HID replacement headlights for Jeep Wrangler?

[96discoXD]

I think the problem is that enforcement on those fronts seems pretty lax. I see way too many cars and trucks in my area running HID conversions that blind every oncoming driver even during the day, much less the night. I'm running Hella H4 conversion lamps with a relay harness and am happy enough with the light output. I may upgrade to higher wattage bulbs later if I feel the need. The other thing I did was wire my Hella 700FF lamps up such that the 12v power source to the switch to trip the relay is run off the high beams so I can flip on the highbeams and my 700's at the same time. I find this gives me more than enough light for traveling any country road at night.
That said I've been guilty of ignoring some of these things before, I had an older Porsche 911 that I painted the inside of the lenses yellow with stained glass paint to replicate the french lamps because I had a rallye theme going with that car and I ran euro e-code hella lamps in a couple of other cars.

 

[atm76039]

Legal matters to me and I hope it does to the greater ExPo community at large.

Ditto. My TJ isn't a daily driver, but it sees hours and hours of on-highway time when I take trips.

I contacted Skinny Pedal and they are letting me return the kit. I hadn't even fully unpacked it, and they were really nice about it.

 

[stankfoot]

i have to agree with HILLDWELLER.

adding illegal equipment to our vehicles gives all of us a bad rep.

that is just my .02

 

[Beowulf]

I don't want to start a flame war, and maybe we need a second thread to discuss this, but don't many of us have different lifts, brakes, etc that are probably not DOT approved. Also, how many of us have vehicles that when ready for a trip are over their GVW. If you got into a wreck and they discovered any part was not DOT or that you exceed GVW, then the same fear of letigation is present. This could be a really good thread, but I will let someone with more legal knowledge be the OP.

 

[atm76039]

I don't want to start a flame war, and maybe we need a second thread to discuss this, but don't many of us have different lifts, brakes, etc that are probably not DOT approved. Also, how many of us have vehicles that when ready for a trip are over their GVW. If you got into a wreck and they discovered any part was not DOT or that you exceed GVW, then the same fear of letigation is present. This could be a really good thread, but I will let someone with more legal knowledge be the OP.

Good points for sure, but I think what makes the headlights different is that on coming traffic isn't directly affected by the weight/height of my vehicle. As well, once you install the headlights, they are there everytime you drive the vehicle, not just while on trips. But like I said, good point about other mods not being DOT approved, such as a big lift (or any lift I guess).

In summation, headlights are the only mod that comes to mind that can directly affect other driver's abilities, making them "cause" the wreck.

 

[Hilldweller]

In summation, headlights are the only mod that comes to mind that can directly affect other driver's abilities, making them "cause" the wreck.

Yes. They are very much "photo torpedoes" and hurt other people.

 

[Hilldweller]

It's very easy to legally upgrade the lighting on a TJ or JK. Hella makes a couple of housings, Cibie makes a few, and you can still find Marchal. In fact, there were a few sealed beam units made years ago that danced circles around what we've got ---- you really have to track them down though and they're expensive.

Found the info about the other 7" legal retrofit lights, the hard to find ones that work great.
The box says "sealed beam" but they're actually H4 housings.

...the Toyota P/N for that nice Koito-made 7" H4 light, by the way; it's 90981-01035. Looks like it's also available as Nissan P/N 26705 C9901. In both cases, has to be ordered through a Toyota or Nissan dealer outside the US/Canada region.

 

[Doin_It]

Found the info about the other 7" legal retrofit lights

............Ok, so whats the info?

 

[Hilldweller]

............Ok, so whats the info?

Look at the quote from Scheinwerfermann; he lists the part numbers.

I found out about this product today too. Looks like another 7" HID retrofit that's legal besides the (ugly as cyclops) Sylvania/Valeo product.
I'm hoping to dig up more info on it.

 

[WMac]

We recently installed the KC Daylighter 7" replacement lens's
http://www.kchilites.com/lights/headlights/7-replacement-headlight/

and a HID H7 kit with high and low beam, They are excelent

 

[Hilldweller]

We recently installed the KC Daylighter 7" replacement lens's
http://www.kchilites.com/lights/headlights/7-replacement-headlight/

and a HID H7 kit with high and low beam, They are excelent

I didn't know that KC was selling a kit; I'd like to know more about it.
Like what bulbs came with it? Who makes it for them? Was it stamped or tagged with DOT, SAE, or ECE codes?

And what do you mean about an H7 HID kit with high/low beams? H7 is a single filament bulb for use with separate high and low housings. An HID kit to fit an H7 housing would be an illegal rebased affair...

My last motorcycle had twin Koito-sourced H7 reflectors that were the best lights I've ever had on any vehicle.

 

[Hilldweller]

I found out about this product today too. Looks like another 7" HID retrofit that's legal besides the (ugly as cyclops) Sylvania/Valeo product.
I'm hoping to dig up more info on it.

