Upgrades for OEM Xenons?

[nramsey]

I'm looking to possibly upgrade the stock OEM Xenon HIDs on my car. Compared to all of the newer Audis and such our stock Xenons put out quite a bit less light. I imagine this is due to the ballasts.

Are there any options available for upgrading the stock HIDs to something brighter? If not, no big deal, but think it might be nice to get a bit more light. I used to have a site saved that I think sold this sort of kit, but I can't find it anymore.

Thanks,

[nramsey]

I found the site I was thinking of... http://www.supremepowerparts.com/

Anyone tried their Stage 3 kit? Are the OEM quality components?

Thanks,

[diegomatrix]

it looks like you have the stock headlights with cc mod on it..
f you want more light, get ecode headlight housings instead of getting new ballasts.......
my friend has them installed on his a4 and they're sooooooooooooooooo much better than stock... it's like day and night difference between ecode and stock...

and since you're in seattle as well...drive to achtuning and get them from josh

[Daft]

Originally posted by diegomatrix

my friend has them installed on his a4 and they're sooooooooooooooooo much better than stock... it's like day and night difference between ecode and stock...

I'd have to disagree on this. The only 2 differences between the projectors on the Ecode lights are the clear lenses and the differently shaped cutoff shields.

The stock HID cutoff shields are like this > ________""""""""""""
/"""""""""""
The Ecode HID cutoff shields are like this > ________/

The only thing you really get out of the Ecode cutoff shield is alot of extra light in the trees. I had to remove my Ecode shields and put my DOT shields back in because I was always blinding people.

I spent several months trying to find a happy medium between ample foreground lighting and just enough down-the-road lighting to not piss people off. In the end, there was no way to do it. The upward kick of the Ecode cutoff was just so huge that I had to lower my projectors alot to it out of people's back windows and windshields. This resulted in having the flat portion of the cutoff only 10 feet in front of my car.

I will agree that the Ecode lenses are much nicer than the DOT fensel lenses (frensel is the type with the etched rings). The Ecode clear lenses make the prism effect of the cutoff band much more obvious and the lights look much "bluer" when they approach.

Honestly though, I'm much happier with the DOT cutoff shields and the clear Ecode lenses. I find it to be the best of both worlds.

In terms of upgrades for your HID system, you can buy new bulbs/ballasts but, I'd stay away from non-Philips made bulbs. The only bulbs that provide substantial lumen output are the regular 4300K and the 5000K Colormatch bulbs.

While the 4300K D2S Philips bulbs (#85122) are extremely easy to find, the 5000K colormatch bulbs (#85122CM) are extremely hard to find. The only place in the US that I've found these bulbs is www.ambulbs.com and they are selling for $150 ea.

There are also the Philips 85122+ bulbs that ARE NOT 5000K bulbs. I see these all the time on Ebay advertised as 5000K bulbs. They are not. They are actually a standard 4300K bulb with some extra gasses to help prevent the color shifting over time. I know this becuase I have a pair of them in my car right now. They have about 500hrs of use on them and they still haven't color shifted at all. They are still very white.

The modified ballasts that SPP sells is a nice idea for extra light but, this will result is far shorter life of the bulbs because you are running them at 50W of power instead of the regular 35W power they are rated to receive. This makes them brighter because the arc is stronger but, this will drastically shorten the life of the bulbs. As far as how well the ballasts hold up when running this power level, I don't know for sure but, I can imagine that the ballasts won't last as long either since you are running the same internals as before but, now at the extra power level.

So in a nutshell, clear Ecode lenses will create a crisp light cutoff with lots of color, the 5000K Philips colormatch is rated for 3100lm at the 5000K color temp and stock ballasts will last longer and allow your bulbs to last longer.

That's my $.02

[RedRocket]

^^^Daft is right.

And to add, the newer A4's have brighter HIDs I think because the bulbs are newer and yours have burnt in and gotten more color. I have noticed the same with my car. I am running Philips 6000k and it's been about 1.5 years and a min of 35,000 kms since than and I notice they are not as bright as that G35 front of me.

I would try getting a set of Philips 4100k bulbs. 50w ballasts are bullshit. Philips does not, as far as I know, make a bulb to run on 50 watts they are all 35 watts.

[lowestA4]

I own a B5 for one 1.5 weeks now (pictures coming soon). The car came with stock xenons and (since I am living in germany) with ecode projectors. I do not habe the impression that I am blinding people on the other side of the road.

You`re right the output is asymmetric like this ___/
But this means the left side is exactly as the DOT version which is _____

So it`s not the projector`s fault, right? Try to adjust the headlights. Maybe you did an upgrade from halogen and do not have the autolevelling function. So if you have lots of weight on the backseats it is possible to blind other people but I can only tell you again: From my point of view this is not due to the projectors.

