4drviper

my windshield is not tinted and my eyes are healthy, but I want more high beam light output from the car.

previous cars had low xenon high halogen 55W and all 4 lamps were on when i switch to highbeams, and it's definitely not my mind tricking me,, so I would like to maintain factory look (NOT one of those off-road hella lights lol) and was thinking,,,,
since i threw out DRL Fuse anyway, put a hotter HID kinda bulb in the DRL spot, and hook up the fog switch to it (using one of the DIY with independent fog using stock switch)

it would be even better if i can just combine the stock highbeam switch to it but it seems rather difficult.

how would the aiming be?? honestly i don't care i just wanna light up everything when there isn't a single light around except for the moon.

yay or nay?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

we have a bi-xenon headlight.
High beam and low beam are the same bulb.......

so, i think it would be easier to just install a 55watt kit in the factory spot. that way your factory high beam switch is operational.

I hate cars

Has this ever been done sucessfully? I would love to do the 55w conversion with the stock color of course.

OP, do you have stock bulbs right now?

4drviper

i was worried 55W would melt,

and yes, i have all stock, and the previous owner replaced D2S about 2 yrs ago from today.

if it's safe, i'd love to learn more about 55W swap also.

ParaSurfer1979

It was my understanding that putting 55watt HID's in the tight space that Projectors have are prone to excessive heat build up. When i was looking for HID's for my 08 Accord coupe, i was informed to watch out for this. I just thought I would opine about this.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

in my opinion, the TL projector can handle the 55W just fine. however the only reason that people dont do it is TL's already have a really good quality oem ballast. sure 55w may be slightly brighter but you sacrifice oem quality and reliability. the oem ballast mounts on the bottom of the headlight without extra wires sticking out and looks perfect where it is. if you have changed the d2s bulbs before, you probably put some aftermarket bulbs from china which arent as bright. my oem bulbs on high beams are plenty bright. or maybe your headlight housing has a hazed up lens?

4drviper

previous owner had too much money he went to dealer all day every day, and records says so too.

i just miss my old car's 35W HID low beam PLUS 55W halogen on high.

I hate cars

I might just throw a brighter bulb in the fogs and figure out how to wire it up so that the fogs will come on when the brights come on.

VanyDotK

iTrader: (6)

Hey IHC, I ran 55w bulbs with philip bulbs in my S2K projectors without a problem. It works fine and won't burn anything however expect the life of your bulbs to cut in half.

4drviper

FOGS?!
poor eyes.. lol (people ahead of you whether oncoming or same way)

i was thinking i'll hook up the high beam switch (if i can find out) to a brand new circuit with 35W HID and insert it in the DRL slot.

don't you have early model IHC?? oh then,, your fogs = my DRL.. i guess

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

btw, the 07-08 drl slot cannot fit a 55w bulb because the plastic piece in front will melt

4drviper

crap then maybe i'll just bolt a pair of these behind front grill



says i can use 50W HID in there with externa ballast

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

EVEN if it did fit, why the fawk would you make your work HARDER for yourself!?
your simple bet is to upgrade your bulbs to a better bulb or get a higher wattage bulb and ballast.
thats the simplest and easiest route without doing anything to the highbeam stalk/switch.

you're looking for a solution to a problem that DOESNt exist. lol

4drviper

well what's the easier way?????????

I was just thinking DRL spot cuz that's where most cars have high beams lol

sjdaf;lkdsjf;ls
i don't know.. maybe i have too much time in my hand

sixsixfour

the location of the bulb is irrelevant. put a 55W on the stock location and you should be fine. that's the easiest way.

if you had an 04-06, the easiest way to throw more light with the lows on would be to upgrade the stock fogs to HID, and add an extra fogs in the bottom. since you already have fogs in the bottom location, just put HIDs in them.


what i did in mine is upgrade the stock fogs to HID, and had a friend do the accord fog mod:

I hate cars

Do you still have them by chance?
Yep, mine are integrated with the headlights. They would only be used when I'm all alone. I hate people with HIDs and the wrong lenses or the blue lights. I'm a little worried about heat with halogens but they wouldn't be used that much. I'll never go with HIDs in the fogs. Maybe brighter main lights is the answer.

