MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Matto on October 07, 2012, 11:45:08 AM
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Hi all,
I've never bothered with spotties on the car, since I just don't drive at night enough to warrant them. However I can see us doing more night driving now that we've got the little girl to travel with. The Pathy's headlights are terrible - I've got bigger globes in there but the reflector design is just rubbish. Also because of the combo bulbs, I don't want to go down the path of converting the headlights to HID.
My budget doesn't extend to "good" HIDs or LED light bars, so I'm looking at either splurging on a good set of halogens (think 240 Blitz), or simply grabbing a pair of eBay 9" 55w HIDs. Obviously the eBay ones are much cheaper, and the potential is there to go with 4x smaller HIDs on the roof and get even more light for the same money as the LF halogens...
Looking for feedback from people who've seen both in action. Is it worth paying more for a good light these days, or do the el cheapo Chinese HIDs do just as good a job, if not better? Or does the better design of the LF lights equate to a better real-world outcome?
Cheers!
Matto :)
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matto i brought a set of narva 225 ulitmates both in spread beam new off ebay for $250 and added ebay 100w hid kit from thejaxtracks $200 and have worked fantastic super bright light and smokes my mates with there factory 70w genisis lf spots
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Hi Matto,
Give John a PM - JCLURES - he has fitted the HID and I think Dougie as well...If anyone can advise John can..
Grrr!!! >:D
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Hi Matto
I had 240 Blitz on the Prado and the wiring loom was upgraded. I think it was the Piranha loom and it did make a difference. The Lightforce lights were brilliant but the downside for me was that I had two spotties rather than one wide and one spot. Now the Prado is gone I am looking at Lightforce HIDs. Most of the ones I have seen are pretty good as far as HID go. You can always buy the LF halogen and when money permits, buy the genuine HID upgrade kit for $200 each I think. I think Autoelecau or similar do a pretty good deal on fleabay. (Not affliated) :cheers:
Wayne
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Any reason for not including Hipowered LED lamps ??
I just bought a pair for $65 - 9 LEDs am waiting for arrival ...
Mandrake
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I've had 240 blitz before I went hid on my car and was really happy with their performance, I've got too light 220's on my wife's Patrol and they are pretty good also, considering their price. That's the way I'd go then look at doing the HID in them as the funds allow.
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buy a reasonable set of halogens and then HID them (Hella 4000, Narva 225, Lightforce Blitz 240 etc, etc) you will never look back
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You are better off with good quality halogen than cheap hid lights.
I have hella rallye 4000s one spot and one spread and they are great, they are 10 years old now and have never missed a beat
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For what its worth, 2 of my good mates bought a 35w HID set of spotties from eBay and the light output is awesome compared to my halogen IPF's. They have had them just over a year now so can't say how long they will last but for less than 200 bucks for the pair of 55watters now, you can't go wrong really.
Cheers
Wes
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I've got 6 halogen IPFs and 2 HID XXX lights that will be listed for sale this week as I'm converting both my vehicles to LED. Watch this space for deals on AXIOM LEDs as I'm their newest distributor.
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Matto,
There is/was a member on PCOA who sold HID spots for a good price.
I bought a set from him and are very happy with them.
They are Nite Stalkers.
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Thanks for the feedback guys.
It seems the "buy good halogens and then HID them later" crowd have it by number of votes. Unfortunately you're looking at a considerable investment by the time you're done. Contrast that to the $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs that I have my eye on. I'm sure the more expensive lights are better, I guess the question I'm interested in is "are they really THAT MUCH better?". I'm thinking that if I want to get that much into a set of lights, cheap HIDs + a LED lightbar is probably the better way to go. Or 2 x pairs of ebay HIDs are still cheaper than a single pair of LF 240 halogens.
I'm leaning towards giving the cheap HIDs a shot. If they last a year then die, at least I'm not going to lose a heap of money. I don't mind paying for quality when I can see a benefit, but I'm starting to think that the el-cheapos will give me almost as good a result for a fraction of the cost. Plus I won't be worried about getting them flogged.
CD - thanks for the tip-off - I'll drop the Tablelands boys a PM now, see what they think.
Mandrake - re: the LEDs, I'll be interested to see how you go with them. Do you think 27W will be enough light to work as a driving light, as opposed to just a flood/work/camp light? I'm thinking about LED reverse/flood lights on the back of the car, and looking at 2 x 15W lights. Last time I looked at the LED-replacement headlights (mainly for jeeps in the US) the general consensus was that they weren't putting out enough light to justify the cost. That may have changed recently though with LED lightbars pushing the tech forward. I'd love a 40" lightbar across the roof (who wouldn't???), but the price of even the cheap ones keeps scaring me off.
Grafy - That sorta confirms that I've been thinking.
Wilsurf - Joe's still around, but I don't think he's doing his importing gig any more. I might drop him a PM though, see if he's got any old stock sitting around that he wants to offload. Good idea!
Thanks to all for your input.
