HID KITS

[mcgyver]

Hi Folks. I'm looking to upgrade my dipped H7 bulbs to a 4500 / 5000k kit for my 06 octavia RS. I'm just wondering if anyone here has done the same, and if so which one would you guy's recommend? I was thinking of going for the 50w option. I just don't want any issues with the Canbus system . I would appreciate any advice you may have on manufacturers, models, suppliers etc,. Thanks Guy's!

[fluffmeister]

Erm ... "Cough"

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/179839-recommendations-for-a-good-hid-lamp-kit/

Edited 19 January, 2011 by fluffmeister

[vectra1]

Should this HID conversion be made into a sticky as every owner and his uncle wants to enquire about them now all of a sudden

[vRS_Pagey]

Should this HID conversion be made into a sticky as every owner and his uncle wants to enquire about them now all of a sudden

+1, definately an idea to combine all these threads.

To the OP, I have just fitted a kit to my 56 plate vRS - 35w 5000K - and the difference between those and standard is literally night and day! It might be worth holding fire though as I am in contact with the supplier of mine regarding a possible group buy discount.

[vectra1]

It might be worth holding fire though as I am in contact with the supplier of mine regarding a possible group buy discount.

Grr,,,

Now you tell me

[vRS Carl]

Whatever you do, DO NOT go for a can bus compatible kit -- all these do is have a dirty big capacitor strapped across the ballasts to fool the can bus into not giving the bulb warning. And all this will do is eventually damage the controller in the car, and that's big money to replace.

Mike,

I've got to disagree with you here. I have ran a CanBus compatible kit in my vRS for over 3 years now. They DO NOT damage the controller as long as you buy a decent kit to start with. I ran a HIDS4U 35w Ultimate kit for about 18months - No problems at all and i still have it as a backup kit. I am currently running a HIDS-Direct 50w CanBus kit, and have been for over 20 months. Again no problems at all. I can't comment on every single kit out there but HIDS-Direct & HIDS4U kits are very good and come with warranties. I also drove with my lights on all the time until i installed the DRL's

They will also still give bulb warnings. When recently altering some stuff on the car i hadn't reconnected one of the lights properly and that came up straight away on the dash.

Mine also passed it's MOT with the 50w 6000k HIDS-Direct kit so there are no problems with brightness or colour.

Agree you shouldn't go above 6000k though

Edited 20 January, 2011 by vRS Carl

[Stoofa]

I just thought I'd add that I am running a hids4u set in my vRS - have been for a little over a year now.

During that time my car has passed two MOT's with them installed - these are the older kits with the ballast units mounted outside the main lighting housing as they are too big to fit inside.

I'm under no illusion about their eventual legality - there is a good chance that I may have to remove them at some point.

In the time I've been running them I've been flashed a few times - but I know those people are just being over-sensitive, I know I'm not dazzling.

Mainly because I've taken the time to make sure they are correctly aimed and not using reflector lenses!

If I thought for a minute that I was constantly dazzling people I would take them out - the amount of people I see saying "No problem with them"......

....of course you're not having problems, but badly aimed or used with reflector lenses are a problem for everyone else!

[Guest Tim31]

.

Edited 18 May, 2012 by Tim31

[skippy41]

Police have had new training to identify cars that have HID headlights installed. Due to dazzling other drivers etc.

If you have HIDs and they do not have projector headlights, headlight wash and are self levelling the police can and will prosecute you so be warned this will be coming into affect in Febuary.

If yo play the game with them they could issue you with a VDRS (vehicle defect rectification scheme) this gives you 14 days to get the lights taken out inspected at a garage then go to the police station to confirm that the lights have been put back to standard. No further action will then be taken.

Just a warning for those that have aftermarket HID kits

Tim

Tim What bulbs are fitted to police patrol cars, puddle hoppers as they are know here, and the rapid response ones, nearly every time one come towards me its like driving into Blackpool's illuminations, even though they are on dipped, I know they are not standard issue

[Guest Tim31]

.

Edited 18 May, 2012 by Tim31

[sherlocks VRS]

Mike,

I've got to disagree with you here. I have ran a CanBus compatible kit in my vRS for over 3 years now. They DO NOT damage the controller as long as you buy a decent kit to start with. I ran a HIDS4U 35w Ultimate kit for about 18months - No problems at all and i still have it as a backup kit. I am currently running a HIDS-Direct 50w CanBus kit, and have been for over 20 months. Again no problems at all. I can't comment on every single kit out there but HIDS-Direct & HIDS4U kits are very good and come with warranties. I also drove with my lights on all the time until i installed the DRL's

They will also still give bulb warnings. When recently altering some stuff on the car i hadn't reconnected one of the lights properly and that came up straight away on the dash.