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

TL projectors can handle the heat of 55w. I've been wanting to upgrade the ballasts for a while, but haven't gotten around to do so yet. Matt at TRS said some wiring will be needed to get his ballasts to correctly work for our cars, they aren't a simple plug and play.
Ballasts:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=163

Bulbs:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=240

You can boost your 35w bulbs, but running them boosted is going to greatly decrease their lifespan.

splew

OP I think your idea to convert your stock DRLs into driving lights (auxiliary high beams) by running them at full power is the best idea.

I know there are a lot of people who say "just get 55 watt HIDs". That may be good for high beams, but there is such a thing as excessive foreground illumination, which can actually increase eye fatigue and hinder your night vision (this is one of the reasons you're not supposed to run fog lights in clear weather).

The 07-08 DRLs are basically high beam lamps that are never run at full power, and all you would need is a few dollars worth of supplies and some electrical knowledge to turn them into auxiliary high beams. They use 9005 bulbs, which are used for high beams on a large number of cars and they use high beam style reflectors, so running them at full power should provide a good amount of additional light.

I would say the best way to run them at full power is just to give them independent power directly off the battery. As for switching, you would obviously need a relay. I think the best way to wire the auxiliary high beams would be to tap into the stock high beam solenoid power to power the relay. That way the aux high beams would turn on and off with the stock high beams. You could also use an independent switch, but wiring would be a bit more complex, and you would have to dim both the stock high beams and the auxiliary high beams separately.

The stock 9005 bulbs should provide a good amount of light at full power, but if you want more, you could always upgrade to more powerful bulbs.

4drviper

that's all i needed for peace of mind

I knew you weren't the a-hole flashing half the country with their HID fogs :P

just getting it out there, 07-08 fogs don't do a whole a lot OTHER THAN letting other people know i'm here. so.... light output for my eyes = ZERO.

you sir, read my mind

MarcoNorthPolo

Thread resurrection here....
Has anyone done this? Hooking up their DRL's to work as auxiliary high beams, that is? I've been toying with this idea, as the DRL's use a 9005 bulb, which is the high beam bulb for many cars out there and it seems like a waste to only use them during the daytime.

I'm thinking that replacing the bulb with a 4300k bulb would supplement the high beams at night nicely.

whoismiked

iTrader: (2)

Sunbscribed, because I also have been considering converting my DRL's to run in conjunction with the headlights.

Currently I have the DRL fuse pulled and I use halo's as my DRL's, thus my DRL spot is unused.

I already have a pretty nice set of LED 9005 Bulbs w/ ballast, but never put them in because I didn't want DRL's and Halo's @ the same time.

SO I have been thinking of putting those DRL's in, but run them with headlamps.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

This is kinda funny, the OP says he misses his HID low beam with halogen high beams of his other car. I am the complete opposite, when I drive a car that has halogen highs I cant wait to get back into my bi-xenons.
Infact, when I have had a 4G TL loaner I couldnt stand the halogen highs and always thought to myself that it seemed like a step backwards.

350

iTrader: (4)

Since this thread got bumped, has anyone successfully gotten TRS 50 watt ballasts to work on a TL? My last DD I retrofitted in Lexus RX projectors (2.5" low beam only) with TSX clear lenses and a TRS 50 watt kit with 5000K bulbs, they blow the stock lows on the TL away. I have ZKW-R's and stock bulbs for now, but would love to do a TRS 50 watt kit. The TL projector is 3" so it should handle the heat better than my old 2.5" projectors which never had an issue. Not worried about power either as the kit comes with a harness. Obviously it's not gonna be plug and play as the TRS ballasts use a 9006 plug and factory is D2S. Preferably the kit would bypass everything factory other than of/on and not affect the hi/lo switch.

nate_0022

iTrader: (2)

I've had quad high beams when I made my quad headlights. TL/Morimoto Mini H1. I think the TL should be fine by itself as a high beam.

ZOMGVTEK

Why would it not work? I've ran 50W into 85122, 85122+, DL50 slim and DL50 fatboy into TSX projectors and it worked fine. The stock wiring would probably handle it, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to just toss a relay off the stock harness and skip the whole stock wiring.

