i agree with Tej as i also have had HIDs for 2 years behind some FK 2 PIECE (original) Black Angeleyes and they have worked fine. I have LEDs surrounding the projector housing and they have lasted 2years too.,.. as you may know LEDs dont like HEAT as they start to fail and flicker... so far (touch wood) mine are fine.. the BALLASTS get hot true, but the bulbs wont get as hot... get yourself a good quality kit... i paid £160 for mine... but u should pay for quality as the ballasts transofrm UP to 20,000 VOLTS... UNDER YOUR CAR BONNET... would you want rain water to seep thru the cheap connectors and mate with 20,000 V?

HIDs are the way forward though...

where did you purchase yours from^^^^

i agree with Tej as i also have had HIDs for 2 years behind some FK 2 PIECE (original) Black Angeleyes and they have worked fine. I have LEDs surrounding the projector housing and they have lasted 2years too.,.. as you may know LEDs dont like HEAT as they start to fail and flicker... so far (touch wood) mine are fine.. the BALLASTS get hot true, but the bulbs wont get as hot... get yourself a good quality kit... i paid £160 for mine... but u should pay for quality as the ballasts transofrm UP to 20,000 VOLTS... UNDER YOUR CAR BONNET... would you want rain water to seep thru the cheap connectors and mate with 20,000 V?

HIDs are the way forward though...

Suby has got a KDG kit which is a Korean manufacturer renowned for its quality ballasts and longlife benchmarks in the HID world.

Cheers Polo M... do you have the same kit then or do you just have an imense memory? i cant rate KDG enough, i have had no issues and they work everytime. they look good under the bonnet, reliable and great quality connectors... not a bad price @ £160 for H7s. I can give you the contact details to the chap who sells them... who I can also highly recommend. pm me if you want his details.

I THINK those 1 piece ones off ebay etc are plastic with plastic surrounds etc, so you porbably would end up melting them or something. The FK ones will be fine. the ballast only transforms 12v to 20000v thats why you need it, it doesn't use more power though its rated lower actually! you can get some which are like 50-60w ones. they are super duper bright. i dont think it would be wise getting these though.

Cheers Polo M... do you have the same kit then or do you just have an imense memory? i cant rate KDG enough, i have had no issues and they work everytime. they look good under the bonnet, reliable and great quality connectors... not a bad price @ £160 for H7s. I can give you the contact details to the chap who sells them... who I can also highly recommend. pm me if you want his details.

Just from memory Suby Contacted 'Ultraman' about the HID's and he couldn't get any H4 or H1's at that time but you're in luck if anyone wants H7 as he has stocks of them.

Definitely one of the best kits out there if you're not wanting to pay the price for Hella or Philips equipment which runs into the hundreds; also beware of the many fake units of those brands too.

have a look on hids4u, they have quality kits as well, 2year warranty as well if i remember correctly. Pricey under the normal price but enter 'ASTRA' as the coupon code and it gets reduced down to half price, i got my h7's for £110 delivered

As no one has mentioned the legality, or illegality, of using HID conversions, I'll add this info. It's from here.

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: TTS.enquiries@dft.gsi.gov.uk

What it says in a long winded roundabout way is that you can only legally use them if you retrofit the correct type approved headlamp assembly along with the wash and self leveling systems for that vehicle. So if this doesn't exist for your car, you're knackered. I'm sure there's going to be a crackdown at some point in the future.

Edited 21 November, 200718 yr by yeha

i haven't been bothered but all it takes is a narked policeman to try and do you...

as the legislation is new as it looks like, you could try and pull a fast 1 but it wont last for long (if at all)

do hid bulbs give off more heat than hologen bulbs?

found this:

A standard-fit halogen headlight bulb will use 55 watts at 12 volts and more of it's energy goes to creating heat than light, but HID systems use only 35 watts, but uses superior technology to increase 12 volts to 20,000 volts. Because it is using less, energy, it runs cooler, and is kinder to your car's battery and electrical systems.

i also read that a guy installed a hid kit on his car and it didnt melt off the snow like the old hologen bulbs used to.

i am still eagar to use a hid kit with my projector angel eyes. i understand the bulb length has to be the same as the original halogen bulb so it doesnt come too close to the lens.

has anyone else managed to run a hid kit with projector lights? (With or without "hid not allowed" warning sticker).

i never said the power had anything to do with the heat, i said, replying to your recent post about the temp, yes they do operate at lower temps!, but they use more power! hence ballast packs :p

This thread is full of false information or i heard this i heard that

i have had HIDs on my mk4 polo, in FK powerlook headlights, for two years... i didnt know of any other mk4 polos at that point with HIDs!

get a good kit and you wont have problems...

35w verses 55w ... that is a rating of POWER... how u think a ballast must mean they consume more power is beyond me

get yourself some dodgy xenon look bulbs which probably run at 70+ watts and you may melt some plastics

get HIDs...they're the nuts... simple

I agree, what a load of s**te, do people not read that purple box at the top of the page or do they actually think they know what they're on about? Sorry Jamesb but come on, you cant come on to a forum teeming with experts and otherwise electrically competent people and tell us that 35W is more power than 55W! Thats just daft!

i agree with Tej as i also have had HIDs for 2 years behind some FK 2 PIECE (original) Black Angeleyes and they have worked fine. I have LEDs surrounding the projector housing and they have lasted 2years too.,.. as you may know LEDs dont like HEAT as they start to fail and flicker... so far (touch wood) mine are fine.. the BALLASTS get hot true, but the bulbs wont get as hot... get yourself a good quality kit... i paid £160 for mine... but u should pay for quality as the ballasts transofrm UP to 20,000 VOLTS... UNDER YOUR CAR BONNET... would you want rain water to seep thru the cheap connectors and mate with 20,000 V?

