How to retrofit automobiles with halogen bulbs with high intesity discharge system

This article is on retrofitting HID lighting into cars with older halogen filament bulb systems.

Please make sure to check laws where you live and make sure retro-fitting is legally allowed.

Retrofitting is for off-road use only when you need the higher lumens of HID headlights.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• screwdrivers (Philips, standard)
• pliers
• soldering gun, solder, heat shrink tube
• HID hardware (Ballasts, HID bulbs, wiring harness, Bosche type relays)

1. Disconnect the car battery. Identify wires that lead into the headlights. Remove the headlight bulbs.

2. Lay out the harness, ballasts and relays on the ground.

3. Install the HID wiring harness. This should include power wire going from the battery to the relay, connecting factory headlight wire to the relay, and wire from relay to the ballasts.

4. Once all the wiring is done, test the bulbs.

5. Install the bulbs and set the ballasts and relays using appropriate method. Screwing them down to dry areas under the hood is the best option.

6. The ballasts needs to be located within ~2 feet of the bulbs. It is important that ballasts need to be secured down in a dry location. You do not want to get them wet!

7. Secure down all the wires with ties and looms. Make certain to keep the wiring away from hot spots near the engine/transmission.

Tips & Warnings

• You many have to cut factory wiring. In such cases, soldering and using heat shrink tube to cover the cuts/splices is highly recommended.
• Realign the headlight housing for best beam spread.
• Be very careful when handling the HID bulbs as they are fragile. Do not touch the bulb glass!
• Ballasts are like a capacitor that generates a tremedous amount of wattage to start up the HID bulbs. They need to be secured down properly in a dry location.
• UPGRADING TO HID LIGHTING ON AUTOMOBILES THAT ARE FACTORY EQUIPPED WITH HALOGEN BULBS IS ALLOWED FOR OFF-ROAD USE ONLY.

[knarf]

on 10/26/2006 The word "retrofit" doesn't just refer to cutting a parabolic reflector type headlight casing to fit a projector lens/body into it, but also to converting halogen bulb lighting to high intensity discharge.

You do not "simply replacing the bulb" when you retrofit a car with HID. You have to consider wiring for the ballast, relays, signal wire (for the relay, not the clicker) and power wire to the battery. What YOU are referring to is modifying the headlight assembly which is usually done in poor workmanship e.g. leaky insert, distorted beam pattern, poor alignment, etc. and has nothing to with retrofitting the high intensity discharge lighting.

You may be aware, there are two types of headlights found in automobiles: projector and parabolic reflector types. HID lighting can be used in BOTH projector and reflector headlights (e.g. First gen Acura TL used reflector type HID, current gen Acura TL uses projector type.) HID lighting can be retrofit into both types and doesn't require "retrofitting" projectors into parabolic reflector headlight casings.

[dickeytk]

on 10/16/2006 this is NOT a retrofit, a retrofit is where you take the projector assembly and modify the existing assembly to insert the entire projector into the existing glass casing. This is just simply replacing the bulb.