[swimstud920]

I have looked around and ordered the Slim line ballasts, 35watts, 9007 bulbs and 8000k.

Should I have gone with the Hi/Lo? Will I be able to use my highs still?

I have a 2003 Taurus btw....

Thanks

 

[KhanTyranitar]

Just be sure you understand that swapping to HIDs, you are going mostly for looks, they tend to blind other drivers, especially with the 8000K bulbs. They do not help you see better either, what they do is the overwhelm the rod cells, which you need to see in low light. Basically you will not be able to see whats outside the illuminated zone.

I have found absolutely no reason why I would want to use HIDs personally. I used a Rebright kit on my Taurus, running stock bulbs, no upgrade harness, and as is, they are plenty bright enough. On my last big trip, I found that they have no trouble lighting up the road, even at a considerably distance. With the brights on, I could see reflectors light up at a known distance of one and half miles.

 

[jmoschetti45]

I have a 55w hi/lo 6000k set in mine. It's quite a bit brighter, but 6000k is already a bit on the 'too much color' part of the spectrum. Next time I'm going with 5300k or so. Do everyone a favor and make sure they are aimed right. Mine were a tad high up once, and was about ready to have my wife pull over because I was going blind in the car in front. I also drop the high beams out as soon as I see any oncoming cars. I can only imagine how bad it must be head on.

 

[swimstud920]

@KhanTyranitar - I plan on doing a projector retrofit in the future, this is just temporary until then.
I plan on aiming the lights properly as well.

@jmoschetti45 - Thanks for the input, I know I must aim my lights, after seeing many people with horrible aimed HID setups I know how annoying and bright it can be.

 

[KhanTyranitar]

Yeah, if you do run HIDs, you want to run the lowest K rating possible, the lower rating bulbs are brighter in terms of lumens, and they tend to blind other drivers less.

 

[swimstud920]

@ jmoschetti45 - did you purchase the dual in/dual out harness? Is that something I need for my G4?

 

[jmoschetti45]

Dual in/dual out???

I got mine from retrosolutions, and they simply plug into the drivers side existing bulb connector and require power from the battery. It's pretty much a plug in and go deal.

 

[Mysterious101]

This is one of the reasons I went to projectors, plus this will allow the light to be more focused, but also brighter in that spot. I find the 4300k is about the range I want my lights to be since well I wanted white.

 

[mediarocker]

HID's without projectors is like using a lightbulb like a flashlight.

After getting projectors (came on my car).. I don't know how I survived without em.

In all seriousness.. the G3 housings are ridiculously "glary". Good luck not pissing people off. If someone blinds me I make sure to blind them worse...if you ever run across a vehicle flashing you with 4-6 burning suns.... yeah well... that's me.

For Kelvin rating I wouldn't go more than 4500K or 5000K. I have 6000K and it's a bit too much...

 

[swimstud920]

Well I don't have a G3, so that takes care of the most amount of glare possible.

As a college student with the Taurus left at home, it isn't driven as my parents have their own vehicles, so I plan on doing everything (HID's, Projectors) at once to make other drivers happy.

 

[sojiaraggs9000]

I say this once and once only... lower K doesnt mean thr brighter they are... 4300k is the sweet spot you want. As for just addint bulbs into a stock houseing , 1 its illegal 2 its illegal cuz ur blinding on-coming traffic. Best way to go is retrofit projectoers into your housings to at least look legal. Plus it improves sharpness and claratly 100%. No more blinding ppl , that is all.

 

[swimstud920]

Alright, I am planning on ordering the projectors this weekend, and installing everything at once.

 

[guitarEd182]

hids

i put hids in my gen4. it was pretty easy, the only problem was finding a place to put the ballasts. theres almost no spot for them but i found places to squeeze em in. I got 8000k. never blinded anyone. they are perfectly aimed. I wish I had projectors though. its something i dont wanna take on, because it seems like too much work that i dont want to do at all. Because the bulbs are so powerful u can see the light being scattered a little on the road because of the chromeness inside of the headlight housing. projectors would fix that. but thats so miniscule that it really doesnt matter. also, when i bought mine, it said that they were bixenon. turns out, theyre not. i only have the low beam. but honestly, i dont mind. Also, one thing I find wierd is that since I put them in and I only have one beam, (low) my high beam light on my dash is lit up like half dimmed. if i flash my high beam with the directional stick, the indicator on the dash lights up to full brightness, but my lights dont flash because theyre only one beam. so it was a little annoying at first to have that high beam indicator constantly on but I'm used to it now. I might buy ones that have a standard halogen high beam attatched to them so that problem should be solved then

 

[sojiaraggs9000]

i put hids in my gen4. it was pretty easy, the only problem was finding a place to put the ballasts. theres almost no spot for them but i found places to squeeze em in. I got 8000k. never blinded anyone. they are perfectly aimed. I wish I had projectors though. its something i dont wanna take on, because it seems like too much work that i dont want to do at all. Because the bulbs are so powerful u can see the light being scattered a little on the road because of the chromeness inside of the headlight housing. projectors would fix that. but thats so miniscule that it really doesnt matter. also, when i bought mine, it said that they were bixenon. turns out, theyre not. i only have the low beam. but honestly, i dont mind. Also, one thing I find wierd is that since I put them in and I only have one beam, (low) my high beam light on my dash is lit up like half dimmed. if i flash my high beam with the directional stick, the indicator on the dash lights up to full brightness, but my lights dont flash because theyre only one beam. so it was a little annoying at first to have that high beam indicator constantly on but I'm used to it now. I might buy ones that have a standard halogen high beam attatched to them so that problem should be solved then

It doesnt matter if they are perfectly aim. Halogen headlamps arnt made for HID bulbs. Hints why its illegal. Btw first time offense is $250 fine.. better of just buyin projectors lol. Also the reason your high beam indicator is only is because xenon bulbs are made to go in our cars.

