The hella 90mm low beam projectors have an abs housing which makes me think they may not be able to take the increased heat due to HID lights. Has anyone retrofitted their projectors to HID use? I believe Chuck from rotaryextreme uses these housings for his standard kit but he offers another kit for HID, probably a more heat-resistant housing.

 

I am using the Matrix HID H-11 kit. Its is a drop in kit requiring no modification to the 90mm Hella housings. They don't melt the housings. Infact they don't even get really hot. I got the kit off ebay, its an 8000k blue-white kit.

The quality of the kit is awesome. You can't beat HID.

 

Can you show me a link to the matrix kit? Since the hellas use an H9 bulb, which bulb type did you go with so that the xenon bulb would fit w/o modification? I assume the bulbs are D2S but I don't believe the D2S will fit inside the hellas without some finnegling.

Would you mind emailing me some pics of your setup? Michiganpopsicle@aol.com. Thanks! I've got a VR and I'd like to see a couple of closeups to see what it'll look like.

 

This is the Ebay store that I got the kit from. I don't think you need an H9 bulb. The H11 bulb is shorter but has the same connection to the housing. I can send you pictues of the box but my kit is a modified east bear kit and the lights are just not coming out without alot of work, sorry. The lights are an 8000K, H11, with Hella Bulbs and ignitors. The kit came with all the wiring , easy to put in.

You may want to check Japanese sites. Matrix recalled all of there HID kits in the US according to there website.

chris

 

The link:

http://stores.ebay.com/Motorsports-a...enameZL2QQtZkm

Chris

 

I have the RotaryExtreme sleek light kit with the 90mm lows and highs... I'm running the Hella HIDs in the lows w/ no problems...

Here is a vid..

 

link doesn't work...

 

oops...

FIXED...

 

Very cool.... Thanks!

 

You can't just stick any hid bulbs in there. The focal point will be different and you will end up with a bunch of glare and pissed off drivers on the road.

Chuck Huang

 

That video is nice. Very JDM style. Send me some more videos if you got some.

Chuck Huang

 

Damn, nice vid JspecRZ!

 

going to get my camera mount and cage in... so i'll def have more vids... I'll let you know... feel free to use the vid on your site..

 

Chuck - true, it is not recommended to just put an HID kit into these housings, but from the reading I've done, an oem D2S bulb will work pretty well with this housing. I'm in search of a rebased d2s bulb that will move the focal point to the proper location for an h9!

 

JspecRZ - the Hella kit that you mentioned, did you get a gen3 ballast using a standard d2s bulb? What did you do to modify the hella 90mm housing to accept the bulb? Thanks!

 

You have to ask Chuck, he was the one that provided everything modified and complete already...

 

Gotcha, I thought you may've done a DIY conversion. Thanks again!

 

the 90mm hellas actually have a magnesium housing to withstand the heat. only the front part that holds the lens is plastic.

its not a good idea to retrofit hids into the halogen housings as the rear reflector is a different design.

 

I am running hella 90mm's with the same kit manatecu is using. They work great. h8-h11 bulbs are the same shape, just different wattages.

 

rockshox: In most instances I'd agree with you. There are two options that I'm looking at right now. I'm in search of a rebased d2s bulb that will properly locate the bulb to the h9 focal point.

Specific to this setup, check out http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hella-90mm/ ... scroll down and check out "Tweaking" .. slightly modified hella 90mm housing using a standard d2s bulb. The focal point between a standard d2s and the h9 is 0.4mm. Yes, 0.4mm can make a huge difference in optics, I know.

A comment from someone who did this conversion is "The right flare is relatively high but the illumination is a good compromise between increased right side vision and acceptable glare levels". I would need to do something to address the glare - perhaps I can recess the d2s bulb 0.4mm deeper by modifying the base or housing.

For an example of what this conversion looks like, http://faq.auto.light.tripod.com/hel...hilips-D2S.jpg

I believe the low-beam HIDs that Chuck uses are hid-specific housings (also available at susquehanna) but at $500+ a pop, that's far beyond my playing field. I figure I can be ~400 into the low beam pair versus 1000 for the real thing. Both forward housings are plastic, however the hid is slightly deeper. Both measurements taken from the face (of lens?) to the mounting surface measure 2.31" so if I had to guess, I'd say the forward housings are identical. That means something is different in the rear (reflector area).

I don't know if the depth is due to a change in the housings themselves or if it's due to the igniter. I think the hella kit uses a gen4 ballast and the igniter actually sits on the bulb, increasing its depth, maybe that's where the increased depth comes from.

In any case, I think this is a doable conversion at reasonable cost. My hat's off to Chuck for putting together a great looking system, I just can't afford it. I think this setup will bring me very close to the performance of Chuck's kit at almost half the cost. The math is hard to deny.

On a sidenote - oddly, the bi-xenon setup is only $10 more per side than the low-beam only setup, very weird.