Xenon Supply or DDM HIDs

[Enzie]

I'm kind of stuck with which brand to pick for my 2011 Camry SE D:..

There seems to be a big price gap difference, but there is also a difference with the materials supplied

The two brands i'm looking at right now are:
- Xenon Supply (http://www.xenonsupply.com/H11.html)
- DDM (http://www.ddmtuning.com/Product-Cat...-by-Car/Toyota)

And 2 different kits from each brand

The Premium H11 Kit (PRM-H11-KIT) by Xenon Supply comes with:
- 2x Premium Ballasts
- 2x Wiring Harness
- 2x Premium Phillips Patent Bulbs
- 2x CAN BUS Decoders (Built in) <-- what on earth is this
- 2x Anti Flicker Capacitors (Built in)
- 1x Instillation Manual
- Watts = ?? (it doesnt say)
Price: $180.00 US

The Upgrade H11 Kit (UPG-H11-KIT) by Xenon Supply comes with:
- 2x Standard Ballasts
- 2x Wiring Harness
- 2x Premium HID Bulbs
- 1x Installation Manual
- Watts = ?? (it doesnt say)
Price: $130.00 US


The DDM HID Kit Slim Ballast (35W or 55W)
- 2 DDM Digital Slim Ballasts
- 2 HID Bulbs
- Life-Time Warrenty
- Price: $35.00 US
- HID Harness: +$12.50 US
- Error Eliminator (Type 3): +$15.00 US

The DDM Apexcone Raptor HID Kit (35W or 55W/+$10)
- 2 Fullsize Raptor Ballast
- 2 HID Bulbs
- Free Lifetime Warranty
- Price: $25.00
- HID Harness (Dual in, Dual out): +$12.50 US
- Error Code Eliminator (Type 3): +$15.00 US


I would be going with 6000k for either brand, and 35W because the DDM site shows that the 55W washes out the color due to the brightness.

I don't know if any of you have used Xenon Supply before, but i know a lot of people here use the DDM, but the low price is seems sketchy to me, but thats probably because i don't know about prices of these things.

What do you guys reccomend?

(and yes i know about squirrel spotters, i'm still reading about them because the thread left me kind of confused about where they are)

[badbadtz560]

I'd recommend DDM b/c I doubt they're gonna be all that different. I don't think xenon supply uses oem, which would be the only type of HID stuff I buy if I were to spend that kind of money. All my retros use a combo of denso(OEM stuff) and ddm - none of which have failed. The only thing out of the xenonsupply that is of interest is the rebased philips bulbs... if they are actually philips rather than TC-philips

Get a single HID harness from DDM though

edit: those are TC philips bulbs in fact... so I'm actually going to recommend NOT buying xenonsupply.. complete ripoff

[Pawel062]

get ddm n just get the seperate wiring harnesses. they all the same pretty much. ddm is used by most retrofitters if they need non oem ballasts. or morimoto.

[Enzie]

Thank you both for your replies

Originally Posted by badbadtz560

I'd recommend DDM b/c I doubt they're gonna be all that different. I don't think xenon supply uses oem, which would be the only type of HID stuff I buy if I were to spend that kind of money. All my retros use a combo of denso(OEM stuff) and ddm - none of which have failed. The only thing out of the xenonsupply that is of interest is the rebased philips bulbs... if they are actually philips rather than TC-philips

Get a single HID harness from DDM though

edit: those are TC philips bulbs in fact... so I'm actually going to recommend NOT buying xenonsupply.. complete ripoff

TC Phillips bulbs? What are those? They must be really cheap for you to say it's a complete rip off I'm guessing. So I guess it's DDM then??

Originally Posted by Pawel062

get ddm n just get the seperate wiring harnesses. they all the same pretty much. ddm is used by most retrofitters if they need non oem ballasts. or morimoto.

What are the ballasts xD......?
And so you are saying to just get that 35$ kit, and get the wiring harnesses elsewhere?

[Pawel062]

get ddm ballasts n u can get the harness from them or retrofitsource. should start thinking bout retrofit for best output.

[eyezack87]

You won't need the error code eliminator in our gen6.5 Camry's. You will probably want to run the harness just in case though. Squirrel spotter modding is exactly the same as the Gen6. Anyone who argues against me is not paying attention to what I've been saying for the past year

[Enzie]

Originally Posted by Pawel062

get ddm ballasts n u can get the harness from them or retrofitsource. should start thinking bout retrofit for best output.

I considered retrofit, but it's way out of my budget for now D:
maybe some time down the road i'll retrofit if you can put a HID kit and still retrofit
Cause i think i saw a post on here that retrofit ranges from $1,000 to $3,000? and a kit is so much cheaper

EDIT: I re-looked and saw it was $400-$500

Originally Posted by eyezack87

You won't need the error code eliminator in our gen6.5 Camry's. You will probably want to run the harness just in case though. Squirrel spotter modding is exactly the same as the Gen6. Anyone who argues against me is not paying attention to what I've been saying for the past year

Thats good to know, because the guy at the shop was saying i would need a "canceller" which i think is the same thing as the error code eliminator. and was gonna charge me $40 for it.

