HID projector retrofit FXR 3.0

There is nothing like a good hid projector and until I had a couple of vehicles modded I didn't have a clue the differences in output from different projectors

My wife drives a 2007 750i and at the time I was driving a 2010 accord, I was always commenting on how much better I could see the road when driving her car vs. mine at night, a few Internet searches turned up the retrofit source and hid planet

On to the projects, I googled what was best and came up with Honda s2000 projectors as the very best low beam projectors so $150 on a local Craigslist ad and I had them ready to go, called TRS and asked about the best way to go and got the Phillips 4300k bulbs, their morimoto 35w ballasts, some shrouds, wiring harnesses and called an installer they recommended near to me, a couple three days later it was done

WOW! They have blinding light!, incredible output!, now after getting out of my car at night and into my wife's car it's like her headlights are candle powered, no comparison

I was so impressed that I converted my 2008 super duty ford pick up, could not use the s2000 projectors though as it does not have separate high and low beams so I opted for the fx-r bi-xenon, same bulbs, ballast and everything else but the output is a lot less than on my accord
There is a dramatic difference in output from different projectors

Getting ready to do the same s2000 projector mod to my passat soon

Yeah s2000 are very nice from what I've heard. I would think that a low beam only projector would perform better than a bi-xenon, since the bi-xenon has to be designed such that there is some light reserved for the high beams.

If you are gonna put in a low beam only projector, be careful how you align it. If you use the factory alignment points, the low and high beams are linked. So you need to make sure that the relative alignments between them are still okay. Not much of a big deal if you put in bi-xenon, but it will be a problem if you use a low beam only. For example if you align the low beams properly, the high beams might then be too high or too low.

Thanks for that tip, I didn't know that, my 2010 accord that was already done has very similar size and shape headlights, I assume it would be the same as there is only one screw for up and down adjustments, it's kinda funny when I hit my high beams on as all you see is a weak yellow light out in the distance, have yet to need the high beams after the install, they almost seem useless now

I wonder if the FXR 3.0 would drop right into these China leds?

carlrx7 said:

I wonder if the FXR 3.0 would drop right into these China leds?

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I seriously doubt it. I'm guessing that Chinese lights are just using some cheap morimoto mini clones which are much smaller, but you'd have to take the light apart to find out for sure.

Low beam reflector mount

Magrider - How did you gain access to the screw holding the low beam reflector? I'm currently in the middle of doing the same retrofit and can't seem to find access to the screw. Thanks!

Interesting thread. First time I've really read it. Anyways, VeeDubTDI is right, the only way to get the amber turns off as parking lights is to change coding for the lighting. This will break the DRL coding. But that can be resolved as well with a wiring contraption referred to as relays. Those things are all posted already in other threads - LED tails with rear fog, DRL relay network and now LED DRL strips in the newest variant of headlights (with range elevation motors connected), which can double as parking lights. The only amber lights I have with byte 18=24 is turn signals and 4-way flashers. Or should that be 6 way if I count the mirror mounted LEDs? Perhaps I should make a single thread with all of the lighting changes in one place? Anyways, I reviewed the pictures I took, and I see a bit of color in the edge of the shutter, but it is not as crisp as in magrider's retrofit on the stock housings. Since I don't really feel like taking these new headlights apart to retrofit other projectors into them, they will stay as is.
Here is another vid that is shot a bit closer. You can see some color in the top of the light cutoff.

http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/vw_norm/media/HID%202/IMG_0895_zps24880d14.mp4.html

In response to Robert Ford with regard to the box on the underside of the Chinese headlamp housings, after delving deep into my new LED strip lights and comparing with the old LED DRL lights that I've sold to another enthusiast, the box is just a BOW eliminator for the LEDs. It is in parallel to the LED strip to prevent the BOW from occurring when the LEDs are powered up. Another circuit board internal to the housings controls the brilliance of the LEDs when the park light circuit is activated (the little LED in the side pocket in the OEM lights), but not in the headlamp set I have now. The BCM simply controls the DC voltage amplitude to the front amber turns to either run them as a parking light or a turn. (I hated them too, which is what drove me to find a way to make them turn signals only).

