HID legality and proper use

[trillobite]

So my original Halogen headlights were not cutting it, as I could not see whenever headlights from oncoming traffic came at me, so I decided to hunt for better headlights. I searched around, and found that the good Halogens were around $60, and in my view, I thought I should be able to find a better alternative.

At first, I wanted LED's, although they typically required cooling fans that would clog with dust, and were of questionable quality. So, I figured that I would take another look at HID's to see if the tech has become better over the years. And to my surprise, they have, as I was able to obtain a 35W 5000k kit by OPT7 for $30.

It turns out, there are a few problems with HID's, and that is glare, and I discovered this AFTER installing them, as I did not fully research HID's. After doing more research right now, it seems the california laws and restrictions behind HID conversions is unclear, and information on the topic seems to be quite old.

Are there even any projector headlamp housings available on the market, that are DOT approved for an HID conversion? Last thing I want is these headlights to end up costing me in tickets!

View of what the headlights look like here, and they don't seem to produce too much glare, although I'm the one behind the wheel, so it's difficult for me to know.
http://imgur.com/P0ozH7w

Edit:
I haven't found a forum that collects all of the California codes into one location yet, so I think I will make it a goal to collect a bunch of them, if possible, all of them here. This is mostly for my own personal gain while researching, but I figure that many others will be interested in this topic. Please use this for research purposes only.

About headlight positioning, and max number of beams in use:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&group=24001-25000&file=24400-24411

Color, and positioning if headlight is over 300 candle-power:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&group=25001-26000&file=25950-25952

Federal Headlight Codes:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2004-title49-vol5/xml/CFR-2004-title49-vol5-sec571-108.xml

 

[ThatDesiKid]

HIDs in a halogen housing will blind other drivers and it scatters the light around rendering the use of the kit useless.

Most people just retrofit projectors into their headlamps. There are plenty of good threads to scour to see what kind of retrofit is to your liking!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[trillobite]

HIDs in a halogen housing will blind other drivers and it scatters the light around rendering the use of the kit useless.

Most people just retrofit projectors into their headlamps. There are plenty of good threads to scour to see what kind of retrofit is to your liking!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Well, looks like I was yet another HID sucker. Thanks.


Edit:
Just letting everyone know, I am still researching this topic, no consensus on other forums, some say it's illegal outright, others say the law states that as long as they are not considered 'blue,' and aimed properly, they are okay. I will look into the laws themselves in the next few days, and report precise references for others if I find anything. Personally, I just wanted to find a quality, brighter, long-life alternative to a Halogen bulb that wasn't too expensive.

Maybe the reason why I can't see with my stock headlights, is because everyone else is running HID's and blinding me XD

 

[Nam1911a1]

I would keep it. There are plenty of douche bag truck owners with jacked up trucks blinding everyone on the road.

 

[trillobite]

I would keep it. There are plenty of douche bag truck owners with jacked up trucks blinding everyone on the road.

So true! Hahahah.

So far, looking up codes, it seems mostly the people who get in trouble are those running headlights over 5000k that can be considered "blue," as headlights are to be between the spectrum of yellow and white. I edited my original post to display those codes. I heard that there are more codes that state that you cannot modify the original design of headlights, and I will be looking those up. So far, I haven't found those specific codes, although, at the moment I don't have time to search, but I will make an update when I do.

Yesterday, I just saw someone with 12,000k headlights, but at least he had projectors and the beam was correct lol!

 

[Nowheremon]

Hi Trilobite,

If you are looking to do the drop-in route, here are some options provided by the retrofit source, an online provider of headlight parts: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/all-products.html/?car=honda_accord sedan_1998

Notice how they don't sell an HID low beam? That is because your headlight is a reflector designed for halogen, it simply cannot work with HID drop in bulbs.

If you want to run HID and focus all the light on to the road, you have to look into something that involves replacing parts - A retrofit.

The Mini H1 kit will be a great upgrade, and the Acme is an extremely affordable retrofit option. These are both very simple options. Upgrade involves, separate headlight, insert projector, twist on nut, re-seal headlight, install bulb and ballast wiring, and you have new headlights.

H1 stage 3 is brighter, H1 ACME is slightly simpler to install and much less $$$. Both are a HUGE upgrade to the stock system. To be honest, with the voltage problems I'm having with all the subwoofers (bass for stereo music) I may buy and install some of these ACME's pretty soon myself.

Acme H1
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/c...an&preselect=47338,47309&preselect_restrict=1
H1 Stage 3
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/c...an&preselect=47338,47309&preselect_restrict=1

The "Big Difference" between the two is one is newer technology.

 

[trillobite]

Thanks for the tip, I am actually thinking about dropping in an entire headlight assembly, with some OSRAM bulbs. Although I enjoy how HID's look, just seeing all the scattered light, when I pull up to my garage door is pretty bad.

When I get more time, I will do a retrofit, and re-use my ballasts