HID Headlights Kit Recommendation. Problems with existing HID lights

[Moses]

Wow. That is cheap. I remember paying $250 bucks for them back in the day. Has anyone used these? I would like HID again.

I have the 55w on the NSX and the 35w hi/lo on the Duc and have never had any major problems, plus can't really go wrong with the lifetime warranty.

[angus]

Wow. That is cheap. I remember paying $250 bucks for them back in the day. Has anyone used these? I would like HID again.

Are you kidding , when I think about back in the day I remember people paying $2500 for OEM BMW parts to put HID in their hondas...

[Mac Attack]

+1 for DDM.

I've got their 55W kits on two cars that have worked great for almost two years now.

Dave

[Jett]

WhiteNSXs on this website sells a very high quality kit; I have had two of his kits for a couple of years now. I did have one ballast burn out but he quickly replaced it with no hassle. I have never had any other problems like not lighting, flickering. etc. His kit does cost more like $300 but the quality is very high.

[Mvsenna]

I've used and sold many different HID kits from DDM and have never had any problems with them. They have good customer support and the best warranty.

[Zishan]

I've had the DDM's on my NSX for several years now and they still work flawlessly. IMHO, every NSX should upgrade to these. They really make a world of difference.

[suntaelee]

thanks all for chiming in. i guess this was a good discussion/comment topic. after i picked up my car from downforce for some body work with 02+ side skirts and df sport rear valence, i met up with evof575gtcand hooked me up with his generic hid kit for really cheap plus installation. it was the ballast problem after all.

just want to give a big shout out to evof575gtc for hooking me up with a great price plus installation. thanks!

[Motegi]

Are you kidding , when I think about back in the day I remember people paying $2500 for OEM BMW parts to put HID in their hondas...

Those were the "cool" kids...

I remember the first aftermarket kits being $1200 or so.

I think I jumped in at $500 for my Acura Legend...

Imagine the profits that those companies were making!

[HUYTURBO]

i just switched to 4300k bulbs and i still can't figure out why the driver side is brighter then my passenger side light. its a new kit too.

[angus]

i just switched to 4300k bulbs and i still can't figure out why the driver side is brighter then my passenger side light. its a new kit too.

Maybe the projector lens is screwed.

[HUYTURBO]

yeah maybe... i'll just switch everything from the left to the right and i'll find out.

[Veleno]

yeah maybe... i'll just switch everything from the left to the right and i'll find out.

Switch the ballast first then the bulbs to see if you get the same results on the other side. I'm sure you'll be able to find the problem doing this.

[nismo4life]

www.retrosolutionsllc.com

Quality is miles beyond DDMTuning if you go with one of the DIGITAL brand kits. Worth every penny, I've had 5 kits throughout my all my cars in the past 3 years and never had a single failure. A few of my family members have also been rocking these kits on their cars with no issues as well. Great customer support. Tell him Rod sent you, you might be able to get a discount too!

[nismo4life]

Maybe the projector lens is screwed.

This is most likely a ballast/bulb issue. Is it a DDM kit? They've been known to mixmatch 35 and 55 bulbs and ballasts in a kit.

[Hapa88]

This is most likely a ballast/bulb issue. Is it a DDM kit? They've been known to mixmatch 35 and 55 bulbs and ballasts in a kit.

I'm pretty sure the 35W and 55W HID bulbs are the exact same bulbs. The only difference is the Ballast. If you try to purchase an extra set of bulbs from the website, you're not even given the option of 35W or 55W, just the color & fitment type.

[nismo4life]

I'm pretty sure the 35W and 55W HID bulbs are the exact same bulbs. The only difference is the Ballast. If you try to purchase an extra set of bulbs from the website, you're not even given the option of 35W or 55W, just the color & fitment type.

Trust me, they are far from the same. A 35w bulb with a 55w ballast will melt your headlight housing, if it doesn't short out first. I use to sell HID's and have had customers mix and match sets and end up melting their headlights.

[Hapa88]

Trust me, they are far from the same. A 35w bulb with a 55w ballast will melt your headlight housing, if it doesn't short out first. I use to sell HID's and have had customers mix and match sets and end up melting their headlights.

I'm about 99% sure that the DDM Tuning kits use the same bulbs for both the 35W kit and the 55W kit. Some other manufacturers may be different, but DDM uses only 1 bulb (I'd assume it would be a 55W bulb that's "backwards compatible" with 35W ballasts, but I don't know for sure).

The people I heard about melting housings were those that ran 55W kits in Foglight housings that are too small to dissipate heat. OR the housing is made out of plastic and rather than glass.

