R34 Headlights run both High & Low beams at the same time?
 

Does anyone know if this is possible/has been done?
Do you think heat will be an issue/melt the housing?

Ive been reading threads for a few hours now reasearching and Ive seen a few comments from .orgers that seem to suggest that its easy, but they dont elaborate on how to DIY.

Im slooooowwwly gathering parts up for a retro, while I research how to do one ;) And while reading up, I saw another org member had a pretty clean 91-92ish accord with his inner lights yellow and outers white.
(can't find pic, but see example below)

Im basically trying to duplicate this look and hopefully while doing so the output will improve enough to tolerate till spring.:laugh:

ps: I will post huge pix when finished!
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I need the R34 highs to come on with the lows. (very important)
Bonus points if theres a reversible way to make it run a reduced wattage.

Example:
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...images/teg.jpg

Harness Guys:
How do I do this?

Very possible if you make a harness to do such.

My mom's '03 Accord sedan does this. Very bright headlights indeed.

Looks like youve been here for awhile, can you recommend someone?

if you're going to do a retro, save yourself time later on and just make the harness now.

here's a helpful thread
http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=45050

what you'll want to do is get a pair of relays, one for the high beams, one for the low beams. Run thick 8 or 10 awg wire from the battery through a beefy fuse then through the relays. There's plenty of diagrams in that thread - the only difference will be that you'll be wiring it to your low beam bulb, instead of to a ballast.

the advantage to that is you'll have time to build and test your harness (which is relatively cheap) before going for the retro, and then when you want to retro, you can just use the harness. A few members sell premade ones, and if you know your way around a soldering iron, you can make one.

If anything, I'd suggest doing the opposite - make the low beams yellow, and keep the highs white. yellow is helpful because if it's snowing, it doesn't reflect back into your eyes as much. that's why a lot of cars have yellow fogs. with yellow low beams, theyd be useful in inclement weather. yellow highs, not so much.

Basically, you want thick wiring going to your battery, with a decent fuse. You'll use a relay to switch on the power from that by using your stock headlight switch. The diode and capacitor and multiple relays helps keep the ballast/low beams from turning off if you flash your high beams.

Yea i make them myself.

I need the R34 highs to come on with the lows. (very important)
Bonus points if theres a reversible way to make it run a reduced wattage.

Nice Seller Rating!
How much $?

Pmed

WOW! Thanks for all the info NALC! Im not 100%, because I dont really understand the diagrams, but I think that those are for keeping the low beam activated while using the high beam. I want the high beam to come on with the low beam.

My idea is to eliminate the high beam alltogether and use it as an accent/running light. The low beam would eventually be retro'd with an FX bixenon projector (prob like 4300k), but for now ill just keep silverstars in there and pray.
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ok. after reading and rereading it makes a little more sense.
It seems so simple in theory, but the possibility of starting my max on fire keeps me reluctant to tinker untill im a little more confident. Imma do some more reading/bribing people for info. ;)
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This is the effect im going for.

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...images/teg.jpg

I have the R34's as well, and the only way it will produce a nice pattern on the road aside from the retro fit, is what you're asking. When I have both the highs, and lows on at the same time the pattern is full and complete with good range.

I could see running the highs with lower wattage bulbs as daytime running lights, but during the night? no way.

There's a reason they're called "high beams", and there's a reason that it's illegal to have them on if there's a car within a certain distance in front of you. They're designed to shoot light high up into the air, right into everyone's eyes. Sure, the beam looks nice and wide from the drivers seat, but to everyone else it looks like you're shining a flashlight into their eyes.

If you're the only car on the road, flick the high beams on. If there are other people, be courteous and safe, and leave them off.

Those lights on the honda are either daytime running lights or maybe foglights.

lol. Thanks for the input. I posted with the intention of gaining advice on overcomming the electrical hurdles associated with the task, and right now me and kzoosho are talking about it. Thanks to everyone for your help! Electricity is like Cantonese to me!

Vote on the poll!!!

write up is a must when accomplished
::EDIT:: up

Well its not much to it. What i plan to do is make a current limiting circuit to run the highs while they are on with the low beams thus giving more light but not 100%. Then for the high beams 100& light will be given to the highs. Pretty simple .

Holy crap I'm not the only one!

Nalc, thanks again for your help in that thread.

If you run both at the same time won't you be blinding folks at night?

Q: A:

:greenbounbump for More Votes plz!:greenboun

The high beams of the R34 are focused pretty well. The low beams are ok w/the 9006 bulb. If you retro a 9005 bulb in there... you will see a little better spread in the beam pattern. A diode will keep both of them on at the same time.

