Fancy headlights

[davepl]

These are my HID headlights. They are not this blue in real life; they're bright and white to be sure but not that blue. iPhone must not like the intensity. At least the truck is blue too :-)

Gotta love all the chrome on a GMC. The headlight housings themselves add some detail (and one isn't aligned I now see, but haven't got that far yet).

BTW, on TV I've seen little yellow suction cup things for aligning headlights with little float bubbles built in. On Amazon all I can find at $1500 alignment systems. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, where to find them, and if they're actually useful enough to set alignment? I refuse to be that dork with aftermarket headlights improperly aligned.

[Stocker]

You don't need anything fancy to align headlamps, if you have a bit of patience and some common sense.

Assuming a reasonably sharp low beam cutoff, park on a level surface and shine the lights on a wall or garage door. The cutoff should be slightly lower than the height of the lamps. That gets you to a starting point. Then on a flat section of road, follow a friend at distance of at least a few hundred yards. If your lamps are adjusted too high, there'll be too much glare in your friend's rear view mirror. Trade places with him so you can see for yourself.

An alternate method has someone driving your rig towards you at night, on a long stretch of straight level road. Again, if you're noticing glare, the lamps are too high.

At night, low beams should illuminate a good distance ahead, but it should be obvious they are angled slightly downward. Oncoming drivers should not be flashing their high beams at you. I've used this method to successfully align a few sets of E-codes.

It's easier than it sounds, and a heck of a lot cheaper than a $1500 aiming system.

[69chevytrucker]

i think its 10 feet from the wall center of beam 4 feet off the ground

[davepl]

I've seen diagrams showing how to align it at a distance of 34 feet and so on, with how much drop and side angle and so forth. I'd like to avoid the trial and error method or at least get it close before I road-check it.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by 69chevytrucker

i think its 10 feet from the wall center of beam 4 feet off the ground

Well, that will vary depending on the height of the headlamps as the truck sits. For instance, my K20 lamps are higher than lamps on a C10. At any rate, 4 feet is awfully high.

[Jurassic-1]

I do not know where my set is but the one you are referring to is made by Hoppy . I also have the large set that was updated for composite headlamps.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by davepl

I'd like to avoid the trial and error method or at least get it close before I road-check it.

I agree, and my first step of aiming at a wall and adjusting slightly lower than the height of the lamps as mounted in the vehicle will accomplish just that very thing.

[shsahs]

Originally Posted by davepl

BTW, on TV I've seen little yellow suction cup things for aligning headlights with little float bubbles built in. On Amazon all I can find at $1500 alignment systems. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, where to find them, and if they're actually useful enough to set alignment? I refuse to be that dork with aftermarket headlights improperly aligned.

This is what I think your talking about.

Pretty good history and instructions on them here HOPPY HEADLAMP ADJUSTER
Ebay is about it as far as a source to get them. Here is one here.
I have used mine on my 77 Chevy and it was pretty accurate.

[davepl]

Thanks, exactly what I meant. I guess I can see why they're no longer popular (try to stick that on a new Cherokee) but hope I can grab that one.

[piecesparts]

Those things were built by Hopkins Manufacturing in Emporia, Kansas. I live not far from Emporia and I am not sure if they still make them.


http://www.hopkinsmfg.com/contacts.php

[Styler1968]

What brand are those and where did you get them? I like!!!!

[davepl]

The buckets are from LMC, which they sell with (I think) an H7 bulb. I threw the bulbs away and ordered a 4-beam HID kit for that bulb type from KenSun.com

The important part of the 4-beam setup is that it has the motor (or solenoid or something) to shift the position of the low beam lamp within the housing when you switch from high beam to low beam.

I've had one of their kits in my Range Rover for about 3-4 years and no failure yet. Even had moisture in one for a while and it didn't kill it (though I bet that was luck). Still they seem quite well made.

Unless you want that much blue, follow their recommendations on color temp. I think 5K is the brightest without going blue. And in fact the more blue you go the less bright it is anyway.

Because the ballasts wind up wired directly to the battery and the trigger (ON) wire goes to your existing headlights, you do not need a relay harness as you would with a conventional halogen upgrade.

