Recommendations for a good HID lamp kit

[woodyallen]

Hello,

Was thinking of fitting a HID kit to my 07 Octy Vrs, as don't want to put money in the dealers pocket by getting them to retro fit the xenons. Can anyone recommend a good kit? I've seen a few on ebay but am wondering about the reliability of some of them. A testimony from anyone who has purchased a kit would be great! I've got LED sidelights and the yellow lamps of the dipped beam looks a bit daft next to them.

Cheers all

Woody

[Hauptmann]

Do a search on my username for a thread on fitting HID's. Also a recent thread in the 'parts for sale' section on a kit I was selling with a link to eBay (now sold, but you can see where to get a kit). Mine has been fitted since March with DRL's active and so has clocked up plenty of hours without problem. I have fitted several of these for other members and friends on VAG cars and no problems so far. You do need to re-code the controller if fitting these though.

Stay away from the so-called 'CANbus' kits becasue they hang a large capacitor across the controller output lines, which doesn't do the controller any good at all (large inrush current when you switch on and backfeed when you switch off).

HTH.

[woodyallen]

Hey,

I saw your thread on the parts for sale, they look good and a reasonable price too. Hopefully these'll give the car the oem xenon effect. Looks like I'll have to have a look at the vagcom map to try and get someone local who'll be able to recode for me. Thanks for the recommended, it's always good to have someone who's experienced a product.

Woody

Edited 8 November, 2010 by woodyallen

[alberg]

Some of us have dif. opinion on this.

I have a CAN-BUS H7 6000k kit on mine ( now would have got the 5000k), it´s a slim kit with a low peak voltage at start up.

Have it for the past 4 months and everything ok.

It`s on a 06/2010 Octavia Break 1.6cr.

I have writin on other posts that people have blown wipers motors because of " cheap " kits, or badly installed.

Edited 8 November, 2010 by alberg

[wilsy7]

carmodshop.com get the premium canbus kit 5000k,

[Hauptmann]

Some of us have dif. opinion on this.

I have a CAN-BUS H7 6000k kit on mine ( now would have got the 5000k), it´s a slim kit with a low peak voltage at start up.

Have it for the past 4 months and everything ok.

It`s on a 06/2010 Octavia Break 1.6cr.

I have writin on other posts that people have blown wipers motors because of " cheap " kits, or badly installed.

Its the CANbus 'decoders' that damage Controller 9 (lights and wipers controller). The 'decoder' is in fact usually just a 2500uF capacitor across the feed to the headlamp. Its designed to fool the controller into thinking that there a filament bulb still installed (when the controller polls the light unit, the current just flows into the capacitor). The snag is that when the light is turned on the controller must not only supply the HID unit with start-up current, but also the inrush current to the capacitor. The controller is not designed for this. Moreover, when the light is powered down the capacitor cannot discharge throught the HID ballast (which will now present a high impedance), but through the controller.

The controller IS however designed to feed the 35W OE HID units that can be supplied by Skoda from the factory. By fitting a 35W kit and recoding the controller you are installing something that the controller expects to work with.

[alberg]

I did not say that it is the CAN-BUS system that does this to the wiper motor, but the contrary, people putting normal HID KITs on CAN-BUS cars, or like I said " cheap" kits is 50/50 chance to have such ordeal.

I do agree totaly that with the VAG-COM you can tell the system that the car has XENON installed , whether CAN-BUS or not.

One way to by-pass the system.

My CAN-BUS Slim KIt has only a peak of voltage of 8.2 volts, very low, normal kit exceed ( I think) 13 volts.

[woodyallen]

Ok, apologies for dragging this thread back up...have decided to go ahead and buy a hid kit (christmas present to myself!), how easy are they to fit? I have heard some octy 2 owners saying that they can fit all the gubbins within the headlamp housing. Also how do the ballast's connect to the existing power supply? Would I need to solder it together or do they just connect? :wonder:

[Hauptmann]

They are easy to fit. As I said earlier, check out my thread that explains it. No soldering needed. Takes me about 30mins to fit a pair - have done a few for Briskoda members. You NEED VCDS to code Controller 9 though. Find someone with VCDS before you start the job.

[GoneToBeemer]

Best kit I have seen is the HIDS4U 55W pro-max kit, brightest one available.

Avoid CAN-BUS friendly kits and just get them coded via VCDS if they trigger and bulb out warnings, but with these being 55W you should have no problems

And go for 5000k

[vRS_Pagey]

5000k looks the whitest, but if you want to get the maximum amount of light on the road, don't go for anything above 4300K.

I have a 4300k kit on mine, and the difference over halogen lights is tremendous.

And I know that dan-the-v8-man has an identical kit on his audi, and is also absolutely delighted with it.

Just bear in mind that no matter what kit you fit, you WILL need to have your headlight beams realigned due to the difference in lengths of the bulbs over halogen.

Mike

Mike, do you have a link to the kit you have fitted?

[vRS_Pagey]

Thanks for the link, I have been looking at these, after speaking to them they have said I will need the H7 with bulb warning cancellers (I presume these are the capacitors you mentioned)which are £5 extra, but they have said if I find I don't need them they will give me a refund. On the subject of canbus friendly HIDS, vRSCarl has been running a set for over a year without any problems. There doesn't seem to be a definative answer on this subject with opinions very divided, perhaps a poll is a good idea, to establish who has which type?

