So my Hipro Power ebay bulbs came last week. Decided to just try them and watch the temperatures on the associated parts/wiring.
Within a couple minutes of turning the lo-beams on I could feel a lot more heat on the headlight lenses alone. I left them on for about 5 minutes, then placed my hand on the low beam portion of the lens and had to take it off after 20 or 30 seconds it was so hot. The entire socket area was hot as well.
So, needless to say, I'm back to factory bulbs. The bright bluish-white looks cool, but may not even be as bright as the stock sylvanias, and are not worth the risk. They run 100 watts (9005 and 9006). Twice as much as the factory DOT rated bulbs. Just want people to be aware that these truly aren't the bargain they seem to be. If anything, I'll be switching to LED or a quality H.I.D. conversion.
Last edited by musclecar64; 08-09-2010 at 02:24 PM.
You could always set up a relay system...use the stock socket wiring to trigger a (fused, please, we don't want to see any cars burn down) 12V feed straight from the battery through heavy-duty wiring to the new stuff.
Using rebased HID bulbs in halogen enclosures will create glare like you wouldn't believe for other drivers, Daniel Stern's automotive lighting page has some great information on this, and actually retrofitting authentic projectors to non-projector headlights can be a high-three-figures job for parts and labor.
Believe me I sympathize with your desire for more light out of the 7th Gen, and it can be done without having to resort to rally-style lightbars across the hood, but it will require more imagination than these sorts of upgrades usually do.
One thing you might want to consider is using the HIR 9011/9012 bulbs, they're specialized 9005/9006 compatible bulbs that use a bulb-style shape at the tip and weird coatings to put out something like double the light but with the stock wattage. Dodge used them as Viper stock bulbs and I think perhaps one other maker...they're out there, they're rare, but they do work as advertised.
I am installing the HIR bulbs this week for my car, as well as rewiring the headlamps with 12 ga wires relays and fused of course.... Any request for results? I will probably take before and after picture on fixed exposure to emphasize the difference.
I want to draw from the battery instead of the alternator, but I am having trouble finding a spot to install the relays and fuse by the battery.... driver's side is so clustered up.
I am installing the HIR bulbs this week for my car, as well as rewiring the headlamps with 12 ga wires relays and fused of course.... Any request for results? I will probably take before and after picture on fixed exposure to emphasize the difference.
I want to draw from the battery instead of the alternator, but I am having trouble finding a spot to install the relays and fuse by the battery.... driver's side is so clustered up.
Yes, by all means please give us some good shots so we can have reference photos for both the difference between stock wiring and relays, and the difference between normal and HIR bulbs.
I was able to mount my horn relay using the bolthole where the horn bracket used to sit, you may be able to fab a thin piece of metal to put between the bracket and the radiator frame and attach the relays to that on either side in front of the radiator. Alternately if you want to keep your battery-line short and don't mind uneven-length output wires you could put them around the intake snorkel that sits in front of the battery, I believe there's room by/underneath that.
I am not sure if i will have 4 set of pictures, but I will see if i can arrange that without taking too much time, I was just planning to do stock, and then HIR + rewire.
Ill try my best to accomodate, and hope the weather dont fluctuate too much, its suppose to be cloudy tomorrow....?
alternatively I have decided to draw from alt+ and ground passender side to intake manifold so it follows the stock chassis to engine ground, and driver side to transmission ground.
I will have the relays next to the horn, just going to bolt them down and use self-fusing silicone tape to "weatherproof" it.
perhaps I can do a stock comparison on the passenger side only, since drivers side requires... battery / headlamp removal to get to both bulbs.
I'll keep you guys posted, I chose HIR over HID to not kill incoming traffic.
i will also post up headlight wiring schematic I made lol.. its kinda ghetto but i think it will get the message across for corolla specifically.
I've had good results, not everyone will have the same outcome.
One man's good result and another man's disaster. It's been proven again and again through credible source, including www.danielsternlighting.com, that HID does not work well in Halogen Headlamps housing without a retrofit.
If it works for you, I hope every other drivers on the road feels the same way. But I know you blind people without even seeing your car, since I've even aimed below the "correct" level on my rx-7 and still blind people, although less severely. Not bashing on you but just explaining why someone gave you the thumbs down.
One man's good result and another man's disaster. It's been proven again and again through credible source, including www.danielsternlighting.com, that HID does not work well in Halogen Headlamps housing without a retrofit.
If it works for you, I hope every other drivers on the road feels the same way. But I know you blind people without even seeing your car, since I've even aimed below the "correct" level on my rx-7 and still blind people, although less severely. Not bashing on you but just explaining why someone gave you the thumbs down.
And I hate getting blinded by HID glare.
i do too, but other people do it anyways...
ill admit its bright, but i dont light people up on the other side of the fwy.
and seriously, 100 watt bulbs are going to be any better? get a clue
Last edited by demonics12; 08-13-2010 at 12:47 PM.
100watt bulbs? no no no, my HIR are 55w and 65 w, I installed it today with a load of friday the 13th.
First my original idea of mounting failed when i wasnt able to find spare brackets, then move to a new location, which also gave me a ton of trouble with the wiring, some of my crimps took a poop in middle of the job... I ended up spending about 4 hours between fully rewiring and tailoring, and putting in a not broken driver side headlight... Now I am just waiting for it to get dark to aim them properly.
How ever I can say that there is NO glare, and lighting is a lot, not marginally, A LOT brighter, since I can actually see my beam slightly during the afternoon. and comparing it to 9005 9006, its much more intense.
sorry I did not manage to take pictures, I was so frustrated with the whole thing, I just wanted to get it over with.. not to mention by the 18th mosquito bite.... photographing is the last thing on my mind.
But I will get pictures of it up anyway, and we can compare the HIR bulb with stock harness and relayed wiring.
I didnt notice a major difference with just the relay and the old 9005/9006 which i threw out (dumb idea should of kept it but it was one of those F-it moment).
but HIR vs halogen stock, is like... epic. I can say the light output is very close to my brothers c300 that does not have hid.
edit: I will also mark on the photo where the new wiring is, and hidden. All that is really visible is a few red wires near the headlight that i did NOT want to tape up because i was very tired, and 2 relay and 2 fuse mounted by passenger side between strut tower and washer tank. I think I did an okay job... haha.... except for the part where I had to mess with the low beam relay.
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