breault5

alright well i know a guy who has and srt and he got hids for the car and explainede to me how it worked and how he installed it with a ballast and all those different kinds of things for it to work safely(w/o catching fire)...anyway i really liked the look but did not like the installation process or the price for hids so whats the next best thing???
i know people will say get the silverstars at autozone..but that to me just seems like a cheap product coming from autozone...so what should i do??? any product suggestions??

Envy

iTrader: (1)

silverstars are on clearance at target for $14 right now. anyway HIDs are EXTREMELY easy to install. you give it a power wire, ground the other, and just plug all the wires that it comes with together. its extremely straight forward.

breault5

well my friend with the srt said the correct way is to install a ballast and a relay so the wires dont overheat and catch the car on fire which makes sense..

electric130

iTrader: (44)

yes that's correct

Envy

iTrader: (1)

still easy. read up.

http://www.bcae1.com/swrelay.htm

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/2...ay-wiring.html

breault5

alright thanks for the help but say i wanted to take another route besides hids what would be the next best thing??

Envy

iTrader: (1)

boosted halogens.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

still want a relay on that as your current draw will be higher than stock and may stress the stock wires. the stock wires are so small it's pathetic!

Envy

iTrader: (1)

thanks electric! i just learned something new!

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

no actually, boosted halogens (catz zeta) does not require a wire upgrade. it takes in as little as 11v and outputs 15.4v so everything is up-converted by the box. this means that stock voltage is still running through the factory wires before reaching the zeta ballast. i tested this with a multimeter. now if you are only using hi watt bulbs, no zeta, then yes it will draw more power through the stock wires and requires harness upgrade. and yea boosted halogen is nice if you cant get hid. after using it, you will wonder how you ever drove without it. it makes the stock lighting acceptable.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

it's not the voltage you gotta worry about, it's the current. i'd want to see the specs on the ballast to be sure. the voltage is higher at the bulb, but the same at the input. in order to increase that voltage, the ballast would have to draw more current. now the current to the bulb may be the same as stock, but it's at a higher voltage, so that's how the wattage will be higher and brighter bulb. so some quick math:

stock volts ~12
stock watts ~55w
equals 4.58 stock amps

if bulb got 4.58 amps at 15.4v, then boosted wattage would be ~70.5w

if the ballast was at least 90% efficient (may be less than that) it would take ~6.53amps per ballast at 12v. the lower the voltage at the headlight, the high amp draw needed to reach the 15.4v for a given current at the bulb.

without knowing the exact manufacturer specs or taking some amp readings, it's hard to say exactly what's going on. we need amp readings though, not voltage.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

hmm i see what you mean. but i have been running this setup for quite a while and a few times with over 4 hrs continuous use. the stock wires do not feel hot or anything (altho the connector and headlamp housing is waaay hot lol). and yeah your 70w calculation seems to be accurate considering the brightness increase. now one thing it warns is not to use higher watt bulbs with the ballasts (altho i know people that are and still have no problems). considering this thing was made in japan, i feel a bit better that it wont catch the car on fire lol.

electric130

iTrader: (44)

well, the high beam pulls 65 watts, so 5 more shouldn't hurt it. as you know, the high and low use the same power wire. i'd like to think that Honda left a little wiggle room in their wire sizing......

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

heh idk, those are pretty small wires. almost the same size as turn signal wire.