Halogen vs. Xenon HID lights

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31 Oct 2012 19:46 #1 by dandjcr
dandjcr created the topic: Halogen vs. Xenon HID lights
Forum Home > OKA Maintenance > Halogen vs. Xenon HID lights

OKA in Africa
Member
Posts: 34

I am planning to upgrade the lights in the OKA with either higher wattage halogen bulbs or a xenon HID kit. Maybe you could help me with:

1. Anybody has experience and suggestions regarding which technology to use?
2. In order to buy the right bulb fittings I would need to know the bulb fitting type but I have no access to the OKA at the moment. I would assume the "normal" low/high beam fitting is a H4 and the auxillary light is a H1 fitting? Can anybody confirm that so I do not buy the wrong bulbs?

Thanks for you help

--
OKA 327 in Africa

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March 25, 2012 at 6:07 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Peter & Sandra James Oka 374
Member
Posts: 412
HID by a country mile, less power required for a greater light output. Not legal in headlights in Oz as an after market fit though. Oka uses H4 for headlights and H1 for spots.
Buy the HID's on ebay, much cheaper, make sure you get HID high and low as some are halogen low. No need to upgrade wiring as less power draw with HID's than Halogens.
Fitting high output halogen globes will require upgrading wiring harnesses to provide extra current.
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Oka 374 LT Van

March 25, 2012 at 6:55 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Moose2367
Member
Posts: 110
HID would be my choice.
It IS legal to have HID headlights, but there are some rules pertaining to their fitment.
You either have to have a washing system or a self leveling kit, the reason for this is that when a vehicle if loaded they automatically adjust to the correct aim point. It is also a standard fitment on the luxury cars that come with HID as factory.
You can also have HID high beam and halogen low beam, that is also legal, you can't have both with out the washing system or leveling system.
March 25, 2012 at 7:57 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Hank Onthewater
Member
Posts: 79
I have done the conversion in my LT 8 months ago. I fitted HID H4 hi/low 50 W 5000ยบ. I had H3 globes in my spotlights, so I replaced those with H3 HID 55W. Note that some previous posts indicated they had H1 fittings?
Fitting was straight forward, but I had to extend the harness of the H4 wiring as the lights were too far apart, and this H4 light also needed a feed from 12V +.
Light output is about double I guess, at the same ampere usage. You can buy kits from $25 to $500, mine cost me less than $30 each ex China. I bought a lot of other (LED and HID) lights for boats etc from this supplier, and I thought I may as well try the car HID as well, can't go wrong at that price. All lights previously bought from them were very good.
>> can't insert link
just a copy then: eco-lighting.en.made-in-china.com/
However I guess the cheaper lights won't last as long, either bulbs or transformers may die earlier. BTW, the standard wattage is 35 W, and the 50 and 70 W versions are using the same bulbs (I am lead to believe), just other transformers (ballasts). I guess with increased output, the longlivity will be reduced.
I have no idea about legality.

March 25, 2012 at 8:34 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Hal Harvey
Site Owner
Posts: 509
There's some info on what I have done here, and also what David Hallandal has done on #131.
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Hal

March 25, 2012 at 10:06 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Tony Lee
Member
Posts: 539
I see there are 75W H1 kits available so I could get more light when on high beam without changing the legality of the existing halogen double beam lights.

How would they go in the two spot housings or could there be overheating problems.?
--
Tony

picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379

March 25, 2012 at 11:38 PM Flag Quote & Reply

OKA in Africa
Member
Posts: 34
Thanks for all your input so far. In the posts above it was mentioned that the spot lights (I guess these are the top lights?) are H1 and H3 bulb fittings. Any idea which fitting is in my OKA LT 327?
--
OKA 327 in Africa

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March 26, 2012 at 12:47 AM Flag Quote & Reply

Hal Harvey
Site Owner
Posts: 509
Tony, I have notes from way back when... that say this about the spot=driving lights:

Small rectangle driving lights are Hella 181 Series model 1307 195 x 96mm
Insert is 9.1307.01 = 1FD 124 291-00
Globe is YC1255 H3 mine had 55W (ADR legal only with 55W 12V [or 70W 24V])
One lux at 453m with 100W globe (not ADR legal with 100W)
Two-light kit is HEL5633/100