Mine also passed it's MOT with the 50w 6000k HIDS-Direct kit so there are no problems with brightness or colour.

Agree you shouldn't go above 6000k though

BIG +1, ive been running a set of 50w 6000k hid-direct in my vrs for over a year with a lot of night driving and never had a problem as said though if you buy a cheap set from timbuck 2 you might get issues. ive just turned my cold start system off but left the controller thinking its got 55w halogens fitted to give the 50w power needed for my hids. As for the legality side of things then yes you should have auto ride height sensors and headlamp washers fitted but i think with the octy 2 having projector lamps fitted and with the lights properly set up you should be ok. You will only draw attention to yourself if you have 7000k and above (looking like a chav in his nova with blue headlamp bulbs) and start dazeling people.

[Hauptmann]

I would not dispute that CANbus systems work, but I don't think they are 'healthy' for the Controller.

The CANbus 'cancellers' are actually large capacitors (around 4500uF) connected across the power supply to the headlamp. The headlamps are powered via power transistors in Controller 9. With a filament-type headlamp bulb, when the headlight is turned on the power transistor is switching current into a load of a couple of Ohms (resistance of a cold bulb filament)

With the CANbus 'cancellers' connected across the power rail there is negligible initial load resistance and so the initial 'inrush current' into the capacitors is extremely high, limited only by the resistance of the connecting wires, so the initial current from the controller will be many 10's of Amps, falling to around 4-5Amps as the capacitors charge up. The controller's power transistors are not designed to work into such a small load and hence there is the possibility of damage to the controller - which I believe has happened on a few occassions.

By correctly coding Controller 9 you are able to dispense with the CANbus capacitors and so the risk of damage is removed.

As regards Police action on HID's I have to say that I would support the spirit of this (in fact a general clampdown on defective and badly aligned lighting in general). However I think they have a task on their hands if an aftermarket kit of OE colour temperature and correct alignment is fitted to an Octavia - this is a car which could be supplied with HID from the factory. Discriminating between well fitted aftermarket and OE HID's on a moving Octavia, at night, would be difficult.

[sherlocks VRS]

I would not dispute that CANbus systems work, but I don't think they are 'healthy' for the Controller.

The CANbus 'cancellers' are actually large capacitors (around 4500uF) connected across the power supply to the headlamp. The headlamps are powered via power transistors in Controller 9. With a filament-type headlamp bulb, when the headlight is turned on the power transistor is switching current into a load of a couple of Ohms (resistance of a cold bulb filament)

With the CANbus 'cancellers' connected across the power rail there is negligible initial load resistance and so the initial 'inrush current' into the capacitors is extremely high, limited only by the resistance of the connecting wires, so the initial current from the controller will be many 10's of Amps, falling to around 4-5Amps as the capacitors charge up. The controller's power transistors are not designed to work into such a small load and hence there is the possibility of damage to the controller - which I believe has happened on a few occassions.

By correctly coding Controller 9 you are able to dispense with the CANbus capacitors and so the risk of damage is removed.

As regards Police action on HID's I have to say that I would support the spirit of this (in fact a general clampdown on defective and badly aligned lighting in general). However I think they have a task on their hands if an aftermarket kit of OE colour temperature and correct alignment is fitted to an Octavia - this is a car which could be supplied with HID from the factory. Discriminating between well fitted aftermarket and OE HID's on a moving Octavia, at night, would be difficult.

If i simply removed my capacitors from my hids (which is simple as they connect in-between the kit) precisely how and what do i code in or out please. ive got vagcom so getting to the long code helper isnt a prob but unsure what to do, ive turned the cold start system off but thats all. any help would be great. Phil.

[vRS_Pagey]

If i simply removed my capacitors from my hids (which is simple as they connect in-between the kit) precisely how and what do i code in or out please. ive got vagcom so getting to the long code helper isnt a prob but unsure what to do, ive turned the cold start system off but thats all. any help would be great. Phil.

You have to change controller 9 to 'Xenons without shutters'. Simples.

[sherlocks VRS]

You have to change controller 9 to 'Xenons without shutters'. Simples.

Proberbly sounds like a daft question but what does changing it over to "xenons without shutters" do that ive already got programmed i.e standard halogens?, Dont get me wrong i am not questioning what you are saying just interested. my thoughts are i am running 50w hids with the intention of removing the capacitors as previously spoke about (already switched my cold start off on the dip beam) so surely my controller will still require a 55w (halogen) output to run my 50w hids. Or am i being thick and not seeing how this all works, Any help or advise would be fantastic. Phil.

[martziniuk]

I believe you have done it by disabling cold start.

[alberg]

You have to change controller 9 to 'Xenons without shutters'. Simples.