[diegomatrix]

daft:

eh.....ecodes can't be simplified to only having clear lenses and a sloping ski slope cutoff....

dot projectors are designed to disperse the light, ecodes are designed to have maximum light... it's not only the lenses and ski slopes that are different, it's the whole projector that's different. the position of the bulb in the projector, the curve of the reflective material...they're different in an ecode..

and lowestA4 is right, it's not the projector's fault, ...if you aimed it right, it wouldn't be blinding people.

but the important thing is what exactly do you want when you say "brighter".. daft's route may very well be the best route for you

[Daft]

Originally posted by diegomatrix
daft:

eh.....ecodes can't be simplified to only having clear lenses and a sloping ski slope cutoff....

dot projectors are designed to disperse the light, ecodes are designed to have maximum light... it's not only the lenses and ski slopes that are different, it's the whole projector that's different. the position of the bulb in the projector, the curve of the reflective material...they're different in an ecode..

WTF?!?!?!

What are you talking about? Valeo only made TWO changes between the DOT and Ecode projector assemblies for HID.

1. The projector lense (clear -vs- frensel)
2. The cutoff shield

That's it, period.

The position of the bulb and the reflector shape are 100% identical. I have both and I can vouge for this. Another tidbit for you to chew on is that the bulb position must be the same so that the light dispersion is balanced between foreground and distance. If you shift the bulb at all from it's current location you're lighting pattern will shift towards more foreground or more distance lighting. This is why I don't care for the H7 adapter rings that many people use with their halogen projectors.

The frensel lenses on the DOT projectors create the "light dispersion" you're talking about. They create more of a hazed edge to the light to reduce glare to oncomming motorists and create more of an ambient light on more of the reflective surfaces around the roadway.

DOT cutoff shield:

Ecode cutoff shield:

DOT lense:

Ecode lense:

[diegomatrix]

meow~
you are correct
i was thinking H7 projector conversion with ecode when i was typing that...
i need my coffee...

[lowestA4]

excellent Daft! Another ecode specialist...

[quickglx]

might try busting those housings open and check to see if your reflectors are hazed over, or the lenses may have some dust settled on them as well. You'd be surprized how much of a difference a good cleaning can do. Just don't use any harsh chemicals or rough fabrics to clean the reflectors they scratch really really easily and the reflective coating is super thin so don't rub it off trying to clean it. Essentially the newer models projectors are the same and so are the e-codes. The new cabrios have some crappy projectors that come hazed over from the factory or something, there's a recall out to change the reflectors.

[nramsey]

Awesome Daft, I knew I could count on your knowledge.

Interesting. So you guys think the newer cars are still running the same 35 watt ballasts and bulbs as us, but newer and with better projectors probably? I just notice quite a difference when a newer B6 or B7 Audi is next to me...their lights on the cars in front are noticably brighter/bluer.

I'm all for saving money and not buying new ballasts. Maybe I'll give those 5000k Philips colormatch bulbs a try.

[diegomatrix]

think they made switch to D1S technology

[ModifiedA4]

Originally posted by Daft


What are you talking about? Valeo only made TWO changes between the DOT and Ecode projector assemblies for HID.

1. The projector lense (clear -vs- frensel)
2. The cutoff shield

That's it, period.

according to this site, the reflectors are different too.

http://tychl.txf.com/euro/

[ny02s4]

check out: www.hid-lights.com or http://plasmagarage.com/XENON-bulbs.html

i got my upgrade bulbs from hid-lights for $40 a piece. Theyre the 6,000k (crystal white) bulbs and they look 100X cleaner than my oem's.

Ant

[quickglx]

Here's the difference between the h7 and d2s reflectors... very small difference.



link no worky, if you give a crap look here:http://audizine.com/forum/showthread...threadid=39732

[nramsey]

Thanks. I already have the D2S reflectors and all that...my car came with the Xenons factory. Thanks though.

[killroy77]

There are a such thing AS DL-50, which are Philips 50W Bulbs which are designed to work with the 50w ballasts. You only lose about 20-30% of the bulb life when using 35W bulbs with 50w ballasts. Either way Philips is the way to go.

The absolute best matchup of the Valeo Projectors, is a TRUE D2S or D1S reflector Bowl, with the DOT shield, and the ECE clear lens. That is what I currently have and I love it. The D2S have a far better spread and road coverage then the H7 with adapter rings. (I use to have those but have now I swapped the bowls for the D2S) Clear lens makes difference in sharpness of the Cutoff and color band. It also gives a more focused beam.

its not that hard to swap out the bowls either. The bowls do make a big difference in spead of light. The H7's focus too much of the light dead ahead and have little width. The D2S speads the light out more evenly on the road surface.

[quickglx]

Originally posted by Daft

The modified ballasts that SPP sells is a nice idea for extra light but, this will result is far shorter life of the bulbs because you are running them at 50W of power instead of the regular 35W power they are rated to receive. This makes them brighter because the arc is stronger but, this will drastically shorten the life of the bulbs. As far as how well the ballasts hold up when running this power level, I don't know for sure but, I can imagine that the ballasts won't last as long either since you are running the same internals as before but, now at the extra power level.

So in a nutshell, clear Ecode lenses will create a crisp light cutoff with lots of color, the 5000K Philips colormatch is rated for 3100lm at the 5000K color temp and stock ballasts will last longer and allow your bulbs to last longer.

That's my $.02

SPPs 50watt ballasts and 50 bulbs for $500 with a lifetime warranty.... So one would think they do last for quite some time