Xenon conversion
Discussion
This will hopefully answer any questions you have.
Q: Are retrofit HID bulbs that replace Halogen bulbs road legal?
A: No. All headlights are approved for there bulb type and only a approved bulb of that type can be used. For HID bulbs you must use a ECE98 approved headlight coded with a “E98” and “D”. These will take a HID approved bulb type such as a D2S or D2R.
Q: But my retrofit HID bulb are approved it has DOT, ISO9001, E11 and/or E4 printed on it so they must be legal right?
E: No.
DOT, when it comes down to vehicle lighting DOT is a US standard that does not apply to the UK. Any car imported from the US actually has to have there lights replaced for ECE approved ones if they don't already hold the correct approval.
ISO9001, This has nothing to do with road legality in any way shape or form. It is a total irrelevance when it comes to vehicle lighting legality.
E11, The name for the ECE regulation number 11 is “Door latches and retention components” and as you may have guessed has nothing to do with vehicle lighting laws. If you do have this printed on its possible the lights are counterfeit.
E4, This one is to do with numberplates this time and nothing to do with vehicles headlights. Yet again its possible your lights are counterfeit if they hold this mark. Or as its very easy to pass the E4 regulations the manufacturer may got a legitimate E4 mark in the hope they can confuse people in to there legality. But this mark in no ways make then legal to use as headlights.
Q: If I take a ECE98 HID approved headlight and approved HID bulbs from another car and fit them to my car is that ok?
A: No. All such approved bulbs also fall under ECE regulation number 48. As these bulbs are so bright they require a few extra safety systems that. Must be fitted to legal used such headlights.
Q: I hear ECE48 only applies to new vehicles so they must not apply to me retrofitting HIDs Right?
A: No. This is a myth that has done the rounds on the internet but is simply not true. Back in 2006 the UK Governments Department For Transport issued a fact sheet reiterating the requirements for any retrofit HID headlight to be used on the road.
Q: My car came as standard with no auto levelling but also came with HIDs is it now illegal?
A: No. You are fine still if your car was legal it still is. Many cars came with HIDs only in high beam or had auto levelling suspension and did not required auto levelling headlights.
Q: I hear that all this is erelevant as no the law has never been tried in court, is this true?
A: No. This is yet another internet myth. Both the Road Safety Act and Road Traffic Act are both sound laws tried many times in court. If the Police did find you with illegal lights on the road they are perfectly within there rights to fine your on the spot or even confiscate your vehicle without having to go to court. However the option is still there for them to take you to court if they wished to throw the book at you.
Q: I really like these blue and purple headlight bulbs are these road legal?
A: No. There are stringent regulations covering the colour of headlights. You can only use E approved headlights bulbs and these will be white or yellow in colour.
Q: I have found HID sold as 10,000K and they say they are E marked are these legal?
A: No. As of the date I wrote this the HID bulb with the highest colour temperature to achieve E approval was 5800K. Anything much over that and your safe to assume they are fakes and have a fraudulent E marking.
Q: I have a vehicle that came with 35W HIDs and wish to upgrade them to 50/55W is this legal?
A: No. They will not have valid E approval. If you wish to use the vehicle you will have to retain your 35W bulbs.
Or go have a look at these links.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadla...
http://hid.moonfruit.com/
Q: Are retrofit HID bulbs that replace Halogen bulbs road legal?
A: No. All headlights are approved for there bulb type and only a approved bulb of that type can be used. For HID bulbs you must use a ECE98 approved headlight coded with a “E98” and “D”. These will take a HID approved bulb type such as a D2S or D2R.
Q: But my retrofit HID bulb are approved it has DOT, ISO9001, E11 and/or E4 printed on it so they must be legal right?
E: No.
DOT, when it comes down to vehicle lighting DOT is a US standard that does not apply to the UK. Any car imported from the US actually has to have there lights replaced for ECE approved ones if they don't already hold the correct approval.
ISO9001, This has nothing to do with road legality in any way shape or form. It is a total irrelevance when it comes to vehicle lighting legality.
E11, The name for the ECE regulation number 11 is “Door latches and retention components” and as you may have guessed has nothing to do with vehicle lighting laws. If you do have this printed on its possible the lights are counterfeit.
E4, This one is to do with numberplates this time and nothing to do with vehicles headlights. Yet again its possible your lights are counterfeit if they hold this mark. Or as its very easy to pass the E4 regulations the manufacturer may got a legitimate E4 mark in the hope they can confuse people in to there legality. But this mark in no ways make then legal to use as headlights.
Q: If I take a ECE98 HID approved headlight and approved HID bulbs from another car and fit them to my car is that ok?
A: No. All such approved bulbs also fall under ECE regulation number 48. As these bulbs are so bright they require a few extra safety systems that. Must be fitted to legal used such headlights.
Q: I hear ECE48 only applies to new vehicles so they must not apply to me retrofitting HIDs Right?
