Xenon Headlight Conversion

[NoEffinMini4Me]

Has anyone bought a Xenon Headlight conversion kit for the NV? Which one did you use and would you recommend it?

[Bikeboy80]

I disabled the running lights and installed a DDM tuning 6000k HID kit. They are so much brighter then the factory lights. I would highly recommend the upgrade and the price is right!

 

http://www.ddmtuning.com

 

I have had their headlight and fog light kits on my Yukon for about 3 years now with no issues.

[NoEffinMini4Me]

I was thinking about the Morimoso kit

 

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/hid-systems/morimoto-elite-d2s-hid-system.html

[Jean Desjardins]

Im about to purchase these after some Googling. I'll report back after I get it done.

Speaking of lights though. Has anyone replaced ANY bulbs (interior or exterior) with brighter LED ones? If so, what light, and which LED bulb should we get/avoid?

Edit, I found this thread about Interior LED's. But does anyone have anything for Exterior LED's?

Edited January 1, 2015 by Jean Desjardins

[andy_george]

My Christmas present to myself was this to put in the hole of the bumper:

 

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/pro-series-off-road-led-light-bar/20in-off-road-led-light-bar-100w/1984/4532/

 

I'll hook it to a switch so it can be off, on, or on with high beams. Hopefully I'll get it installed early January.

 

As far as led bulbs on the exterior, I chronicled my experience in the nv lounge forum recently. Be careful, as I replaced the 3 brake bulbs with LEDs, and it resulted in a very unhappy ecu and serious drive ability issues. Could have been fixed by adding a resistor possibley, but IMO that reduces the advantage and adds complexity.

[Jean Desjardins]

So, I just installed these. Install was really easy. Probably took me about 40 minutes in 15°F weather and light snow. I could see a color and brightness difference right away. So far no issues, no errors, no erroneous dash lights. This is a video online that I watched prior and the steps are almost the same if not even easier, but for the most part the kit is plug and play. Just gotta attach a ground to the chassis at each ballast and then at the light further from the battery, the plug for the light is not used as its pulling power from the controller located at the other light closer to the battery. I'll try to post some pictures of daytime illumination high/low, and night time illumination later on. Tomorrow I'm dropping her off to get a remote start and heated seats installed.

Here is some pics of the kit I mentioned above installed. My iPhone compensated for the High Beam so it looks as if theres no difference.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Jean Desjardins

[NoEffinMini4Me]

Thanks for the pictures. What color temperature are those?

 

The heated seats are the best right now. I am using mine everyday.

Did you go with the factory system or aftermarket?

[Jean Desjardins]

Those are 6000K, bi-xenon. For the price I paid you cant beat it. But due to the shape of the headlight, and the way the filament of the bulb sits, the drivers side illumination seems a bit off (and slightly irritating to me) compared to the passenger side. I'm wondering if I can somehow spin the bulb 180°.

 

I got aftermarket heating pad's installed in my stock seats at the same time I had a Clifford 2-way alarm/starter installed. They were able to put the rocker switches in my empty panel spots in the dash.

[radin2son]

Since it is a very tight fit in our x1 carport (no access to hood or driver's door), I was surprised how much room was under the hood, particularly near the headlights. I was expecting something like the Honda Element in the video. Although, I don't see a need (rarely drive at night when traveling) for us to do anything beyond a "better bulb" replacement, a photo of your installation would be helpful.

 

Did you resolve the driver side illumination?

[vanguy]

Been thinking about mounting a couple of these on my front bumper:

 

http://southland.gizmodo.com/this-giant-searchlight-once-scanned-l-a-from-a-mountai-1616978277

 

Just got to work out the mounting details. When I get it figured out, I let you know.

[axulsuv]

The Frame is strong  enough if you build a solid triangulated mount with support straps up to the roof for stability ...

And then mount a nice Honda generator in the back corner with the exhaust routed outside the van to power the driving lights , a 10kw should do the job . Suspension sag may affect your headlight aim though ... But if you want to lite up that reflective street sign from 60 miles away , your on the right path ! May affect your gas mileage too .

 

Have fun with the install , post some photo's ! :camera:

Glenn   :happy feet:  

[axulsuv]

And in all reality , if your ever in Pasadena , find the trail head in altadena  And take the hike up to the site that should of been preserved , some interesting history ...

[radin2son]

Interesting posts on this forum. Like the area around Pasadena.

 

Read something interesting in Consumer Reports that headlight bulbs deteriorate over time and should be replaced every couple of years. Also, you can improve brightness but not increase range/distance. This is predetermined by the headlight design. CR testing, not manufacturers ads and tests, show more expensive bulbs aren't much better than OEM. If white light is what you want, your decision should based on price. The range, if I remember it right, was $40-80 per set.

[centralline]

Any long term feedback on the OPT7 HID or any other HID system now that you have had them installed for a while? Do you still recommend them?

 

Thanks

[ASD Dad]

I have had the Kensun H13, 4300K for a few months and just took them off but may reinstall them...  To start with it took 5 bulbs in total to get two that had perfectly matching color and beam patterns.  Kensun service was fantastic and they had zero issues in helping me out, it just took a while to get things straight.

