Now available: Complete Elise HID kits

[ekological]

Just to have everything in once place:

Installation Manual

Testimonial and writeup by David Stewart (DarkSol)

[II-soon]

Hi Chester,

Can you tell me the difference between the 35 watt kit and the 50 watt kit? Is the 50 watt brighter than the 35 watt? Can I get either kit with 8000K bulbs? I really dig the bluish look like Dark Sols. Thanks John


Edit: Doh! I overlooked your chart. 50 watts are brighter

[ekological]

Yep,

Just brighter. The weight of the kits are the same as well as peak current draw. Steady-state current draw after the bulbs reach operating temp is different where the 50 watt kit draws less than the stock 55 watt halogens.

You can get the 8000K if you really want them, though 6000K will have a slight tint of blue where the 8000K will be really blue. Contact me via e-mail or PM to arrange for you to get a kit.

Best regards,
Chester

Originally Posted by II-soon

Hi Chester,

Can you tell me the difference between the 35 watt kit and the 50 watt kit? Is the 50 watt brighter than the 35 watt? Can I get either kit with 8000K bulbs? I really dig the bluish look like Dark Sols. Thanks John


Edit: Doh! I overlooked your chart. 50 watts are brighter

[sandsmuseum]

I understand the need for brighter head lights. The Elise, as originally delivered, suffered from poor aiming. Aiming the headlights improved the pattern significantly. I find them acceptable but not great.

One alternative is to upgrade the bulbs. This helps.

Another alternative is to convert to HID and this thread is exceptional in showing how this might be accomplished. However there are problems with these conversions. Some have been noted, like the additional power drain.

Another issue that has not been covered is the reduced quality of the beam due to the change in optics. While the projector optics have not been changed, the type and size of the light source has! The HID light source is an arc and is shaped differently from the original equipement bulb which has a filament. This difference results in a change in the light projected down the road. The cutoff might be the same but the glare and light projected under the cutoff changes.

It is even possible to have less light projected at a distance and while the front looks brighter and whiter, the distance light may in fact be less, something that really matters.

There is an exceptional article and additional information on the Daniel Stern Lighting website:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...nversions.html

While I do not think the differences are necessarily dramatic, I think you should be aware of both the good points and bad when considering this conversion.

Michael

edited to add link

[raggedy1]

I ordered some bulbs from Daniel Stern. He's definitely not a proponent of HID conversions.

[ekological]

Originally Posted by raggedy1

I ordered some bulbs from Daniel Stern. He's definitely not a proponent of HID conversions.

Yep. To me, I see his points, but I find it hard to believe that he's 100% unbiased since he sells lighting equipment. I'll have to get out a light meter and do some measurements between a properly aligned halogen Elise, 35watt HID Elise and 50 watt HID Elise. I did purchase a headlight alignment machine so if there's anyone in the NY/NJ/CT area who would want to participate for this test, let me know.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by ekological

Yep. To me, I see his points, but I find it hard to believe that he's 100% unbiased since he sells lighting equipment.

Daniel has been around a long time selling lighting equipment. He could easily be selling conversion kits, but he won't. I don't think he is biased because of a profit motive. I believe that he is actually a bit of an authority on the subject. I know that he has the same views on some technical topics as I do, based on some of my past work related experiences and projects that I've worked on.

He's the same way about superwhite (blue) bulbs, etc., even though he sells bulbs from makers that also manufacturer the "blue tinted" bulbs, he doesn't carry the blue bulbs. I believe that he is for real, and presents well thought out arguments to support his recommendations.

[II-soon]

Originally Posted by ekological

Yep,

You can get the 8000K if you really want them, though 6000K will have a slight tint of blue where the 8000K will be really blue. Contact me via e-mail or PM to arrange for you to get a kit.

Best regards,
Chester

You got PM

[ekological]

I have one remaining 50 watt 4500K kit in stock until the wait for the next shipment comes in. A few kits went out last week and this week so hopefully we'll hear feedback from additional forum members

Contact me if you're interested.

[pdemaio]

I installed the kit this sunday. It's an awesome improvement and super bright. The stock headlights are really good for halogen, but no comparison with the Xenon HID. I highly recomend the kit particularly if you are anal about wanting to be able to go back, or just don't enjoy splicing wires on the stock wireing harness.
Couple of notes.
- I did the 50 watt kit. I assume the 35 watt kit is also an improvment, but I haven't seen it.
- I haven't replaced the fuses yet but plan to. So far no problem, but someone posted the the brief surge when you first turn on the lights can burn out the stock ones which I'm guessing are slow blow.
- The cost of the kit is a little higher than going with DIY all the way, but my experience is that the additional parts included would cost quite a bit to source, so I think it's an excellent value and don't have any regrets. I've done stere/amp o installs in the past and this was much easier than most of them.
- give yourself a few hours if you've never taken apart the headlights before. Most of it's not that hard, but it does take time and there are some challenges: notably putting the new wires through the rubber gromet and inserting bulb in the projector housing. This is not an easy car to retrofit comparied to those that you can easily access the headlights from the engine compartment, but the results are well worth it. I did remove the wheels and both of plastic pieces in the wheel well on each side.