^ So you found a way to get rid of the amber parking lights? The way I got rid of them in my B7 A4 was to change the actual lighting country code to Europe or ROW vice USA or Canada. I found no such luck on the Passat.

Norm,

That post of mine is from just over 9 months ago. Lol.

I think that was before you went all rogue on the BCM and figured out everything.

Fixmy59bug said:

Norm,

That post of mine is from just over 9 months ago. Lol.

I think that was before you went all rogue on the BCM and figured out everything.

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Rogue? - you are too kind Robert. More like a mad electrician with too many shocks. Yep it was before.... Now if I could only figure out the oil temp sensor....

Hypermile said:

^ So you found a way to get rid of the amber parking lights? The way I got rid of them in my B7 A4 was to change the actual lighting country code to Europe or ROW vice USA or Canada. I found such luck on the Passat.

Click to expand...

Yep - changed byte 18 in the BCM to 24 HEX, after trying 125 others. That and rewire and add a couple of circuits on the BCM and made my own DRL relay since the BCM wouldn't drive the DRLs any more, as well as rewire the back end lights. Small price to pay. but everything else is controlled from the BCM, including rear fog and amber turns on all corners.

See this thread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=400242&page=2
And this one: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4265909&postcount=110

For those of you that have removed the low beam reflector housing, would you mind walking me through the steps? I'm having trouble finding the right place to start. I've removed every screw I can see so far and it's still not budging. Thanks.

GTBullitt68 said:

For those of you that have removed the low beam reflector housing, would you mind walking me through the steps? I'm having trouble finding the right place to start. I've removed every screw I can see so far and it's still not budging. Thanks.

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There is no easy way to remove the low beam reflector. I had to take a flat blade screwdriver and pry the plastic circle mount thingy that connects the reflector bowl to the headlight body.

Once you free 2 of them, the reflector will be loose enough such that you can unscrew the third one. Chances are you will obliterate the plastic tabs on the mount, since they are what holds the reflector to the housing. Don't worry though, you can just jbweld the joint back. Just make sure the mount can still move freely when you glue it back. Also, make sure you apply plenty of rubber butul when resealing, otherwise you will get leaks.

magrider said:

There is no easy way to remove the low beam reflector. I had to take a flat blade screwdriver and pry the plastic circle mount thingy that connects the reflector bowl to the headlight body.

Once you free 2 of them, the reflector will be loose enough such that you can unscrew the third one. Chances are you will obliterate the plastic tabs on the mount, since they are what holds the reflector to the housing. Don't worry though, you can just jbweld the joint back. Just make sure the mount can still move freely when you glue it back. Also, make sure you apply plenty of rubber butul when resealing, otherwise you will get leaks.

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Thanks magrider! I'll give it a shot tonight and hopefully I can make some headway.

GTBullitt68 said:

Thanks magrider! I'll give it a shot tonight and hopefully I can make some headway.

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Np, also look at my original post on page 1. I already included a picture and paragraph talking about what I did to remove the reflector bowl.

To the OP - I have been considering doing this for some time as I do quite a bit of night time driving - almost always on empty or nearly empty roads. I have been considering also adding some off-road only lights to a custom lower grille. Along with that, I have been planning to upgrade the headlights.

I have done some investigation into HID's in general. Thank you for the post, parts list, etc.

I have a question - It occurs to me that I do not necessarily need the low beam reflector. The back of the light housing is black molded plastic and is quite flat. It would be very easy to mount HID's to the flat surface of the housing - perhaps shimming for light alignment as needed.

Is there a reason to remove the clear lens, etc. and preserve the reflector?

In my opinion, the only reason to preserve the reflector is for aesthetics. It would look pretty strange with nothing back there.

A PSA: for those who need good powerful light due for frequent nite-time driving: all you really need is a ~$90 HID kit: the ballasts, H7 lights and light holding gizmo/adapter. You will have 95% of what you're after: exceptionally strong light. Install should not take more than 40 minutes, no drilling, no removing of anythings, no mods, no dremeling etc.

