The little un's sparkly eyes

[hewlett]

As some of you may have noticed from the ten or so hoons I’ve been on in the lil Clio over the last 18 months, I’ve not addressed the small issue of one of the dipped headlights not working. Yesterday the second headlight went so I was given the motivation I needed to sort them out. I took it to a Renault garage in Oxford and they took….2 hours to diagnose the problem, huh Eventually informing me that the headlamp xenon bulbs and the ballast packs weren’t working – it’s a built in unit so effectively it’s the whole of both units that have blown. So they explained that I needed to pay 2 hours labour for their expert diagnosis or they would happily take the £110+VAT off my bill should I have both lights replaced. And the price for 2 new xenon, fitted, just short of £1000 (they told me yesterday that the lamp, bulb, ballast pack all comes separately), I told them that I’d get back to them after having a look on eBay... Anyway, the good news is that this morning they phoned to give me some outstandingly wonderful news:

Renault: ‘’Sir, we have some goods new about your car’’.
Me: ‘’Excellent’’
Renault: ‘’We’ve had a look at the headlamp on our microfiche’’ (never accuse Renault of not being up with current technology).
Me: ‘’OK…’’
Renault: ‘’That’s right Sir, it seems that that everything you need comes as just one unit’’
Me: ‘’Oh great, so that means it will be a bit cheaper?’’
Renault: ‘’Oh yes, much cheaper Sir, just £643, inclusive of VAT and labour’’
Me: ‘’Uh huh?’’
Renault: ‘’We knew you’d be pleased Sir so we took the liberty to order the parts and should be able to fit them later this week, when would you like to bring your car in?’’

Call me tight but that’s almost as much as it cost to replace the gearbox! Obviously, I’m now searching eBay.

[nonuts]

I think it's HIDs 4 U or some st that will help, but that really is a joke, I got two new Osram d2s bulbs for about £100 for my car and there are generic balasts available as well. Google is your friend!

[Robatr0n]

As Ben says, HID kits have fallen in price over the last 2 or 3 years. You can pick up some great kits for not much over £150.

[VerySideways]

Last time i bought a HID kit for one of my cars i paid £112 from a friend who runs a company called Aceparts (he's a PH'er too). Fantastic kit, great quality, did the job perfectly.

[motco]

Exactly the same happened to my son's Audi TT (now sold, thank God) and the chap at HIDS4U got me a replacement (used) ballast for £150. Audi wanted to change the whole unit and the price was £600+VAT and labour. Labour involved removing the whole front end of the car to access the headlight unit - another few hundred quid. I cut the cables to the invisbly located ballast and spliced in the replacement, popped it in a polybag and cable tied it in situ. Bob's your uncle!

[John D.]

VerySideways said:

Last time i bought a HID kit for one of my cars i paid £112 from a friend who runs a company called Aceparts (he's a PH'er too). Fantastic kit, great quality, did the job perfectly.

Can he hook me up with some for my Elise?

On a side note I'm having some difficulty deciding how much to spend on a kit. Theres a wide variation in price from ebay kits to specialist HID suppliers without any obvious difference between them to my eye! Don't want to skimp on the price only to get something which breaks but neither do I want to pay extra for nothing.

[hewlett]

Thanks all, HID kit it is! Consulting Dr Google now

[motco]

The reason I didn't go for a kit is because it wasn't easy to find out which cable is the switched 12V to the ballast in the OEM installation. Then there's the problem of the loom to lamp connection necessitating (maybe) a replacement bulb and if it fits or not.

[tuscan_al]

HID's £38 for slim balast pack from ebay, came from china n 4 days and they are perfect.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

Pick your currency to give you the best exchange on paypal, mine was $ at the time.

These kits are all e and tuv approved, just what hid4u sell cutting out the middle man.

scrub that link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

few more quid off for buying in $ as I say.

John these will be fine on the elise and take no time to fit, just decide where to mount the balast, and these being smaller than a fag packet save the all important weight!

Edited by tuscan_al on Tuesday 8th December 11:18

[hewlett]

That's definitely a concern but I will go through the pain as it's the right solution light and cost. Btw, for those who know about the other lil un (9.5 mnths now):

Edited by hewlett on Tuesday 8th December 20:14

[tuscan_al]

hewlett said:

That's definitely a concern but I will go through the pain as it's the right solution light and cost.

The wiring is very simple for the hid's and if i remember when I had my clio and looking in clio engine bays with factory hids, they are just bolted somewhere around the lights, with a normal loom wire running to them, which would go to the new balast and then then new wiring to the bulb etc.
ask on the rsclio forum.

[hewlett]

tuscan_al said:

hewlett said:

That's definitely a concern but I will go through the pain as it's the right solution light and cost.

The wiring is very simple for the hid's and if i remember when I had my clio and looking in clio engine bays with factory hids, they are just bolted somewhere around the lights, with a normal loom wire running to them, which would go to the new balast and then then new wiring to the bulb etc.
ask on the rsclio forum.

That's a relief, thanks I will do

[hewlett]

tuscan_al said:

HID's £38 for slim balast pack from ebay, came from china n 4 days and they are perfect.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

Pick your currency to give you the best exchange on paypal, mine was $ at the time.

These kits are all e and tuv approved, just what hid4u sell cutting out the middle man.

scrub that link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

few more quid off for buying in $ as I say.

John these will be fine on the elise and take no time to fit, just decide where to mount the balast, and these being smaller than a fag packet save the all important weight!

Edited by tuscan_al on Tuesday 8th December 11:18

Just saw this, many thanks Al

[hewlett]

Bought for £37.01 GBP

[NWVT]

on the c4 its depending on dealers and there parts departments but the cheapest i have seen per lilght unit on a c4 with the fancy lights like on mine it is £750 per unit minimum and £1500 per unit is the most expensive i have seen

[Blues]

tuscan_al said:

HID's £38 for slim balast pack from ebay, came from china n 4 days and they are perfect.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

Pick your currency to give you the best exchange on paypal, mine was $ at the time.

These kits are all e and tuv approved, just what hid4u sell cutting out the middle man.

scrub that link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

few more quid off for buying in $ as I say.

Al, are these the ones you fitteed to the Tuscan, and did you do dipped and full beam? - Aren't these seperate bulbs?

[hewlett]

Ouch, AND we helped them out in WW2, there's gratitude for ya!

Take zet price you Engleesh feesh and cheep eatin perason.

[John D.]

Blues said:

tuscan_al said:

HID's £38 for slim balast pack from ebay, came from china n 4 days and they are perfect.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

Pick your currency to give you the best exchange on paypal, mine was $ at the time.

These kits are all e and tuv approved, just what hid4u sell cutting out the middle man.

scrub that link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HID-XENON-CONVERSION-SLIM-KI...

few more quid off for buying in $ as I say.

Al, are these the ones you fitteed to the Tuscan, and did you do dipped and full beam? - Aren't these seperate bulbs?

I don't know what Al has fitted but you can get dipped and full beam in one bulb. Thats what I plan to fit to my Elise. There is a little motor inside it which moves something to switch between the two I believe.

[tuscan_al]

Blues, I swapped my playing up dipped to the full beam and then put these new ones on the dipped. Both are H7.

If yours are h4 bi beams John they are about £10 more. From what I can work out the have either the motor or two filaments but it's no trickie to fit. Mine came with good English instructions for all types of bulb. Will scan the h4 pages and you can see the install method.

[motco]

Steve, glad to see Anoushka's progressing nicely. Hope you manage to connect the HiD ballast okay. Boris is asleep on his radiator hammock as I type.

[sorry everybody - cat and baby stuf!]