HID Bi-Xenon for '13 Pathfinder

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lawfarm
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:04 am

HID Bi-Xenon for '13 Pathfinder

Postby lawfarm » Mon Dec 03, 2012 1:45 pm

Stock halogen headlights leave me longing for the days of my X5 and VW Tiguan, both of which had adaptive bi-xenon headlights.

I know I'm not going to get adaptive...but how about a proper projector HID bi-xenon upgrade for the lights. Anyone have a thought?


AWDtraction
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2013 7:52 pm
Location: New York City/ New Jersey

Postby AWDtraction » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:03 pm

yeah I could not believe the lights are not HID...we are in 2013 NISSAN! the light housing looks amazing but don't know why they did not do HID. I guess thats a Infiniti feature that nissan is suggesting you upgrade to.. :lol:

gladiator99
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Aug 04, 2013 1:43 pm
Location: B.C. Canada

Postby gladiator99 » Sun Aug 04, 2013 7:46 pm

I believe I saw a HID conversion kit on ebay for the 2013-14 pathfinder.
I was looking for door side mouldings which I found there also. I had the HID on our 10 Lexus RX and they were great for night driving when there are deer on the highways at times.
Cheers,
Jim

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pyrophilus
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:00 pm

Postby pyrophilus » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:10 pm

I just got the R52, SL with premium package, will be picking it up tomorrow from dealer.

I already looked into the headlamp conversion. The R52 uses H11 headlamp bulbs, which are a single filament. So you wouldn't be able to get a bi-xenon for it.

Good news is, H11 xenon kits aren't that expensive. I'd stay away from the ebay kits, as I went through five sets before giving up. The ebay kits are:
1. wrong color (too blue or purple or green, no matter what color temp they state)
2. unreliable (three bulbs burned out within a month
3. unreliable (three ballasts burned out)
4. cheap (the light flickers)

I finally gave up and spent $75 for a kit from DDM tuning for my R51 ('05 LE) and my Hyundai Genensis coupe. The DDM kits have a lifetime warranty. kinda hard to get them to respond, but when they do, they do replace it kits.

I have purchased five kits from them, and only one kit ended up having bad ballast after about two months, and it was replaced under the lifetime warranty.

I can't speak for the 55w kits, as I only use the 35w kits.

As for the highbeam, using xenon for hibeam in the R52 isn't recommended as it is a separate bulb, and xenons aren't too bright during initial startup.

I am thinking of getting the Cree LED bulb for the high beams.

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pyrophilus
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:00 pm

Postby pyrophilus » Wed Mar 19, 2014 5:26 am

Just picked up the '14 last night, and I have to say...

Wow, are those halogens dim...

When I get my DDM kit, I will try to take pics when I do the install.

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pyrophilus
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:00 pm

2014 R52 Pathfinder HID installation

Postby pyrophilus » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:17 pm

So I finished the installation.

Before I continue, Please read this disclaimer:
This posting does not in any way or fashion advocate the modification of your vehicle. Any information presented here is for your entertainment purposes. The readers acknowledge that should they attempt an HID installation, they do so at their own risk, and I (nor this website) am not responsible for personal injury or monetary damages resulting from YOUR activity.

As with all car work, this project should be left to a professional.

on to the installatoin

It SHOULD HAVE BEEN a 20minute job, but the H11 connector on the HID ballasts was bit lacking, so I decided to get an H11 extension with a beefier/nicer plug and splice cables. It took about an hour, in pouring rain.

I got the HID set from DDMtuning.com. I have tried Ebay kits on my Hyundai, and every one of the Ebay ones blew out after few months.
The DDM kits are also from China, but DDM has a lifetime replacement warranty, and out of four HID installations that I have done for myself and friends, only two ballasts (out of eight) had problems after 6 months, and they were replaced.

I also got an H11 extension, because some guy on youtube video said it is a good idea, but I am not sure why, because there is plenty of cable slack. But i was glad I did, as the H11 end of the DDM harness was bit lacking in quality.

Normally, I also use a relay and direct wire the ballasts to battery, and then use the vehicle's headlamp harness to trigger the relay. But as this is a lease vehicle, I decided to make it easy for removal. Furthermore, the way I set this up, if a ballast/HID bulb fails, I can just remove the bulb, put halogen, and then by pass the harness. The way this is setup, I can remove the entire HID kit and not leave a trace in under 20 minutes.

And now for the installation.

The picture below are the three connectors.
Left : the connector that came WITh the HID ballast,
Center: The H11 OEM Bulb removed from the Pathfinder
Right: The nicer connector from the H11 Extension (from Ebay)
The two plugs on left and right are flipped upside down. Notice the actual bulb has a notch inside to keep the harness from connecting in the wrong way. The HID ballast harness did not have this, and the H11 extension does.
Image

Close-up of the two harness
The one on the left was from the HID ballast, it was cut off, and I spliced on the one on the right.
Image

Another close-up of the HID hardness. notice the pins are bent towards the center. I first thought DDM had sent me the wrong harness. If you decide to use this one, make sure that the pins are straightened out, and since this does not have the "notch" be sure that the polarity is correct before you plus in the vehicle's H11 harness.
Image

The H11 extension that I purchased from Ebay. The left black plus is the one I am splicing to the DDM's HID Ballast harness.
Image

The two cables, ready to be soldered.
Image

The cables all spliced up. I made two, one for each side.
If you decide to go with the DDM Harness, you can skip all the steps up to here.
Image

The cable and the HID bulb plugged into the ballast, ready to go out to the car! The H11 hardness from the car unplugs from the halogen bulb, and then is plugged into the black plug (that has the arrow pointing to it).
Image

Bulb modification
The white plastic washer was for shipping, but I decided to wedge it between the bulb and the red gasket, because without it, the red gasket wasn't thick enough and the bulb was bit loose. BTW, the red gasket works loose during shipping. You have to make sure it is properly seated.
Image

Ballast mount:
I got a 3M VHB double-sided tape from Home Depot, wiped the back of the ballast with alcohol.
Image

Driver's side ballast mounting location
The arrows point to the two plastic retainer pins that need to be carefully removed. Once removed, you can carefully pry up the right-side portion of that "skirt". it is rubbery and it is flexible.
Image

picture of the pin
You have to carefully "pop" up the inner piece and then grab the outer part and pull.
Image

Ballst mounting location
This is what it looks like behind the rubber curtain. In the lower right corner, you can see the H11 HID bulb already mounted.
Image

Ballast mounted/taped
Make sure you press it down (the white bracket is flexible, be careful and don't bend it) and apply pressure for 10 seconds or more.
Image[/img]

Close-up of the bulb
This is the HID bulb, already installed. Don't worry about that big black rubber grommet. It is normally used if you have to drill into the back of the headlamp housing (like in the Hyundai's), which isn't the case here.
Image

results!
The left side is on OEM halogen, right side is the new HID. It looks whiter (factory xenon white) than it does in this photo.
Image

more results
Can't really tell in this photo, but right side is old halogen. It is dramatically different in real-life. The halogen looks almost orange compared to the new HID's.
Image

lordtie20001
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:37 pm
Location: USA

Postby lordtie20001 » Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:27 pm

I just bought a 2014 Hybrid. I was told by the techs these have the HID LED headlight. Anyone know if this is correct?


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