 

Once I got that set the low beam pattern is very good to excellent.  They are very bright with minimal light scatter if aimed correctly.  I have only even been flashed if I hit a bump that made it look like I was flashing them.

 

Reason I took them off is the high beam pattern was terrible.  H13 lo/hi kits use a magnet to pull the bulb back about an 1/8" to mimic the second filament in a halogen bulb.  It is triggered off a relay that comes with the kit.  The actual functioning works perfectly every time but the pattern is very diffused with no throw at all.  It is VERY wide, it is almost like turning on two flood lights.  It just doesnt shine down the road very far at all.  Most of South Carolina doesnt believe in street lights and I live out by a lot of farms so it is pitch black and we have lots of wildlife - deer, coyote, foxes, etc that I want to be able to see!  

 

I went back to my standby H13 bulbs which are Phillips XtremeVision which are the highest rated halogen made in an H13 size.  The difference is shocking on low beams with how dull they look vs. the HID.  The high beams are much better but I dont know if the trade-off on lows is worth it.  

 

I am thinking of not using the relay to trigger the high beam function on the HID's and using a LED spot beam pattern bar for the highs.  

[aabel]

I installed some hidextra kits on headlights and fog lights. Very happy with the end results. My wife and I can see much better!

[Gman65]

I installed some hidextra kits on headlights and fog lights. Very happy with the end results. My wife and I can see much better!

Was it all one kit? or separate kits for head and fog?

[aabel]

Yes, two kits... One for fogs which were H11's I believe, and an H13 kit for the headlights. They work great and visibility is so much better. They're the 35 watt kits, and as long as they are aimed correctly they are courteous to oncoming drivers. I went with the 5K color, but they are still a little too blue to my liking. I think they offered a 4300K color, but not sure. Maybe it's just the lower powered ballasts that are making the bulbs a little more blue, but they still are pretty darn white. I was used to HID's that I put on my Yukon, and when I got the NV it was actually scary to drive at night... Lighting was just horrible!!! Much safer now.

[Shane Paul Atwood]

Good info here! I am thinking about doing a head light up grade myself. Low beam seems good, but the high beams don't seem very bright. The high beams have a decent wide pattern just a bit dim.

[ASD Dad]

Good info here! I am thinking about doing a head light up grade myself. Low beam seems good, but the high beams don't seem very bright. The high beams have a decent wide pattern just a bit dim.

 

The high beams are Horrible on H13 lamps.  I dont understand why either, it is just a newer version of the old H4 lamp and those have excellent cutoff for lows and very good highs.  Where we live and SC in general doesnt do a lot of street lights, where I am we have zero so lighting is important!  We have a lot of wildlife as well - deer, fox, coyote, turkey, etc. that like to run out into the road - so I've been looking at all sorts of options.

 

My HID's have excellent low beam dispersion, zero glare and are quite bright.  Much brighter than stock.  The HID high beams are pretty bad and I tried a lot of bulbs and a couple kits.  All of them had mediocre high beam throw.  Philips makes the best H13 on the market with the Xtreme Visions and they're honestly just OK.  A wee tiny bit better than stock but not much.  They do throw more light for highs though.

 

My new project I think will be this - keep my HID's for lows and disconnect the high relay and wire it so the lows are on all the time with low and high switch on.  Take the high beam wire and wire that to a relay to trip a set of true driving lights.  For throw you cant beat a set of good round lights even if cheap like Hella 500's but they could look out of place.  LED bars or maybe small square/round LED's may work OK but a lot of those are for dispersion not outright distance unless you get into some of the specialized off road racing bars.  The LED bar can be  mounted a lot more places though - in the bumper opening, mod the grill, just on the bumper or I can put lights up on my roof rack.  If all else fails I can go full safari style and mount some Hella Ralleye 4000 spots up on the roof rack!  They'll light up something well over a mile away...  

 

Now flashing somebody with my highs with that setup??  Ya, that could get me in trouble...!  

[Ksh74c]

Does anyone know for sure the fog lamp bulb is an H11?

[Ferrugenfish]

On 7/28/2016 at 3:08 PM, ASD Dad said:

My new project I think will be this - keep my HID's for lows and disconnect the high relay and wire it so the lows are on all the time with low and high switch on.  Take the high beam wire and wire that to a relay to trip a set of true driving lights.  For throw you cant beat a set of good round lights even if cheap like Hella 500's but they could look out of place.  LED bars or maybe small square/round LED's may work OK but a lot of those are for dispersion not outright distance unless you get into some of the specialized off road racing bars.  The LED bar can be  mounted a lot more places though - in the bumper opening, mod the grill, just on the bumper or I can put lights up on my roof rack.  

 

Before coming here my inclination was to look for an entire new headlight housing/harness to receive higher-performing bulb types, unleashing us from H13 (either low beam OR high beams that do not penetrate the darkness of the night sufficiently to drive a normal speed at night without having to cross your fingers nothing jumps in front of you. 

 

But I have not found a full replacement (under 2k).  I did see one kit which seemed to be a whole housing replacement, but I didn't click on it when I saw the price.  I'm not cheap, I'm just not spending $2k  to see 35 more feet, 1% of the time I drive.... doesn't pass the wife test.

 

Now that it's been years... do you know what you would have done differently to achieve the throw we're all looking for?