Ford E-series HID

[Stokedonlife]

I know I'm kind of late in the thread but I thought I'd share my experience.

I was totally turned away by the high price tags of HID conversions, but I had to do something. We take a lot of road trips and usually have a bunch of people in our 15 passenger van and the stock lights just didn't cut it.

I found an HID conversion kit on Amazon for pretty cheap and thought I'd give it a try. With their return policy I knew I could just return it if I didn't like it. I bought this kit with 10k beams. It doesn't say in the description, but it has both high and low beams:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=i...allasts+-+9007+(9004)+(HB5)+Bi-Xenon+-+10000k

Then I bought these clear housings because I liked the look:
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=301203328678

1992-2006 Ford E150 E250 E350 Econoline Van Head Light W/ Corner Lamps Clear

Here's how they look installed, super dirty from yesterday's roadtrip:

I've got over 5000 miles of driving at night with these on and have never once had anyone flash me for them neigh too bright. The van is high enough where I was able to point them down at the ground and eliminate a lot of light noise. They do have some hot spots but I think I can tune them a little more. I hate driving any of my other vehicles now that I've experienced HID. They are simply amazing! The high beams saved my life a couple times while driving through Colorado. They are so bright they scare the deer and moose out of the road and cause them to flee. My other lights seemed to just attract animals, they would stop in the road and stare at the lights.

I had an issue with my original bulbs and Kenson sent me new ones no questions asked. I know they are cheap, but I figured I could buy 5 pair for less then the expensive kits.

Install was about 1 hour, including the marker lights, wiring harness and the added LED running lights in the new housings.

 

[REDOVAL]

Now we need some action shots or some video!

Action shot as requested. I don't have a video yet but I think you get the idea.

Scott

 

[depark]

Is that pic Hi or Lo beam? Can you post them side by side?
Thanks

 

[mikracer]

Is that pic Hi or Lo beam? Can you post them side by side?
Thanks

Looks like low beam to me. If it were high beams, the trees would be lit up.

 

[REDOVAL]

Is that pic Hi or Lo beam? Can you post them side by side?
Thanks

Sorry for the late response. That pic is a regular low beam shot of how it looks during normal driving conditions. I will have to take a pic with the high beams on, but as mikracer indicated the high beams would be drastically different.

Scott

 

[desertspeed]

I have been meaning to update this thread with my impressions sooner than this, but since getting the lights I have moved from So Cal to St George, UT and changed jobs, so life has been a little crazy. I am going to blame my lack of pictures on the same reasons, but really it's just because I am lazy and suck at taking pics. :sombrero:

First of all, Redoval (Scott) was awesome to deal with and very helpful when I had a couple of questions/issues during the install. The part that he does (installation of the projector kit into the light housings) appears to be very well done and I don't expect any issues. I think what he charges is totally reasonable and not having to go source the correct parts yourself and deal with taking apart the housings is absolutely worth it. As an unexpected bonus the lights came with new side markers as well.

Now for the less positive part- Scott does not provide the wiring harness/ballast kit or bulbs, but does send a link to eBay listings for the correct ones. They were pretty inexpensive (less than $50 total) and showed up in just a few days. The bulbs seem fine, although I don't really have anything to compare them to, and only time will tell how long they last. Most of the wiring harness looks OK, with a couple of exceptions. First, it comes with a couple of extra wires/connectors that are for other applications and need to be removed- not a big deal if you are aware of it, but trying to figure out where they connect to was frustrating for a while until I gave up and called Scott (luckily he didn't mind getting called on a Sunday morning). The instructions that come with the wiring kit are in Chinese and my Mandarin is a little rusty, so they aren't much help.

My second issue with the wiring harness is the wires that control the high beam projectors/shields?- they are 24 or 26 gauge with very cheap connectors. In fact, after I installed them and tried my lights for the first time, the driver's side high beam wasn't working. After testing the wires, I found that one of the terminals was not fully inserted into the connector. After fixing that everything worked fine, but I don't think that those wires (or connectors) would last very long in any vehicle that sees much time off road. I ended up pulling the lights back out and re-wiring them with 18g wire and Weatherpack connectors, as well as covering the wires completely in shrink tubing (especially where it enters the back of the housing) to better protect and support the wires. The rest of the harness seems to be a little better constructed- I just added some split loom to a couple of places where rubbing could be an issue.

Scott provides very good instructions on how to aim the lights and that part was pretty simple. The light output seems way better than the stock lights, although I wish I had taken before and after pictures to really be able to see the difference. I haven't had much chance to drive at night yet so I am carrying around a 4mm socket to be able to make minor adjustments if needed. The cutoff on these lights is very sharp so once they are adjusted correctly I don't think they will bother other drivers.

Overall I am very happy- the stock lights were completely useless and for the price this was a great way to go. If you don't mind doing a little work to the harness I think it will last for a long time.

 

[CrabbyMcNab]

Thanks for the update DS.

