9005 HId Bixenon?

[zalouma]

Hi

I had just installed HID today on my astra

however my highbeam is not working

do i needed to buy 9005 Bulb Bixenon??

The reason i didnt buy that because i haven't red anything about it here, i though our projector is involved for the highbeam?!?

Would really appreciate alot your help

Thanks

[fdryer]

1-An HID lamp is ideally recommended only for projector light housings. Are your low beam housings projectors or not?

2-Are your low beams used for DRL's? If so then it may be necessary to disable the DRL circuit.

3-Does flashing the high beams, as used in flash-to-pass, cycle off the low beams? If so then expect less life from HID lamps since they're not supposed to be flashed off and on as they are when using the flash-to-pass feature.

4-Was wiring modified during the HID lamp upgrade that affected the high beams? A wiring diagram is useful here.

[nicolas_p]

Originally Posted by fdryer

1-An HID lamp is ideally recommended only for projector light housings. Are your low beam housings projectors or not?

2-Are your low beams used for DRL's? If so then it may be necessary to disable the DRL circuit.

3-Does flashing the high beams, as used in flash-to-pass, cycle off the low beams? If so then expect less life from HID lamps since they're not supposed to be flashed off and on as they are when using the flash-to-pass feature.

4-Was wiring modified during the HID lamp upgrade that affected the high beams? A wiring diagram is useful here.

1- we all have projector housings

2-yes the low beams are on but cannot be disabled

3/4-wiring wouldn't do anything to the highbeams, it's just a mirror inside the housing that moves so the light itself isn't affected when highbeams are activated

To answer you original question you do not need bixenon because the way our housing is made is that is uses mirrors to block the high beams when it is not used.

[fdryer]

Thank you. One model uses dipped beam (high beam?) while another doesn't? The same for one model using HID's and the other not. The dipped beam arrangement is a little confusing. If a separate low beam is used are dipped beams still used? Dipped beam refers to HID lamps in the service manuals. I understand the internal use of a movable cut off plate to allow low/high beams in one projector.

Which housings were used to put HID lamps in?

[Astra La Vista!]

You have the correct bulb. The bi-xenon bulbs that suppliers sell are an engineering joke, intended for people wanting to install HIDs in cars with a combined high/low reflector like a Chevy Cobalt.

We have bi-halogen projectors that utilize a solenoid-activated shield to switch between low and high. Aftermarket HID installs in our Astras require resistors or capacitors wired in parallel with the bulb circuits to trick the car's "bulb-out" electronics into thinking that the correct load is present. The install has nothing to do with the solenoid circuit when performed correctly.

Since our headlight assemblies use a single combined multi-purpose connector to supply power to the signal, park, headlight, and solenoid circuits all inside one assembly, it is possible that you tapped into the wrong wire. Inside each assembly the wires are all black, and I can't remember offhand what colour the wires are outside of the assembly (which is where you should have tapped in). If all you did was install aftermarket HIDs and no other LED bulbs in your headlight assemblies, you should have installed your resistors or capacitors in parallel between the headlight wire and ground (on both sides of the car). Most resistors I've seen require tapping and splicing into the factory harness, but most capacitors I've seen are simply plug & play. I would be at a loss to explain your loss of your high beam solenoid control if you went plug & play.

The only thing I can think of is that you might have spliced in resistors between the hot headlight wire and the solenoid wire, instead of going to ground. Unless you installed more than one resistors per headlight assembly...


PS: To fdryer, we Astra owners have just the single projector lens per housing. All North American Astras are like this. Over in Europe, most Astras had separate high and low reflector housings. The only way to get single projector lenses over there was to choose the factory HID option (which we didn't get over here). Some cars with factory HIDs have low-beam-only projectors and a separate high beam projector or reflector (eg: BMW), while some are like our Astras that feature just single projectors and an internal shield that moves out of the way to remove the cut-off in the light pattern to act as a high beam. I prefer the latter because that shield can move out of the way a lot faster than it takes for a separate high beam bulb filament to light up, making for a much more noticeable (ie: instantaneous) display when flashing to pass, etc.

[fdryer]

Thank you Astra for the explanation.

[zalouma]

Thanks for all the support and for your time!

I installed it with capacitor, i didn't want to do the resistor part and have to deal with DIY stuff.

Thank you so much for the explanations , i haven't play with anything, everything was pretty much plug and play, i will check the connections maybe i have done something wrong now after i have got more details

Thanks again!

[Astra La Vista!]

Originally Posted by zalouma

Thanks for all the support and for your time!

I installed it with capacitor, i didn't want to do the resistor part and have to deal with DIY stuff.

Thank you so much for the explanations , i haven't play with anything, everything was pretty much plug and play, i will check the connections maybe i have done something wrong now after i have got more details

Thanks again!

If you went plug & play, you are lucky. You should be able to easily switch everything back to factory and see if you get your "high beams" back again. My Haynes is currently "out of reach" at the moment but I'll try to check tomorrow to see if the wiring diagrams show a fuse for the solenoid circuit or not. I'm guessing "not", but you never know.

Installed my HIDs about two years ago and resistors were the more popular option back then. Recently I've had a resistor failure on mine because the "resister guts" of the unit started to "ooze" out of the aluminum casing. The guts oozed out enough (about half an inch) that the wire made contact with some surrounding sheet metal and bent, to the point that it broke. Open circuit = bulb warning trigger, and boom -- no headlights. Just fixed it temporarily last week and am currently deciding whether to go P&P capacitors this time (which doesn't always work for some people) or go with resistors again (which I know work, but may fail again).


PS: If you switch everything back to stock and you still have no high beams, it would be worth noting that the round headlight bulb access caps that you had to drill will be a giveaway that you've tampered with your car if you go to the dealer. At the very least, you should remove them entirely before paying them a visit (if that is what you plan to do). If they ask you where they are, tell them you must have left them someplace at home.

PPS: After referring to some notes, it is the YELLOW wire that carries the headlight bulb power to the assemblies on both sides of the car. Ground is usually BROWN.

[phatfire6]

Originally Posted by fdryer

Thank you. One model uses dipped beam (high beam?) while another doesn't? The same for one model using HID's and the other not. The dipped beam arrangement is a little confusing. If a separate low beam is used are dipped beams still used? Dipped beam refers to HID lamps in the service manuals. I understand the internal use of a movable cut off plate to allow low/high beams in one projector.

Which housings were used to put HID lamps in?

To clarify, dipped beam is another term for low beam, or passing lights and is not exclusive to projector headlamps. The "dipped" part of the term literally means dip the aim of the light housing down to prevent excessive headlight glare for oncoming traffic. The dip is more prominent on the drivers side of the car, or the passenger side if traffic flows in the left lane. Projector headlamps allow for a very crisp cutoff line. Here is an example, notice the left side is lower than the right side:

[fdryer]

Thank you. I already know this with my 'cheap' L300's projectors for low beams and have exactly that cut off pattern, with plain stock halogen lamps (55w)!? I wasn't entirely sure until I researched and finally replaced my old low beam lamps with Silverstars to find the same cut off plates. As mentioned a number of times, I decided to trade off putting it HID lamps and disabling DRL function to retain DRL function. I know, its a big trade off but its my decision for the NYC environment. Perhaps if I lived out further where there are no lighted highways I would choose an HID lamp/DRL disable mod. I have eight eyes now (you do the math ) and would welcome brighter lighting but its not advantageous in NYC's well lit streets.