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-   -   Auto Lighting thread : Post all queries about automobile lighting here (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifications-accessories/93908-auto-lighting-thread-post-all-queries-about-automobile-lighting-here-778.html)

After upgrading from 55/60watts to 90/100 watts, it looks like light intensity have increased.
Reflectors felt like little warm as compared to stock bulbs during city drives, did not observe any discoloration post installation until now.
Have not gone any highway drives after upgradation. Generally I have habit of switching off headlights during traffic jams and stoplights.

The tucson is CANBUS.

However is the quick turning on and then shutting down a CANBUS issue or power issue?

Also, how do I find out if my ballasts are CANBUS compatible or not?

You'll need a CANBUS adapter that sits between the OEM headlight socket and the ballast.

Something like this.

From my personal experience, the Manza/Vista had some really great headlights.
Are your reflectors / carbonate lens / beam alignment in perfect condition? You should check that out maybe.

If these are fine for you then you might want to upgrade the bulbs to a higher wattage (80w H7s) in low as well as high beam. You can get an H7-H7 relay kit with ceramic holders (something like this)

Regarding HIDs/LEDs in reflectors, please don't opt for them. They scatter a lot of the useful light and your visibility will be reduced even further. I have been this road.

Hi guys!
I was looking to upgrade the bulbs in my Skoda Laura Ambiente. I was considering 4300K HID’s in the low beam projectors. I wanted to know what should I consider for the high beam, Foglamps and if possible the DRL beside the fog lamps too. I had a 4300K LED setup in my Corolla earlier. The spread was good but the throw was very poor. Pls suggest a good setup with a decent throw for the high beam. I can order things from aliexpress but don’t need 5000K+ bulbs. All local accessories guys tend to push that and one of them wasn’t sure about the bulbs being CANBUS compliant. Thank you!

I am using this from Aliexpress in h7 variant in 4300k on my Laura. Works perfectly without any errors and doesnt need any relays etc
Rs. 4,115.53 36%OFF | DMEX 12V AC 42W Fast Bright Fast Start Error Free Canbus HID Xenon Kit H1 H3 H7 H8 H9 H11 9005 9006 with Canbus HID Ballast
http://a.aliexpress.com/_cn3nxB

Are these with white light? I personally have found the distance covered by white light is lesser than that of legacy yellow bulbs.
On highways I usually set high beams to lowest position and use them as lower beams. This helps me but not much to vehicles coming from opposite side due to the reflectors.
If high beams are better it will help in this case. However my Ertiga still has almost 2 years of warranty. Post that I am planning to add external lamps for lower beams and use high beams as they are ok.
My concern is during rainy season though. These default lights are useless and I drive blindly when a vehicle with high beam comes from opposite side.

These are yellow lights on low beam & white lights on high beam. But on high beam you will feel a considerable improvement over stock headlights.


My ecosport's stock lights are equally useless:Frustrati.

Please buy a genuine relay and get H7 80W installed instead of the factory fitted headlight bulbs. I'm running the same setup in my Vista and all the bulbs are Flosser H7 80W (Made in Germany) and the difference is like day and night.

Make sure the Relay and bulbs are genuine. Also, anything above 80W would be an overkill. You won't go wrong with this setup and I'm using the same in my 2013 Vista for the last 6.5 years now. Flosser bulbs lasted for 5.5 years. As such, there is no darkening of reflectors also.

You can go for 9011 or HIR1 bulbs, they are one of the brightest Car halogen bulbs you can get. Available on Amazon.com or rockauto.com. (Wagner 9011)

I use them in my Camry high beams and they are a massive improvement over the Osram Night breaker Lasers i used before.

I am using for my 2012 Toyota Camry high beam, which uses the HB3 bulb. if you trim a little from the top tab on the 9011 (HIR bulbs), it will fit perfectly into the HB3 headlight socket.

Do not fall into the LED bulb trap, they are useless in a projector setup.

Hi Guys,

I had purchased an Ecosport Titanium Diesel in March 2017. I was initially aware of the sub-par illumination of the Ecosport headlight. I got the car assuming it would be somewhat lesser than my i20 Active (which I had owned for 1.5 years before selling off for personal reasons). And I never got a chance to check out the light output on an empty highway at night before the purchase.

Boy, was I wrong on so many levels. So, after purchasing the car; during my first night drive I was literally trying to check if the headlights were ON or not; especially in high beam.

This led me to making a lot of plans for modifications (including looking at expensive projector headlight assemblies from various websites).