 

[REDOVAL]

I have been meaning to update this thread with my impressions sooner than this, but since getting the lights I have moved from So Cal to St George, UT and changed jobs, so life has been a little crazy. I am going to blame my lack of pictures on the same reasons, but really it's just because I am lazy and suck at taking pics. :sombrero:

First of all, Redoval (Scott) was awesome to deal with and very helpful when I had a couple of questions/issues during the install. The part that he does (installation of the projector kit into the light housings) appears to be very well done and I don't expect any issues. I think what he charges is totally reasonable and not having to go source the correct parts yourself and deal with taking apart the housings is absolutely worth it. As an unexpected bonus the lights came with new side markers as well.

Now for the less positive part- Scott does not provide the wiring harness/ballast kit or bulbs, but does send a link to eBay listings for the correct ones. They were pretty inexpensive (less than $50 total) and showed up in just a few days. The bulbs seem fine, although I don't really have anything to compare them to, and only time will tell how long they last. Most of the wiring harness looks OK, with a couple of exceptions. First, it comes with a couple of extra wires/connectors that are for other applications and need to be removed- not a big deal if you are aware of it, but trying to figure out where they connect to was frustrating for a while until I gave up and called Scott (luckily he didn't mind getting called on a Sunday morning). The instructions that come with the wiring kit are in Chinese and my Mandarin is a little rusty, so they aren't much help.

My second issue with the wiring harness is the wires that control the high beam projectors/shields?- they are 24 or 26 gauge with very cheap connectors. In fact, after I installed them and tried my lights for the first time, the driver's side high beam wasn't working. After testing the wires, I found that one of the terminals was not fully inserted into the connector. After fixing that everything worked fine, but I don't think that those wires (or connectors) would last very long in any vehicle that sees much time off road. I ended up pulling the lights back out and re-wiring them with 18g wire and Weatherpack connectors, as well as covering the wires completely in shrink tubing (especially where it enters the back of the housing) to better protect and support the wires. The rest of the harness seems to be a little better constructed- I just added some split loom to a couple of places where rubbing could be an issue.

Scott provides very good instructions on how to aim the lights and that part was pretty simple. The light output seems way better than the stock lights, although I wish I had taken before and after pictures to really be able to see the difference. I haven't had much chance to drive at night yet so I am carrying around a 4mm socket to be able to make minor adjustments if needed. The cutoff on these lights is very sharp so once they are adjusted correctly I don't think they will bother other drivers.

Overall I am very happy- the stock lights were completely useless and for the price this was a great way to go. If you don't mind doing a little work to the harness I think it will last for a long time.

Thanks for the update DS. My updated installation instructions note your experiences with the harness and warn against these potential issues. Thanks for making these clear to me as it helps make a better product in the end.

I have offroaded with these lights quite a bit and haven't had any issues with the high beam plugs (or any issues with the lights in general for that matter). They aren't very stout, but their function requires very low current capabilities so they don't need more. When plugged in carefully and held by the wires and the plug at the same time they go together just fine. I have installed several sets since DS pointed this issue out to me and haven't had problems since.


Scott

 

[REDOVAL]

Here is a comparison pic for the low/hi beams for these lights. Even though the pic was taken at 3AM it is still very bright where I live. You can see the high beam extension on the building (about 200ft away).

Scott

 

[505live]

Has anybody tried these CREE LED bulbs?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-6500K-...2|Model:Excursion&hash=item1e8ec5e0c2&vxp=mtr

I did an HID conversion on my 2003 E350 which had the sealed beam H6054 housings and it was a huge improvement.

 

[ert01]

Yes, see my previous posts in this thread.

 

[REDOVAL]

On the topic of van lighting, can we get some photos of vans that are setup with led bars mounted to the front (or roof locations)? I'm interested in bars mounted to/around the stock bumper, but aftermarket setups work great as well. I have seen Chris' UJOR bumper with the light bar option and it looks great. I am also interested to see any output shots of these led bar setups.

My projector retrofit lights are great, but you can never have enough lighting offroad.

Scott

 

[depark]

Here are a few pictures of where I mounted my Rigid 6" SR Specter Driving lights. The holes were already in the bumper valence and they looked about the right size. With a little trimming to widen them, they work great. Also I am thinking about putting a Rigid 20" SR2 bar in the opening just above. I have already trial fit it and I know it will work. Now I just need to save up some money for it. Like you said, you can never have enough light.
Hope this Helps.
Cheers
Darryl

 

[REDOVAL]

Here are a few pictures of where I mounted my Rigid 6" SR Specter Driving lights. The holes were already in the bumper valence and they looked about the right size. With a little trimming to widen them, they work great. Also I am thinking about putting a Rigid 20" SR2 bar in the opening just above. I have already trial fit it and I know it will work. Now I just need to save up some money for it. Like you said, you can never have enough light.
Hope this Helps.
Cheers
Darryl


Darryl,

Thanks! That setup looks great! The output shot was just the spectre lights in the valance correct? Would you choose the 20" bar with spot beams since you seem to have really good front fill?

Scott

 

[depark]

The output shots had both the headlight high beams and LED's on. Even if I turn the Hi's off, it does not make any difference. The LED's just overpower them. As for which Rigid bar, I would go with the 20" Combo (Specter - Hyperspot / Driving) Driving light. Even though it duplicates the driving pattern it has the Hyperspot center and that is what I want. I would have been happier if the whole bar was Hyperspot but Rigid does not make one.
Cheers
Darryl