HID on ebay

[Ska]

Anyone had any good/bad experiences with these kits off of ebay? I'm looking to get an 8000k set up for the 8 cos they look good and to a lesser extent I want to be able to see if I'm going to hit a pheasant or a farmer on the A40 at 6am!

ebay

[nikw]

I put a JSM branded 6000K set on my car in April of this year. I bought them off eBay for £130, which was very cheap for a kit with combined ignitors/ballasts. The JSMs also appealed because the ignitor/ballast units are cast aluminium rather than moulded plastic.

The only irreversible change required to fit them was to create a two pence piece sized hole in the covers that are clipped on to the rear of the headlamp units. I decided that if I ever wanted to revert to the original setup I should be able to get hold of another pair of covers fairly easily and cheaply.

One of the supposed problems with after-market HID kits is that the part of the capsule that actually emits the light ends up in a different position to the element in a standard bulb, and is therefore incorrectly positioned with respect to the reflector. This can cause the beam pattern to be wrong. Before fitting my kit I compared the HID capsule with my bulb, and it was clear that the capsule had been designed in such a way as to position the light emitting portion in exactly the same place as the filament in the stock bulb, so I was confident that it would produce the appropriate beam pattern once fitted, and so it proved to be.

I was astounded by the increase in light output - the need to use main beam was much reduced, especially in France with the lights switched to driving-on-the-wrong-side mode which removes the lefthand cut-off pattern. The colour was pretty cool too, with white reflective signs reflecting an interesting rainbow effect. I decided upon 6000K capsules in the end as a good compromise between 4300K (as per OEM) and 8000K. Apparently the higher the colour temperature, the lower the light output.

So, I was very happy with my upgraded lights.

However, in July I started to notice that the nearside was slower to strike (light) than the offside, and one night shortly after it gave up altogether. Inspection of the capsule revealed that the cathode connection at the front of the capsule had burnt through and the contents of the capsule had gone milky. This surprised me, because I had been lead to believe that HID capsules have a life several times longer than tungsten bulbs. I contacted vendor I bought the kit from, but perhaps unsurprisingly he refused to respond , so for the time being I'm back to good old bulbs. The vendor in question doesn't seem to have sold many more kits since, but if anyone is considering purchasing such a kit I would recommend (a) not buying from him (PM me for eBay ID of vendor), and (b) extracting written confirmation from any potential vendor that they are willing and able to honour the usual 12 month warranty. Caveat emptor, especially on eBay!

I have since found a source of replacement capsules (www.hids4u.co.uk), and I notice that this company explicitly states that their products are warranted in their eBay auctions. I just need to get around to taking a photo of the old capsules and leads to ensure that HIDS4U can supply the correct fitment.

Having had HIDs, I now miss them and will definitely replace the defective capsule. As long as you sensible and buy from a reputable supplier I can strongly recommend the DIY kit I bought.

Anyone who is interested is welcome to PM me or ask specific questions in this thread.

[Ska]

Great info Nik

Sounds like the kit was a U.S. made one what are your thoughts on Korean or Taiwanese ones ; I have been lead to believe that Chinease Kits suffer from premature ballast failiures. Also some pici's of your failed capsule would do wonders to understand exactly what went wrong So in short your happy with the rest of the kit but just not satisfied with the bulb portion, right?

I can't wait to get a set of these because pre 98 model 8's just don't have sufficient lighting at all

cheers

[nikw]

From what I could glean off the 'net I came to the conclusion that my JSM kit was made in China. See this link.

I have no idea whether Chinese kits are better or worse than any others. By preference I'd probably choose a Jap kit, but they tend to be expensive and only seem to be available from US vendors. I didn't fancy returning the kit to the US in the event of warranty issues. Better to buy from a UK vendor, or so I thought!

I have read that it is better to get a kit with combined ignitor & ballast units. It wasn't made clear why this should be, but the all-in-one solution is certainly neater, and the kits with separate units do seem to be the cheaper ones.

Without talking to others with JSM kits I have no idea how unusual my capsule failure is. As with all mass manufactured goods, some of them are bound to go wrong before they should and I imagine that I have just been unlucky. If my kit kills the next capsule attached to it then I know it's the ballasts!

The lack of warranty support is annoying, but the original cost of the kit (£130) plus the replacement capsules (£80-90) is still well below the going rate for kits on retail websites, so...

Having experienced the improvement in illumination and appearance, I would now happily spend £200-300 on a quality aftermarket kit. Even at that price I think HIDs are one of the most cost effective DIY upgrades available for our cars.

I'll get off my arse and take some pics of the failed capsule this afternoon. I need to do it anyway as previously mentioned, so this is a good excuse to get on with it!

[AnArtist1]

Did you see those fish freak out on the 2nd Demo video!!!!! Bizarre fish/HID torture videos!!!

[Ska]

Perhaps the fish prefered a 12000k system

[nikw]

Finally managed to get around to taking a picture of the bust capsule.

The red ring highlights the cathode connection which has burnt away. It should enter the glass at 90 degrees to the remaining wire (i.e. along the axis of the glass capsule).

The green ring highlights the part of the capsule that actually lights up (or used to). Compare the glass above and below with the milky bit in the middle - it used to be clear when it was working.

[Ska]

Thanks for that Nick; do you have some day/ night pici's of them working in your head light, please?

[nikw]

I think I took at least one pic of the lights when they were working. I'm not sure that the colour will be representative though; not being an expert with a camera I found it difficult to get the white balance right.

I'll have a look for pics when I get home later. When there's some daylight I'll reconnect the remaining capsule and take a photo of HID versus filament. Hopefully that will give a better impression of colour.

[Ska]

[nikw]

Right. Took some pics tonight:

[nikw]

Another:

[nikw]

And one taken in daylight a while ago:

Mine are 6000K capsules. The colour reproduction isn't great, but this last pic is probably closest to how they look in reality.

[Ska]

Cheers for that Nick Clean 8 but your garage on the right needs a bit of work

Suprising how the HID's make the halogens look like candles

BTW whats that black box in the bottom left hand corner of the screen?

[nikw]

My car, but not my farm!

It's where Nicki (missus) kept her horse this summer. The backdrop isn't especially picturesque, but they're the best pics I have of the car in a clean state.

The thing at the base of the windscreen is the external aerial for my reradiating GPS antenna. The coated glass is very effective at blocking GPS signals inside the car, so the rerad is the only solution short of driving around with the driver's window open. Have a look at my gallery (link in signature) for better pics of the install.

HIDs transform the dip beam headlights - I found that I needed to use main beam far less. I think they're the most effective mod I've made to the car (or at least they were until the capsule failed, must order a replacement ). If you're thinking of getting a set I'd say go for it. Having to revert back to normal bulbs made me realise just how poor they are.