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Projector Headlights on a Dime (lotta pics)


NorCalDime

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Well I have HiD's, but i wasnt satisfied with all that light escaping away on the hella h4 headlights i had. So i decided i wanted some projectors. I searched around and found out i could use bmw ones, but they were expensive. I went to the Junkyard looking for bmw ellipsoid lights, but no luck. So i stumbled on an infinity j30.

j30headlight.jpg

 

 

I though ooo i can use that for my lights. so i ripped them out and broke them in half. So i used the same ones from each side. they have one projector that is small and one that is bigger. i chose the smaller one. So i got to this point after hacking it in half.

 

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Now i dont know what bulbs this thing originally took but i knew my h4s were not gonna fit.

 

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So i hacked off the back of them right up to the edge but left a little lip.. this was the perfect spot to mount the clip on my h4s onto the projectors.

 

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Now i needed something to mount the projectors in.

I had the high beam headlights in my car that i dont use. So i figured i would hack them up. Measured the hole i needed and went to town.

 

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Now the projector will sit inside the headlight housing.

 

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I needed some tabs to hold the projector on so some small peices of steel with a hole in them were jb welded on. projector was aluminum and i dont have a TiG so jb weld was it.

 

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Now the headlights needed some tabs.

 

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I had to modify my headlight buckets so i could get ajustment.

 

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Now the tabs dont interfere with anything.

 

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I cleaned up the projectors and painted em so they are pretty.

 

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used 2 bolts to connect the projectors to the headlights and they connect good.

 

Then i mounted them in. I had to hammer time some of my inner fender to get them in.

 

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And the final product.

 

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Jeff,

 

Just use aircraft landing lights for the highs. 250,000 candle-power, pencil-point beams, with a reflective range of over 2 miles. Nothing comes close...:cool:

 

 

cesna landing lights. my mechanic is running them on his scirocco for highs. relayed of course!

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you say you have HIDs before, but you hook up H4 bulbs?

 

Are they HID bulbs made for H4 housings or what? There has to be a very specific forward/back positioning inside the projector lense for the beam to be aimed properly.

 

Did you hide the HID capacitors?

 

 

Yes they are HID's with a h4 housing. At first the bulbs were too far in and were not reflecting right, i had to cut some pieces of tube to extend the bulbs back and they work great now.

 

No sure what a HID capacitor is, but the ballasts are mounted near my strut towers.

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  • 1 month later...

Nice project, but how's the beam pattern on those? Does it scatter a lot of the light, or is it fairly focussed? And I don't mean to sound like a bastard, but why did you put the lights inside the normal high/low-beam housings? Isn't the small, round projector lens supposed to aim the light just like the high/low-beam lenses that you had your H4's in? Do you have another normal H4 housing that you could install on one side to show us a side-by-side comparison of the light output on a wall or dark alleyway?

 

Like I said, I don't mean to be a jerk, and I could be wrong, but it seems a bit odd to have a bulb inside a lens inside a lens... but, I could be completely wrong about projectors and how they work...

Edited by pope_face
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i too was curious how they worked so i bought some bmw ellipsoid lights and i looked inside and there is actually a piece (im guessing its the cut off tool) that helps reflect light back to the housing of the projector(note: the projector itself acts like a magnifying glass) which is coated with some mirror like plastic thus helping in better illumination. as for the bulb inside the projector and the projector inside the lamp housing question(if i understand your question correctly), its less expensive to replace the glass than the projector,,, hopefully it makes sense, it did in my head... well sorta :lol:

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Dat: I didn't know that projectors worked like a magnifying glass... I guess that makes more sense now. I always thought they aimed the beam as well.

 

My only other potential concern for this setup is the distances between all the components... In a single-headlight system, you've got one lens and one bulb that fuctions as both the high and low beam lights. (Skip ahead if you know all this, it's mostly for me to formulate my thoughts) We all know that there's a big difference between a high-beam light pattern and a low-beam one, and since the housing can't adjust itself, the bulb does all the work. The bulb has two filaments inside it, one for high beam, and one for low beam. Now because there's not a lot of room inside the bulb, the distance between the two filaments is very small, only a few millimeters. This means that the housings and lenses have to be very exactly designed to output the maximum amount of light within a certain beam-pattern depending on which filament gets power inside the bulb.