I actually tried this on my 2010 model.

The result was that the DRL light were disactivaded even though they were activaded via vag-com and on the Maxi-dot.

I have a can-bus slim kit since the car was new back in July 2010 and nothing soo far. It´s a low peak voltage startup. I believe this was the main problem for the first kits sold.

Fulling around with the vag-com, that´s how I came across to change the CH/LH function to work on the parking lights and foglights.

I think it´s the same question on putting LED´s and not showing bulb error. I have done it.

[Hauptmann]

I actually tried this on my 2010 model.

The result was that the DRL light were disactivaded even though they were activaded via vag-com and on the Maxi-dot.

I have a can-bus slim kit since the car was new back in July 2010 and nothing soo far. It´s a low peak voltage startup. I believe this was the main problem for the first kits sold.

'Low peak voltage start-up' refers to the firing voltage (3-4kV) required to initiate the lamp ignition - it has nothing to do with the car electrical system.

[Hauptmann]

Proberbly sounds like a daft question but what does changing it over to "xenons without shutters" do that ive already got programmed i.e standard halogens?, Dont get me wrong i am not questioning what you are saying just interested. my thoughts are i am running 50w hids with the intention of removing the capacitors as previously spoke about (already switched my cold start off on the dip beam) so surely my controller will still require a 55w (halogen) output to run my 50w hids. Or am i being thick and not seeing how this all works, Any help or advise would be fantastic. Phil.

Yes, if you have a 50W kit then I guess you only need to disable Cold Diagnostics on low beam and you should be OK. The 50W kit will draw about the same current as 55W halogens. I have never fitted a 50W kit though, so I can't say for sure..

[vRS_Pagey]

Yes, if you have a 50W kit then I guess you only need to disable Cold Diagnostics on low beam and you should be OK. The 50W kit will draw about the same current as 55W halogens. I have never fitted a 50W kit though, so I can't say for sure..

As I recall we had this discussion prior to me installing 35w HIDs.

Sorry Sherlock, I didn't realise you had a 50w kit, as Hauptmann suggests, as the difference is only 5w it may be fine, only one way to find out!

Edited 22 January, 2011 by vRS_Pagey

[sherlocks VRS]

As I recall we had this discussion prior to me installing 35w HIDs.

Sorry Sherlock, I didn't realise you had a 50w kit, as Hauptmann suggests, as the difference is only 5w it may be fine, only one way to find out!

This was my thought i know if you fit 35w hids you realy need to tell the controller its got xenons. but i thought like you guys are thinking my 50w hid kit will be drawing as near to a standard set of halogen bulbs so just removing the ballasts from the hid kit will be ok as ive already switched my cold start off. And am i right the cold start if left active is the device that the hid ballast is trying to trick? again any advise is appreciated. Phil.

[Hauptmann]

The ballast is the unit that drives the HID lamp - it produces a square-wave output at a few 100's Hz to drive the discharge.

The CANbus 'canceller' is what is used to 'trick' the Cold Diagnostic system into thinking that there is a filament bulb in use, rather than an HID system. If you have a 50W system and disable the Cold Diagnostics then I THINK it should work OK. It will not do any harm anyway - the worst that can happen is that the bulb warning comes on....

[sherlocks VRS]

The ballast is the unit that drives the HID lamp - it produces a square-wave output at a few 100's Hz to drive the discharge.

The CANbus 'canceller' is what is used to 'trick' the Cold Diagnostic system into thinking that there is a filament bulb in use, rather than an HID system. If you have a 50W system and disable the Cold Diagnostics then I THINK it should work OK. It will not do any harm anyway - the worst that can happen is that the bulb warning comes on....

Sorry ive confused things i meant to say i want to remove the canceller/capacitor not ballast, But thanks for explaining it. Will try it tommorow and give the verdict cos i am beginning to think these capacitors arnt doing any good. Phil.

[vRS Carl]

They ain't done me any harm for the last 3 years

[alberg]

'Low peak voltage start-up' refers to the firing voltage (3-4kV) required to initiate the lamp ignition - it has nothing to do with the car electrical system.

I can get 2 mates from clubeskoda.com to come here and say that they had issues when putting non can-bus on their lights. ( 2010 models)

Both had to get new light control system.

One was on the main beam.

The second mate put a kit on the foglights. hours later he had troubles ( corner light always coming on was the cause)

They may have backfired someway,( that´s why plenty people had blown wiper motors VW, Audi,Skoda, SEAT)

This made the right front blinker always stay on, the yellow bulb was always on. Onced measured it was always receiving 12v.

At Skoda dealer after testing the result was the same, new lighting control and solved the problem.

Edited 23 January, 2011 by alberg