04 A4 USP with Zenon's, low beam replacement options?

[jesse500]

So my 04 has the factory single zenon headlights. My low beams are so dim its silly. Driving in the dark is brutal. They are adjusted as best as I can with a decent cut off.

What are my replacement options? Can I run LED or HID headlight bulbs? Or am I limited to a Zenon replacement? What are some better/brighter options?

I Also grabbed a set of LED bulbs for my high beams, just to see how they will look/work. Anyone try some PnP LED's? Do you need resistors to work properly?

Thanks guys.

[diagnosticator]

Are you sure your A4 has OE Xenon/HID headlights? Xenon = HID. There are regular halogen incandescent lamps that are labeled as xenon but really are not the same as real Xenon/HID.

If you do have OE Xenon/HID headlights, two factors will cause low light output. 1st is that the HID burner lamps get weaker as they age. The second is that the projector reflector bowls get burned over time and loose the reflective mirror coating. Your problem is most likely a combination of the these two separate problems.

You can buy replacement Valeo HID projectors to fit into your headlights, and buy a pair of new D1S HID burners/lamps on eBay, or from a HID specialist shop like HID Planet, etc.

If your headlights are stock halogen incandescent, the same damage can occur to the projector reflector mirror bowls reducing light output.

Dirty projector optics will contribute to reduced light output with either type of headlight. The projectors acquire a film of dirt on the optics over time.

[jesse500]

Are you sure your A4 has OE Xenon/HID headlights? Xenon = HID. There are regular halogen incandescent lamps that are labeled as xenon but really are not the same as real Xenon/HID.

If you do have OE Xenon/HID headlights, two factors will cause low light output. 1st is that the HID burner lamps get weaker as they age. The second is that the projector reflector bowls get burned over time and loose the reflective mirror coating. Your problem is most likely a combination of the these two separate problems.

You can buy replacement Valeo HID projectors to fit into your headlights, and buy a pair of new D1S HID burners/lamps on eBay, or from a HID specialist shop like HID Planet, etc.

If your headlights are stock halogen incandescent, the same damage can occur to the projector reflector mirror bowls reducing light output.

Dirty projector optics will contribute to reduced light output with either type of headlight. The projectors acquire a film of dirt on the optics over time.

Mine are the zenons. They are the self levelling ones, came with lighting package (compass in mirror, DRL timer, etc.).

My headlights have the HID blue color, just the output garbage. Do you know of a link for a replacement projector?

[csosnowski]

Whats the color temp of your current bulbs? You mentioned they are blue, factory HID bulbs should be whitish-yellow in color and the color temp is 4300k.

Most people go with a 5000k as a replacement as its cooler and has a more bluish hue. If its closer to 8000k though those things are garbage and the light output from a new set of bulbs is garbage in a brand new housing.

Most people go with a b6s4 ecode or usdot light as an upgrade. The housing is more attractive and the projector lens is somewhat larger, also they are bi-xenon. The light output is considerably better than the single xenon a4 housing.

Start with a new set of decent bulbs like innovited, Philips, Sylvania. If that is not much of an improvement then source some new housings or at the very least replace the projector bowls as Diagnosticator recommended.

I have some innovited 4300k bulbs in b6s4 usdot housings and the light output is pretty good for factory HID.

[AvantNoir]

Double check that you do have xenon's and not halogens. I was quite surprised to find H7 bulb and no ballasts in my extremely dim projectors when I went to replace the HID bulbs. FYI, I have a 2005 USP, I assumed that all USP had Xenons. NOT!

[jesse500]

Double check that you do have xenon's and not halogens. I was quite surprised to find H7 bulb and no ballasts in my extremely dim projectors when I went to replace the HID bulbs. FYI, I have a 2005 USP, I assumed that all USP had Xenons. NOT!

They are zenons. Any B6 only came with zenons if it was purchased/optioned with the extra lighting package when new. 05 had Bi-Xenons, anything before was single zenon.

[jesse500]

Whats the color temp of your current bulbs? You mentioned they are blue, factory HID bulbs should be whitish-yellow in color and the color temp is 4300k.

Most people go with a 5000k as a replacement as its cooler and has a more bluish hue. If its closer to 8000k though those things are garbage and the light output from a new set of bulbs is garbage in a brand new housing.

Most people go with a b6s4 ecode or usdot light as an upgrade. The housing is more attractive and the projector lens is somewhat larger, also they are bi-xenon. The light output is considerably better than the single xenon a4 housing.

Start with a new set of decent bulbs like innovited, Philips, Sylvania. If that is not much of an improvement then source some new housings or at the very least replace the projector bowls as Diagnosticator recommended.

I have some innovited 4300k bulbs in b6s4 usdot housings and the light output is pretty good for factory HID.

They start up whitish blue, then settle white with a tinge of blue, mostly white. I'd say 5000K-5500K. The drivers side flickers though.

