Perhaps I need to bend the shield a bit more, but the 90mm H9's so far isn't sharp enough for my liking (ie. TSX or S2K spread). Mayeb it is because my car is quite low, but when I'm beside BMW X5's it almost feels like my 4300 Phillips in 90mm H9 are just halogens =(

Does anyone have clear pictures of the E-code D2S versions? If I can order them separately of ballast/bulbs I might consider.

Are H7 version of 90mm sharper / better spread? H9 seems to be concentrated in the center.

With that said, has anyone grafted a smaller PROJECTOR from a D2S (like TT, Audi Valeo) and replace the H9/H7 in the waterproof housing?

Any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure if you can do that or not, but I can tell you one thing. Bending the shield will NOT create a sharper cut-off, it will instead add more color, but sacrifice cut-off sharpness.

The H7 projector (or virtually ANY e-code headlamp) will produce a wider low beam pattern with more foreground light than its US-DOT counterpart. This is not necessarily the best low beam pattern to drive behind; great for city environment, not so good for highway use.

If you don't believe your low beams are bright enough, check the voltage at the headlight bulb sockets, and also check the voltage at the battery, engine running in both cases. If you have more than a few tenths of a volt difference between the socket(s) and battery reading, you have a resistance problem in the wiring that's not allowing full system voltage to the bulbs. If that's the case, install a relayed wiring harness to bring full system voltage to your lights; even 0.5 volts additional can give you 20% brighter lights. Why would you want more light than this?



The car is a Camaro with H9, stock wiring (not relayed).

quote:

when I'm beside BMW X5's it almost feels like my 4300K Phillips in 90mm H9 are just halogens

An "on the wall beam" picture taken at least 10 meters (30ft) away will help us direct you. Do you have digital camera? Some of it MIGHT be related to bulb placement....

i've also noticed that my h9 90's have more forward illumination than on the side. wondering if we move the capsule inward... would it widen the beam casted?

Wow Herman and a bunch of infamous HID retro pioneers =) It's an honor.

I do have a camera. Here are some early pictures before the D2S Phillips 122's colorshifted. It's a bit bluer at the edges now. One of the pictures I left the blue filter on, its' nowhere near that blue IRL.





I have Bosch relay all done correctly as well. No haywire running on stock harness here. Everything is OEM, Lexus slimline ballast IS300, new bulbs.

The only thing I can really think of is the depth of the D2S bulb and how its a bit longer than H9, possibly interferring with the correct light source origin the H9 optics were originally designed for.

What I meant vs X5 and S2K/TSX is their beams has much more reach / sharper cutoff lines. I suppose that's not smth you can ever obtain with a H9 90mm? When I have more time I will also look into changing the shield w/ some aluminum so I get a ________ line instead of _____/-------_______/------

thanks again all.

wow... shine, your h9 retro came out nice. i'm wondering if you notice this odd step in your cutoff

_____/-----|

does it have that step down say about 1ft to the right of the kink? this is with the car about 15ft from the wall.

also the colour on your cutoff is wider too. gonna bend mine back closer to OE, its bend about 2mm now. not really liking the fuzzy cutoff at the kink, but the blue band is quite tall.

Shine, your beam looks pretty good there. Somthing to verify to get further reach could be:

slight dullness on reflector above bulb. For many reasons, various things in ur headlight may fume a little during first 10 hours.

positioning of bulb in reference to housing:

u may want to retract shield 1mm backwords for sharper cutoff.

A U-shaped top shield should fix that.

"When I have more time I will also look into changing the shield w/ some aluminum so I get a ________ line instead of ______/-------_______/------"

You really want to KEEP the RH flare to see roadside signs & critters at distance. If you get rid of the flare, you'll just have high priced fog lights.
As far as sharpness goes, the lens has something to do with it. Some of the H9 units have Fresnel (concentric rings) lenses, and some do not. A Fresnel-lens one (I have both types) doesn't project quite as sharp a beam with the H9 bulb as the clear-lens one, and the 'fuzziness' would be made worse with the blue-tinted light produced by HID capsules.

Thanks for the comments guys. I'll try and take more pictures when it's nicer out.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=216460&messageid=1076597642

Those H7 (ECE?) seems to have a much sharper cutoff and intensity. Of course, the brightness could be just exposure time on camera, but the pattern is undeniably sharper?

The beam is nice and all, but it still seems to lack intensity and reach of cars with OEM projectors (especially the newer ones). Against the older 3 series E46 or TT the 90mm pattern seems better. But I suppose I will keep the kink, or maybe even modify it to the S2K/TSX step pattern ____|-----

And I made a mistake earlier, I didn't bend the shield at all. If I did I'm sure it'd be less sharp than now (but with more color) =)