When i had halogen r34's all around.... it seemed to blend very nicely when i would hit my highs. IDK about the yellow high beam. I've always thought that was either for show or for those trying too hard to find a mod. It can in no way improve your vision. Too much yellow will reduce the colors of objects. I'd stick w/halogen color for both high and low.

lol @ trying too hard to find a mod.
Ill try splicing in a 9005 to see the spread your talking about! thx4info

My car is DP0 with gold z32s and bronze tint.
I think the yellow will work well with the color scheme.
Plus yellow can be helpful in inclement weather! wintersux

Thanks for the input everyone
VOTE VOTE VOTE!!:greenboun

Well, after a few weeks of suspense this project is in need of a new Electical mastermind to make it work. Electrical/Harness guys hit me up!

Ive been bragging to my friends about this new harness for weeks, and I need to get it done yesterday, or Im gonna look like a lying douche.

Let me know what you need from me to make it work!

I converted my R34s to Quad HIDs with TSX projectors for inner low-beams and FX bi-xenon projectors for outer low/high beams. Yes, I have all 4 projectors on for both low beams and all stay on when the high beam are activiated. This is facilitated through off-the-shelf 9004 to bi-xenon conversion harnesses. They simply put a diode between the low beam and high beam power off the harness so the power switches over without effecting the power to the HID ballasts.

If you look at factory bi-xenons you will see an immediate benefit to having a seperate low beam on when the high beams are activated. When a bi-xenon reflector opens, it directs light to a narrow focused beam. This causes you to lose the beam pattern illuminating right in front of the car and to the sides. In the case of the bi-xenons in my Porsche 996, a halogen light gets turned on when ever the bi-xenon shutters are opened to provide the up-close and side fill of light. Keep in mind that this is for bi-xenons reflectors, not traditional halogens.

If you have not at least converted the R34 low-beams to projectors then you are wasting time with this thread because the low beam pattern of the R34s is so cr*ppy. Why would you change lighting if you aren't getting a benefit from it?

It's called a "DRL module" and it lets you run your high beams at ~60% of the regular power.

i say it looks ricey, the pic you posted is a DA (90-93 integra) and those are actually fog lights not brights. i've seen people with DC's (94-01 integra) that put yellow bulbs one their high beams and drive around with their 4 headlights (low and high beams) on. it just looks tacky. but if you want to do it go ahead, just dont forget to post pics...

DP0 = Deep Evergreen pearl or Cypress Pearl as it seems to have been renamed ( put that in your FAQ's if you want,T). I also have 18" bbs rk's in bronze.

so you think my car is ugly and my harness idea is terrible.
I guess thats what I get for asking for peoples opinions.
But you didnt have to knock my car too.:kiss:

I know that if i even attempt to defend myself, because of my low post count, i will see a :ban2: so Ill bite my tounge.

btw: a lot of people DID say they thought it was ugly, but the poll says different.
I think this board has seen so many ricey atrocities that it is scared to do anything other than the same lip kit and clear corners.

My post count is low, but Ive been lurking for years.
Like since the days of equal length y pipes.

Reactions like yours, by the og .org members go a long way in discouraging people from posting.

Thank you for posting your opinion Tatanko, even if it wasnt very tactful.

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Thanks for the info Nalc. Its guys like you that make me wanna go into ee.

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Fx projectors are the second stage, the high beam slot will just be a running light and the FX will take care of high and low beams. If I see it IRL and it looks like crap then I will probably run a quad setup as well, but I need to check this first before I make a decision.

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I am a photographer, so there will be plenty of pics! Assuming that Im not awarded with a vacation from the .org for this post. Thanks for the info on make/model. The original car was an accord, that i saw this on, but couldnt remember where, so i pulled the teg pic up for an example.






Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond, even if we dont agree.

Nothing says "I'm an idiot" like four HID projectors on one car :bonk:

One of the few downsides of HIDs is that you can't flash them on and off quickly. If you're using a halfway decent bi-xenon projector, you'll have more than enough lighting. It's best to keep halogens in the highs, so you can flash them.

If you're dead set on the "quad projector" look, then buy a set of halogen projector high beams from like an J30 or ES300. Like this:
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...inity-j30.html

Of course, if you were to use a bi-xenon, it'd be more complicated wiring, you'd need a 3 relay harness. It's a nifty little thing, originally designed for a H4. It lets you use a projector and a halogen high beam, and flash the highs without turning the HIDs on or off. Even then, it's still not too complicated... just three relays, a diode or two, and maybe a capacitor.

Nothing says "idiot" like someone who does not know how a bi-xenon projector works. The ballast is always charging the light whether in high or low beam. Hitting the high beam only opens the shutter, which takes a fraction of a second. Only bi-xenon HIDs have the ability to be both a high beam and a low beam. A normal HID lamp or Litronic lamp is low beam only. In these cases they use a traditional halogen lamp for the high beam. With a Litronic, the reflector is rotated up slightly to provide more fill with the halogen, but it is still the halogen. A bi-xenon uses the same bulb and ballast output for both the low beam and the high beam illuminators.