HIDs are the way forward though...

Stop scaremongering! At worst it would blow a fuse!

I'm not scaremongering... if everyone had that SAME attitude we'd be living in a crap world... fuses are designed to protect if the WORST happened... by buyin a cheap kit with cheap connectors is making use of fuses which its not designed for... its SOLELY FOR PROTECTION so yo u cant rely on them..

go ask a chav from teh street to fix your electricity in your house and then tell me you'd say, dont worry he's cheap but i have fuses... wrong attitude mate

its not just about fuses either, 20,000V is alot of electricity if you didnt notice, i wudnt dare touch crap connectors if i knew that was flowing thru it... its a deathwish... no fuse would protect you there...

I'm not scaremongering... if everyone had that SAME attitude we'd be living in a crap world... fuses are designed to protect if the WORST happened... by buyin a cheap kit with cheap connectors is making use of fuses which its not designed for... its SOLELY FOR PROTECTION so yo u cant rely on them..

go ask a chav from teh street to fix your electricity in your house and then tell me you'd say, dont worry he's cheap but i have fuses... wrong attitude mate

I'd fix it myself i'm an electrician...

its not just about fuses either, 20,000V is alot of electricity if you didnt notice, i wudnt dare touch crap connectors if i knew that was flowing thru it... its a deathwish...

20,000V at 35W is 0.00175A (not a reet big current at all) - Volts Jolt, Current Kills. Fair enough dont waste money on cheap shit, but if you do, don't live in fear of your life!

no fuse would protect you there...

Why not? Do fuses not work at high Voltages? There aren't 20000V at the fuse anyway, just at the lamp for a short period at start up.

Anyway, extreme geekiness/rant over, sorry :)

Edited 23 November, 200718 yr by danny6n

lol mate

nah i was just saying fuses are SLOW in comparison to current passed thru u... i know stuff like that as I did a 5yr masters degree in electronics and we taught sh*it loads on all this stuff... just sayin i wudnt rely my life on a fuse... i'd always try and use the best stuff as I've used cheap and expensive stuff for my job and u can defo tell where money is well spent... u see too many cars catchin fire on the net (ok not so common) but 99% of us dont carry an extinguisher and HIDs are relatively easy to DIY and hence potential accidents...

tru rant overr

lol mate

nah i was just saying fuses are SLOW in comparison to current passed thru u... i know stuff like that as I did a 5yr masters degree in electronics and we taught sh*it loads on all this stuff... just sayin i wudnt rely my life on a fuse... i'd always try and use the best stuff as I've used cheap and expensive stuff for my job and u can defo tell where money is well spent... u see too many cars catchin fire on the net (ok not so common) but 99% of us dont carry an extinguisher and HIDs are relatively easy to DIY and hence potential accidents...

tru rant overr

True, fuses are REALLY not life savers, I was just being a smart arse really with the "no fuse would protect you there" reply :-) As far as the "at worst it would blow a fuse" comment is concerned, I was going on the principal that no-one would be stupid/unlucky enough to have their finger on a live conducter between the ballast and the lamp during the few seconds/milliseconds that it is at 20000V, even if they did, as i said before, volts jolt, they would just get a little belt anyway, nothing near fatal, and prob less likely to cause a fire than a lower voltage at higher current.

Technicalities aside, the lads right, you get what you pay for.

HID kits look the nuts.

If your gona get one just double check with the supplier that the light u intend on getting or have already got are suitable for HID kits.

if the lights you have or plannig to get are not suitable then its probs not really worth running the risk as you have no real comeback if anything goes wrong.

If the lights aint compatable then the best bet is probs to go somewhere like www.aceparts.co.uk and get some good xenon bulbs (headlights) and LED (sidelights) i'v just ordered myself some today and it was like £30 all in and delivered so I'm not complaining.

As everyone says you get what you pay for, but in my opinion if you get HID's from place A or place B etc then they'r pretty much gona have the same components, all i'd do is make sure that other people have bought from the same place to comfirm that they'r reputable. www.essexracing.co.uk seems decent and reputable enought for me if i was get some and at only £99 or there abouts its cheap enough.

hope this helps

and if anyone disagrees i apologise, all above is just my opinion, thought it made sense

like danny6n said its the current (amps) that are fatal, if youve ever had a crack off a HT lead on your car you will know it dont kill you or cause any injury but there is often 20,000 volts there too.

Edited 4 December, 200718 yr by bean gti

I have the Sonar angel eyes in my 6n and i just got a HID kit off ebay from hong kong for £40! My lights have the warning sticker sayin no HIDs but i'm gonna go ahead and install them anyway. After much research i've found that the running temperature for the xenons is lower than a standard bulb!! Will post results.