I will clean out my projector well, and add some 5500K Morimoto XB D1S bulbs and go from there.

[y0itzflip]

do yourself a favor and do a retrofit.




they are pretty much plug and play on these cars. 3 screws to remove projector. 3 to install. no need to open the housings. above is a 55 watt. 5000k retrofit with morimoto projectors inside a new pair of depo ecodes. ( crappy iPhone pic and this was before some fine tuning of the aim of the headlights) for less than 400 (if you get new headlights) and better than most cars on the road. and the flicker is crazy. I get compliments all the time. just put regular bulbs in your high beams. they will more than get the job done if you even need to use them after the retrofit. but the light output is great even in morning fog or crazy Florida rain I haven't had to use my high beams.

[MacFady]

I'm hesitant to offer any advice because I'm not convinced you know exactly what your talking about/have HID's. You keep saying "Zenon" for example. Maybe take a picture of your headlights for us or the current bulb you have installed? Otherwise lots of good advice above on upgrade directions to take.

[Kevin C]

I'm hesitant to offer any advice because I'm not convinced you know exactly what your talking about/have HID's. You keep saying "Zenon" for example. Maybe take a picture of your headlights for us or the current bulb you have installed? Otherwise lots of good advice above on upgrade directions to take.

What makes things a bit more confusing is that there some filament bulbs use Xenon gas, basicly they are a type of halogen bulb. You can buy Halogen cycle lamps that have Xenon gas. HID ( arc discharge lamps) also use Xenon gas and are sometimes called that (Xenon light) as well, some of this seems to depend on who you are talking with or what website you visit.

To cut down on confusion, HID and Halogen ( arc vs filament, respectively) seems preferable. Technically our HID's are metal halide lamps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal-halide_lamp

Halogen lamps with krypton or xenon

As it turns out, a halogen "capsule" or bulb has a gas fill that is normally over 99 percent inert gas and less than 1 percent halogen vapor (traditionally iodine vapor). The inert gas can be argon, krypton, or xenon. If the manufacturer wants to go cheap, argon is used. For a little better performance with an only slightly higher cost, krypton is used and this is common. For slightly better performance than krypton, xenon is used.
When xenon is used, the manufacturer usually says so since xenon is an effective buzzword. Strangely enough, Osram's HPR series halogen flashlight bulbs (or at least some of them) have xenon and they don't bother to make a big deal of this.

Some "xenon" automotive headlight bulbs are halogens with a xenon gas fill as opposed to krypton or argon. Some of these merely have a blue tint added to the glass or in a coating on the glass and have nothing to do with xenon except for producing light with a more xenon-like color!
The true xenon car headlight bulbs are very expensive and require expensive ballasts and do not have filaments but contain an electric arc. Furthermore, these are not so much xenon lamps as they are metal halide lamps. They do contain xenon which is useful for producing some useful white light output while you are waiting for the metal halide ingredients and the mercury in these bulbs to vaporize as the bulb warms up.
More info on these is here.

Link:

http://donklipstein.com/xeincand.html

Good write up on HID

http://donklipstein.com/d2.html

[jesse500]

I'm hesitant to offer any advice because I'm not convinced you know exactly what your talking about/have HID's. You keep saying "Zenon" for example. Maybe take a picture of your headlights for us or the current bulb you have installed? Otherwise lots of good advice above on upgrade directions to take.

i know they are a hid style bulb, but the headlight model is a zenon, not halogen. they never put the levelling motors in halogen lights. When the B6 A4's came with the lighting package, they got xenon headlamps, and 05 got Bi-xenons.

[jesse500]

do yourself a favor and do a retrofit.




they are pretty much plug and play on these cars. 3 screws to remove projector. 3 to install. no need to open the housings. above is a 55 watt. 5000k retrofit with morimoto projectors inside a new pair of depo ecodes. ( crappy iPhone pic and this was before some fine tuning of the aim of the headlights) for less than 400 (if you get new headlights) and better than most cars on the road. and the flicker is crazy. I get compliments all the time. just put regular bulbs in your high beams. they will more than get the job done if you even need to use them after the retrofit. but the light output is great even in morning fog or crazy Florida rain I haven't had to use my high beams.

I want to keep my headlights, as they have the levelling motors. I am considering a retrofit though. One site makes a B6 A4 direct fitment retrofit.

[diagnosticator]

Mine are the zenons. They are the self levelling ones, came with lighting package (compass in mirror, DRL timer, etc.).

My headlights have the HID blue color, just the output garbage. Do you know of a link for a replacement projector?

eBay or the Retrofit Source, etc,

[jesse500]

eBay or the Retrofit Source, etc,

You mentioned Valeo, I was curious about that one. But I Found a few kits specifically for B6's. Thanks for your help

[y0itzflip]

I want to keep my headlights, as they have the levelling motors. I am considering a retrofit though. One site makes a B6 A4 direct fitment retrofit.

yes, u got my kit from the retrofit source. u can use the in US headlights or the depo ecodes.. also u can transfer your leveling stuff over to the ecodes if you want to go that route. the look alone is enough to get ecodes IMO. even though there is nothing wrong with the US oem headlights when they are in good condition. mine on the other hand had wiring that was corroded and brittle so i had to rewire it and so on and it didnt look neat to me. as i hope to keep this car for years, id rather just start fresh.




lol yikes I need some new pics.

