marioman

Okay, I ordered the Philips Ultinon 6000K bulbs from autolamps-online.com, they just sent me an e mail telling me they have shipped my bulbs, my question is: "where is the HID bulb located in our car?" I mean I know where the High Beams are at, next to that is where you can adjust the headlights, and then I see the cover next to it which reads "Danger do not remove this cover..High Voltage" I suppose this is where the bulb is located at? Is it safe to remove this cover, I know that people on the forum have mentioned there is a special screw to remove to get to our bulbs amd I think I see the screw on that plastic piece which gives the warning.
So my question are:
1) Is this where the HID bulb is located at?

2) I am assuming it is safe to take out the cover with the warning label on it to get the bulb?

Anyone have pics or Helms Manual pics to see? I just would like to visualize as well before I start working on the Bulbs

I would prefer to change the bulbs myself instead of a performance shop, considering that the bulbs are expensive and I wouldn't like for just anyone to go ahead and start playing around with these bulbs.

Thanks for the info guys!!

SmoothJyzz

I'm jump in before the flames....have you lost it? You don't have the expertise to "change" the HID. You're correct, it's behind the DANGER! You don't know WTF you're doing label! Dude, you don't just swap out HID lights. If there's something wrong with your HID's you need to go to the dealer. HID are created by arching electricity through Xenon gas....unless you know the ins and outs of this kinda procedure....leave it alone...


dee


Not a flame, but I'd just hate to see you fry your car or yourself...

acura_service

i changed them on a E320 wagon, they are just a long bulb with a wire running on the outside of an insulator, i thought it was argon gas inside - anyway - it was easy, the hardest part was removing the headlamp washer container, but i would image it would be about the same on our car, - if you spent all that money on the bulbs, drop buy an acura dealer and give them a couple of bucks to change it (that is if your not sure of how to do it) - BTW - have you checked the owners manual?

Scorpius

Yes, but aren't you a qualified technician? I thought the HID lights were also called Xenon due to the gas they had inside them...
http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/54.html


History
(Gr. xenon, stranger) Discovered by Ramsay and Travers in 1898 in the residue left after evaporating liquid air components. Xenon is a member of the so-called noble or "inert" gases. It is present in the atmosphere to the extent of about one part in twenty million. Xenon is present in the Martian atmosphere to the extent of 0.08 ppm. the element is found in the gases evolved from certain mineral springs, and is commercially obtained by extraction from liquid air.

Isotopes
Natural xenon is composed of nine stable isotopes. In addition to these, 20 unstable isotopes have been characterized. Before 1962, it had generally been assumed that xenon and other noble gases were unable to form compounds. Evidence has been mounting in the past few years that xenon, as well as other members of zero valance elements, do form compounds. Among the "compounds" of xenon now reported are sodium perxenate, xenon deuterate, xenon hydrate, difluoride, tetrafluoride, and hexafluoride. Xenon trioxide, which is highly explosive, has been prepared. More than 80 xenon compounds have been made with xenon chemically bonded to fluorine and oxygen. Some xenon compounds are colored. Metallic xenon has been produced, using several hundred kilobars of pressure. Xenon in a vacuum tube produces a beautiful blue glow when excited by an electrical discharge.

Uses
The gas is used in making electron tubes, stoboscopic lamps, bactericidal lamps, and lamps used to excite ruby lasers for generating coherent light. Xenon is used in the nuclear energy field in bubble chambers, probes, and other applications where a high molecular weight is of value. The perxenates are used in analytical chemistry as oxidizing agents. 133Xe and 135Xe are produced by neutron irradiation in air cooled nuclear reactors. 133Xe has useful applications as a radioisotope. The element is available in sealed glass containers of gas at standard pressure. Xenon is not toxic, but its compounds are highly toxic because of their strong oxidizing characteristics.

acura_service

no i'm an advisor, but i've been working at dealerships for 15 years, so i can change bulbs, wipers, you know small stuff in the service drive, i think there are variations that use different gases but you are right its xenon

mrdeeno

from what it looks (helms and actually looking at it), it just seems that the bulbs are 'plug and play' like regular halogens, except the system is so much more expensive and the voltage through it is potentially a lot more dangerous, so they don't want people messing with it so they put that special screw on it and the warning.

marioman

Mrdeeno, So from the looks of the Helm Manual, if you are able to take out that special screw, then we can take out the plastic cover which reads "Danger" on it and it should be plug in correct?

