Xenon lights -- hot or not?

Change overs from US spec to Euro's or slightly newer conversions. Changes to the rear lighting or interior can be talked about here as well.

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OOHAAH01

Xenon lights -- hot or not?

Post by OOHAAH01 »

Same question as the "halo" lights thread, only I'm curious about the xenon lights offered on ebay...anyone with any experience with them?
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Post by Guest »

Are you talking about the cheap wannabe HID's? or the real kits that go for $400+?

If you are talking about the cheap bulbs that are filled with Xenon gas and have a blue tint to them, don't bother. Those lights generally run at higher wattages (80/100+), where your stock bulbs run at 55/65 (or near it). Believe it or not, those aftermarket bulbs WILL melt your wires and socket after a short period of time, especially if you do not upgrade the wiring and relays.

Also, the blue lighting can be deceiving because they look like real HID's. Unfortunately, most people don't know that blue lights have a shorter wave-length and actually reduce visibility at night.
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Post by euro sport »

dammit... I wasn't logged in when I replied! So that last post was mine! :P
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Post by Calimus »

I actually have a set of those in my scirocco (the cheapies that is) and I will agree with euro sport there that they can melt the wiring, however, the wiring in all the A1 cars is crap and you can do something about it.

In the scirocco crowd we all want the Euro style lights but find that they just arn't all that bright once we get them in, so we relay the lights. Once relayed you will find a massive difference even with the stock lighting. I'll see if I can make up a wiring diagram for the relaying for a cabby. Since my wife (kuklaki) has a cabby, I'll see what I can do since I'm about to relay her lights now that I've done mine in the scirocco.

Now, the blue lights that come with those kits are crap, even at the higher wattage, the blue makes it hard to see the road and the regular 55/65 won't do all that well either. You'd have to order some high wattage 100/120w lights from Europe to get the vision you want out of those lights. An let me be the first to tell you, do not even accidently touch the light housings after they have been on for more then 5min as they will cook your hand/fingers/whatever in a second. They give off massive ammounts of heat.

So, look for a link to a wiring diagram for the cabbies sometime this weekend.
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Post by Guest »

I'm looking forward to knowing how to relay the lights. I'm not really even sure what that means, to be honest...looks like I'll learn soon enough.

All this talk of cooked fingers and melted wiring has me a little...no, a LOT scared of changing from stock lighting. I mean, I've never heard anyone complain about the stock lights, so is it really worth spending the money, re-wiring the car, and still risking melting whatever touches the lights to drop a Euro lighting system in the car?



Dan
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Post by Calimus »

The money is minimal, say around maybe 20-30 at the most for the wire, relays and connecters needed. Even if you don't go to a higher wattage setup and keep the stock setup, it will improve the lighting since more voltage will be able to get to the lights and with the added wiring, there will be less resistance. VW used about 18-16 gage wiring for the lighting, the how-to I'll be writing up uses 14-12 gage which is a bit bigger of a wire allowing more juice to flow through. Trust me, it's all good stuffs.
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Post by Mixagolf1 »

Go for HID! It costs that... I can offer a price about $300 for the set, but don't know how to be with shipping/payment. (I am from Ukraine) 8)
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BigDaddy90Cabby
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Post by BigDaddy90Cabby »

i dont knwo abotu all that relays and stuff.. maybe one of these days
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Post by kda339 »

Hey look at this site it gives complete details on how to do the converstion

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... elays.html

hope it works for you'll
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Post by 1lowcab »

thanks for the link, i'm going to try this on my cab and see if it helps.
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Post by BigDaddy90Cabby »

Save that bad boy to the favorites... try that when i can get back at the car and get some work done!
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Post by kda339 »

Glad to help. I did this mod when I converted to H4's when I had my Rocc what a difference it made. Always got the flash from others to dim my lights. :D then I hit'm with all 4 lights :twisted:
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