 

[guitarEd182]

that doesn't explain the technical reason for why the high beam indicator is on. and yes I know its illegal. driven by cops many a time. not once been pulled over. I can tell you i've never blinded anyone more than halogens would. The only time someone would be blinded is if you are looking directly into my lights and i hit a bump which aims the light right in your eyes, which can also happen with halogens. I've also never been blinded by other peoples hid's. Idk why everyone says they're blinding. i just like the color i hate the boring 4300k halogen aged yellow color

 

[sojiaraggs9000]

Try some 4500k to 5300k one they in the pure white range. As for the indicator light the high and low beam wires on the 9007 pin adapter might be mixed up.

 

[mediarocker]

that doesn't explain the technical reason for why the high beam indicator is on. and yes I know its illegal. driven by cops many a time. not once been pulled over. I can tell you i've never blinded anyone more than halogens would. The only time someone would be blinded is if you are looking directly into my lights and i hit a bump which aims the light right in your eyes, which can also happen with halogens. I've also never been blinded by other peoples hid's. Idk why everyone says they're blinding. i just like the color i hate the boring 4300k halogen aged yellow color

Ok, heres how.

In simple terms:
Past 5000K you are affecting yours (and everyone elses if you're using halogen housings) night vision. The color tempuratures beyond 5000K force your brain to comprehend blue colors. When blue is displayed against a black background, your brain struggles to differentiate whats going on between the two. The more yellow in the light, the greater the ability to differentiate. Once the eye is exposed to blue light, it takes up to 30 minutes for it to return to full night functionality. (depending on the exposure duration and severity.)

Heres the long explanation:

It's because of the way the human eye interacts with different colors of light. Blue and violet are very difficult for the human optical system to process correctly. They are the shortest visible wavelengths and tend to focus in front of our eyes' retinae, rather than upon it. To demonstrate this to yourself, find a dark blue store front sign or something else that's a dark, pure blue against a dark background in the absence of white light—from any appreciable distance, it's almost impossible for your eyes to see the blue lighted object as a sharply defined form;the edges blur significantly. Deep blue runway lights exhibit the same effect; check it out the next time you land at night. Blue also is a very difficult color of light to look at; it stimulates the reaction we call glare. Within the range of allowable white light, bluer headlamps have been shown to be 46% more glaring than yellower ones for a given intensity of light. So, it seems culling the blue out of the spectrum lightens the optical workload and reduces glare.

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

 

[KhanTyranitar]

Its true, your dealing with the nature of the human eyes, as much as you might want to beat around it, night vision and high K rated light do not go together. Just because it seems brighter doesn't mean you can see.

And as far as blinding other people, man I wish I had brights I could shine backwards are the jerk behind me. While blinding oncoming traffic is always bad, headlights are designed to shine more light to the right so that it lights up road signs and anything that might be off the side of the road, and not into oncoming traffic. But when you have someone in front of you, they get the full brunt of it shining of the mirrors. Sure you can dim the center mirror, but the other two leave you helpless, and it hurts the night vision of the guy in front of you.

If you are going to use HIDs, please, use the projectors, they were invented for a reason.

While it is true that a lower Kelvin rating does not automatically equal brighter light. The 4300K bulbs, in terms of lumens, are about 15% brighter than the 8000K bulbs. Color temperature does not equal brightness. Lumens is how actual brightness is measured. Its like those stupid Silverstar halogens which are said to be so bright, if you compare them in lumens to an Xtravision, which has no tinted coating, the Xtravision is brighter, again by around 15%. The Silverstar looks brighter because its apparent color temperature is higher, a result achieved by removing some of the yellow spectrum light.

 

[Mysterious101]

that doesn't explain the technical reason for why the high beam indicator is on. and yes I know its illegal. driven by cops many a time. not once been pulled over. I can tell you i've never blinded anyone more than halogens would. The only time someone would be blinded is if you are looking directly into my lights and i hit a bump which aims the light right in your eyes, which can also happen with halogens. I've also never been blinded by other peoples hid's. Idk why everyone says they're blinding. i just like the color i hate the boring 4300k halogen aged yellow color

You never blinded anyone more than halogens...haha you are a funny one. Remember you are the person behind the bright lights, not the driver coming towards your car. So in reality you have no idea if they are blinding, most drivers don't flash their lights when they see the blue....If you have money and time try to put projectors in, they give a better light output and I think looks cooler.

 

[mediarocker]

While it is true that a lower Kelvin rating does not automatically equal brighter light. The 4300K bulbs, in terms of lumens, are about 15% brighter than the 8000K bulbs. Color temperature does not equal brightness. Lumens is how actual brightness is measured. Its like those stupid Silverstar halogens which are said to be so bright, if you compare them in lumens to an Xtravision, which has no tinted coating, the Xtravision is brighter, again by around 15%. The Silverstar looks brighter because its apparent color temperature is higher, a result achieved by removing some of the yellow spectrum light.

The clear glass Silverstar Ultras are brighter, They are hard to find but do exist. I had some on my Taurus. B)