You keep the old lights and can install them back in minutes.

Now, this thread is about the "Cadillac" of lighting redesign. Looks beautiful, really well defined cut-off etc . Requires quite a commitment of time, some brass content in you-know-what and is more expensive. Dont sit on the fence - start with the simple HID conversion and then, when and if, you can take to the next level.

I wasn't thinking of removing the reflector, just put a round hole in it from the back side, push the HID bezel through it, and mount the HID to the back of the housing.

r11 said:

A PSA: for those who need good powerful light due for frequent nite-time driving: all you really need is a ~$90 HID kit: the ballasts, H7 lights and light holding gizmo/adapter. You will have 95% of what you're after: exceptionally strong light. Install should not take more than 40 minutes, no drilling, no removing of anythings, no mods, no dremeling etc.

You keep the old lights and can install them back in minutes.

Now, this thread is about the "Cadillac" of lighting redesign. Looks beautiful, really well defined cut-off etc . Requires quite a commitment of time, some brass content in you-know-what and is more expensive. Dont sit on the fence - start with the simple HID conversion and then, when and if, you can take to the next level.

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This sounds more up my alley. Do you have a preferred source?

At the risk of highjacking the thread, this is the original $90 HID conversion thread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=353857

It has instructions, links to products etc etc . The OP modified his bulb holders/adapters, but you dont have to at all.

You can go really cheap these days: ~$10 HID ballast on Amazon (make a pick, make sure it is sold by Amazon, look for at least 4 stars and a few reviews), a set of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/180814288824 (a must!) , and a pair of H7 HID bulbs. I use 4600K for whiter, as opposed to bluish boy-racer, look.

Or buy a complete kit (links in the thread) - but make sure it includes the bulb holding adapters.

At the risk of raining on your new year's parade, this thread started as a conversion of the OEM headlight housing into HID projectors. It is since degenerated into a "throw-in-a-cheap-HID-kit-and-blind-all-the-other-drivers" thread! If you want to do HID's - then do it the right way. Yes, it's more work and money, but it is a more efficient use of the light produced, and you won't PO all the oncoming drivers with your glaring and unfocused headlamps. If you still insist on doing it cheap and easy, by throwing HID's in a reflector housing, at least read this link first to educate yourself about why installing HID's into stock reflector housings with no other modifications is such a bad thing.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html
Thanks, and have a great, properly lit new year.....

50pascals said:

To the OP - I have been considering doing this for some time as I do quite a bit of night time driving - almost always on empty or nearly empty roads. I have been considering also adding some off-road only lights to a custom lower grille. Along with that, I have been planning to upgrade the headlights.

I have done some investigation into HID's in general. Thank you for the post, parts list, etc.

I have a question - It occurs to me that I do not necessarily need the low beam reflector. The back of the light housing is black molded plastic and is quite flat. It would be very easy to mount HID's to the flat surface of the housing - perhaps shimming for light alignment as needed.

Is there a reason to remove the clear lens, etc. and preserve the reflector?

Click to expand...

If you want to use the factory alignment screws to move your low beams horizontally and vertically, you need to glue/screw your projector onto the low beam reflector. The reason being the factory alignment screws move the reflector around, so you don't want to destroy that mechanism. If you are fine with fabricating your own alignment mechanisms(more difficult, look on hid planet forum to see how to do it), then you don't really need to preserve how the low beam reflector is connected to the headlight assembly.

Opening the clear lens is meant to give you room to work. You need to completely disassemble the headlight before you work on it, such that you don't break/dirty up any other pieces. I wouldn't recommend going at it from the back end.

After doing some more research, I think I am NOT all that excited about just popping in H7 bulbs and blinding everyone.

But I also don't have 20+ hours to dedicate to fabricating something that is easily destroyed by a deer hit, rock throw, etc. And will need to be replaced immediately.

So I think I am going to go with adding auxiliary HID projector driving lights in the lower grille. At least if it gets smashed by a rock throw, etc. I will have the regular lights to use until I repair the auxiliary's. The entire repair procedure becomes a bolt-on process, as opposed to intensive fabrication.

magrider- Thank you for your help and the detailed posts. I was able to finally get the reflector housing separated. Now on to the fun part of test-fitting and aiming the new projectors. Hopefully, I'm on the final stretch now.

