that the pattern is correct when the tabs are fully locked. Might take a few tries.

 

[Casualsurfer]

So...in conclusion, these LED lights from Amazon worked OK?

 

[NORTON]

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't look at the link. I thought you were talking about the set solder just posted about.
noz never posted decent pattern pics. He did say that he could remove screws and clock the pattern while the bulb was locked in.
Someone should try again and post their results !!!
You first !!
(everything below is about the LED's solder is using)


The way I read it, one bulb is not in the locked position.
How can it be held in this position without falling out or losing THE clocked position that creates the good Lo beam cutoff?

My idea of 2 or 3 'dots' of a silicone sealant on the outside of the bulb where the bulb meets the back of the reflector assy might work. It's really a mcgyver approach.
Plus the last Hi beam pattern that solder posted looks weird......

I'm still "Wait and See"....
The LED's noz had could be clocked while base of the bulb was in the locked position. I like that. But he didn't like the color temp. And he didn't post good 'pattern' pics like solder did....

(I can say that I will be removing the Hi/Lo HID system I'm running. As soon as I post some pics comparing them to the stock bulbs.
Sorry, people of KC, and this forum. (Go Royals! Got to watch these games and not dik with the Spark EV) I'll get after this,,,, soon.
They put out lots of lumens for only 35 watts but too much light is in the area above the decent looking Lo beam cutoff pattern this system creates.
They sort of light up reflective signs down the road, but when I go to Hi beams they are really lit up !
I drive interstates and dark country roads, 50/50. I don't get flashed, but I know they are not right. But they are awesome!)

 

[solder]

The way I read it, one bulb is not in the locked position.
How can it be held in this position without falling out or losing THE clocked position that creates the good Lo beam cutoff?

My idea of 2 or 3 'dots' of a silicone sealant on the outside of the bulb where the bulb meets the back of the reflector assy might work. It's really a mcgyver approach.
Plus the last Hi beam pattern that solder posted looks weird......

I'm going to call it "semi-locked". It doesn't rotate easily at all. I'll take another picture in a month, and we'll see if they've drifted. If so, I maintain that my approach of re-gluing the locking ring will solve the problem permanently. No ideas about the hi-beams, any idea how to troubleshoot?

But sure, if someone else wants to try one of the other, cheaper options, that'd be cool. The main differences between the xenondepot bulbs and the cheaper sets are:

1) The quality of the LEDs used. I know someone who works in the LED industry and she was impressed by their choice of LEDs -- they are expensive and a premium product -- http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lumileds/LMZ7-SW57/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMu4Prknbu83y1zhPTc0SxQx9Xgb46cNWWLYyUXDaRXtlw%3d%3d -- and there are 8 of those per set

2) The XenonDepot bulbs use passive cooling, whereas the other bulbs use a fan. Is this a problem? It seems like one more thing to break...

 

[Dinoco]

The problem with the LED lights with the active cooling fan is that some people report audio interference in their speakers.

I went win passive cooling from xenon depot. They work great. No issues.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

I picked up a set of the Xenon Depot LEDs for the high beams in my other vehicle and the results are below. I want to make it clear that the results in this other vehicle (which also has an aftermarket HID kit) should not be considered representative of the results of the LED in the Spark and I don't want to discourage people from tinkering and seeing the results themselves. This is more to show the proper way to photograph headlight beam patterns. As I mentioned earlier, a tripod and a camera capable of shooting manual exposure settings are a must. In my case I even manually forced a white balance setting (probably not an option on most non-DSLR cameras) so the differences in color were mostly accurate. I had a set of the LEDs on order for the Spark but I cancelled it after seeing these results. My car mod budget is only so big and I don't think the LEDs on the Spark would have been a good value....they may have been OK, but probably not great.

This depicts halogen projectors with a 4700K HID kit, OEM H9 halogen high beams (warmer color), Xenon Depot H9 LEDs (cooler color).....ON A DIFFERENT VEHICLE

 

[fr100]

So what's the verdict on the LED replacements? Is there one that is recommended?

 

[NORTON]

Yeah, I'm still wanting to convert to LED's.

We have people posting "Works great !".
But I'm from Missouri. You'll have to 'Show Me'.
As in 'garage door pattern pics'.

I posted some near the beginning of this thread of a bad set of LED's. The left side had a good pattern. The right side had a bad, unsafe, 'rude to other's' pattern.

I'm still using a 70 watt total HID system with a solenoid based Hi/Lo that moves the bulbs a little bit for the Hi/Lo patterns. It puts out a lot of lumens, has a decent pattern, but is not ideal.
I'll post pics some day... Too much 'leakage' above the Lo beam cutoff pattern.

Also both HID's are powered from one fuse direct from the battery, not legal or safe. One of the original headlight connectors provides the system a Hi/Lo signal.
But they are awesome lights! You should see them on a Hi in the country!

 

[nikwax]

Somewhere around page two of this thread I asked what is wrong with the headlights. Now that it is winter: for me, they're pretty dim. The magic combo would be more light in proper pattern with less power consumption.

 

[solder]

Yeah, I'm still wanting to convert to LED's.

We have people posting "Works great !".
But I'm from Missouri. You'll have to 'Show Me'.
As in 'garage door pattern pics'.

Hey now, I posted plenty of pics. I'm still pretty happy with the XenonDepot bulbs. I think your only objection was the potentially fragile clocking on the left bulb, but it hasn't slipped, and these bulbs can be "permanently" reclocked if absolutely necessary by twisting the locking ring hard enough to separate it from the main body of the bulb, setting the clocking, and supergluing the two pieces back together (ask me how I know this ).

 

[NORTON]

Well Kiddos,

To bump an old thread,,,

I finally removed my Hi-Lo HID system. With the dark commutes here again I could tell I was spilling too much light above the decent Lo cutoff line.
I went back to the original incandescent bulbs. Nice crisp pattern. Just decent range when out in the boonies.

So I just ordered these $38 specials.... https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX8UQYY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A cheap experiment with visible 'Clocking' screws,,, I hope.

If I can't clock the pattern or they're not brighter than stock they will be going right back.
I'll post a review after I get them installed.

How about this H13 LED? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EWJ9TT2/ref=pd_sbs_263_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JRK7TXT5GPQJ04JHMVEP
See the built in reflector? I never saw this on an LED before.
H 13's are weird bulbs. The two filaments have no separation. The reflector housing totally is responsible for the Hi-Lo patterns.

 

[EldRitch]

That's why the overall best option for our cars is this: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U1OLOP0

2X the light, and no beam-pattern issues. The only downsides are price and shorter life than standard bulbs.

 

[NORTON]

That's why the overall best option for our cars is this: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U1OLOP0

2X the light, and no beam-pattern issues. The only downsides are price and shorter life than standard bulbs.

Very tempting! Thanks.
I'll probably have to return these cheap LED's, so I'll probably give those a try next.

I saw a published chart of bulb life from one manufacturer. I think the high power incandescents were rated 250 hrs. Does that sound right?
I'd still give it a try!
I'd also adopt to turning off the DRL's, unfortunately.