No, there is no complication to the harnesses. I have 2 off-the-shelf 9004-to-bi-xenon harrnesses, one per side. There is no reason to make one when you can just buy them already made off-the-shelf. They are only $25 with the relays and fuse holders already on them. They do in fact have 3 relays in each harness (1 for high beam power, 1 for low beam power and 1 for the shutter), so I have a total of 6 headlight relays (plus the switch relay). They have diodes between the power wires from the high and low beams, but no caps. To have clean power I ran a 8-gauge amp power wire to the bi-xenon harnesses, so no cap is necessary to atbilize the ballast power.

I know what a bi-xenon is.

Go out to your car, and turn on your xenon lights. How long does it take for them to reach full brightness? 15 seconds? I know my 4300k bulbs light up orange for a second, then reach full brightness after about 15 seconds.

If you're driving during the day time, and want to quickly flash your highs to pass or signal another driver, you don't want to wait for the salts in the capsule to vaporize, you want light quickly.

The solution for a light that can reach full brightness in less than a second is a halogen bulb.

Flashing xenon bulbs reduces lifespan. The ballasts apply extra voltage on startup to vaporize the salts, then switch to an operating voltage after about 30 seconds. Continuously applying this extra startup voltage will reduce lifespan of the bulbs and ignitors.

That's why, in the 3-relay single-xenon system, it allows you to flash your halogen high beams without the lows getting any power. But, at night, if you want to flash your high beams, it makes it so that the lows stay on with the high beams. The cap doesn't stabilize the ballast voltage, the cap is wired along the low beam relay so that when you switch from low beams to high beams, the ballasts don't flicker off.

I am still trying to understand your point.

1. I never flash my headlights during the day. Why would I want to do that?
2. I would never flash my headlights within 30 seconds of starting my car. Why would I want to do that?
3. My system is exactly like a single xenon with halogen high beams. The only difference is the 3rd relay goes to the shutter instead of a separate halogen light. THERE IS NO CAP, THERE IS A DIODE. A diode is used to bridge the power between the low and high-beam sides of a 9004/9007 connectors so current is always flowing regardless of which relay is activated. It is the diode that allows the beams to stay on when the high-beams are activated.

Umm, so having a running light in the brights, and an fx projector in the lows is terrible?

The poll only asked for an opinion on the look and the thread asked for technical advice on how to make it happen. Thanks for giving it 110%!

Yeah, thats why I stay in AP.


No, It isnt tactful because you came in posting along the lines of, "Your car sounds ugly and your idea is dumb" (not a direct quote), while simultaneously offering NO valuable info. If it was your day to pick on a newb then you should find a "Wh3r3 cAn I GiiT sOm3 AlTeZZaS aNd DuBz 4 my MaX!?" thread, like everyone else. Anyhow, this isnt the place for this nonsense. Cant we all just get along? lol

You can pm me if you have anymore etiquette questions, or start a new thread. Id like this one to stay On Topic.

You flash your highs during the day if you want someone to move over to let you pass, or you want to let a car pull out ahead of you, or to let pedestrians know that you're stopping to let them cross, or anything like that. Most people use them to signal.

The reason that some harnesses use a cap is that there is a fraction of a second delay between the low beam turning off and the high beams turning on, which causes a flicker. By using a cap, the low beams will stay on for a second after being switched off, eliminating the flicker. Maybe you don't notice the flicker, because your cutoff shields are moving at the same time.

Here's one that keeps your low beams on while your high beams are on. But you can install it the other way around. You can wire it to turn on the high beams when the low beams are on. To lower the voltage going to the high beam just splice a resistor inline to the power going to the high beams. I'm not to sure what resistance is needed to drop the voltage to around 6 volts. Someone here would be able to help with that.

http://www.carparts.com/wcsstore/car...3359G_SW_1.gif

http://www.carparts.com/PAINLESS-WIR...2001_10618.car

Bulb is 65w @ 13v... 5A @ 13v... so 2.5 ohms

a 1 ohm, 25-watt resistor would be able to do it. They run about $15 each. That will give you 3.5 ohms resistance, so 3.7A. That's about 9.3v across the bulb, so it will run the bulbs at 35 watts.

For a resistor that big, you'll want heatsinks for each resistor. It's not a nice solution. It wastes a lot of power.

just measure the resistance of the high beam bulb with an ohmmeter, then run a same amount of ohm resistor in series with the bulb. you should have half as bright light output. Not as bright, but still need to be adjusted to beam down to the road.

It will be 1/4th as bright if you do that, not half.

i have it done ill take pics later on

pretty nice pissing contest in here. Connect the low beams to your side markers and run a relay and power connection to your battery. The low beams will stay on all the time when you flash the high beam b/c the side markers do not turn off when you flash your high beam.

bump for pix

Im still looking for a harness for this.
Can anyone FOR SURE make it happen?





95 max se: pix or it didnt happen! lol

Can anyone with with more knowlege than me confirm this?