HID conversion

[Tobes_WIR35]

Hi fellow enthusiasts,

I have a blown foglight lamp and was looking for replacements. Due to the halogen foglight lamps being notoriously bad for having a short life span, and also due to me being the tinkering type, I am considering installing a HID conversion kit instead. Being an electrical engineer who does a lot with lighting, I am familiar with most of the technical aspects, however I was wondering whether anyone has had any actual experience with the conversion kits that are available?

I do not want to buy rubbish, I want to make sure what I'm buying is good quality and is going to last. The kits I have seen on Amazon.com are from JLM and Kensun. They sound Korean or something, which does concern me a little, but I have been unable to find anything from the big name european manufacturers like Osram or Philips.

All informed feedback and comments are appreciated.

[team_v]

Why not go the led type instead?

[Tobes_WIR35]

I have tried some LED ones, and I am still considering that option. The ones I tried previously had about 100 very small SMD LED chips per lamp. The problem with them is that there was no heat sink, and heat is the number one enemy of LED with regards to performance and life span - so these particular LED's began to rapidly die, one chip at a time. After 6 months about 70% of the chips were dead. I have seen some others on amazon which have fewer, higher powered LED chips and have an aluminium body, some even with an external heat sink. These are probably much better. In either case, I'll have to buy an inline resistor/error decoder as the MFD showed errors when I used the LED types previously.

[nat225]

how about cree led like below:

Aliexpress.com : Buy vw POLO 2 pieces 30W 6pcs CREE chips led car light 2013 new products H8 led fog light auto accessory head lamp free shipping from Reliable led head light suppliers on Dongguan Sikepu Electronic technology ltd.

[Tobes_WIR35]

Yeah they look alright.

I was also looking at these. I like the look of those substantial heat sinks. That's really what's required for high powered LEDs.
HAMMER H8 New BMW White 32W 7000K Angel Eyes LED Halo Bulbs Special Offer 2-pc Set:Amazon:Electronics

[alexc2005]

I have fitted HID's from EZHID to a VE Commodore. Haven't looked for a VW suitable set but I have to say they were absolutely amazing with regards to visability.

I didn't fit fog lights, just high/low beam. 35w and 55w from memory.

HID Kits All In One

I got 4300K as these have more light and are whiter.

I have heard of people using ebay kits with success.

[Tobes_WIR35]

Thanks for your input alex. Do you know whether there has been any problems with the commodore conversion since the install? How long has it been going?

I will go have to find out what colour temperature my headlights are so that the fog lights match (I have factory fitted xenon HID headlights)

[zei20t]

if you go down the HID path, youll need to disable turning fog lights and the coming home/leaving home (for fog lights) feature as they both fade the fog light.

ebay kits are fine, also jaycar kits are pretty much the same - just no delivery times

been running a few of them for several years now with a few cars.

[Tobes_WIR35]

With my car the coming/leaving home function just operates the headlights and LED DRL's, and I don't have the turning foggies, I have the dynamic HID headlights that turn. But cheers for the input.

I just want to make sure I get something quality. Don't want my car to catch fire or the ballast to fail after 6 months or something. If I go with a well known brand like Osram or Philips etc, I know it will be quality.

[alexc2005]

Thanks for your input alex. Do you know whether there has been any problems with the commodore conversion since the install? How long has it been going?

I will go have to find out what colour temperature my headlights are so that the fog lights match (I have factory fitted xenon HID headlights)

I had it for 2 years and they were going strong. Still as good as the day I bought them.

I steered away from HID foglights because yellow is used for a reason, you can see better in actual fog (which there is sometimes where I live).

[Tobes_WIR35]

I had it for 2 years and they were going strong. Still as good as the day I bought them.

I steered away from HID foglights because yellow is used for a reason, you can see better in actual fog (which there is sometimes where I live).

Okay good stuff.

I'm not totally sold on the yellow is better idea. I think it's mostly a myth, although there is science behind the fact that selective yellow light (removing the blue/violet light from the output spectrum by filtering or some other means) can reduce optical strain. Yellow light doesn't actually penetrate fog better, nor does it reflect less off the fog droplets as is commonly thought (this could only be the case if the fog droplets were smaller than the size of the light wavelength, which of course is not the case - the droplets are many times larger). It just might make your eyes strain a little less, although that is subjective and I don't know of any scientific study to prove that.

[alexc2005]

Science aside, I opted to typically use my yellow fog lights to see better rather than high beams (far far brighter).