The real magic is the bulb. Running 50-55W into a capsule designed for 35W has been proven to produce quite a bit more heat, which supposedly can adversely affect the chrome in the bowl. People do run 55W into TL projectors, typically not in a TL. If you're going to do it, I would recommend getting DL50's. If the goal is light output while maintaining a near stock color, DL50's are it. You get more light out of stock bulbs when overdriving them, but you get quite a bit more out of DL50's since they are designed to run at those power levels. Typically 35W bulbs shift more blue when overdriven.

As far as HID's go, the DL50's are going to be about as 'yellow' as it gets, which I personally prefer. They still look quite 'white' next to a halogen car.

That said, I find the 66240 SVS in a stock housing with stock ballasts to be very good in the 07-08 headlights. High beam performance is quite good as well.

AZP-TL

I'm with splew on this. Sticking 55w HIDs in either the projectors or the DRLs may cause damage to the housing or at the very least significantly reduce the life of the lamp. Besides, a 55 watt HID is overkill. Just add the DRLs at full power in conjunction with the factory HIDs; alternatively you could change out the 9005 halogen with 35w HIDs. Either option will give you more than enough light.

MarcoNorthPolo

I'm thinking the same thing AZP-TL. I would put in a set of 9005 bulbs in there that would have as close as possible to the headlight's 4300k, and then get them hooked up to the high beams.

DomGSR-T

iTrader: (1)

I will help you with my experience. I'm running 50w ballast on my TL for 2+ years now and there's no sign of melting and I have looked recently in one of the projector to make sure everything is ok... The output is very good vs stock ballast especially with the clear lens upgrade. I also use 50w ballast on my S2K retrofit on my integra for 2+ years also and no sign of melting there. And I work the night shift so I use them a lot.

I hate cars

That's good to know. Are you running a 50w ballast or do you have to have a 50w bulb to go along with it? I always thought you have to have the pair but I couldn't tell from your post. I'm assuming if you're overdriving a 35w bulb, life expectancy goes down? Probably by close to half?

I was thinking of using an OEM ballast from another car that uses the 50w ballast. I know it's going to be more expensive but reliability is very important.

There are some things I won't mess with on my daily driver, actually many things I don't want to modify because I learned that lesson the hard way many years ago. If the only downside is replacing bulbs more often I'll just keep a couple spares on hand for when that time comes and do the swap.

It would be nice to retain the OEM setup with the factory HID setup that uses just a reflector for the brights and a foglight that comes on with the foglight switch. So far I've only added the brighter bulbs that are the bright lights on most cars to my fog lights and the output difference is noticeable and you retain the factory dispersion which is far out to the sides. I like running an HID and incandescent together, they seem to reveal everything in the road and shoulder of the road and they compliment one another with the HIDs reaching out farther and more focused and the fogs going out to the sides more. When I run the fogs which is extremely rare (I had only used them 3 times since '05 and one of them was the day I bought the car just trying everything out) but now I use them more due to the output and a different drive to work. I only use them when I'm moving for peace of mind because even though I know going to a 65w bulb that's brighter watt for watt is no where near lens melting territory I don't want to take any chances. I keep looking around for different technology that will give me more output while retaining about the same level of heat and in the same style of bulb, don't want HIDs as fogs.

I guess I should have just said the same type but brighter bulbs in the factory location is my goal lol.

ZOMGVTEK

What car uses a 50W ballast from the factory?

General consensus is 50W into a 35W bulb typically results in dramatically accelerated bulb degradation. HID capsules don't really 'fail' until they are way past useful life. They drop in output as they are used, and some people replace them every few years or few hundred hours.

Personally, I would not change the OEM ballast unless they failed, the car was old, and you didn't mind likely reduced reliability.

Especially since most people never really change out HID bulbs, its very likely going to be a noticeable or even dramatic difference replacing them with new or better bulbs. Obviously use and age dependent. Just pop some 66240 SVS in and run them at 35W. It's legal, maintains stock reliability, and happens to be fairly easy.

DomGSR-T

iTrader: (1)

Yes I run 50w bulbs. I found that 50w - 4300k bulb are a bit ''yellower'' than 4300k bulb on stock 35w So I use 5000k-50w on 50w ballast. When my current bulbs will die, I will try the D2S: Osram Xenarc 66240 CBI. They are supposed to be 10% brighter than my morimoto 50w bulb. As for the fog, I would like to try H11 bulbs sometimes...