A: No. This is a myth that has done the rounds on the internet but is simply not true. Back in 2006 the UK Governments Department For Transport issued a fact sheet reiterating the requirements for any retrofit HID headlight to be used on the road.
Q: My car came as standard with no auto levelling but also came with HIDs is it now illegal?
A: No. You are fine still if your car was legal it still is. Many cars came with HIDs only in high beam or had auto levelling suspension and did not required auto levelling headlights.
Q: I hear that all this is erelevant as no the law has never been tried in court, is this true?
A: No. This is yet another internet myth. Both the Road Safety Act and Road Traffic Act are both sound laws tried many times in court. If the Police did find you with illegal lights on the road they are perfectly within there rights to fine your on the spot or even confiscate your vehicle without having to go to court. However the option is still there for them to take you to court if they wished to throw the book at you.
Q: I really like these blue and purple headlight bulbs are these road legal?
A: No. There are stringent regulations covering the colour of headlights. You can only use E approved headlights bulbs and these will be white or yellow in colour.
Q: I have found HID sold as 10,000K and they say they are E marked are these legal?
A: No. As of the date I wrote this the HID bulb with the highest colour temperature to achieve E approval was 5800K. Anything much over that and your safe to assume they are fakes and have a fraudulent E marking.
Q: I have a vehicle that came with 35W HIDs and wish to upgrade them to 50/55W is this legal?
A: No. They will not have valid E approval. If you wish to use the vehicle you will have to retain your 35W bulbs.
Or go have a look at these links.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/drs/hidheadla...
http://hid.moonfruit.com/
peterguk V6 KWK said:
HID bulbs should not be used in lamp units that have not been designed for HID bulbs. Yes you might get more light, but you'll blind everyone coming towards you with unfocussed glare.
I'll post up the link to my original thread later.
All covered by my thread here. I'll post up the link to my original thread later.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Would there be a lot of extra benefit of going the whole HID route rather than say just fitting these Philips bulbs?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
elenitro said:
Would there be a lot of extra benefit of going the whole HID route rather than say just fitting these Philips bulbs?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
Err - yes. Totally different lighting systems!http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
J
elenitro said:
Would there be a lot of extra benefit of going the whole HID route rather than say just fitting these Philips bulbs?
[url]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME[/url]
Leon
[url]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME[/url]
Leon
So would these still be a bit better than the std bulbs in the GTo/GTO3?
Bondy
mgbond said:
elenitro said:
Would there be a lot of extra benefit of going the whole HID route rather than say just fitting these Philips bulbs?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
So would these still be a bit better than the std bulbs in the GTo/GTO3?http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PHILIPS-X-TREME-POWER-H7-EXT...
Leon
Bondy
Not quite a thread hijack but I was looking at H7 55W bulbs in Halfrauds recently and they had Xenon replacement types (quoting 90% brighter than standard). I thought Xenon needed a balast so does anyone know how these work - are they a straight replacement? They weren't cheap thpugh - £24 each!
AMG Merc said:
Not quite a thread hijack but I was looking at H7 55W bulbs in Halfrauds recently and they had Xenon replacement types (quoting 90% brighter than standard). I thought Xenon needed a balast so does anyone know how these work - are they a straight replacement? They weren't cheap thpugh - £24 each!
They are still filament bulbs, just with Xenon gas in them to allow modified filaments to give more light for the same wattage.HIDs have no filament, but have Xenon gas that is made to discharge light in the "same" way a flourescent tube does.
Totally different physics.
J
AMG Merc said:
Not quite a thread hijack but I was looking at H7 55W bulbs in Halfrauds recently and they had Xenon replacement types (quoting 90% brighter than standard). I thought Xenon needed a balast so does anyone know how these work - are they a straight replacement? They weren't cheap thpugh - £24 each!
There is a review on autoexpress of upgrade bulbs here:http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/230...
The aren't impressed with the halfrauds 90% ones.
Leon
I fitted a 6K HID conversion kit to my car over a year ago and before sealing everything up, had the bulbs aligned using an MOT type lighting box so that the pattern of light distribution did not throw light into oncoming vehicles. I have never once been flashed by oncoming cars (whereas I have in my Beemer with OEM xenons) and the car has not had any problems getting though an MOT. The difference in night driving is simply staggering compared to the standard so-called high intensity lights that the car came with. In terms of safety, isn't being able to see the road ahead a bit of a no-brainer?
More info here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
More info here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Thanks guys. Found these eBay, may be worth a try for the money...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
BTW, these aren't for Noble - I try not to open the front light pods unless absolutely necessary
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
BTW, these aren't for Noble - I try not to open the front light pods unless absolutely necessary
AMG Merc said:
Thanks guys. Found these eBay, may be worth a try for the money...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
BTW, these aren't for Noble - I try not to open the front light pods unless absolutely necessary
8000K. You are joking?? Did you read my other threads??http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
BTW, these aren't for Noble - I try not to open the front light pods unless absolutely necessary
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