HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommendation
 

Hey guys I have been getting a lot of Private Messages and questions about HID’s and how to install them what are the common brands out there, and if I had any recommendations. So here is a thread on it and I hope they can make this one a sticky as well. I take no responsibility and the information from here on in is to my best knowledge and research.

“High-intensity discharge (HID) lamps are electrical lamps producing light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused alumina tube. This tube is filled with both gas and metal salts. The gas facilitates the arc's initial strike. Once the arc is started, it heats and evaporates the metal salts forming a plasma, which greatly increases the intensity of light produced by the arc and reduces its power consumption.” From Wikipedia

With that said Audi’s commonly use a general set up (which most people do not like) with fog lights being halogen, as well as the high beams, and the regular lights being an HID Xenon type of lamp.

To have a proper HID lamp your require wiring, a proper lamp (xenon preferably) and a ballast. The ballast’s are used to regulate the electrical load/consumption. Without the proper or any ballast connection where the device is connected to a constant voltage supply (our battery) this would excessively draw the current until the lamp/ballast/power supply were destroyed. This can cause a fire etc. kind of obvious. So the ballast provides a reactance or resistance which limits the flow of the current to the device and provides a proper level of power to the lamp.

Currently on the market for the B5 Audi models I have seen a high-beam and low-beam setup available. However I do not know the manufacturer or what they are called. For the B6/7 Audi models this currently does not exist, so a custom modification needs to be done.

You can use these methods for both fog lights and high-beams. The most common kits out there are from VVME, I have heard a lot of guys having these and not having any issues, however the customer service is in China and if the kit is broken it needs to be shipped back with no refund of shipping etc. The customer service is very poor and a pain to deal with if any issues arise. Also on the market there is a company called Valeo that provides a kit for our cars, and they are a bit on the pricy side with a common ballast kits ranging from $220-$350 on EBay VS the VVME @ $89 last time I checked.

Once you have ordered the kit and have it in your hands and are ready to do this install, you need to remove the headlamps and remove the high-beam light bulb, retrofit the new light in with a proper seal (I am not sure if this is a plug and play application I will have to verify I am positive that it should be). Now you need to find a mounting place for the ballast, an ideal place would be somewhere behind the bumper (if you are installing fog HID’s this is probably the best place to mount it) or behind the headlamp if there is enough room. Re-wire the kit properly to accommodate the changes (pictures coming soon). Repeat the same procedure on the opposite side. If you have any more questions feel free to contact me! ENJOY:cool:!

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

hey... good info thanks for sharing...

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Just for fun, I have bought three sets of HID's (for older cars and my porsche) from HID Xenon A Conversion Kit WWW.CQLIGHT.CA

they are in cali not canada (buddy bought the wrong url i guess thinking .ca was cali lol) but he has good customer service and they have lasted me over three years now in my porsche so I high recommend them. They have a new slim ballast too which makes for an easy install.

I think I may do some H11's in my fogs since I have OEM hid's I wont bother changing those obviously. I used 5000k in all my cars cause 6500k is too blue and ricerboy for me. The 5000k was just slightly bluer than 4300k but almost exactly the same overall.

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Definately go for the cheapies on e-bay! For 1/3 the price if they fail you can just throw them out, and still be ahead. I have used 2 set off e-bay for 2 years now... no problems.

Plus the super duper halogens are $60 at crappy tire and Part source, they dont even come close, another $20 and the HID's are shipped to your door. I dont know if it was stated above but do an E-bay search for "HID Conversion" .

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Does Anyone Knowing That Installing Aftermakret Hid On Audi A3 2005 Can Destroy Wiper Motors ???

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

I am not sure unless you dont balance the load I can see it being a problem but I highly doubt that they are on the same circuit...With that said I would pull the fuse to double check for either one and see if the other works.

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

1move, (or anyone else)

Do you know if the factory HIDs (Xenon) in my 2002 A4 are naturally very dim? Or if there's something not right with them? You can tell they ARE proper HIDs, the cut-off etc... and the light is a tad brighter than normal halogens, but... they are exceptionally dim compared to most of the HIDs (even factory) out there. Including all the Mercs, BMWs, TSXs, and other cars from that year/class.

This may sound dumb... but... do the xenon bulbs become dimmer over time? Do they ever need replacing (unless they go out, obviously)

thanks:)
Andrew

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Is it the HID light that is dim or are the actual headlight lenses kinda cloudy; the plastic on the headlights themselves can get scratched/clouded over time but there's a plastic polish from Canadian Tire that does a good job of cleaning things up. A picture of the headlight might help us determine what the issue is.

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Yeah they do dim a bit over time, it sounds like yours are at the extreme end though or someone put in crap bulbs in. They should be fairly noticibly white. the factory ones are at 4300k Benz and BMW use 6000K I belive but they are too blue and you loose a lot more light that way.

Re: HID's Common Questions, Install, Solutions, Parts, Recommenda
 

Here is a lighting spectrum to kind of explain what I am talking about! Ignore the fact that they are industrial lighting comparisons just look at the numbers..

http://www.nlites.co.uk/extra3/Visib...trumKelvin.jpg
Ideal is in that 4300k Zone you might be at like 3000k