Overall I think this kit is about as good as one could be for the elise. I highly recomend it. It is plug and play and the quality is high. Some shring tubing for the old headlight connectors would be the only improvement I can think of off the top of my head.
Pasquale

Originally Posted by ekological

I have one remaining 50 watt 4500K kit in stock until the wait for the next shipment comes in. A few kits went out last week and this week so hopefully we'll hear feedback from additional forum members

Contact me if you're interested.

[Hollywood]

i also put min in the other day. light many have said before "night and day".
i found it was a lot easier if you take the whole light assembly out to put the new bulbs in. also to pass the wires through the gromet i uses one of those needle nose pliers that are curves. and then from the other side stick a small screwdriver all the was through and use the pliers to pry against. takes two people. hard to describe but it works. other than that i just took my time. only took a few hrs with some breaks.

[II-soon]

I installed the Chester's HID Kit a couple nights ago. It is a vast improvment over the Osrams I had installed. The kit was easy to install following these instructions http://www.drjanestewart.com/darksol/Eliselights.pdf. The hardest part was pushing the HID connectors through the grommet. With some determination, it can be done by yourself but it would be much easier with helping hands. As Hollywood said, I would also recommend taking out the whole headlight assembly to insert the HID bulb in. It makes inserting the bulb much easier and gives you more room to access the plugs if you have big hands.

I would like to thank Chester for making this kit available. It is truly plug n' play and is solid. It makes the Elise much more special in my eyes. It has my seal of approval. Which probably doesn't mean much

[ekological]

Thanks guys, for all the feedback. I will look into providing some shrink tubing for the left over ground wire that formerly connected to the low beam's H1 bulb. I managed to take my car out over the weekend (YES!!!!...finally!!!) and tested the radio with the HIDs on using FM and AM and did not hear any detectable noise from the HIDs (I did pay close attention to where the HID wires were in relation to the radio's antenna). Of course, I still have the 35 watt kit in my car (will be upgrading soon) so I'm not sure if it's that. Can you guys comment on AM/FM reception?

Also, to the friendly Canadians (and even abroad), I ship internationally

[II-soon]

Originally Posted by ekological

Thanks guys, for all the feedback. I will look into providing some shrink tubing for the left over ground wire that formerly connected to the low beam's H1 bulb. I managed to take my car out over the weekend (YES!!!!...finally!!!) and tested the radio with the HIDs on using FM and AM and did not hear any detectable noise from the HIDs (I did pay close attention to where the HID wires were in relation to the radio's antenna). Of course, I still have the 35 watt kit in my car (will be upgrading soon) so I'm not sure if it's that. Can you guys comment on AM/FM reception?

Also, to the friendly Canadians (and even abroad), I ship internationally

I connected the grounding wire back to where it was original plugged. Is that ok? Also the FM reception does get worse when the lights are on. I'm thinking about relocating the antennaes further away from the ballast to see if that solves the problem.

[ekological]

Originally Posted by II-soon

I connected the grounding wire back to where it was original plugged. Is that ok? Also the FM reception does get worse when the lights are on. I'm thinking about relocating the antennaes further away from the ballast to see if that solves the problem.

Connecting the grounding wire back doesn't matter other than keeping it from dangling. On the wire harness side of things, I purposely did not pass power or ground through since it would no longer be needed and there would then be no risk of shorting anything out. Hmm...I guess I'll know better when I upgrade my lights to the 50watt setup, but if you do relocate the wire to be a bit further away, please share your observations.

[Hollywood]

i use xm all the time. so i didnt even try fm yet. i dont even think i have presets yet.

[ekological]

Hi guys,

I have three 50watt H1 6000K kits and one 50watt H1 4500K kit in stock. First come, first served.

Have a great weekend!

Chester

[ekological]

Still have one 6000K 50Watt kit available. Contact me through PM or e-mail.

Thanks,
Chester

[ekological]

Some people had questions concerning color temp. I took out my camera gear which consisted:
- Canon 5D
- EF 16-35 f/2.8
- 1/60th shutter
- f/4 aperature setting
- ISO 100

Set on a tripod using a remote shutter release. All pictures were taken in RAW and converted using Photoshop CS2 (I forget which version of the raw converter, but I can find out if you want). I forgot to set the white balance to a fixed number and it was left at auto white balance; however, in converting the picture, I took off all auto check boxes, set the white balance to 4500K and didn't adjust anything.

[ekological]

Notice that this is the brightest...more of the wall is lit up