 

Now, having said that, I know you're running a dual headlamp system, not a single, but I still feel the same principle applies. You're still trying to focus the maximum amount of light within a particular beam pattern, especially in the low beam lights. If you've played with a maglite, you know how the beam changes when you turn the top. I believe the same concept applies to headlights... Which makes me a little concerned about how you went through with this... first, the bulb is different; second, the distance from the bulb to the projector lens changed; third, are you sure that the distance from the projector lens to the high/low beam lens is correct? It seems to me that the bulb is the most important aspect of this entire setup... once you select a bulb, then you can figure out the distance needed between it and the projector lens, and finally the distance between the projector and the headlamp lens to get the best light output.

 

I apologize for sounding... accusatory. I don't mean to, I think it's a great project, and it's one that I was considering myself, and the finished product looks great. I didn't even know the projectors just magnified the light until Dat521 replyed to my post. I'm just bringing up these points to keep you and everyone here safe... I don't want anyone getting into an accident or being pulled over by the cops because the beam pattern was off...

 

Sorry for the long rant...

Edited by pope_face
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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the BMW ellipsoids (smileys) on my dime. You need to modify the 510 headlight buckets and brackets. Also, to keep the lowbeams in their stock outside position you need to dimple the fenderwell about 3/4 of an inch in. But when it's finished, the whole assembly looks stock. I'd show u pics but I'm still stuck in Taiwan.

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Dat: I didn't know that projectors worked like a magnifying glass... I guess that makes more sense now. I always thought they aimed the beam as well.

 

My only other potential concern for this setup is the distances between all the components... In a single-headlight system, you've got one lens and one bulb that fuctions as both the high and low beam lights. (Skip ahead if you know all this, it's mostly for me to formulate my thoughts) We all know that there's a big difference between a high-beam light pattern and a low-beam one, and since the housing can't adjust itself, the bulb does all the work. The bulb has two filaments inside it, one for high beam, and one for low beam. Now because there's not a lot of room inside the bulb, the distance between the two filaments is very small, only a few millimeters. This means that the housings and lenses have to be very exactly designed to output the maximum amount of light within a certain beam-pattern depending on which filament gets power inside the bulb.

 

Now, having said that, I know you're running a dual headlamp system, not a single, but I still feel the same principle applies. You're still trying to focus the maximum amount of light within a particular beam pattern, especially in the low beam lights. If you've played with a maglite, you know how the beam changes when you turn the top. I believe the same concept applies to headlights... Which makes me a little concerned about how you went through with this... first, the bulb is different; second, the distance from the bulb to the projector lens changed; third, are you sure that the distance from the projector lens to the high/low beam lens is correct? It seems to me that the bulb is the most important aspect of this entire setup... once you select a bulb, then you can figure out the distance needed between it and the projector lens, and finally the distance between the projector and the headlamp lens to get the best light output.

 

I apologize for sounding... accusatory. I don't mean to, I think it's a great project, and it's one that I was considering myself, and the finished product looks great. I didn't even know the projectors just magnified the light until Dat521 replyed to my post. I'm just bringing up these points to keep you and everyone here safe... I don't want anyone getting into an accident or being pulled over by the cops because the beam pattern was off...

 

Sorry for the long rant...

 

 

 

Well they were totally out of focus at first with the way i set it up. The bulb needed to be pulled back farther so it would get full reflection in the reflector. They are just low beam bulbs, so the light doesnt change. They have a good beam, good spread, and no stray light. You have to play with the distance to get it right.

 

There really isnt that much to it. You just have to move it back and forth in the reflector untill you get the right effect. Just like your maglight twisting.

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Wow, well I am officially impressed. :D Thanks for taking the time to go through my rant... it's good to hear that you managed to go through all the fiddly bits and get it set up properly. A lot of people (cough:hondaowners:cough) would just throw the lights in and that's it. But, I won't start ranting again... looks good, nice beam, lots of light... bravo. :D

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  • 5 weeks later...

Nice,

 

The beam pattern even looks like it will not blind other drivers, oncoming or via rear view mirror.

 

Thats getting to be one of my pet peeves. People who fail to re-aim their modified headlights, or raised trucks and wind up blinding my ass on the road.

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