Magrider - did you have to modify your shrouds to get them to fit? I've still got about a 1" gap between the projectors and housing. Plus my orbit shrouds won't go all the way on to the projectors. TIA

GTBullitt68 said:

Magrider - did you have to modify your shrouds to get them to fit? I've still got about a 1" gap between the projectors and housing. Plus my orbit shrouds won't go all the way on to the projectors. TIA

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It will not be an exact fit side to side wise(The reflector bowls diameter is slightly larger than the shroud), but it will be pretty close to full coverage. Depth wise you should be able to trim enough off the reflector's back end such that the shroud's outer lips, when mated to the projector will be touching the reflector's edge. A picture of what you have currently would help.

The shroud fits, but it is more like a snap on fit so you will have to use moderate force to snap the shroud onto the projector. If you have the 3 inch lens projector, it should snap on just fine with some pressure. I don't know if the 2.5 inch lens requires an adaptor or not.

I would still use jbweld to make the fitting permanent and not rely on the pressure fitting however.

Magrider - after looking at my projectors in the housing it doesn't look like I mounted them flush. Do you think I'm past saving it at this point? I've included 4 photos to give you an idea. Could you post a picture of your headlights from the back? I'm interested to see how you ran the wiring for the lights. I really appreciate all your help.

Yes you did not mount the projector very well. I think it can still be saved though

First wrap the projector lens with plastic wrap(the really thin kind for covering food that clings to itself), and then with masking tape. You don't want to work with it unprotected like that.

You want to separate the projector from the reflector again since you did not do it right. You can probably do this by grinding at the jbstick, it seems like you did not use a ton, which means it should not be hard to break the bond.

After you have the projector separated from the reflector, take a plastic wrap and wrap it around your shroud(to protect it). Then snap on the shroud to the projector. Keep trimming at the reflector until the projector+shroud fits nicely.


Before you start, take a close look at my original post. I have pictures for how the front and back should look like. Also slow down and think about what you are doing and how to accomplish it. I don't think you thought everything through when you glued the projector onto the reflector, for example how would the shroud align properly if you never test fitted it?

Take it slow, think before you cut or glue, and you will be fine.

magrider said:

Yes you did not mount the projector very well. I think it can still be saved though

First wrap the projector lens with plastic wrap(the really thin kind for covering food that clings to itself), and then with masking tape. You don't want to work with it unprotected like that.

You want to separate the projector from the reflector again since you did not do it right. You can probably do this by grinding at the jbstick, it seems like you did not use a ton, which means it should not be hard to break the bond.

After you have the projector separated from the reflector, take a plastic wrap and wrap it around your shroud(to protect it). Then snap on the shroud to the projector. Keep trimming at the reflector until the projector+shroud fits nicely.


Before you start, take a close look at my original post. I have pictures for how the front and back should look like. Also slow down and think about what you are doing and how to accomplish it. I don't think you thought everything through when you glued the projector onto the reflector, for example how would the shroud align properly if you never test fitted it?

Take it slow, think before you cut or glue, and you will be fine.

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I will work on breaking the JBStick from the reflector housing and the projector tonight. I think it should be pretty easy to remove since it doesn’t seem to be really strong. Thank you for the plastic wrap idea. That should help protect it better than the microfiber cloths I was using to hold it.

Believe it or not, I actually spent a couple of days studying your initial post to look at cut lines and how everything worked together. I guess it’s safe to say I should’ve spent more time analyzing it. I watched a couple of videos that TRS posted on YouTube and figured that the shroud would be added later and have to be trimmed to fit. I think your method of approaching the shroud and projector as one unit would work much better.

Given the gaps and the size of the whole in the reflector housing, do you think I will still be able to get a solid binding using epoxy when it’s all said and done? I spent quite some time measuring before I started cutting and still ended up with this…Hopefully this goes well or you may see the whole kit up for sale. Thanks again.