As a first; within a few months of buying the car – I tried to use Hella Rallye 3003 with 100w Philips Rallye Bulbs. The light output was phenomenal and I really liked it. But my service advisor at Ford warned me that taking a massive 17-18A load straight from the battery would possibly cause issues in the car's BCM and if some electrical issue were to crop up; they would outright deny my car's electrical warranty. So, I had it removed within 2 weeks of install. But the highway drive with those lights at night was awesome during the 2 back to back trips and I was hoping to see some proper upgrade to my car’s light output without creating a major fuss with the extremely supportive Ford Dealer.

See the photo of the car fitted with Hella Rallye 3003 below.



Sadly I do not have a photo of the light output running this setup as it was a very short 2 weeks and there was a lot of travel in that time.

Then I resorted to CSP chip LEDs (this was towards Oct 2017) for both main headlamps and fog lamps. While light output seemed nice on a dark road; I was not satisfied with the high beams and due to kicker from the laws of Physics related to light colour wavelength spectrum; any oncoming vehicle’s normal halogen headlights would “wash-out” my white 6000K lights.

Pitch Dark Alley I used for checking light output after the LED upgrade in my car.



Fog Lamp Output (before I adjusted the alignment which was all over the place at the time of taking this photo)



Fog Lamp + Low Beam Output (again, before final alignment)



Fog Lamp + High Beam



Now, I managed for a few months with this light setup. Then in mid of 2018; I decided to take Philips Racing Vision for Main Headlamps (H4) & Philips Xtreme Vision Plus for Fog Lamps (H11).

It was a good choice and was better than stock but still not anywhere good enough as my i20 Active (which was a real stunner with GE Megalight HB3 bulbs from Powerbulbs).

I then decided to look at the next possible opportunities. That is when I came across Morimoto retrofitment thread on Creta in Team-BHP. Through that thread; I got the contact details of a reliable installer (Sathish of Motofocusz) in Chennai.

I was in discussion with him for almost 3 months – planning for the option of a simple D2S 4.0 swap to quad pod projector + reflector combination (photo shown below from Philippines modification site – credits to original uploader)




I decided against the simple swap as I use my passing flasher extensively in daytime (to avoid horn usage). Going for a single pod bi-xenon HID is not suitable for passing flasher either as it will lead to a reduction of the life of the HID bulb and cause issues in the ballast as well. The quad projector setup would be costing me well past 40k (new pair of headlamps + Morimoto D2S 5.0 kit + 3” LED projector for daytime passing flasher inside the quad pod headlamps + switchback Halos + wiring + labour costs).

Since I was not ready (yet) to put down that kind of money; I took the next best option – 3” bi-xenon fog lamp projectors with HID kit. This was also an electrically simpler method and the warranty for my car’s electrical system can be kept intact (thanks to the support from the aforementioned support from the friendly SA at my regular Ford dealership).

So, I went ahead with the parts listed below for final fitment on my car:

1. 3” IPHCAR bi-xenon projector assembly with mounting clamps (2 year warranty)
2. 35w 4300k HID kit with ballasts and canbus adapters (1 year warranty)
3. Separate switch with dedicated wiring for controlling high beam solenoid of the projector (fitted on the OBD port cover facing driver’s right knee)

I started the work on Friday evening at the installer’s location around 7pm. Work was completed around 11pm. The colour temperature was not matching between the two bulbs after installation. I was looking at an outstation trip the next day; so went ahead with the light setup. Sathish assured me that he will procure another set of bulbs from his supplier and test it to colour match before refitment in my car.

This is where disaster struck – On the evening of the travel; I started from my home and went to my trusted fuel pump for tanking up before the drive. After the tank up, I started the car and turned on the headlamps and fog lamps. The HID started to warm up. At that instant; I turned on the AC and the AC clutch kicked in drawing a big load from the battery. At the same time; the ballast tried to draw more current to continue powering up the HIDs to full temperature. This caused the fog lamp fuse to blow up (a sole 15A fuse for 2 x 55w stock halogens by Ford India). Sadly; the fuse puller provided in the car was useless (it was nowhere near as strong as the Hyundai / MSIL fuse pullers).

So, I went on a night drive with just my main headlamps running the 55/60W Philips H4 Racing Vision bulbs (it was damn difficult after having experienced the HID Fog Projectors). In the meanwhile; I called up Sathish and asked him to get 35w ballasts and bulbs in 4300k colour temperature to try and see if this situation can be assuaged with lower current consumption.