[davepl]

As a bit of trivia, HID systems were not allowed on production cars in the US until and unless the manufacturer system included auto-leveling. They're bright and you don't want them in the eyes of other traffic.

On the European cars there could be a dial on the dash. But I guess they were afraid we Americans would put 20 cases of Budweiser in the trunk and drive around with our headlights blinding other drivers.

Now that I think about the conduct of the average driver, though, they might be right! It's rare enough for people to properly signal turns around here let alone adjust their headlights to compensate for vehicle loading.

Want more?

There's a height limit on how high you can put them, so if you look at large vehicles like the Rolls Royce Phantom or certain SUVs you'll see that the HID headlight itself is actually low, like a driving light, and what looks like conventional headlights are pretty much decorative.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by davepl

And in fact the more blue you go the less bright it is anyway.

Good info in both your recent posts above, but I wanted to single this out for a special Thank You!! Most folks are aware of the blinding glare to oncoming traffic from blue headlamps, but I wonder if many are also aware how darn hard it is to see at night if you have blue bulbs. I found out the hard way many years ago and it only took one late night drive on an unlit country road. They were marketed as something like HyperWhite but they were very blue and it was very difficult to see where I was going. Never again!

[davepl]

Thanks! Here's what their guidance is from the website:

Q. Which bulb color is the brightest?
A. 5000k to 6000k are the brightest and also the purest white (some already sense a slight blue tint in the 6000k). The colors above 6000k become progressively more blue but less bright. Similarly, below 5000k, as the tint becomes warmer some brightness is sacrificed.

[dapperlighting]

We specialize in projector headlight upgrades for classic cars. Check out our website here: https://www.dapperlighting.com/colle...tor-headlights

Here's also some quick videos about our products.

[toolboxchev]

The color you are seeing in the camera is called the heat intensity. It complements your vehicle.

The other pics do not quite highlight this perspective, Nice Work.

[tdangle]

If I remember correctly the way they used to be adjusted was 2.5 to 3.5 degrees down and 1/2 degree to the right I think cars were adjusted to the 2.5 degree down and trucks 3.5 because then when loaded they wouldn't blind the other drivers.

You could use some math and figure out exactly how high the light should be for a given distance. Then you could get them close using a wall. You used to be able to buy a headlight adjustment tool that went on the headlight nubs and then used a level. The entire thing was made of plastic and adjusted for both square and round headlights. I had one at one time but have no idea where it went. I don't remember them being very expensive.

I found this on advanced autoparts website:

Find a level surface and a vertical wall or garage door. Park the vehicle close to the wall and, using the masking tape, mark the low-beams' horizontal centerlines.
Mark the vertical centerlines of each beam and the center of the vehicle with masking tape. Marking the vehicle centerline is helpful to determine side to-side alignment, or lack thereof.
Move the vehicle 25 feet straight backwards. Turn the horizontal-vertical adjusting screws to position the low beam hot spots two inches below and to the right of the taped centerlines.


Adjust high-beam hot spots below the horizontal line and slightly to the inside of both beam centerlines relative to the vehicle centerline.

[special-K]

I know my headlights are aimed too low when I can see grasshoppers at night and not very far ahead. I know they are aimed high by all the people flashing hi-beams. No bugs and no hi-beams and life is good. Actually, my alignment was good, but my rear springs were sagging. I added Air Lifts to adjust light beam

[snj8198]

my rear springs were sagging. I added Air Lifts to adjust light beam

I went with Cebies headlamps from Danial Stern Lighting. IIRC i used two 55 watt H1's and two 100 watt high/55 watt low H4's with a relay kit that allows me to run all four on high.

http://danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

I have had them on for 5 or 6 years now and I love em!





hmm.. i guess there's really nothing to show off with them off and in the day light. I'll get a night shot with them on later.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by snj8198

I went with Cebies headlamps from Danial Stern Lighting. IIRC i used two 55 watt H1's and two 100 watt high/55 watt low H4's with a relay kit that allows me to run all four on high.

http://danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

With all the fancy stuff out there, these remain some of the finest lamps ever made. Years ago I ran 'em on a '66 Corvette. Low beams were very good -- high beams were dazzling.

[dapperlighting]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJiXkoW6vzQ