See the post by M3-GT who runs XenonExpert.com which is another seller of the Apexcone/DDM HID (35W & 55W) kits. He states that the DDM/Apexcone 35W and 55W bulbs are the same.
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=135517.0

[RYU]

Trust me, they are far from the same. A 35w bulb with a 55w ballast will melt your headlight housing, if it doesn't short out first. I use to sell HID's and have had customers mix and match sets and end up melting their headlights.

I don't know where you're getting your info from. In an HID kit the ballast determines the lumen output and consequently the heat a bulb produces and it's the ballast that draws the wattage.

[Veleno]

Just some FYI on DDM.

I'm on another forum and have been reading issues people are having with the DDM kits, ranging from bulbs burning out in a week, no email response, customer service problems, and long shipping time frames to name a few.
I don't know if any of these are true, but these are what people are posting about. I'm sure every company has their share of ups/downs but thought I'd mention it since they were recommended in this thread.

However, there are a lot of people using their kits with success and the warranty is unbeatable (lifetime, at least while they're in business).

Some other options for HID's are:

hidextra.com (PM for special price)
xenondepot.com
theretrofitsource.com

[evof575gtc]

well this is what DDM has to say on their website

The wattage of the HID kit determined by the ballast. All our bulbs are rated up to 60W and work with both the 35W and 55W ballasts without compromising the lifetime of the bulbs.

when using a "60w" bulb on any 35w or 55w ballast, it'll overdrive the ballast itself and eventually kill it.
in some cases not even turn on at all.

its like overclocking a computer without cooling it.

and
higher wattage ballasts will cook lower wattage bulbs.

its best to match same wattage bulbs and ballast.

location of the of the light source on the bulb also determines your lumen output.
think of a Mag flash light, when you focus the lense you can have a broad dim light, or a more focused bright light. what works for you?

makes sense?

[Hapa88]

when using a "60w" bulb on any 35w or 55w ballast, it'll overdrive the ballast itself and eventually kill it.
in some cases not even turn on at all.

its like overclocking a computer without cooling it.

I'm sorry I don't quite understand. I get the higher wattage ballast cooking the lower wattage bulb (but supposedly the DDM bulbs are higher than the ballasts). . . but not the other way around.

How do dimmers for lights work if the light bulb is rated at say 100watts and the light output can be varied infinitely from 100 watts to 0?

The same could be asked for my 100watt speakers. 100watts is the max they're rated for, but my amp can only put out 50 watts max and my normal listening volume is only at 5-10watts. . will my speakers die early?

And with your computer analogy, if you have a 3.0GHz rated P4 processor (with a 30x multiplier at 1.55Volts) and you underclock it to say 2.6GHz (with a 26x multiplier at only 1.47volts), how will that kill the processor or motherboard? It's less power and less speed. . . so it's less of a load. .

Sorry I don't understand.

[evof575gtc]

are you seriously asking me???

or are you just bored?

[Hapa88]

are you seriously asking me???

or are you just bored?

All I'm searching for is the truth, so all I really want to know is how will a 60 watt rated bulb overdrive a 35 watt ballast? (Given that the main purpose of a ballast is to limit the amount of current to the bulb - where we already know that the ballast was designed to only output 35 watts)

I wouldn't consider myself to be a HID expert nor am I an electrical engineer, but I do have a physics background and this logic sounds a little fishy to me.

[nismo4life]

well this is what DDM has to say on their website



when using a "60w" bulb on any 35w or 55w ballast, it'll overdrive the ballast itself and eventually kill it.
in some cases not even turn on at all.

its like overclocking a computer without cooling it.

and
higher wattage ballasts will cook lower wattage bulbs.

its best to match same wattage bulbs and ballast.

location of the of the light source on the bulb also determines your lumen output.
think of a Mag flash light, when you focus the lense you can have a broad dim light, or a more focused bright light. what works for you?

makes sense?

Thank you. There have been a few cases where I've had a couple of customers order and piece kits together and not realize they ordered different wattage supplies. One guy melted a set of fog lamps running 35w bulbs/55w ballasts.

[nismo4life]

All I'm searching for is the truth, so all I really want to know is how will a 60 watt rated bulb overdrive a 35 watt ballast? (Given that the main purpose of a ballast is to limit the amount of current to the bulb - where we already know that the ballast was designed to only output 35 watts)

I wouldn't consider myself to be a HID expert nor am I an electrical engineer, but I do have a physics background and this logic sounds a little fishy to me.

It wont. A 60w bulb will last a decent amount of time with a 35w ballast, but eventually (most cases I've seen after a long time) fail due to insufficient current.