CANBUS vs Normal HID's

[man_utd_99]

Hi there, ive searched and couldnt find anything so dont shout at me! 

ive got myself a supplier that can give me both canbus and normal hid kits and ive a few questions.

what exactly is the difference?  and what are the colour/temperature you'd recommend?

i gets them at a cheap-ish price so if anyone is interested i may buy a few more and put them in the sales section  but at the moment its just a question. is it worth paying extra for the canbus ones?

btw. golf + remap = 

[vRS_Pagey]

Hi mate, the Canbus friendly type have a resistor attached to the wiring, basically this takes the brunt of the voltage so the HID's don't throw up a warning light.  There are mixed reviews about this as it can cause problems with wiper control (on the same circuit) although vRS Carl had this type fitted to the Bullet for more than a year without any problems.  I have HID's fitted to the Marauder which are NOT Canbus friendly, to stop them giving a warning light Carl adjusted controller 9 with VCDS to 'xenon's without shutters' he also turned off the cold diagnostic on the side light so I could run LED's without the resistor.  I prefer this approach as the Canbus works as it would if factory xenon's were fitted.

As to colour temp, OE is 4300k, Carl had 6000k which I felt were too blue, so I went for 5000k, again imo, the best choice, whiter than OE but with no blue tint!

HTH, Lee.

[winrya]

Lee, don't happen to have any pics do you?

[vRS Carl]

As Lee said I had Canbus HID's fitted to my car for over 3 yrs. I had a 35w set from Hids4u first for about 15 months which cost me £220. Then I got a 50w set from HIDS-Direct which cost me £84. These are still in the car now as I know the new owner and they are still perfectly fine after 2 years. I also drove with my lights on permanently until I fitted DRL's and I never once had a problem. Although both kits were 6000k the 50w kit wasn't as blue as the 35w kit due to higher lumen output.

Colour choice is personal pref although I wouldnt go any higher than 6000k (most Mercs and BMW's use 5500k as OEM now) unless you want the attention of the Fuhrer.

4300 is white and gives the highest amount of lumens
5000 is white with a very slight blue tinge at edges and loses about 150-200 Lumens depending on bulb quality over 4300k
6000 is blueish (like BMW etc) and loses about 250-300 lumens compared to 4300k.

Any higher and the colour moves from pure blue (8000k) to purple (10000k +) and loses a lot of light output compared to the others above. 8000k on average loses about 800-1000 lumens compared to 4300k.

[vRS_Pagey]

Lee, don't happen to have any pics do you?

What do you need mate, pictures of the kit or what the light looks like?  

Edit: Quick shot of the 'whiteness' apologies for the poor quality, it is currently snowing......

[winrya]

Lee, don't happen to have any pics do you?

What do you need mate, pictures of the kit or what the light looks like?  

Pics of the light output of possible. Is it at all patchy? Blinding? And what's the fitting process on a mk5, take long?

Thanks

[vRS_Pagey]

Lee, don't happen to have any pics do you?

What do you need mate, pictures of the kit or what the light looks like?  

Pics of the light output of possible. Is it at all patchy? Blinding? And what's the fitting process on a mk5, take long?


Thanks

I'm not sure what they will be like fitted in reflector headlights, mine are fitted in the vRS which has projector headlights as standard.  Most if not all OE xenons are fitted in projectors so the light output is perfect.  Fitting in the MK5 should be fairly straight forward, iirc the ballast will have to sit outside the unit, so the cover may need a hole or 2 drilling.  The vRS is a piece of pish, as the headlight can be removed in about 15 seconds, so they can be fitted in the comfort of your own living room.........

[vRS Carl]

If you are going to fit them to reflector style headlights you need to get anti-glare bulbs (same as what was OE on Renault Lagunas). These have a strip on the bulb which stops the light being thrown everywhere.

[winrya]

Ahh I see. Bet they look like factory fitted xenons then on the skoda. Best stick with my ring 120% bulbs with my reflector head lights then

Edit just seen above post.

Are new civic xenons the same reflector type as they look pretty good? Not going for blue look, just want pure white as I hate the yellow look

[vRS_Pagey]

Forgot about the anti dazzle strip, these are the ones I was looking to get for swmbo's GT in the New Year, need to check the bulb type.

[ebay]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220477174920?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2597wt_1270[/ebay]

The Volvo S40 has xenons in reflector lamps, and they look fine, excellent light output......and they do look good in the Skoda, shocking that the parent company still fit 1990's style lights in the cars.   

[winrya]

Forgot about the anti dazzle strip, these are the ones I was looking to get for swmbo's GT in the New Year, need to check the bulb type.

[ebay]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220477174920?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2597wt_1270[/ebay]

I was looking at those ones. When I contacted them they said add to notes I want h7 reflector bulbs and they'll send them

[vRS_Pagey]

Perfect then, you will just need a kindly member to code the car, ideally at the same time you fit them. 

[winrya]

They do make a big deal about no errors so you'd hope they'd work:)

[vRS_Pagey]

They do make a big deal about no errors so you'd hope they'd work:)

Yup, my bad, they are the error free ones.  I got them confused as they have come down in price.

[man_utd_99]

Thanks for the reply guys. I have the normal ballasts on dads passat and we get the error on the dash. i gather it needs vcds-ing and 'xenon shutter' being disabled. or i could just wait for the canbus ones ive ordered and see if that helps. dad has the 4300k's and i think the colour is perfect with the little blue hint. i just am thinking of putting projector headlights on the golf and try 5000k's like "VRS_PAGEY" suggested.

Can anyone actually help with the vcds-ing in the leeds/bradford area btw? and once i get these canbus ones ill try and see if they are any different. Is there anything else i need to do to ensure they work well?

thanks