2005 Pathfinder HID Ballast Mount

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JAHBLESSINGS
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Postby JAHBLESSINGS » Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:07 am

hids on the pathfinders is very necessary, the factory headlights are crap. my camry has the best lighting of any none hid car i've owned. nissan need to step up the headlight quality.


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NVSteve
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Postby NVSteve » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:41 am

JAHBLESSINGS wrote:hids on the pathfinders is very necessary, the factory headlights are crap. my camry has the best lighting of any none hid car i've owned. nissan need to step up the headlight quality.
I personally think that trying the HID route is a waste of time & a potentially large headache. Not to say that it's wrong, but just that it isn't practical at all. I would take another approach: why are some non-HID lights brighter than others? Is it the bulb, reflector housings, voltages, etc? It would make sense that it *should* be easier to figure out a way to get a brighter non-HID in place of what we have now.

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GimmieSumMo72
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Postby GimmieSumMo72 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:52 am

who sells pathfinder projectors anyway?

falcondrgn
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Postby falcondrgn » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:55 am

Ebay does

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Tru ... 240%3A1318


GimmieSumMo72 wrote:who sells pathfinder projectors anyway?

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GimmieSumMo72
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Postby GimmieSumMo72 » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:59 am

they look pretty ricey to me...

they look like they dont belong.

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:00 am

NVSteve wrote:I personally think that trying the HID route is a waste of time & a potentially large headache. Not to say that it's wrong, but just that it isn't practical at all. I would take another approach: why are some non-HID lights brighter than others? Is it the bulb, reflector housings, voltages, etc? It would make sense that it *should* be easier to figure out a way to get a brighter non-HID in place of what we have now.
i would second that... like PIAA or Sylvania replacement bulbs.

but sometimes you simply can't convince people to change when they have their mind set.
falcondrgn wrote:Ebay does

<link>
GimmieSumMo72 wrote:who sells pathfinder projectors anyway?
good luck with those ebay lighs... you could buy replacement halogens for less and not have to replace them in a couple months when the garbage components start to fail.

~mike
Last edited by MonkeyMike on Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

falcondrgn
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Postby falcondrgn » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:02 am

exactly my thoughts, i've seen some custom fabricated ones that look really stock and nice.


GimmieSumMo72 wrote:they look pretty ricey to me...

they look like they dont belong.

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:05 am

falcondrgn wrote:exactly my thoughts, i've seen some custom fabricated ones that look really stock and nice.
if you are going to talk full custom, then you are probably going to buy audi rs4 projectors. housing, bulb, lens, ballast, everything.

but, unless you can do the fabrication yourself, it is going to cost big bucks to have someone do a custom job.

~mike

nvrdun
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Postby nvrdun » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:25 pm

MonkeyMike wrote:[soapbox]
HID plug and play kits are a waste of money. HID bulbs are not designed to work in halogen reflectors. the HID bulbs are the wrong length, and end up scattering light all over the place. sure, they look brighter, but you are probably going to get less light where you want it (on the road ahead of you). plus, you are going to piss off all the drivers coming toward you b/c your headlights are scattering light every which-way. i see it every night i drive... all the stupid honda civics with their "HID" headlights.
[/soapbox]

now that thats taken care of. inrush current doesn't last too long. it *shouldn't* be a problem. but if you are worried, run a relay switched wire from the battery. what size is the wire in the stock harness?

~mike
What facts do you have to base this on? HID bulbs are brighter, and the litertaure that I have seen show the light pattern to be very similar to non HID bulbs. Granted since they are brighter, the light travels farther. If they are not designed for halogen housings, then why are they designed to fit in halogen housings? Just curious if this is personal opinion, or fact?
personally think that trying the HID route is a waste of time & a potentially large headache. Not to say that it's wrong, but just that it isn't practical at all. I would take another approach: why are some non-HID lights brighter than others? Is it the bulb, reflector housings, voltages, etc? It would make sense that it *should* be easier to figure out a way to get a brighter non-HID in place of what we have now.

Yes, you can get HID lights in either 35w or 55w, the later being brighter. They also come in different kelvin ratings "color". I think there are at least 8 different "color's" ranging from stock looking yellow up to a purple color.

The reflector does just that, it reflects the light, so the brighter the light, the farther the reflection.
I have seen some really scratched up and oxidized headlight lens' that could easily account for a dimmer light.[/quote]

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GimmieSumMo72
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Postby GimmieSumMo72 » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:28 pm

nvrdun wrote:
MonkeyMike wrote:[soapbox]
HID plug and play kits are a waste of money. HID bulbs are not designed to work in halogen reflectors. the HID bulbs are the wrong length, and end up scattering light all over the place. sure, they look brighter, but you are probably going to get less light where you want it (on the road ahead of you). plus, you are going to piss off all the drivers coming toward you b/c your headlights are scattering light every which-way. i see it every night i drive... all the stupid honda civics with their "HID" headlights.
[/soapbox]

now that thats taken care of. inrush current doesn't last too long. it *shouldn't* be a problem. but if you are worried, run a relay switched wire from the battery. what size is the wire in the stock harness?