[silver1011]

If you only want your headlights to match your xenon effect sidelights why don't you just get some xenon effect halogen bulbs?

The Octavia has projector headlights so it will be very difficult for the untrained eye to notice that they aren't actually xenons.

Or were you after increased light output too?

[Hauptmann]

On the subject of canbus friendly HIDS, vRSCarl has been running a set for over a year without any problems. There doesn't seem to be a definative answer on this subject with opinions very divided, perhaps a poll is a good idea, to establish who has which type?

This issue is not a matter of opinion - its electrical engineering.

The CANbus system polls the filament bulbs to check for correct cold filament resistance (inferred from current draw) and hot current draw ( should be about 4.5A). Obviously fitting an HID kit conflicts with this system because when turned off the ballast takes no current and when operating it takes less current (about 3A) - this causes the controller to flag a bulb error. The 'CANbus friendly' kits get around this by strapping several thousand uF (microFarads) of capacitance across the bulb supply. The inrush current into the capacitors from the polling pulse makes the controller think that there is a filament bulb there - so no error flagged.

The snag is that when the lights are switched on there is a very big inrush current (initially 10's of Amps) into the capacitors. This is not good for the controller, which is not designed to drive large capacitive loads, hence the possibility of damage to the output stage of the controller.

By installing a 35W system WITHOUT capacitors AND recoding the controller you are actually mimicing the factory HID installation. The controller is set to Xenon without shutter (35W load) and CANbus polling is turned off.

[vRS_Pagey]

I didn't understand a word of that, but thanks anyway!

Seriously though, I do get your point, so would you endorse the ones in the link I posted previously, WITHOUT bulb warning cancellers?

[Hauptmann]

Seriously though, I do get your point, so would you endorse the ones in the link I posted previously, WITHOUT bulb warning cancellers?

You link to the Supervision set. I have fitted these to a Fabia and they are fine. BUT NOTE that they are quite a large ballast and I doubt they will fit inside the Octy II headlight housing. This means that you will have to drill the housing and mount the ballasts externally.

This is the kit I have fitted to a number of Octy II's - including members on here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xenon-HID-Conversion-KIT-H1-H3-H7-H9-H11-HB3-HB4-9006-/330379335700?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4cec249814

The ballast and igniter can be strapped together with a tie-wrap and fit snugly in the back of the housing without being a tight squeeze. People have been running these now for 6-9 months with no problem. They run cool and even in the summer are barely warm to the touch. The supplier normally delivers next day by Special Delivery.

[vRS_Pagey]

You link to the Supervision set. I have fitted these to a Fabia and they are fine. BUT NOTE that they are quite a large ballast and I doubt they will fit inside the Octy II headlight housing. This means that you will have to drill the housing and mount the ballasts externally.

This is the kit I have fitted to a number of Octy II's - including members on here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Xenon-HID-Conversion-KIT-H1-H3-H7-H9-H11-HB3-HB4-9006-/330379335700?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4cec249814

The ballast and igniter can be strapped together with a tie-wrap and fit snugly in the back of the housing without being a tight squeeze. People have been running these now for 6-9 months with no problem. They run cool and even in the summer are barely warm to the touch. The supplier normally delivers next day by Special Delivery.

That's particularly freaky as I've just added that item to my 'watch list' and was about to post the link for endorsments! Which colour temperature would you recommend?

[DLW]

Has anybody tried these? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50W-H7-Conversion-Kit-Mini-Ballast-Bulb-And-Decoder-/250651570572?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a5bff718c#ht_4489wt_907

the decoder can be removed or not even fitted.

Darren

[Hauptmann]

Has anybody tried these? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50W-H7-Conversion-Kit-Mini-Ballast-Bulb-And-Decoder-/250651570572?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a5bff718c#ht_4489wt_907

the decoder can be removed or not even fitted.

Darren

Basically the same kit as I linked to above, but 50W. Will give you 20% more light output. Not sure if you will get a bulb warning though, because in HID mode the controlled is expecting 35W load, not 50W. You could try it...

[vRS_Pagey]

Basically the same kit as I linked to above, but 50W. Will give you 20% more light output. Not sure if you will get a bulb warning though, because in HID mode the controlled is expecting 35W load, not 50W. You could try it...

For 35 quid extra?!!

[Hauptmann]

That's particularly freaky as I've just added that item to my 'watch list' and was about to post the link for endorsments! Which colour temperature would you recommend?

I've only fitted 4300K. This is the OE colour and gives the brightest light output. All other colours are produced by 4300K burners, but with a filter coating on the glass envelope. Anything higher than 5000K has a noticable blue tinge.

[DLW]

For 35 quid extra?!!

Does seem a bit pricey, is it worth it just stick to 35w?

[vRS_Pagey]

I will be ordering a 35w, 5000k set tomorrow as per Hauptmann's recommendation.

[vectra1]

I will be ordering a 35w, 5000k set tomorrow as per Hauptmann's recommendation.

Might order them myself as well

Which type bulbs are the right ones??

H7 . H7c > H7R ??

[DLW]

Think its just standard H7, that is what is on the ebay links

Darren