i need a little headlight schooling

[bails85]

Speaking of headlights, does anyone have experience with philips night guide bulbs? I recently bought a pair of IPF housings and haven't put them in yet, I am waiting for my bulbs. I decided to give the night guide bulbs a shot. It seems like a neat idea and they are pretty cheap.

I am not interested in putting in the brightest bulbs possible, I want usable light that will not blind on coming traffic at the same time. I also do not like the hyper white style lights at all. I've driven with a bunch of different hyper white lights and my eyes just do not agree with them and worse, when it rains the light just washes out totally. I like a more yellow tint light.

The night guides supposedly have 3 "zones", blue light to the right to light up the side of the road and street signs. White light in the middle to get distance and soft yellow light on the left to not blind on coming traffic.

I know to get the color you are loosing light but again, I am not looking for the brightest absolute highest amount of light output possible, I want usable light.

x5000. the hyperwhite and bluish ricer stuff doesnt work for me at all. at night i like to be able to SEE. i dont care how cool my blue headlights looks.

 

[xcm]

build your own harness, ive heard soooo many stories about aftermarket '$30' harness's that just dont work out of the box... spend the $30 on better parts, and it comes with a free 12v electrical lesson.

if you own a jeep, and dont know how to wire up a relay... i dunno what else to say but damn....

 

[souske]

Pretty happy with my BigOffroad harness and Silverstars

 

[Gonepostal]

thanks alot guys. this makes things alot easier now. i think im going to go with eauto works harness ipf housings and fat boy bulbs.

You won't be disappointed.:laugh3:

 

[iwannadie]

build your own harness, ive heard soooo many stories about aftermarket '$30' harness's that just dont work out of the box... spend the $30 on better parts, and it comes with a free 12v electrical lesson.

if you own a jeep, and dont know how to wire up a relay... i dunno what else to say but damn....

For me, after pricing the materials and weighing my time to do it Vs. buying a harness I bought a harness and it has been perfect.

 

[hubs97xj]

I bought a harness too, for the same reasons. I still think xcm is right, though; you should know how it all works, and how to do it yourself.

 

[TiRod]

I made the harness five years ago, and I would have been cheaper to buy one. Either way, you take 110 watts of draw off the headlight switch and that is important - plus the current runs from the battery to the relay to the headight, about 8 feet of wire shorter. In 12VDC systems, it's all about voltage drop. Even stock lights improve with a harness. Since 2004, the headlight switch and hi beam switch just issue a request signal to the CAN computer network, and it tells the system to switch. We don't have to hassle all that - we control it directly.

E-code headlight housings are You Get What You Pay For. I bought Hellas from Susquehanna, they have great cutoff in low beam and I've never had much hassle from oncoming traffic. Strangely, it's always been from late models with HID's. Since I run 80/100 watt bulbs, they get the hint I can play with the big boys.

The better Hella bulbs didn't last as long as a like, driving around mostly on low beam burns them out. I now use Wagner 80/100 H4's, about 12 bucks at NAPA, they work fine. The color difference was barely noticeable, a slight tint back toward yellow. Nothing like the huge contrast between a 80/100 and a temporary halogen to replace the one crushed by a deer impact.

If I had to run legal 55's, it would still be a no brainer, the improvement in light pattern, control, and having less actually get into oncoming drivers vision is worth it.

 

[davidson99XJ]

So what would be the best housings? I have hids with "projectors" and the pattern sucks. Maybe a new housing will help. And if that doesn't work I'm trashing the hids and going back to my Hellas I had before. Their offroad 80/100 bulbs were nice. I liked those

 

[iwannadie]

So what would be the best housings? I have hids with "projectors" and the pattern sucks. Maybe a new housing will help. And if that doesn't work I'm trashing the hids and going back to my Hellas I had before. Their offroad 80/100 bulbs were nice. I liked those

What type of projectors do you have? If it is those crappy ebay projectors in a standard size h4 housing then that is your problem right there. You need proper projectors for HIDs to work. I have not been a fan of HIDs though, I have them for my fogs on 2 different vehicles but I prefer halogen for headlights.

 

[Alaskan89XJ]

Greets; am very happy with the set-up I got through: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html The man is a busy consultant, and rep. of the CIBIE conversions. He can also get you lined up with an amazingly well built harness expressly for XJ fitment. The prices are HIGH! (relativity factor). However, the French glass prisms are great, and the German Osram H4 bulbs are well.., enough said. Additionaly, I use the metal mesh "Stone Guards" to protect 'em. Using your stock XJ system.., it's all plug, and play. One thing though.., it takes a bit getting used to any conversion, me thinks.., lol, as you must ascertain by reading all the coments thus far. Example: My stock sealed beam lights by the usual offerings were just plain inadequate, especially with old thin wiring. (As most have suggested do NOT screw around with a superior light bulb/lamp upgrade unless you use an upgraded wiring harness). After installation, which took very little time.., it was recommended to 'aim' the low beams 3" lower than that for regular sealed beams. If you go to the link provided above, and check the page links provided you will learn that, and the why-for's. Once out on the nighttime road I was very impressed with the ability of the CIBIES with the OSRAM bulbs to display both sides of the roads better than oem, on the low beams. (guess I could say duh, but...). The thing that blew me away was when I hit the high beams! KaBoom.., a very tight beam out to a thousand yards, (or better), and the difference between switching from a wide display, to a narrower one was quite shocking to me.., and takes getting used to. They do tend to be on the bright white side, and road signs really light up. On wet roads, with bright road signs, and lot's of darkness all around, my eyes seem to have to adjust more frequently between such stark contrasts whilst switching between highs, and lows. One thing 'fer 'sho.., I've got a better visual/braking reaction advance time now, in order to deal with moose crossings, etc. After the initial oem specifications in the aiming proceedure, the necessary lowered 3" adjustment, etc., I found that I still had some room for improvements by making a 'mental-note' of the two patterns.., and then when safe, i.e., stopped off-the-road, I'd make further minute adjustments with the Phillips screwdriver 1/4 to 1/2 turns on the handle and 'see' if'in that fine tuning was 'mo-'betta, or not. Most 55/65 watt oem dot beams are ok, and will be enhanced with the addition of a harness, with relays, fuses, etc. However, 65/75 watt Osram beams, higher/any brand, etc., will draw attention to yourself IF you do not follow aiming instructions. In any case, if some cop really wants to bust you he will check to see if there are the proper embossed codes on the glass. Where I live, there are no inspection requirements where it could be discovered that one is running illegal headlamps. Buyer beware.---