Hi all i need to get 2 headlights for the 09 damaged octavia VRS (not face lift) i have just bought and as i have got used to HID's on my previous car i couldnt live with out them now.

My question is are the HID lights completely different as the halogen ones?

I have seen the extended cover on the back of the HID's which i presume is to hold the ballast, but could i purchase a standard set of lights and use and aftermarket HID set or are there lens and other differences between the two?

Cheers all

Edited 2 September, 201015 yr by dainott

If you are considering fitting OEM Xenon headlamp fittings to your car you may struggle as the OEM system uses a self levelling system with data from suspension level sensors on the front and rear of the car.

My advice would be to fit a good quality set of aftermarket HID lamps (decent K rating - no more than 6-8000K) to a conventional set of halogen fittings. The beam cutoff and lens assembly is similar (or could even be the same) to the OEM system so there won't be any problem with dazzling other drivers provided the beam alignment is decent enough.

Be wary of some cheaper kits as they can trigger the bulb failure system on the car. You need them to be the so called 'CAN-BUS' friendly type.

I won't bother with the whole legal grey area of aftermarket HID kits, headlamp washers and self levelling systems because I am sure you are old enough to make an informed decision of your own :yes:

No you don't. All you need to do is code out the cold lamp diagnositcs for dipped beam, and select xenon's without shutters in VCDS.

I've had a non CANBUS kit in mine for a few months, coded like this, and I've never once had a bulb failure warning.

I'd be very reluctant to use the CANBUS friendly ones, as they have a large capacitor strapped over the bulbs to get round the CANBUS. I wonder what the long term effect of these large capacitors will do to the controller.

Mike

Having ran a set of CANBUS friendly 35w Xenons for almost 18months in the vRS i can say not a problem at all if you get a decent one. Before i fitted the DRL's i drove with my lights on all the time.

I upgraded from the 35w Xenons to CANBUS friendly 50w Xenons and ran them for about 7 months (which are still in the car now) and they never missed a beat either despite being on all the time.

I think it just depends on who you get them from. BUT the easier option would be to do as you say Mike as non CANBUS friendly are generally cheaper.

At the OP - use HIDS-Direct for a decent set. They are the same quality as HIDS4U (I know this as my 35w kit was HIDS4U) but about 1/2 the price

No you don't. All you need to do is code out the cold lamp diagnositcs for dipped beam, and select xenon's without shutters in VCDS.

I've had a non CANBUS kit in mine for a few months, coded like this, and I've never once had a bulb failure warning.

I'd be very reluctant to use the CANBUS friendly ones, as they have a large capacitor strapped over the bulbs to get round the CANBUS. I wonder what the long term effect of these large capacitors will do to the controller.

Mike

Thats all good and well saying that but how can you assume the OP is familiar with VCDS and the relevant coding??

If he went for a bog standard kit and didn't recode via VCDS he would most likely have no headlamps at all.

I don't know what adverse effects the cap could produce over time.

Cheers for the reply mate.

So presume most VRS dont come with the Xenons as standard, but i aint sure at the moment whether the car had them on from new it as the headlights are gone. Should tell me on vagcom once i get the car and able to hook it up or possible on the extras sticker (which i presume is on the boot floor like most VAGs?).

Lol yea understand the implication of the cheap aftermarket HID kits and always been careful with light setups. Wouldnt like to come around a bend at speed to find a set of xenons blinding me as the next thing i would see would be a large tree sat on my lap.

6K setup i would look for as what i had on my leon previously and was excellent.

Blimey you lot dont hang about with the replies , by the time i had written mine u lot had war and peace 2 on the go . top notch though thank you

Edited 2 September, 201015 yr by dainott

Factory fitted Xenons will have headlamp washers in the front bumper and no manual beam levelling control on the dash next to the headlamp switch.

Right after checking the pics its got the manual adjuster on the dash so didnt have xenons.

Just to check on the HID kit the lower the number the whiter the light right ?

Yep

`i wouldn't personally go any higher than 6000k. For the brighest light your looking as Mike says 4300k.

4300Kelvin is the natural colour temperature of the HID arc. All HID burners operate at this colour temperature. Colour temperatures different to this are achieved by applying a filter layer to the bulb - so naturally the light output will be lower.

Get a 35W kit without the so-called 'CANbus canceller'. Ballasts small enough to fit wholly inside the headlamp back cover are available - that means no modifications to the headlamp and you can quickly switch back to halogens, if need be. Once installed, use VCDS to code the controller for Xenons without shutter and turn off cold diagnostics. If you don't have VCDS then look on the forum for a VCDS-owning member who lives close by and who will help you out with the coding.

The CANbus cancellers are actually a 4700uF capacitor strapped across the power lines. When the ECU polls the light it sees a rapid inrush current to the capacitor and assumes that all is well with the filament. Obviously the inrush current is high (higher than the typical cold filament current of a halogen bulb) and its debatable whether this does harm to the ECU. Personally I think its best to set the thing up properly with VCDS and your lamp warning will still work correctly if your HID ballast or burner goes bad.

Edited 3 September, 201015 yr by Hauptmann

Ok so differing opinions on 35W or 50W and whether to go for Canbus or not.

Anyone else got an opinion on whiche set to go for?

Ok so differing opinions on 35W or 50W and whether to go for Canbus or not.

Anyone else got an opinion on whiche set to go for?

I have compared vRSCarl's 50W (which are 6000K IIRC) with my 4300K 35W xenon's and despite the fact the 50W bulbs were using the less efficient K rating they were noticeably brighter than my 35W 4,300K's.

Personally if I needed to buy them again I would go for 50W 4,300K units

I have compared vRSCarl's 50W (which are 6000K IIRC) with my 4300K 35W xenon's and despite the fact the 50W bulbs were using the less efficient K rating they were noticeably brighter than my 35W 4,300K's.

Personally if I needed to buy them again I would go for 50W 4,300K units

What he said. I have the 6000k kit.

Although I would probably get 5000k bulbs that Hids-direct do as I think its a nicer light but thats my personal pref.

Would defo get 50w though

If you fit a 50W kit you should get the type with CANbus 'error cancellers'. When coded for 'Xenons without shutter' the Skoda ECU is looking for a 35W load lamp unit (the OE standard wattage for HIDs) - it would most likely flag a fault with 50W units fitted.

To actually quantify the difference between 35W and 50W units you have to understand that In the real world there is not a vast difference between apparent brightness of the two because the eye's response to brightness is logarithmic (Weber's Law) and so the 50W bulb appears only about 20% brighter than the 35W bulb, and not almost twice as bright (as you would expect from the wattage rating).

Edited 4 September, 201015 yr by Hauptmann

Ok thanks for the help guys and fair play Hauptmann thats a proper clued up reply with regards to how the 50W bulb compares to the 35W.

Would like the slimline ballasts so will have a good search about for them as havent seen them with Canbus 4300k (aint really had too long a search yet though).