Speaking of which, i am gonna guess this quote is WAY over priced from what i've already seen on DDM, but the shop guy quoted me at $199 for a kit that they put together themselves (different parts from different kits), $40 for labor, and $40 for this "canceller" so it would total near $300. And i called them today asking if they cover the squirrel spotters, and they had no idea what i was talking about, so i emailed them a link to the thread with them, and i'm still waiting for a call back

Im gonna have to look on youtube to see if there are any video guides for covering the squirrel spotters D:

EDIT: I was searching the forum and found this --> 2010 Camry squirrel spotters
i am now confused.

[profuse007]

whats the life of DDM ballast for 35w and 55w? does it come close to OEM ballast?

[eyezack87]

OP, ignore EVERYONE in that thread saying that it doesn't work. Just buy the kit and the harnass and you're set. To cover your squirrel spotters, use this thread:

HID info

[Ava_Cam]

Originally Posted by eyezack87

OP, ignore EVERYONE in that thread saying that it doesn't work. Just buy the kit and the harnass and you're set. To cover your squirrel spotters, use this thread:

HID info

Hey Isaac im really confused on what squirrel spotters are and what the mod does, can you give me a really quick and basic definition of what they are and will just pushing that flap down all the way fix it?? thanks alot

[desentrix]

Originally Posted by Ava_Cam

Hey Isaac im really confused on what squirrel spotters are and what the mod does, can you give me a really quick and basic definition of what they are and will just pushing that flap down all the way fix it?? thanks alot

I took this from another thread, to demonstrate the nono..

Squirrel spotters are basically the rectangle (above the cutoff) you see against your garage door as you pull up to it. It is used to spread light up and illuminate signs. Your fogs do a similar job towards spreading light. The mod which he describes helps to limit/cover the intensified straying light straying upwards towards other drivers.

This is a pic of a member's halogen vs 6k HID comparison at DAYTIME.


With that said; imagine how it would be at night when you pupils have fully dilated. You can bend the tabs down, but using JB weld w/ a cutout from a coke can works better.

[Enzie]

I don't know if you guys have read my other thread about my fogs, but I decided with my dad we are just gonna get better halogens, and then spend the money and do retrofit sometime down the road. Cause I neither of us have a clue what to do for the squirrel spotters still xD... And my car is a lease, so I don't wanna like, break something

Thanks for all the good info, and I think this threads gonna be really helpful for others with the same questions

But in that picture with the halogen vs HID, was the small glare from the halogens considered "bad"?

Originally Posted by profuse007

whats the life of DDM ballast for 35w and 55w? does it come close to OEM ballast?

I think I read on a couple of the HID sites that the 55w burns out faster, I'm pretty sure it's the bulb that burns out, but I don't know if that relates to ballast life or anything Dx

[badbadtz560]

In all honesty, I think that picture isn't a great representation of camry "glare". I'm guessing that the picture was taken from a height that shows the cutoff of both projectors since it's showing the prismatic blue effect from the halogen side. The top of the cutoff is where the large majority of the light will be concentrated since it'll be your "distance" lighting... or the light that will hit the furthest point on the road (it's where you'd probably want all the light to be).

It's inevitable that people will be blinded by that cutoff light if it hits'em - halogen or HID. Yes the HID would be a good bit worse. however, consider glare to be more like something that can blind other drivers when it shouldn't.. something like a wasted light that could be used as useful driving.... and squirrel spotters only fall in there when they're excessively bright.

To clarify on teh 35watt/55watt - 35watt is closer to OEM in terms of brightness. 55watt will be brighter. It IS the bulb that burns out faster when it's 55watt. In terms of ballasts burning out, OEM is expected to last longer, give less problems, etc... but DDM is lifetime warranty(I heard they honor it)

and so i don't give someone the wrong idea on TC bulbs - they're great.. but they're aftermarket. Just like.. fast food is great.. but if you want me to pay 20bucks for a hamburger at a fast food joint, it's a ripoff

[CamrySExxx]

^ exactly !

You Tube

You Tube

[badbadtz560]

btw.. if u choose to do a retro down the road.. maybe consider a mini h1. They're 120 bucks for a pair and 15 bux for a pair of h1 bulbs. I happened to screw them in to my drl/high beam. It did require expanding the hole w/ a dremel though. If you're careful w/ it, the original halogen should still be able to fit. I'll see if I can get some pictures up when I try to install'em - won't be for a while though. Here's a little teaser on that it's been done by someone else no doubt - I just haven't seen their pics yet


the low beam area is an rx330 w/ my crappy attempt at a custom shield. The rx330s sit low and may be off vertically.. but they still seem to provide the full output - they'll be ugly when I install'em though. In any case, the area of interest would probably be the mh1's in the drl/high beam area.