Cheers!
Matto :)
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If you buy the eBay ones, you won't have to cry when a roo smashes them. ;D
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Matto I have dirty old IPF 900's that I converted to HID using a pretty cheap Chinese kit.(about $120 for 75w). In my opinion this is the single best modification I have done to my Cruiser. The light out of the HID is unbelievable. If the cheapie lights you are looking at perform as well as my cheapie inserts that are now 12 months old, you will be a happy camper.
Regards
Jas
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Hi Matto,
I converted IPF,s spotlights with 35w/6000 HID chinese kit a bloody long time ago, I have been rerally happy with them, no problems at all.
I also supplied jclures with cheep chinese HID kits for his spotties and driving lights and he has had no problems.
The cheap $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs for my money are the way to go.
HID spotties out shine the halogen lights hands down.
cheers duggie
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Matto,
go for a cruise past your local auto wreckers and you should be able to get a set of reasonable second hand halogens. Look for something that will take a H1 or H3 globe as these are the easiest to get HID kits for. Then look out for a set of HID's on ebay and do the conversion. For what its worth, I find the 55W kits best, to me the 75w's are just too bright. Also try and look for a set with 4300K colour rating.
Good luck mate, once you go HID, you will never go back :)
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Matto I have dirty old IPF 900's that I converted to HID using a pretty cheap Chinese kit.(about $120 for 75w). In my opinion this is the single best modification I have done to my Cruiser. The light out of the HID is unbelievable. If the cheapie lights you are looking at perform as well as my cheapie inserts that are now 12 months old, you will be a happy camper.
Regards
Jas
I did the same, the IPF's were good, but they are brilliant with the HID conversion
GG
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How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?
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How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?
Probably takes about 5 seconds to get usable light out of them the first time you fire them up. Full brightness is about 10 seconds. However if you dip them for oncoming traffic, they re-strike to full brightness almost imediately.
:)
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Probably takes about 5 seconds to get usable light out of them the first time you fire them up. Full brightness is about 10 seconds. However if you dip them for oncoming traffic, they re-strike to full brightness almost imediately.
:)
X 2
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Matto
I think I have a HID conversion kit in the cupboard. Let me know what type of globe you're running. If it suits you can have it. I will look for it later today.
Wayne
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Hi Matto,
I converted IPF,s spotlights with 35w/6000 HID chinese kit a bloody long time ago, I have been rerally happy with them, no problems at all.
I also supplied jclures with cheep chinese HID kits for his spotties and driving lights and he has had no problems.
The cheap $150 (delivered) 9" 55w ebay HIDs for my money are the way to go.
HID spotties out shine the halogen lights hands down.
cheers duggie
I was looking through the 4wd action light camparo last night and see that the piranha off road HID lights look exactly like the chinese 9" hids except there asking something like $700 for em with 12month warrenty. spose they couldnt be that bad.
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I have just received a set of cheap 55wHID spotties, look ok I will be fitting then tomorrow.
I got the eBay ones because if I hit roo I would be gutted if I smashed a expensive pair
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Just upgraded my headlights to HID and they are great.!
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How do you go with the time it takes for the HID's to get to full power?
A valid question..........there is a down side.
I did the 75w HID conversion with my IPF900's. Easy, neat and not big $$$$.
Great light output with the HID's, but the warm-up time is a pain......I put the 130w halogens back in for normal use.
I might throw the HID's in for big trips. It's just a globe change now.
IMO, the HID conversion is better than forking out big $$ for thief-bait.........
Geoff
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If you buy the eBay ones, you won't have to cry when a roo smashes them. ;D
....or when they fall off the bull bar.......
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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/10/24/y8e5ura8.jpg)
These are my eBay ones
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are they the 9" ones? do they touch on the top bar? I have done some measurements roupghly and have come to the conclusion they will hit the top bar of my almost identical arb bar.
any chance some actual dimensions if there the 9'' ones? chasing inparticular the hight from the mounting point at the centre of the bolt to the imidiate top of the light where it curves away and down towards the back.
I measure about 190mm from my mounts to the underside of that top bar.
thanks in advance.
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I was wondering the same when I put my Lightforce lights on. I know they fit on the TJM bar bit not sure about the ARB bar
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From my measurements fuji if those ebay hids dont fit ill be getting the lightforce 240s cause they look like they will fit albeit they will sit forward of the mounting bar in the line of impact if something where to hit the bar. but in saying that the point of getting some decent lights is to avoid hitting things.
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You have to drill a hole forward of the original slot it's very tight but the lights sit flush with the front of the bar and just miss the top bar
I did try light force but they protrude forward of my bar, not prepared to wreck a 700 $ set so the cheap eBay ones it was .......
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How did you wire them?
All I need to do to mine is getting the activitation wire from the high beam to the switch.
my thinking is that this wire will from the switch to the relay and that is it.
The spotties are wired from the relay and earthed.
The feed to the relay needs to be intalled, fused.