Mazdaspeeder

cardriverx

iTrader: (12)

why hello there cleanneon.

ScottFW

iTrader: (4)

Looks like your lights are aimed too low. You want the top of the beam cutoff to have a 2-3" drop from horizontal at 25 feet. Guesstimating the average parking space is 8 feet wide, that wall is about 35 feet ahead, and the cutoff is already half way to the ground, so you'd have no light beyond about 70-80 feet in front of the car. Might be okay if you only drive in well-lit cities but you're sacrificing a lot of distance. Bring those bad boys up a bit. They have a nice precise cutoff and Miatas are pretty low to start with, so you're not going to blind anybody.

I'm still running the Hella E-code halogens that I installed within about a week of buying the car. So I've got housings that should work. Pics of a bixenon hi/low H4 setup in the Hella E-code housings would definitely help persuade me. For $100 I'm pretty seriously interested in doing this.

Mazdaspeeder

Hi Steve! Haha

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

I'll definitely post pics, maybe tonight I'll get a chance. Stupid sun isn't helping.

That pic - it looks like there's stuff up above the beam? Is that reflection off the ground? It seems like spill over - and that's what people are saying - with HIDs, it only takes a "little" bit of spill over to be enough to really bother people. I would adjust it higher, but something seems weird in the spill, or else the photo is bringing it out. I'll snap a shot of mine and hopefully have a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Mazdaspeeder

I don't see what you mean but lights are supposed to shine upwards a bit as well (have some glare to them). If you have a completely sharp cutoff, how are you going to light up road signs?

ScottFW

iTrader: (4)

What he means is this:



Is that scatter from your HIDs, or is it from overhead light fixtures that we can't see?

Mazdaspeeder

Light fixtures.

My housings:


Outside view:

AbeFM

iTrader: (3)

Yeah - then the cut off is sharp, I would adjust them up, as suggested.

One thing to keep in mind - the chromatic abberation (i.e. color shift, the transition from purple to white at the edge) from most sharp cut off lights (darn single element lenses) will make them REALLY grab folks attention if they are on the edge. Better to be slightly blinding them than to be on the edge and have it flick from purple to blue to white to purple to white multiple times per second, if you're trying to avoid interest from the cops.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

follow up on the ddm works kits...

I ordered 3 kits like a month ago. They finally showed up yesterday.
I installed the first kit in the miata. One side worked, the other did not. I switched out the non functional side's balast with a 35w ballast from kit #2 and both sides worked fine. I called DDM for warranty on the non functional balast. These kits supposedly are lifetime warranty, but the apathy was so thick I could have cut it with a knife. I had to argue with the guy to get anything done and eventually he did finally agree to charge me for a replacement balast and then refund me when they get the old one back.

Whatev. I hope kits 2 and 3 were QC'd better.

cueball1

iTrader: (13)

Bump to this thread.

Thinking about Hella ecode and a bi-xenon kit on an NA. Looking at fleabay bixenon kits they range from $60 to $250. Any feeling or consensus on where the sweet spot is? "Gee this $80 kit is all you need" or "this $120 kit lasts forever" kind of thing.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

just dont go to DDM Tuning. I've installed 2 of the 3 kits I got from them. Kit 1 had a bad ballast. Kit 2 has yellow bulbs (maybe 3500k?) instead of 5000K that I ordered. Haven't looked at Kit 3 yet but I'm pretty scared.

SamS

iTrader: (2)

Damn I've only heard good things about DDM before, good to know.

After getting an $80 ebay low beam kit and shorting one light out on the headlight lids like a retard, I decided I don't want to cheap out on headlights and got a bi-xenon kit from JRT lighting. Most likely paid way too much, but they had great communication and the quality of the components was visibly better than the ebay kit, including quality assurance stickers on each piece. The guy I talked to even had a Miata.

JWRMX5

Short lifespan on Quartz or Xenon lamps is usually the result of an intermittant ground connection. The higher the wattage of the lamp, the more pronounced the effect of a bad ground becomes. Most oem lamp sockets are constructed with a small gauge ground that is connected to a chassis piece with a zinc plated screw. The zinc from the screw, the steel of the chassis and the copper or tin content of the ground lug make a nice electrolyses cell that corrodes the connection.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

just got hung up on by DDM... 22 minute phone call consisting of 21 minutes on hold. still have yellow bulbs.

JWRMX5

Low beams should not give ANY light above the cutoff. Road signs are reflective so all you need is a little of the light bounced up from the pavement to be able to see them. OOps! small brain fart in my first sentence. A well-designed lamp should have no light above the horizontal plane directly in fron of the car EXCEPT!! It will have a small "tail' of light at about a 20 degree angle to the right of center. This was the beam cutoff design of the original european lights back in the 1960's and 70's and is very effective in lighting the road ahead without creating too much glare for the oncoming driver.

All HID conversions no matter the cost or quality will produce glare above the horizontal plane (and pretty much everywhere else) when used in a fixture designed for a Quartz or Xenon bulb. This is because the light-emitting area of the lamp is not the same physical size nor located in the same area as that of the Quartz or Xenon lamp (the reflectors designed focus spot). While the intense white light produced by HID fixtures is great under perfect weather conditions it actually suffers more whenever the air has any mist, fog, snow, rain, etc. in it because the short wavelength of the HID lamp is refracted more by these particles than the longer wavelengths of Quartz or Xenon fixtures. I'll give up the 'bling' that HID gives me for better vision under adverse conditions.

johndoe

iTrader: (5)

I think when I do this (and I plan on retrofitting actual projectors from an acura or lexus) I will get the HID kit from these guys as they seem to be all over other forums with lots of good feedback. Results for 55W DIGITAL HID kits

cueball1

iTrader: (13)

Johndoe,

I've been considering used salvage set ups vs. new. I would guess the components from Infiniti, BMW, Acura, etc are a whole lot higher quality than the affordable aftermarket companies. I was thinking of going Bixenon for single projector and doing diy lowpro. Looks like working systems in good condition go around $250. Not cheap and of course it's all used but the quality has to be top knotch.

I'm sure you've considered this. Why'd you rule it out?

Ben

iTrader: (33)

Avoid DDM tuning at all costs. Some product I received is defective. Other product is functional but not what I ordered and paid for. Customer service is apethetic, rude, and unwilling to resolve problems soley caused and created on their end. The store employees are unable/unwilling to help me and their manager refuses to take my call. I am starting the process for charge back for both the original purchase as well as the $45 deposit for a replacement ballast (prepaid exchange for defective) I paid on Friday but they still have not shipped out.

akaryrye

iTrader: (5)

Well i got my hi/lo DDM kit in today and the e-code lamps came in last week. Spent an hour and a half installing and it so far is working awesome, tons more light. What I am confused about is that I think they sent me the DDM slim ballast kit instead of the Raptor kit I had ordered. for each side, there is a ballast and a separate ignitor. Then there is a relay box (or something like that) which is like a main hub for all of the wiring. It was a pain to install with all the wires and I will have to go over it again and clean it all up in a few days and make sure everything is secure. I am powering it through the main power lug on the fuse box and I am using the windshield wiper ground. Not sure if it is an adequate ground, but the lights work fine.

pictures in a day or two, and sorry no before pictures.