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Looking good Matt. That is so much nicer than my one-off/prototype of this.
Couple of thoughts for you. On the wiring, make sure you have the wiring set to keep the low beams on when you activate the high beams. In this way, you won't cycle the HID low beams on and off (assuming HIDs will be an option) and you will extend their life as well as save on the time it takes for HIDs to come on. Had this issue which is why I bring it up to you. So, I think you need to add in a relay for this. Second, make sure your adjustment screws on each light give you the range of motion needed. On my high beam 90mm units, what came with the Hella kit works fine but I just redid my 50mm low beams as the range of the three pivot adjustment screws wasn't quite right. I added four screws for each light that are all adjustable from the front so I now have complete control. The stock kit for the 50mm unit comes with three adjustment screws, with only one (the top) adjustable from the front, making them difficult to adjust.
Finally, as an aside, I already had the Hella HIDs on the 50mm units but I upgraded the bulbs in the them to D2S Osram Xenarc 66240 CBI (5500K) units from the retrofit source. The stock Hella units were too yellow (even thought they were supposedly 4200K) compared to all the other LED bulbs I run and the Osrams now blend in with the rest of the bulbs - not 5500K but pure white. Was leery of doing this but retrofit was right on how the color would turn out. Finally, I added in Morimoto HID bulbs and ballasts to the high beams (from the retrofit source) and these have dramatically increased the light output of the high beams. The downside of doing this is the slight delay in the HID lights activating but beautiful light once on fully. I thought about LED bulbs but the retrofit source indicated there was nothing (one year ago) that would increase the light output over the Hella halogen units. This may have changed over the past year.
Keep up the outstanding work!
All good info David - and glad this gets your thumbs up!
On the HIDs themselves and relays - we're probably gonna work through TRS (although it sounds like SBG might have some ideas!). We already have a TRS account setup and samples in hand. They make a cool device called the MotoControl Relay which addresses your exact concern over HIDs firing during low/hi switch. Additionally, the Hella 50mm HIDs are 1) cost prohibitive (just the cost of two lamps is practically the target price for the entire kit) and 2) stock prohibitive (I've had a set on order with Hella since January and I'm still waiting). Last thing we need is these kits being delayed by Hella.
My "plan" is to offer the Hella 50mm Lo Beam (pictured above) with a Morimoto HID kit. For the high beam, I was planning on offering the Hella 90mm Halogen (pictured above) and possibly the Hella 90mm LED (waiting on it to arrive and verify fitment, quality, etc).
If a someone wants to add a LED or HID or whatever to the 90mm Halogen - so be it. But I don't want to fall into the trap of offering a half-dozen different options of every kit, ya know?
Oh, and here's the info on the LED high beam, it's been released within the past year and only reached the US in February:
Hey Matt. Lots of good going on here. Nice work. That LED pattern looks appealing, better than the halogen 90mms:
More throw and a wider pattern. Wonder how it would stack up to my TRS HID conversion I have in the car now? Hmm...
The relay you mentioned appears that it will work as well. Is a nice feature to keep the lows on when you use the high beams, particularly if the lows are converted to HID. And a few others have used the Hella 50mm halogen projectors with HID conversions and had good results. Technically the halogen projectors are different from the HID units in shape but I don't think that matters much, especially when factoring in the cost of the Hella HID units.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the end product.
All good info David - and glad this gets your thumbs up!
On the HIDs themselves and relays - we're probably gonna work through TRS (although it sounds like SBG might have some ideas!). We already have a TRS account setup and samples in hand. They make a cool device called the MotoControl Relay which addresses your exact concern over HIDs firing during low/hi switch. Additionally, the Hella 50mm HIDs are 1) cost prohibitive (just the cost of two lamps is practically the target price for the entire kit) and 2) stock prohibitive (I've had a set on order with Hella since January and I'm still waiting). Last thing we need is these kits being delayed by Hella.
My "plan" is to offer the Hella 50mm Lo Beam (pictured above) with a Morimoto HID kit. For the high beam, I was planning on offering the Hella 90mm Halogen (pictured above) and possibly the Hella 90mm LED (waiting on it to arrive and verify fitment, quality, etc).
If a someone wants to add a LED or HID or whatever to the 90mm Halogen - so be it. But I don't want to fall into the trap of offering a half-dozen different options of every kit, ya know?
Oh, and here's the info on the LED high beam, it's been released within the past year and only reached the US in February:
Looks promising... and doesn't break the bank.
JW speaker makes 90mm low and high beams it will probably lower cost. I have never been impressed by the hella outputs anyway vs how much they cost.
No solid updates yet. But we're still plugging away.
Our next big hurdle is getting the shrouds into actual production. Debating vacuum molding vs injection molding. Not sure yet. The goal is OEM style / quality, so 3D printing and FPR aren't really being discussed... but who knows.
Ok guys. Minor update. The biggest hurdle recently was time... specifically with race season... BUT that's over and done with so production has been pushing on.
The last piece of this puzzle with these is the bezels. Since we made the newer housings, the old bezels had to be modified. So that means, back to the drawing board on those. We have however made decent progress. We're currently making clay molds in which we will be able to pull vacuum forms from. There will be a fair amount of tweeking until they are in production - but I figured I'd share their current iteration...
They are a tad sleepier than before - but I think they're starting to look awesome.
Man, I know this is taking FOREVER, but we're not quitting on this. Progress is progress.
Love seeing these updates! This is the product highest on my want list. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you. I know it's a slow go. But it's the highest product on MY want list too.
Originally Posted by GreyMotors
Thanks for all your hard working!
Originally Posted by kevinvr6
she livesssss!!
Getting there.
Originally Posted by TwinCharged RX7
Isn't a new sleepy kit already out?
You mean the knockoff of a 20 year old Knightsport kit? Yeah. I saw something about that. But knockoffs of that have been available for a while now, I believe they are just "back in stock".
Either way, apples and oranges. That's a knock off, not an original product. That doesn't add benefits of a projector housing. That isn't nearly as "sleepy" as these are from a design perspective.
