JasonC SBB

In this format:

Reflectors: stock 2000

HID kit: 35W Bixenon 4300K VVME from their ebay store. This kit:
http://www.vvme.com/standard-h439003...cPath=44_46_35

Any complaints:
1) it has the "shakes" - the bulbs can be easily moved by hand, looking for solution
2) minor dark spots in low beam

Light pattern photos:
These are taken 1 car length away
Low beam: (Note the big bluky shadow to the upper left is from a strong street light and a bush)


High beam:

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Reflectors: 2003 projector headlights

HID kit: 6000K basic (non slim) kit from Ebay vendor "autoluminate"

Any complaints:
1) Would have gone with 4300 temp if I had to do it again
That's pretty much it. No other complaints.

Light pattern photos:

*will snap some photos, but from memory both cutoffs are a little slanted with left (if looking from inside the car) side being a tiny bit lower and right a little higher. Kinda like / / .Not a big deal though and I like the lighting overall.

Milky

iTrader: (1)

Reflector: Autopal E-Code (reflector bowl/smooth glass)

HID kit: DDMTuning.com 35w Digital Ballasts 5000k. Low beam only.

Any complaints:
1) i still find the want for a high beam sometimes.
really don't have any other complaints. the E-Code's seem to do a really good job of controlling the light. this lighting solution only cost less than $80 for everything shipped. Plus DDM backs up all their HID kits with a full lifetime warranty for only $35 + shipping. They also have great customer service. I had a ballast go out in my corolla and they replaced it without hassle.

I don't have any pics of the light pattern, but will snap a few later on today/tonight.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

You're an *******. HIDs in 99/00 reflector housings? Seriously? Look at all that scatter. I throw **** at people like you.
Those hotspots suck for light output as well. You NEED proper projectors to diffuse/spread the light properly. That's a TON of wasted output...you'd get better light spread from a normal halogen H4 bulb as the housing is designed for them...the housing is NOT designed for the different light pattern of the HID and thus the shitty output. Brighterbetter. Jason, I know you like to do stuff right...please get some 01-05 lights or retrofit some projectors in there!


They're supposed to be like that to illuminate the side of the road. Jap/UK cars are the opposite and light up extra on the right side...which I'm sure you knew

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Reflectors: Stock 2004-2005.5 Mazdaspeed headlamps. (2005.5+ use H7)

HID kit/low beams: Generic brand 9006 HID kit @ 4300K bought from local hustler.

High beams:stock

Foglight kit: SIRIUS HID driving/fog lamps made by HELLA.

Any complaints:
1) Not really. Knowing that they are nameless product constantly has me thniking they'll go out at the worst time. Occasional flicker when cold

2) Fogs tend to "dance" on bumpy roads since they're heavier than the stock ones and the OE bumper isn't attached in all the places it should be allowing some extra flex. Not an issue with the lights themselvs, but rather the mounting of the front bumper.

Light pattern photos:
Taken in my parking deck with shitty phone. Will get "real" pictures soon.
Low beam:

headlights by AnonymousNamelss, on Flickr


Fog/driving lamps (not used at all times because of light scatter. Used on dark, lonely roads):

foglights by AnonymousNamelss, on Flickr

Both headlights and foglights: Note the extra amount of lighting off to the sides caused by the foglights.

headlightsandfoglights by AnonymousNamelss, on Flickr

y8s

iTrader: (8)

Dop, your links are bust

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Strange, because they're a free hosting site and I can see them just fine. I'll upload them somewhere else anyway though. Thanks for telling me.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

I wasn't going to use quite the same language, buy my thoughts are similar.

The E-code housings I have in my '90 (with halogen bulbs, admittedly) have a much nicer pattern that that. It's nowhere near as uniform as you'd get with a projector, but it definately doesn't hotspot and the upper cutoff is fairly sharp, with a bit of a kicker up and to the right.

I didn't realize that the '99-'00 housings were that bad.

JasonC SBB

Do you see this shadow?:


That's the shadow of a bush cast by a street light. That means the light from the street light is brighter than the scatter.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Would you really like me to have an informative debate about this? I'll be more than happy to prove your logic as insufficent if you're willing to actually learn, as you really seem to like to learn technical information. Most of the people who think that HIDs in reflectors is prefectly OK are ricers who aren't willing to learn the errors and misinformation about such lighting and are generally incompetent.

I'll go ahead and start building my post since others will be reading this and I hope at least one person will learn something from it....

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Jason you're a very smart guy but there is no way in hell you're winning this argument. I'm with Dopple and Joe on this one.

HID lights in non hid specific reflectors or projectors are FAIL.
They blind the **** out of people. I get blinded at lest once every couple days by some fail-tard in an suv or civic with their eleventybillion K hid kits in regular headlight housings.
Its bad. Real bad. Blinds people tremendously.

I was going to do the same thing as you and run hid with regular 99-00 lights.
Then I thought of all the ******** that blind me on a nightly basis and didn't want to be that guy. Ponied up for an 01+ light swap.

