Digital camera settings (1/15th second F-4.4 Flash WB no flash)
The black marks on the wall are my headlight aiming marks.
Before. This is the light pattern of the stock 55w Halogen low beams in E-spec
projector housings.
Digital camera settings (1/15th second F-4.4 Flash WB no flash)
The black marks on the wall are my headlight aiming marks.
After. I modified the Hella low beam projector as per the instructions
on the previous page
to eliminate the upward flare on the left light, and installed the HIDs.
Here's the result.
(1/15th, F-4.4 Flash WB)
We can see that the cutoff is quite sharp, it's much brighter (nearly 2 stops
according to the camera, which is between 3
and 4 times as bright), the leftside flare is eliminated and the right side flare has been
truncated
to try to minimize glare for other drivers. There's also a bunch more light
cast out to the side, which is a
big part of the reason I did this (after hitting 2 deer) However.. Notice that there
is still some light cast above
the horizontal cutoff. Looking at the lights from the outside, it was obvious
why. I've got clear
plastic impact protection over the headlight lenses. They've done their job
well, but are quite scratched, beaten
and bruised. They're causing the light to scatter and the HIDs really show it
off.
I removed the old clear protectors, cleaned the lenses and installed new ones.
Here's the result.
(1/15th F-4.4 Flash WB)
Wow! Notice the glare above the horizontal cutoff is virtually eliminated.
Here's how it looks outside.
So let's see how it puts light down.
This photo was taken in a parking lot to show some sense of distance. (lights off,
lights on)
Next one shows difference between lows and lows+highs.. fence is 150 feet away or so.
(BTW, lights are not aimed quite that high, I founda spot in the parking lot that had
a hump slight hump to park on so the cutoff would show on the fence at that distance)
Next shows the difference looking at the lights from below and above the cutoff.
Identical camera settings in each case. One shot at ankle height the other at belly button
height.
Next two are road shots..
First one is a far off sign lit by the right side upward flare. Sign gives idea of
distance.
And the last is a shot with lows and highs both on, looking WAY down the road.
Only thing left to do is put some higher wattage H3 bulbs in the high beams to help
fill in the light at a distance. To give an idea why, here's a shot with
just the high beams on, and then the lows and highs together.
Notice how the signs are lit up in the distance.. That's the high beams, but
otherwise they can't hold a candle to the HIDs, so to speak. I feel comfortable
going with higher wattage high beams because they're not *meant* to be on when there's
oncoming cares, so it doesn't really matter if they're over DOT wattage.