(Obviously I am not going to turn on the lights while I am putting the bulb in, because I think that would Fry me to bits :angry

CO-CL-S

Take pictures; Look on the brightside, you won't need a flash!

marioman

tankmonkey

the issue with hid lamps is that the system can still have charged high voltage components even while the lights are off.

be careful!

marioman

The More I think about it I think I should just let speedshop do it or just take it to Acura. Do you think Acura would change the bulbs? I'm assuming acura would not want to change them considering that it would take the bulbs out of Warranty?? But it's worth a call to the service dept.

Chrisbert

Be very wary of residual capacitance. These lights most likely use a huge LC (Inductor/Capacitor) circuit, which stores a large voltage potential, then collapses to fire the circuit. Process repeats itself very fast to fire the light continuously.

mrdeeno

just wear some big thick rubber gloves if you are worried.

but just changing the bulbs shouldn't be a problem unless you really plan on messing with it.

marioman

Mr.Deeno..I just plan to swap the bulbs out, I'm not going to mess with them, just a direct swap.

mrdeeno

i don't think that would be a problem. if you are worried, then have acura do it.

it's like the shock sensor installation or sways or something. if you're pretty sure you can do it without any problems, then by all means try it and stop if you get unsure during the process.

marioman

Thanks for the advise mrdeeno :P

Amir

WTF ive never heard pussies cry like this about changing a bulb...Marioman, all you need is a torx inverted screw...Buy it from any auto supply chain...Its a common tool...Install is a straight swap...There is one screw on top, one on the bottom for each cover...Unplug each ballast and take the metal clip off from around the bulb, and pull it out...Hardest part is getting the clip to go in the same way it came out...Pay attention to what you are doing because if the metal clip falls in the engine youre fucked...Good luck, it takes +-an hour...Shyne

marioman

Thanks Amir..I just didn't want to screw up the Bulbs or the housing , you know how much these bulbs are, I just like to get th info before I start working on them.

Okay Amir I got these bulbs because you recommended them don't let me down

Your the Man though and thanks for the info

acura_service

there is no power there unless the light switch is on

Akim711

How about this then... I had to mess around with taking apart the HID system when i was clearing out my headlights... Its basically the same idea as a Halogen setup, except the HID uses a small ballast box to provide steady current to the gas filled bulb. Messing around with it kinda makes people quiver, but mostly because the circuitry is beyond anything else and its really expensive.

If any of you also plan to clear your headlights, I'd say just change the bulbs the same time you clear your lights because when you do that, everything has to come apart anyway, so you don't have to bother with reaching back and dropping screws and shit. I'll post pics and directions for clearing lights REAL soon, and you can look closely at the parts and be prepared... In fact, I'll just post a pic right now.

Anyway, those pics have convinced me enough to get the Philips D2R... I'm planning to reseal the headlight housings with HondaBond (instead of silicon). So i'll just install the bulbs at the same time.


You'll notice the silver box is the ballast, and there's a thick cable wrapped around in electric tape coming out of it. To be on the safe side, just remove that first, and change the bulb...

vitaliy S

this post is to acura_service its not a couple of dollars im sorry to say, but more like a couple of hundred dollars,to replase your hid bulbs even is you already got the bulbs from a diferant sorce.

vitaliy S

sorry not mentioning that its the dealers that will charge you up the ass, I remember asking them how much it would be to fix the power steering pump, that had a hose leek, and they said it would be around $1,200, so ye it would probably be around or close to $500 to replase your HID bulbs at the dealers and this is not including the bulbs.

TheWeez

Why did you feel the need to bump a 12 year old thread by a member that hasn't been active on this site in 6 years? Pretty sure this issue was put to rest at the time.