There's also the bi-xenon projector retrofit option that rotornut did which is very affordable and awesome.

JasonC SBB

Tonight I will drive my other car towards my parked miata with the low beams on.
I will also compare the beam patterns with a halogen in one side.

I thought the debate was ended here by Abe's post, which is why I decided to go ahead an use the stock 99/00 housings
https://www.miataturbo.net/showpost....7&postcount=85

jacob300zx

There is no debate, your housing sucks. I put ebay HID's in my MSM and it cut off cleaner than any factory HID I've ever had. You need the newer housings. I bright light every one of you guys any chance I get.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

First off, Jason, in your picture, it's really hard to debate anything because of the picture quality as well as the closeness of your car to the garage door. Obviouslly at such a short distance, the angles aren't going to be as obvious as if you were 4+ cars lenghts back. Not everyone in your line of light is only a car away from you. Even 3* of light will be blinding to other drivers. I'd like to see a picture of your car on level ground with a wall to the left side and no light pollution as well as a wall in front of you some distance down. It doesn't take much scatter to annoy the crap out of people in front of you, what might not look like might is a lot because of the type of light.

This is a prime example of terrible scatter. Though it doesn't look like much, this is what typically makes oncoming drivers angry...at least ones paying attention to the road. It doesn't look like much compared to the light down low, but it's significantly brighter than the "scatter" from a halogen bulb. The HID scatter can be just as bight as direct light from a standard halogen bulb.





This is a proper projectore + HID output. Note the cutoff line and the lack of any noticable glare. Remember there is a difference between auxiliary output. Aux. is the "scatter" that is designed to illuminate objects at higher angles (signs, reflectors etc...) without blinding people in front of you. Halogen/reflectors housings have more of this because the light output is lower and is tolerable to the eye. When you significantly intensify this, you **** people off...which is always going to happen with xenon lighting.



The other thing are those hotspots. This is just wasted energy/light and another reason why reflector housings with HIDs suck. Reflectors are designed to take a specific light pattern from a specifically designed halogen bulb and spred the light a specific way. A halogen bulb produces light from a coil of wire in a very small space. We know that. A HID/xenon bulb is much longer and produces light from a long tube of gas...kinda like a 1" long lighning bolt in a container. Since the placement of the light source is much different, it hits the reflectors in much different angles and put light in places it was never meant to go.

Here is a typical "down the road" shot with HID/reflectors. Notice the pattern of light in front of the car.






Now here are some "down the road shots with proper projectors. See the much more even light places on the street? No wasted light here.







A great example of the light output from a HID vs a halogen bulb. It's very clear that the way light is projected from the bulbs is significantly different.





Maybe you like to see diagrams? These should be self-explanatory.

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Abe is just as much as a ricer for thinking so. Just because cops are generally too lazy to know that it's illegal and that he has ridden behind friends doesn't mean it's not blinding the **** out of everyone.

I am tempted to put HIDs in my high beams to remind people what their HID/reflectors look like to me.

jacob300zx

That second picture you posted looks just like my MSM cut off did.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Same here, but I'm too cheap to buy another set

RotorNutFD3S

iTrader: (33)

Thanks! Here it is:

Reflectors: 1999 housings with Morimoto Mini H1 Bi-Xenon Projectors

HID kit: 35W Xentec (from eBay) ballasts with 4300k Morimoto HID bulbs

Any complaints:
1) None. A million times better than the output of the stock '99-'00 housings with halogens (or HIDs for that matter) and was only $200 and some time to complete. (https://www.miataturbo.net/general-miata-chat-9/99-00-bi-xenon-headlight-retrofit-54647/)

Light pattern photos:

I need to get some better output shots, just haven't had time, but here's the quick shot I do have. Obviously not taken a long way away from the garage door and this was before they were adjusted/aimed. And a couple pictures of the retrofitted housings.

JasonC SBB

Doppel,

I agree I have some "wasted light".
But I am more concerned about blinding other drivers than ultimate output, as these are a huge improvement over halogens.
I will do the test of driving towards my own car. If it's no different to me than OE HIDs, I will not change my setup due to scatter. My eyes aren't as good as some at rejecting glare because I had PRK surgery done.

Having said that spending $120 and emulating what Rotor did is attractive, for the improved output. Now that I looked at his thread, I'm curious if I can get a Euro pattern projector, as opposed to the DOT pattern. The Euro pattern is IMO much better. See my posts in his thread.
https://www.miataturbo.net/showthrea...t=54647&page=2

Doppelgänger

iTrader: (12)

Glad you're taking this seriously...the more educated people, the better.

This is what your glare looks like. While it might not look bad up against a wall, it's still hard on the eyes. I think a LOT of people write this stuff off as "misaligned headlights" when they get popped in the face with glare...which is half truth.










Compared to how they should look in a proper setup-
(notice how you can see the headlight on top and the one on the bottom is just a bright spot?)











I'm guessing this is the light pattern you are looking for. These are Infiniti FX35 projectors.