Headlight Retrofit Advice

I started ordering parts for my headlight retrofit and all of the sudden I'm starting to realize I don't know what I'm doing haha.

What all exactly do I need for a plug and play setup (as far as the wiring goes)?

So far I've ordered projectors and new housings. Here are the projectors that I ordered.



I know that I need an HID kit, but not sure what else.

Please keep in mind that I'm ballin on a budget and don't need the top of the line morimoto stuff. Thanks!

 

Here is what I have in my cart from TRS. I think this is everything that I need, but not 100% sure.

 

For someone that spent a minimum of $9k on their flippac, I'm surprised you're wanting to go cheap on something electrical related.

I've seen fires from crappy no name stuff, once at a car meet due to the current draw and light gauge wiring.

 

TRS has a nice wiring harness powered to the battery with relay and fuse

 

Lol, how about 5K for the truck and flippac?

Anyways, I'm not making this post to get bashed, I'm looking for advice. Thanks

 

$12 projectors? There is a lot that goes into a projector, it isn’t just cut off. You want light higher intensity in specific places in the pattern and lower intensity in others. Even Morimoto retrofit projectors don’t do it well. Those are going to be terrible from a proper beam pattern perspective. I get when people are on a budget but I’d advise spending a little more and getting something somewhat decent, otherwise all the other money you invest in your project is basically wasted on a poor projector.

 

Thanks, as I said I'm trying to figure all of this out. From what I read the projectors I ordered are similar to TRS's ACME projector. These seemed like a decent budget projector. Not opposed to returning them for something better.

 

You should read crashnburn80's streams. He's done a lot of research.

 

Even though it looks the same its likely not. Its like saying that the $60 Amazon light bar is the same as a Rigid Industries light bar. The components are different.
My advice (from someone who has done their own projector retrofit): Don't skimp on the projector. Like other have said, get something from the retrofit source. If you want to try to save money then you can try a budget HID system (Balast and bulbs) If the bulbs go out then you learned and the next time get a better HID system. But if the projectors get stuck in the brights position, or fall of inside the housing, or who knows what, then you have to take the housings apart again and re-do all your work.

But your on the right steps to go to a projector system and not just throw HID's in the stock housings. Once you do make it work, its a world of difference.

 

Thanks, and recommendations for a decent projector?

 

DDM Tuning makes good HID kits that are reasonably priced. I've bought a few sets as well as the fused harness adapter.

 

If you want a decent projector ideally you should go with OEM components and stay away from things like H1 HID projectors, look at using a real HID capsule like D2S. Based on looking at crazy cheap projectors, I’m suspecting OEM grade projectors like the high performance Lexus RX350 D2S projectors are out of the question. Doesn’t have to be OEM Toyota though, but some type of OEM that has passed real optics standards and not rubber stamped as compliant as a chinese good.

But at minimum, I’d avoid an H1 projector. There are no legitimate H1 HIDs. That bulb doesn’t exist in the automotive world, no reputable manufacture makes one because H1 is a halogen, not an HID. Meaning if you get an H1 HID projector your actually just getting a halogen based projector without the normal halogen uplight, because the H1 HIDs are all just rebased to match halogen bulbs to work in halogen projectors. No reputable manufacture makes HID bulbs for an H1, meaning you are limited to low quality Chinese knock off rebased halogens. If you get a D2S based projector it is properly optimized for HID, you have access to the very best HID bulbs from the very best lighting manufactures in the world, like the Osrams latest +200% D2S bulbs, or the +150% from Philips, both made in Germany.

 

I went with the retrofit source ACME H1.

Agreed. Then I went on Amazon and bought a DDM tuning HID kit and harness

I also bought the projector shrouds on Amazon since those are just for looks and I had to do a little trimming to get them to sit right

 

Nice! What did you use for the amber back glow?

 

100% return that Amazon crap.

Listen to @crashnburn80, the guy has done tons of headlight research, and has his head screwed on right.

 

I used some amber angel eye rings. I just JB welded them to the inside of the shrouds. I forget what size, but they work well.

 

I returned all of the shit I previously bought and reordered everything from TRS. Thanks guys.

 

the wiring on the projectors he ordered only controls a small magnet. The other stuff he is ordering from TRS is where the "important" stuff is. For $25 the beam pattern might not be "the best" but it will be more than sufficient, and will not pose any electrical risks since it's such a low drawing part on the projector itself anyways. I wouldn't be worried about it.

That being said, since the projector itself is the part that is the most difficult to install since it involves baking/heating the headlights, I would want to go with something good, or at least test those Amazon projectors *before* I put them in the headlight and sealed it up, just to make sure the light pattern was good, and the shield raising/lowering functioned properly.

 

@whitundra you have ordered all of the correct parts, so you are good to go.

In my personal opinion I would stay away from Halos. They are completely useless from a utilitarian standpoint and if they go bad, you're going to have to open up your headlights again and potentially fight with whatever adhesive you used to try to get them off. I know too many folks who've had failed halos. Not worth the risk for a mall-points part that isn't easily serviceable.

 

While I do agree with you on some of these points (like getting the best HID bulbs are always gonna be some type of D base), other type bulbs have been out long enough now and Morimoto has been manufacturing H1 and other bulbs of that nature long enough that I wouldn't worry about that so much anymore. Yes you might not be getting NightBreaker level performance out of them, but they are still a heck of a lot better than a factory halogen headlamp, forgetaboutit with drop in LEDs, and you won't have glare. Also, there is no modification necessary for the Mini H1 projector. For my Mini D2S, I did have to hack up the back of my headlight assembly so there is literally no going back to stock now, without a full on replacement, not that I'm mad about it.