~mike
What facts do you have to base this on? HID bulbs are brighter, and the litertaure that I have seen show the light pattern to be very similar to non HID bulbs. Granted since they are brighter, the light travels farther. If they are not designed for halogen housings, then why are they designed to fit in halogen housings? Just curious if this is personal opinion, or fact?
personally think that trying the HID route is a waste of time & a potentially large headache. Not to say that it's wrong, but just that it isn't practical at all. I would take another approach: why are some non-HID lights brighter than others? Is it the bulb, reflector housings, voltages, etc? It would make sense that it *should* be easier to figure out a way to get a brighter non-HID in place of what we have now.

Yes, you can get HID lights in either 35w or 55w, the later being brighter. They also come in different kelvin ratings "color". I think there are at least 8 different "color's" ranging from stock looking yellow up to a purple color.

The reflector does just that, it reflects the light, so the brighter the light, the farther the reflection.
I have seen some really scratched up and oxidized headlight lens' that could easily account for a dimmer light.
[/quote]

i would beg to differ... HID's are not designed to work in Halogen Reflector Housings and are not made to fit them. That is why they are called conversion kits. Most HID D2S bulbs are longer than stock bulbs and cannot fit in the housing.

Retrofitting HID bulbs in headlamps not originally designed to accept them results in extremely high levels of glare, and is illegal throughout most of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-inten ... harge_lamp

HID's are designed to work in ellipsoid projectors, and the light patterns are pretty different from Halogen bulbs. The light patterns in HID's are more compact and are higher intensity than Halogens, and this is the reason why the light travels farther. High Intensity wavelengths that are projected.

I agree with you on the wattage, 55w are brighter than the 50 and 35w ballasts.

About the Kelvins.... Kelvins are the temperature of the heat that is given off by the bulbs which produces their color and range from yellow (3000k) to red(12000K).

nvrdun
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Postby nvrdun » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:14 pm

This is what I am talking about comparable light patterns. See how they are similar. From these charts it doesnt appear that light is getting "scattered" all over the place.

Image

In these comparison pics, it also does not appear to be "scattered" everywhere


Image

This side by side of the two types of bulbs it looks like they are the same length. They are not the same width, but what was mentioned here was the HID bulb is much longer which is why they dont fit.


Image

Im not trying to say any one person is correct. This is just with what I dug up on google in the last 5 min using a image search. I do not have "HID conversion kit" in my pathfinder. I have been reading about it and I hear how they don't work with our lights. However while searching other forums and such, I come to different conclusions. Honestly, I could care less, its just that there is alot of confusing info out there.

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:46 am

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... sions.html

regarding the light pattern image... all that is showing is that HID lighting systems have a longer throw than a halogen light system. i even went and read the page that owns the image. while it is pretty much a crap load of marketing info, no where do they say that the referenced picture is for a retrofit kit. i am not disputing that a properly designed hid system will outperform a halogen system.

regarding the side-by-side garage door picture... obviously a HID bulb in a halogen reflector... HID systems are supposed to have a defined cutoff at the top of the light pattern. this is just a HID bulb in a halogen reflector. look at all the light that is being reflected up. wasted light energy, and will result in people thinking you are driving with your brights on. i see it every day i drive home from work.

regarding that side-by-side bulb picture... if i showed you a picture of a 1/4-20 screw and a 6 mm screw side-by-side would you buy the 1/4 inch screw when you knew you needed the 6mm screw. i mean, they look the same in the picture, right.

bottom line, this is pointless. people are going to do what they want. and then they are going to drive behind me with their shitty blue fake HID headlights, shining so high that i can see the shadow of my head on the sun visor.

oh, one more thing. hid bulbs in halogen reflectors is illegal. not that it stops anyone anyway, but it is illegal to do it. that is why everyone sells their kits as off road use only, or exhibition use only, or whatever other term they want to use.

~mike

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Postby blink32 » Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:00 pm

I have some pictures stored from a user somewhere I will post. The HID kits of various K vs stock halogen in a pathfinder. While not the greatest shots you can clearly see its just not a good pattern like the image posted of the garage door. Hell, I'll post a pic tonight of the wife's murano with hids for what it's supposed to look like and we can do a comparo.

I could see Hella coming out with a configuration like we need if the demand was high enough. Or just retrofit the UK xenon headlights in ours. Done and done. The only thing I found was that it was cost prohibitive at around $850usd per light assembly before shipping to run a test.

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blink32
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Postby blink32 » Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:23 am

Looks like I opened my mouth and can't follow through. I apparently deleted all the images and the Murano is out of town until Friday. Must not have thought they were all that good. The entire thread is located here though:
http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... highlight=

I stole this shot from another board but this what the cut off on a real hid should/has to look like to prevent randomly blinding people. This is the Murano zenon's with an STI replica lense in a Titan, custom application. The full thread can be viewed at the link below.

Image

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-p ... titan.html

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MonkeyMike
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Postby MonkeyMike » Tue Nov 25, 2008 6:35 am

on that titan install, he/she has the passenger side light aimed too low. each light has a stepped cutoff. you typically align the bottom step of the passenger side light with the upper step of the driver side light. the overall cutoff should look like three steps. that picture only has two. (you can see the cutoff shadow from the passenger side light is washed out by the driver side light.)

regardless, that is what low-beam HID should look like. high beam is simply accomplished by moving the cutoffs out of the way.

edit.... i just read the thread. it looks like he mounted them without any way to adjust the beams after the install was finished...

~mike


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