Wow, if I can get mine looking like that top pic I'd be stoked! I must admit the hot spots do bother me a little when driving around of a night - with bumps and dips in the road the hot spots are like scratches on sunnies!

Here's some more close up shots of the shield and the where the halogen globe sits. Can you make out the HID globe position from the previous images through the lens ? They're a bit hard to get back out but I can pull them out if needs be.
http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/792/ ... eld9hm.jpg

I should have mentioned before that while painting the reflectors surrounds I did get a small drip of paint on the reflector face (drivers side) I assume that'll account for a small cold spot, but not to the extent that we're seeing

C'mon Brad ... post them pics up.
I know they are only in halogen projectors .... but would be good to see.

I have done what Mavs has said though ... I have managed to get mine to angle up to the left off the road a bit (a pic was posted earlier in the thread though).

I need to take more night time psc though.

But I am hanging out for more money so i can get the proper kit from the US though (HID Projectors).

Thanks Hyena,
The pics of the Shield with and without the H1 bulb help a lot.
If only you could take a pic of the shield with the Xenon bulbs in them then it will make life much easier on both of us.

Having looked at these pics, I can tell you right away that you need to block the bottom part of your shields so NO light is reflected downwards.
Any light reflected downwards would be part of the glare that is emitted from the reflectors upwards in the eyes of the oncoming traffic.
Which means you need to lower your headlight setting and therefore you will have a very short beam pattern.
We may need to do further adjustment to the shields or the bulbs later.
But if possible try to find a piece of aluminium or something similar and block the lower part of the shields (start with one side and see what happens).
Take pictures of the side you are working on with lights on approx. 1-1.5 metres from a wall - the pattern on the wall is what I am after (with the other headlight blocked – put a floor mat on it to cover the light) and take a pic from the light reflected inside the reflector – head on. So we can compare them as we go on.

As you know Manufacturers of HID kits have different designs and their sizes differ from each other.
Specially manufacturers from Far East Asia.

To be able to see the difference between the location of the filament of a H1 and the arc (burner) of the HID bulb used in your kit, you need to take the bulb out and put it next to the H1 bulb and take a picture.
Best time to see if you can get the shield out and take some pics with the HID bulb in it.
I have attached a pic of a H7 and a H4 vs. Philips Xenon bulb so you can see what I mean.

With a little patience and few hours of work we will give you a much better beam pattern.

The correct pic from the light emitted from the inside of the reflector is also very important.

By the way the what did you do with the paint you dropped in the reflector?

 

 

Attachments:

ad_1.JPG [ 24.61 KiB | Viewed 159 times ]

H4 VS Xenon.jpg [ 51.04 KiB | Viewed 156 times ]

Hey Mavs

OK I'll have to pull the headlights back out to get at the xenon globes and sheild (the one I've been playing with is a spare)

The reflector I dripped paint on I left. I tried a bit of metho but didn't want to remove the chrome so figured a drip of black was better than a larger missing patch of chrome...

edit:

OK I pulled the headlight back out - this is halogen and xenon side by side in the shield surround

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4814/hidhalo6wn.jpg

I made up a back to enclose the shield as shown but the hole it has to pass through is pretty much exactly the size of the original shield so I'll have to make something else smaller out of thinner material. I'm thinking a coke can!

They look fairly even to me, given the halogen filament is a little longer than the xenon arc area...

Hi Hyena,

Looking at the pic, I see that there is not much difference between the location of the filament and the arc.

However, the more important issue is the lower bit of H1 that is not emitting any light. The metal bit.
Which of course means that you need to cover equal length of the HID bulb from the base up. The bit marked in yellow. You may need to play with the exact length until you get the best possible result. It could be a bit shorter or a bit longer than what is marked with yellow. See pic.

At the moment all we are doing is testing to see what needs to be done, so any material that can withstand the heat generated by the HID bulb will do.

DO NOT use anything that has paint on it. When paint gets hot and starts burning it will damage the chrome on the reflectors.

Make sure that the extra shield you made does not fall into the reflector housing.

Don't make anything that is permanent. As you will see we may have to adjust and readjust few times.
When we have found the best possible beam pattern and it is time to make something permanent we will do something very nice.

Again you could be one of the very lucky ones and our first attempt will fix the problem once and for all. Let’s hope for that.

Look at the H1 bulb very carefully, what we are trying to do is to copy the exact source of light from your HID bulbs.

Re the paint you did very well. Good thinking. You should NEVER touch the chrome with anything. Specially if you have a vacuum chromed plastic reflector.