Well, I asked Mr Stern about the Speaker HID lights and this was his reply:

Hi, Bill. Yep, I am familiar with that lamp. It is utter rubbish. Really
a headscratcher; light it up and scratch your head and go "Um...an HID
bulb of this type produces 3k lumens, so where's all the light?". Sort
of the headlamp equivalent of the old Wendy's "Where's the beef?"
advertisement from the 1980s. You get a dim, narrow, poorly-focused bar
of light. No real hot spot, no upsweep, not much of a cutoff to speak
of. And the high beam is useless; it takes an H8(!) bulb, a low-output
item intended for use in fog lamps.

He did mention that the LED 8700 model:

eyewateringly costly, but very robustly built. Its
performance, while certainly respectable, does not equal that of a good
Xenon headlamp.

I'd like to know more about them, maybe seen them in action some time.
The spec sheet on them didn't paint a great picture... ...maybe I was looking at the wrong product...

 

[billwilson]

lighting

I did my homework

Found Danny Stern

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/

spend the money
proper install, new buckets, new harnes

i could not be happier

NASA and NORAD are now under contract with me
if they need additional lighting for night landings :sombrero:

 

[WMac]

I didn't know that KC was selling a kit; I'd like to know more about it.
Like what bulbs came with it? Who makes it for them? Was it stamped or tagged with DOT, SAE, or ECE codes?

And what do you mean about an H7 HID kit with high/low beams? H7 is a single filament bulb for use with separate high and low housings. An HID kit to fit an H7 housing would be an illegal rebased affair...

My last motorcycle had twin Koito-sourced H7 reflectors that were the best lights I've ever had on any vehicle.

Bill, KC makes there new housing that I used and YES they are stamped DOT.
I then ordered an H7 HID lamp set w digital ballests. These are avalible in what they call either single lamp or High/Low. I opted for the High/Low.


So. what is a High/low H7 lamp. Well what they did was design a light that simply moves in or out by about 3/4 of an inch depending on HIGH or Low.

I'll try to explain how this works: There is bulb holder (metal adapter) that fits into the KC housing. Because the KC is for a H7 bulb, That is what the adaptor is, It has the three prongs that line up. the inside of the "Adapter" has a lug on it. The bulb has a slot like the number 7 that you simply insert into the adapter and twist it to lock into place, just like my Wifes Lexus.

So here is where they get HIGH and LOW. The adapter has a mirrored reflector that covers the entire bottom of the installed bulb. it also has a small square hole in it as well. the hole is twords the base of the bulb and is about 3/8" x 1/2".

When the lights are in LOW mode, The bulb is pushed all the way out. If you look into the KC housing you see that the "Light ARCH" is past that hole, and therefore 95% of the light is being reflected UP. which if one understands reflection, this causes the light to be cast down onto the street. It also creates a very distinct cutoff line at the top. adjusted properly, and there is no light cast into on comming drivers eyes.

Click the lights to HIGH, and the bulb is pulled in twords the base. This causes the ARCH to then be centered over that small hole I discussed earlier. what it does is allow enough light to be cast down onto the reflector, which in turn reflects up creating a HIGH Beam. The set I have was very well engineered and thought out. I now have some Real Headlamps that work like. look like, act like (dont blind others) real HID headlights that come from the factory.

 

[nwoods]

Bill, KC makes there new housing that I used and YES they are stamped DOT.
I then ordered an H7 HID lamp set w digital ballests. These are avalible in what they call either single lamp or High/Low. I opted for the High/Low.


So. what is a High/low H7 lamp. Well what they did was design a light that simply moves in or out by about 3/4 of an inch depending on HIGH or Low.

I'll try to explain how this works: There is bulb holder (metal adapter) that fits into the KC housing. Because the KC is for a H7 bulb, That is what the adaptor is,It has the three prongs that line up. the inside of the "Adapter" has a lug on it. The bulb has a slot that you simply insert into the adeapter.

So here is where thay get HIGH and LOW. The adapter has a reflector that covers the entire bottom of the bulb. it also has a small square hole in it as well. the hole is twords the base of the bulb and is about 3/8" x 1/2".

When the lights are in LOW mode, The bulb is pushed all the way out. If you look into the KC housing you see that the "Light ARCH" is past that hole, and therefore 95% of the light is being reflected UP which if one understands reflection, this causes the light to be cast down onto the street and has a very distinct cutoff line at the top. adjusted properly, and there is no light cast into on comming drivers eyes.

Click the lights to HIGH, and the bulb is pulled in twords the base. This causes the ARCH to then be centered over that small small hole I discussed earlier. what it does is allow enough light to be cast down onto the reflector, which in turn reflects up creating a HIGH Beam. The set I have was well engineered and thought out. I now have some Real Headlamps that work like. look like, act like (dont blind others) real HID headlights that come from the factory.

The KC kit appears to be an H4 bulb, and I have not found this movable assembly for the hi-low feature you described. Great description by the way! But where did you get the H4(?) HID adapter kit?