A few months ago I ordered a set of HIDs , had them fitted to my reflector headlights, ran them for a week , but kept on getting flashed ,   so took them out, 

Had another look last Wednesday and noticed that the covering on the H7r  bulbs was only a narrow strip, so had a look at the ones on HIDS 4 u and they where completely different, the shroud around the bulb covers just over half the bulb, so ordered a set of bulbs, fitted them last night and they are shining just like OME H7 bulbs with a nice sharp cut off but nice and bright , and nobody flashing me , and no bulb out warnings didn't even have to code anything,.and the best thing is my car past its taxi test this morning with no advisories and all the ballasts and wiring all fit inside the headlight just slide the ballasts in first.

Edited 19 February, 20197 yr by skippy41

1 hour ago, skippy41 said:

A few months ago I ordered a set of HIDs , had them fitted to my reflector headlights, ran them for a week , but kept on getting flashed ,   so took them out, 

Had another look last Wednesday and noticed that the covering on the H7r  bulbs was only a narrow strip, so had a look at the ones on HIDS 4 u and they where completely different, the shroud around the bulb covers just over half the bulb, so ordered a set of bulbs, fitted them last night and they are shining just like OME H7 bulbs with a nice sharp cut off but nice and bright , and nobody flashing me , and no bulb out warnings didn't even have to code anything,.and the best thing is my car past its taxi test this morning with no advisories and all the ballasts and wiring all fit inside the headlight just slide the ballasts in first.

But next time you take it for an MOT test it should fail - since May 2018 the fitment of HID bulbs to headlamps not intended for them is a major fail.

 

Having said that not all MOT testers seem au fait with either the new rules or how to tell that a headlamp wasn't designed for HID bulbs... I know of at least 1 car with aftermarket HID bulbs in unsuitable headlamps that passed its MOT test earlier this month 

So you used one of the HID's 4u kits then.  What was the quality like?  What kelvin rating did you go for and how are the bulbs held in - do they need special clips to secure or do they clip in ok?  The halogen set up is poor on the Oct 3 and I really miss my OEM set up I had in the MK 2.  I haven't got auto levelling but do have the h/wash.  I did have an aftermarket kit in my Audi and never got flashed but they were projector units.

 

I pass a few cars daily that have crappy blinding HID setups in but there are 2 cars fairly local to me that have aftermarket setups that appear perfectly fine - don't blind at all when coming towards me and are a decent colour.

 

Talking about being blinded by oncoming cars a lot of the new cars with LED setups as standard are bloody awful - the 3 series is one of the worst!

I WISH you will never have any problem with aftermarket hid's.

a few days ago i also started a topic about installing led or hid  replacing halogen H7 to simple reflector headlights on a mk3 octavia 1.4 tsi

 

There is a big chance to fry your bcm , according to comments and this will cost a lot of money

maybe leds are a little bit safer but also dangerous for your car

 

i also posted a link from alliexpress for a relay kit , but even if i would use  this i was told that still is not 100% safe for my car.

sorry if my English is bad

 

Edited 20 February, 20197 yr by haris

Most tests on the aftermarket LED lights showed them to have uneven beam patterns  i.e. Having hotspots.  For lumen output a decent halogen bulb was shown to have a better light output.

 

Ive heard varying reports on hid kits and issues they cause.  Some say they do, some say they don't.

21 hours ago, skippy41 said:

A few months ago I ordered a set of HIDs , had them fitted to my reflector headlights, ran them for a week , but kept on getting flashed ,   so took them out, 

Had another look last Wednesday and noticed that the covering on the H7r  bulbs was only a narrow strip, so had a look at the ones on HIDS 4 u and they where completely different, the shroud around the bulb covers just over half the bulb, so ordered a set of bulbs, fitted them last night and they are shining just like OME H7 bulbs with a nice sharp cut off but nice and bright , and nobody flashing me , and no bulb out warnings didn't even have to code anything,.and the best thing is my car past its taxi test this morning with no advisories and all the ballasts and wiring all fit inside the headlight just slide the ballasts in first.

 

It's not an MOT fail if the light pattern and colour is ok. But it isn't road legal so you risk invalidating your insurance - especially if you have an at fault accident at night where the lights could be shown to have played a part. In fact my understanding is that if you car isn't road legal, your aren't covered by your insurance for any use on the road and therefore for any accident, regardless of whether the bulbs were in use or not. But either way it's illegal.

 

"If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps"

"the headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be 'e-marked' to demonstrate this"

"Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal"

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/aftermarket-hid-headlamps/aftermarket-hid-headlamps

 

Not having a go or anything BTW, just pointing it out in case you weren't aware - and in case others thought of following.

 

Nick

Edited 20 February, 20197 yr by NikTheGeek

1 hour ago, NikTheGeek said:

 

It's not an MOT fail if the light pattern and colour is ok. 

It should be since May 2018

 

Existing halogen headlamp units shouldn’t be converted to be used with HID bulbs. If such a conversion has been done, you must fail the headlamp

 

It just depends on whether the tester cares or notices as to whether it will fail. 

3 hours ago, NikTheGeek said:

It's not an MOT fail if the light pattern and colour is ok.

Sorry that's no longer correct, the MOT rules were changed in May 2018 and now say this:

 

Ok, I stand corrected on the MOT, thanks. But the point that I was making stands, aftermarket HIDs in reflectors are illegal for road use (even *if* they passed an MOT or taxi test).

Edited 20 February, 20197 yr by NikTheGeek

15 hours ago, NikTheGeek said:

Ok, I stand corrected on the MOT, thanks. But the point that I was making stands, aftermarket HIDs in reflectors are illegal for road use (even *if* they passed an MOT or taxi test).

True, it's always been the case that on many different issues an MOT pass and legality are two different things - the 2018 update addressed some but by no means all of those inconsistencies.

On 20/02/2019 at 08:17, ScoutCJB said:

So you used one of the HID's 4u kits then.  What was the quality like?  What kelvin rating did you go for and how are the bulbs held in - do they need special clips to secure or do they clip in ok?  The halogen set up is poor on the Oct 3 and I really miss my OEM set up I had in the MK 2.  I haven't got auto levelling but do have the h/wash.  I did have an aftermarket kit in my Audi and never got flashed but they were projector units.

 

I pass a few cars daily that have crappy blinding HID setups in but there are 2 cars fairly local to me that have aftermarket setups that appear perfectly fine - don't blind at all when coming towards me and are a decent colour.

 

Talking about being blinded by oncoming cars a lot of the new cars with LED setups as standard are bloody awful - the 3 series is one of the worst!

Fitted  H7 500K H7R  from Hids 4 u, and AC digital ballasts from an on line company that someone mentioned on here a few months ago,, no special clips needed a straight fit , you could just get a full set up from hids 4 u , everything fits inside the dipped beam housing and the cap put back on