 

 

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H1vHID1.jpg [ 14.45 KiB | Viewed 158 times ]

I was originally having a look at these, but instead i went down today and got myself a nice set of hella 1000 spotties. Ill post pics up in a couple of days if i can get this uni work finished and the lights fitted up! Mmmmm, 600W of light!

Damn 600W... at 12v that would be pulling 50A!

Yep! I was looking at having the other two spotties as well, but i though 800W might have been too much.... Would leave 23 odd amps for everything else including taillights....

Not mounted up yet, but heres whats coming!

Heres a pic of them mounted up. Havent taken them out for a test yet though

What happened here????

Andrew J,

I thought that the heading and the subject discussed on this thread was :
HID Headlights , and not Hella Driving Lights.
Maybe starting a new thread would be a better option for you to show case and discuss your awesome looking Hella Driving lights?

By the way the driving light mountings look very dangerously exposed.
Also, the idea behind developing HID headlight system is to have a better visibility of the road in front of you, at ALL times.
Not just having poor visibility most of the time and only occasionally being able to flick your driving lights on and all the time being worried that you have to flick them off again, in case there is any oncoming traffic.

Now back to HID Headlights:

Hyena,

I have looked at your shield and I believe it is a very simple issue to fix.
On top of the shield unbend the 3 tags and remove the top portion of the shield.
If you visit any good Hardware store you will find different metal pipes that have the correct inner and outer diameters to fit on top of the sides of your shield at the same time fit inside the opening of the reflector.
Gut a piece exactly as long as the space between the bulb base and the top bit of the shield that you just removed.
All you now need to do is to cut an opening window big enough to expose the portion of the arc that corresponds with the H1’s filament .

Then slide the pipe over the shield, put the top portion back and bend the 3 tags.
If need be use some metal superglue between the base and the end of the pipe to fix the pipe in right position.

You may need to re-adjust the size of the opening which should be very simple now.

Here is a pic of a complete shield with base I made for a H4 used in a BA.
Remember in your case you must use the top portion of your shield since the cuts in it creates the necessary pattern inside the reflector.

 

 

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shield top.jpg [ 9.9 KiB | Viewed 434 times ]

H4 Shield.jpg [ 40.72 KiB | Viewed 152 times ]

Shield BA.jpg [ 39.69 KiB | Viewed 177 times ]

Mechan1K

Did you manage to fix the problem you had with Hi/Lo after you fitted the HID kit? Or is it still there?

Hey Mavs, I haven't got around to fitting the reflector shields as you've suggested but when I get time I'll let you know and post up some more pics.

A mate sent me this link and I thought I'd post it here as it's about these aftermarket HID kits supposedly going wrong and frying the cars electrical system. Sounds like Bozz is more on the money than the guys blanket blaming the HID ballast...

http://www.nissansilvia.com/forums/inde ... pic=138712

Hyena,
Don’t worry. Take your time.
We are dealing with one of the most important safety issues on a vehicle. So don’t rush things.

Trent’s case: Wow.
I am not going to tell you that I told you so.
But, if you remember, time after time, I wrote that buy ONLY the best and real good components from MAJOR Manufacturers who can afford the research and road testing of their products, rather than these cheap aftermarket JUNK that cost a bit less but in the long run will cost you more.

I looked at the thread and Trent's case is a sad one.
I don't know if I should join their forum or not???
But here is a couple of points to think of:
Initially in the first few milliseconds HID system take about 20 or so amps. Then it falls down to 2-4.
Xenon bulbs ABSOLUTELY DO NOT like to be turned on/off. i.e. like when flashing your Hi beam.
That is why in a HID projector you have a solenoid that opens and shuts the Hi/Lo shield.
Anyway, if for some reason (wether it was manually or a fault in the system) the bulb was turned on/off several times, the extra power surge in the first milliseconds would have C**k the Xenon burner, thus going yellowish and burning.
Pity he did not have any pics of the bulbs.

Another one is if the igniter was not fitted properly to the bulb, and the wires were accidentally touching a part of the engine bay. Well you can guess what happens then….

But, what really needs a bit more investigation is what really happened to burn everything else.
Unfortunately most comment, suggestion and recommendations regarding a problem on a forum is based on guess work. Unless one has experienced the exact same problem or you are there to see it yourself.

As you can see there is a lot of confusion since no one can see or examine the vehicle or the parts in question.

So, what is the lesson from this:
Buy the best from the start so you don’t have to regret your choice later.
The money you may think you are saving by buying ANY of these cheap aftermarket parts, specially parts that have to do with your and others safety on the road, IS NOT worth the unwanted problems and headaches it may cause you later.

I told you so……

Ok mavs19 i lashed out n got myself a kit on the way :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SUPER-8000K-HID- ... dZViewItem

what ya rekon? I went with the 8000k cause of my lens's