[jesse500]

yes, u got my kit from the retrofit source. u can use the in US headlights or the depo ecodes.. also u can transfer your leveling stuff over to the ecodes if you want to go that route. the look alone is enough to get ecodes IMO. even though there is nothing wrong with the US oem headlights when they are in good condition. mine on the other hand had wiring that was corroded and brittle so i had to rewire it and so on and it didnt look neat to me. as i hope to keep this car for years, id rather just start fresh.




lol yikes I need some new pics.

What retrofit did you go with? was it direct swap?

[Matt Devo]

What retrofit did you go with? was it direct swap?

see: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...n-OEM-for-less

[diagnosticator]

You mentioned Valeo, I was curious about that one. But I Found a few kits specifically for B6's. Thanks for your help

The OE HID Xenon headlights are made by Valeo. Therefore the replacement projectors are Valeo or are Valeo compatible.

[y0itzflip]

exactly what he posted above. I followed that thread. I used an eBay canbus 55 watt hid kit (to help save money as this is a budget build) the retrofitsource projectors and mounting bracket. it's simple as removing 3 screws and pulling out the projector and installing the new one. I've never done a retrofit this easy in my life lol.

if you're going to be replacing projectors I don't see any reason not to upgrade because this is definately better than oem.

lol I'm done posting about it. I feel like a salesman. but it's honestly one of my favorite mods

[jesse500]

see: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...n-OEM-for-less

Sweet!

That's a bit intimidating to me, I won't be getting any aftermarket lights, I am just going to remove my amber corner marker. I have a spare set of halogens here, so I can put those in car while working on my single zenon housings.

Can I do this same retrofit into my zenon housings, and remove my factory Valeo balasts? I definetly want to retain the levelling motors.

[jesse500]

exactly what he posted above. I followed that thread. I used an eBay canbus 55 watt hid kit (to help save money as this is a budget build) the retrofitsource projectors and mounting bracket. it's simple as removing 3 screws and pulling out the projector and installing the new one. I've never done a retrofit this easy in my life lol.

if you're going to be replacing projectors I don't see any reason not to upgrade because this is definately better than oem.

lol I'm done posting about it. I feel like a salesman. but it's honestly one of my favorite mods

He had to make new mounting brackets, your's was direct screw in?

[y0itzflip]

if u buy the setup from the retrofit source they come with brackets for the b6. as i said its literally 3 screws lol. my girl saw me doing it and agreed she could have done it for me.




might even be easier than that.

also, i didnt hook up the bi-xenon wire simply for personal reasons, but i might if i ever take the headlights out again.

dont overthink it. all youre doing is removing the projector and replacing it with another. easy peasy.

[crazyquik22023]

Sweet!

That's a bit intimidating to me, I won't be getting any aftermarket lights, I am just going to remove my amber corner marker. I have a spare set of halogens here, so I can put those in car while working on my single zenon housings.

Can I do this same retrofit into my zenon housings, and remove my factory Valeo balasts? I definetly want to retain the levelling motors.

How many times are you going to spell the word "Xenon" wrong? FYI It is spelled Xenon not Zenon.

[y0itzflip]

lmao. I knew I wasn't the only one getting annoyed.

[jesse500]

How many times are you going to spell the word "Xenon" wrong? FYI It is spelled Xenon not Zenon.

Keeps auto correcting me, and my trackpad is fucked up, so its a pain to go back and correct them all. I knows its xenon haha

- - - Updated - - -

if u buy the setup from the retrofit source they come with brackets for the b6. as i said its literally 3 screws lol. my girl saw me doing it and agreed she could have done it for me.




might even be easier than that.

also, i didnt hook up the bi-xenon wire simply for personal reasons, but i might if i ever take the headlights out again.

dont overthink it. all youre doing is removing the projector and replacing it with another. easy peasy.

Thanks for the vid

[eljay]

eBay or the Retrofit Source, etc,

Does TRS have any direct replacement D1S projectors for our bi-xenons? I couldn't see any on their website.

I am familiar with their H1 Mini kits and those are excellent.

[Matt Devo]

Does TRS have any direct replacement D1S projectors for our bi-xenons? I couldn't see any on their website.

I am familiar with their H1 Mini kits and those are excellent.

no, the mini-H1 setup is as close as it comes. If you want OEM projectors, likely have to source them from another set of headlights

[y0itzflip]

and then it will be inferior to the mini h1 lighting wise.

[eljay]

Thanks. I may just pick up a set of those Depo ecode housings and throw a TRS H1 kit in there.