... which tells me it is not unknown to have these lights with 100W H3 bulbs in them.
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Hal

March 26, 2012 at 1:23 AM Flag Quote & Reply

Peter & Sandra James Oka 374
Member
Posts: 412
I went and had a look at mine and the H1 is wrong they are H3, sorry for the bum steer, was looking at the wrong globes that were in the cupboard.
I've fitted HID's to a half a dozen vehicles now, all with 35w cheap kits from ebay and none have failed in over 5 years as yet despite many thousands of kilometres of corrugations. having two ex military vehicles with camo paint jobs I tend to drive with the lights on most of the time in daylight as the vehicles tend to "disappear" and are hard to see on the road, even the Oka.
I also forgot to mention that bit about washers and dipping mechanisms re the legality of HID's for low beam use, for most vehicles it isn't a viable option to fit either aftermarket.
--
Oka 374 LT Van

March 26, 2012 at 8:10 AM Flag Quote & Reply

Tony Lee
Member
Posts: 539
Thanks Hal. Might give them a try- 75W anyway depending on the price because there is a huge price jump once you go past the 35W.
It will take me back to the pre-halogen days when I had a couple of 100W aircraft landing lights wobbling around on the bullbar.

One thing that came out of the ebay search. Many of the HID/halogen combos are HID for low beam and halogen for high. Why would they do it that way around??
--
Tony

picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379

March 26, 2012 at 9:02 AM Flag Quote & Reply

Ty & Nyrelle Parsons
Member
Posts: 3
Make sure you check the lights, the reflectors may be old and stuffed, almost defeats the purpose of the hid globes, also the wiring to the lights may need an upgrade as well??I upgraded the wiring in my cruiser then fitted 55w hid lights, awesome!
March 26, 2012 at 9:18 AM Flag Quote & Reply

Paul & Sue Crompton
Member
Posts: 44
I can also relate to people not happy with their lights. I also found the standard Oka headlights to be really bad so I just upgraded them with the halogen light but my biggest problem is that the light reflects badly off the bull bar and if it is raining heavy at night, it is seriously hard to see as the light and the water can blind you. As I do not drive much at night, I am not that worried about it but it is on the list to blacken out the rear of the bull bar to reduce the reflection (my bull bar is white which doesn't help as well).
Cheers. Paul.
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Paul & Sue Crompton

March 26, 2012 at 8:01 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Tony Lee
Member
Posts: 539
Bloody HID lights need some warnings with them.

Fitted the 55watt conversion kits in the driving light housings replacing the existing 55 watt halogens - tight fit but didn't take long - switched them on to test and then got sidetracked for ten minutes. Came back to find two huge holes melted in the colourbond fence.
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Tony

picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379

April 10, 2012 at 11:45 PM Flag Quote & Reply

frank
Member
Posts: 59
You're lucky it wasn't a reflective fence or it would have melted the Oka.
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Frank & Christine Thomas

April 11, 2012 at 10:13 AM Flag Quote & Reply

OKA in Africa
Member
Posts: 34
I have purchased now two different HID Xenon sets. One for the driving lights and one set which is a BI set for the low/high beam lights. I have not yet installed them.

Just to clarify the previous comment: Is it correct that your reflector did melt because of the high temperature of the XID?
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OKA 327 in Africa

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April 11, 2012 at 1:10 PM Flag Quote & Reply

frank
Member
Posts: 59
Insert a smiley face after my previous comments.
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Frank & Christine Thomas

April 11, 2012 at 2:35 PM Flag Quote & Reply

Tony Lee
Member
Posts: 539
Actually, I'd say the HID lamps run cooler than a halogen bulb of the same wattage. This is based on the observation that say aa metre in front of the lamp, you can really feel the heat beam from the halogen but the HID beam is cool. I assume this is because the HID bulb is converting far more of the power into visible light rather than heat and this is why the efficiency of HID lamps is much higher. If the fitting can handle X watts of halogen then it can certainly handle X watts of HID.
--
Tony

picasaweb.google.com/114611728110254134379

April 11, 2012 at 10:04 PM

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