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Technical HIDs ?????

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Technical HIDs ?????

Lecook

Lecook

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hey guys
im thinking about buying a hid kit for my sei im unsure about the legalities and to be honest im not gonna worry about it

im soon replacing my bonnet with a badboy item so im after some brighter lights

my question is what kit do i go for ??? has anyone had any experiances good or bad?? any ideas on the better kits to go for i.e 35w \ 50w what intensity 6000k 8000k 10000k 12000k?? manufacturers to go with or avoid ??

hi low beam kits? is it better to go with the single or dual beam items and finally any reccomendations

cheers guys

Lee

p.s any piccys of your hids???
 
dave said:
legal stuff for uk

Aftermarket HID headlamps​



In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.
Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle).

For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.
In practice this means:

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.


If you require any further information regarding the regulations covered by this fact sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:

Transport Technology and Standards 6
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street Telephone: 020 7944 2078
London Fax: 020 7944 2196
SW1P 4DR Email: [email protected]
Click to expand...

also soon changes are to be made and you will also fail an mot.

just get some thing like osram night breakers instead
 
Im not too sure but all i know is that anything over 6000k (IIRC) will start to look a bit too blue and you might get pulled for having HIDs without self adjusting beams etc etc so keep it subtle and you wont need to worry about that until MOT time
 
Headlight balast is emarked bulbs are bi-xenon high and low beam my car has no cat so it's not gonna go through it's next mot but that's 12 months away yet and it'll probs pass it's next mot ( as long as nothing major is wrong) for 50 squids :)as he's a good family friend

I will see how bad the glare is but as the beam lens will be obscured due to the bonnet Ishould get away on dipped beam but worse case senario I'll just take them back out, the police round here are plebs anyway I'll just blah that my headlights are high or sumthing

Lee
 
No I've never had any issues although this evening I overtook a 4x4 on a backroad that was clearly a nat speed limit as he was sat at 30 following his satnav and he put his lights on full beam and blinded me, after I slammed my brakes on and stopped in the middle of the road and then flashed my reverse light he soon stopped being a plank
 
HID's are ftted into projector units for a reason. Because of the brightness of them the light has to be directed via a projector. A standard scatter lense cannot control that amount of light.

You need to mount projectors into the frame and spray it all black (minus the projector obviously), and also have the glass completely polished smooth.

This complete conversion renders the E marking void and useless because they aren't tested and approved units.

1481c98684172c9cgen.jpg


c476f67ba9d04feegen.jpg


Thanks

X
 
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