He promptly came to my home after I returned to Chennai. He swapped out the bulbs and also checked the entire wiring once just in case. He even brought one set of spare projector assemblies in case I were to ask for the same (I’m sort of a stickler for attention to detail; going on borderline OCD; but that’s for another day). Thankfully no such fuse blowing issues faced with the 35w HID kit (did multiple trials to be sure).

We went for a trial run and got the alignment and focus checked out at the various locations (lit up road, dark road, narrow & wide streets) in my locality.

The results speak for themselves in the photos taken below:

IN A NARROW POORLY LIT STREET

Fog Lamp Low Beam


Fog Lamp High Beam


Fog Lamp Low Beam + Headlamp Low Beam – This is the most widely used light mode for my driving (100% in city and when there is oncoming traffic on the highway)


Fog Lamp High Beam + Headlamp Low Beam – This is what I use on highways and expressways when no one is coming in the opposite direction


Fog Lamp High Beam + Headlamp High Beam – This is used purely for intimidating the high beam abusers on the highway and in the city


IN A WIDE WELL LIT STREET

Fog Lamp Low Beam


Fog Lamp Low Beam + Headlamp Low Beam


Fog Lamp High Beam + Headlamp Low Beam


Fog Lamp High Beam + Headlamp High Beam


OUT ON THE OPEN HIGHWAY






Finally, a pic of the car in daytime. This is how it looks with this modification. Nothing is visible to the naked untrained eye. Only those who observe closely can see the difference. This makes it extremely convenient when using at other state locations (KA/KL/AP/TS).


Update - In the last week; one of the Philips Racing Vision bulbs in the main headlamp conked off. The low beam was fused. So, promptly ordered a pair of updated Philips Xtreme Vision+ G-Force H4 bulbs and swapped them out. The light output is mildly warmer (3500k-ish) compared to the 3800k-ish of the Philips Racing Vision). Also, Philips themselves claim a 450 hrs life span for this bulb compared to the 200 hrs life span claimed on the Philips Racign Vision (although to be fair, I would have easily extracted 250+ hours with the multiple night drives + serious amount of passing flasher use in daytime). All-in-all, its a small amount spent which gives a massive increase in confidence; especially while driving at night.

For those suffering from poor lighting on the pre-facelift Ecosport; this is a pretty good option for the perfect lighting upgrade without burning a big hole in your pocket and without risking electrical safety by using big relays and higher wattage bulbs.

Cheers & Safe Driving

Hi Surya-TJet,
Can you please tell me how you mounted the Hellas on the Ecosport?
If you mounted them on brackets clamped to the crossmember, can you please share the dimensions of the brackets? I need this so much and would be of great help.
Thanks in advance.

Awesome light output by the fog projectors by the way.

Hi Prakritij, thanks for your comments.

I fitted the Hella Rallye 3003 on my Ecosport by looking at this thread listed below. Specifically, this post.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post4017828

I did the measurement long back; don't exactly remember it. But the clamps have to made atleast 2" wide and has to be atleast 5mm thick for arresting the vibrations. Or else; it will keep on vibrating / oscillating too much; thereby damaging the mounts / clamps.

Why do you want to go the Hella Rallye route? Any specific reason? Why not look at the bi-xenon fog projector instead? Much more discrete, equivalent performance and lesser price compared to Hella.

Thanks Surya-TJet for your prompt reply.
My reason for the query is I have the facelifted Ecosport whose fog lamps are not round and hence the fog projectors cannot be fitted there. However, I do have an old pair of iphcar projectors and want to fit them where you have fitted the Hellas.
Hence I asked for the dimensions.

Hi Prakritij. I would suggest not to use the projectors outside as direct water contact will most certainly cause issues in the long run. Also, the projector body (which is full metal) will be running real hot and will cause damage to the bumper due to heat transfer over a period of time.

I will instead suggest you to use a 35w 4300k HID (Osram Xenarc 4200k HID should suffice) in the low beam. Upgrade the high beam to Philips Xtreme Vision+ or Osram Night Breaker Laser (Gen-2) bulbs. Then realign the headlamp to improve the visibility (follow the steps in the guide I will include in a separate post below). This way, no major electrical load needs to be taken from the battery; thereby saving your electrical warranty. Otherwise, it will require a massive electrical routing inside your engine bay until your dashboard.

Use H11 bulbs (philips xtreme vision+ g-force or Osram Night Breaker Laser Gen-2) in fog lamps in place of H8 for additional foreground lighting. You will just need to cut one of the tabs to match the width (as shown in the the photo below). Rest all will be taken care automatically.



Hope this helps.

Cheers & Safe Driving.