98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Hey guys,

Yesterday I retrofitted Morimoto H1 Mini 4.1's into my new Camaro. I used a 35W Xentec H1 Slim ballast (5000k) for the projectors. They look awesome in the driveway up against the white fence, but once I take the car out, they are definitely NOT bright enough at all. I've adjusted them several times and I'm still not happy. I have an '07 Impala, with 6000K DDM Tuning HID's in the reflector housings, and I can see better at night in that car.

Something can't be right. I emailed the Retrofit Source for a recommendation on a new HID kit. Can anyone chime in with any information? All that work and now I'm quite disappointed. Maybe I overlooked something..

Thanks everyone.

VIP1

The 2007 Impala with an HID kit in the stock Halogen Reflector housings is most-likely scattering light everywhere. Which is bad.

The Morimoto mini-h1 is a HID projector that spreads the light in a more controlled manner.

Have you confirmed that the bulbs are seated properly in the projectors? Different kits have different production tolerances.

Can you post pics of the beam pattern on the wall? Its possible that the bulb alignment is slightly off. Which can noticeably affect output.

If you post pics over on HID planet, you might get some helpful tips on adjustments.

dementia

iTrader: (4)

When i had my mini's on the TA they lit up everything great, I'm going with what was said prior, they must not be seated well.

Conrad

iTrader: (20)

I have the same set up, please post pictures.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

I'm on the phone right now, so i only got this photo, but I'll upload the rest in a moment.

This is a cell phone pic, so the cutoff isn't very visible. But in person it's distinct, I know it looks glarey here.

It looks BRIGHT here, but once you're on the road, it kinda sucks. I even had my dad drive it, and he didn't like it either.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

///EDIT READ FIRST:

I've been sitting here thinking. I figured I'd share a little more info to help figure this out. I'm looking at pictures of Mini H1 outputs and it's pissing me off lol.

• I only ordered the pair of projectors themselves, I did not order any kits or anything. I literally opened the Camaro housings, pulled out the factory bulb holder, slid the threaded shaft through the bulb opening, and secured it from the other side (gasket>lock nut>bulb holder). I made sure they were level, tightened everything down and put the housings back together.

• Not using a relay harness

• I do not have the two small wires connected to power/ground. (I think they activate the solenoid for the high beam).

• I don't know if I'm supposed to be using any kind of 9006 adapter or anything like that.

• I had to trim down the blade connectors for the wiring harness for the HID ballast, in order for them to fit into the 9006 harness.


I think that's it.. Like I said this is my first retrofit, and I was a bit confused to start off with, so I wouldn't be surprised if I completely missed something. Although, I ordered 2 pairs of HID kits from ebay (1 for lows, 1 for fogs). One of the two low beam bulbs don't match 100% in color, and two of the bulbs (one fog, one low beam) flickers a bit, but I'm not using a relay. This could all be circumstantial, but it's what I've been brainstorming. It can only help lol. Thanks again fellas.

///EDIT
Okay, these are all the ones I have right now. The first two I took before adjusting them. The street shots, I took AFTER properly adjusting them from 25 feet, following this procedure: http://www.coolbulbs.com/HID-VISUAL-...-PROCEDURE.pdf

I also realize that in the picture below, the rotation was off a little as well.


Not bad, right?





Now look. The drivers side headlight I wetsanded and polished today. The passenger side one is still a little pitted, I need to finish that one tomorrow. Could it really cut down on output that much? Regardless, the spread isn't too great. I followed all the writeup's, it's straightforward so i can't see How I would have seated them improperly.






Just for reference of angle, I'm sitting on the headlight blocking one side, so you can view the opposite one.

Passenger side only







Drivers side only

dabest09

iTrader: (1)

You need to post this on hidplanet. I'm betting you probably need a wire harness, need to clean your headlights if they are cloudy, and it could also be that cheap hid kit you bought. My mini's from retrofitsource work great and are plenty bright.

BLSolutions

iTrader: (14)

I would second these recommendations. With your headlight lenses being cloudy/pitted, etc it will certainly cut down on your light output. The bulbs appear seated OK but it would be better if you took a picture with the lights on a flat/clean background surface rather than a fence. Also the cheap Xentec HID kit could also be the culprit. I've seen cheap lamps hurt light output significantly over a higher quality lamp. I would recommend a relay harness regardless of that being the issue to ensure reliable operation of the lights.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Thank you guys. I'm feeling like crap today, but with any luck I can get outside tonight and take some more pictures. At the end of my driveway is a solid wood fence, which is what I used to make the adjustments last night. I'll try and get some pics of it against that once it is dark. I'm thinking it's the Xentec kit. When I had my old WS6, they were great, but this one is a new designed ballast and I'm thinking they're crappy.

What HID kits do you guys suggest? The one's on the retrofit source are like $150, but I've never heard of anyone running those. I'll post back up later, and if I still don't know what to do I'll head over to HID Planet. Thanks again fellas.

BLSolutions

iTrader: (14)

The TRS (Morimoto) kits are very good but certainly more expensive than most other kits out there. We have had good experience with the DDM kits but their shipping lead time can be pretty lengthy. We use the TRS kits with the 98-02 Camaro and 93-97 Firebird kits with excellent results.

Conrad

iTrader: (20)

OP, I would try to clean up your headlights. My lenses are crystal clear, and going down the road with no street lights I can see the cut off on the road. I'm thinking your light output is spreading because of hazy lenses. Looks like you also need to adjust your headlights so the projector beams are even with each other.


I agree with everything here. Except I am running the "cheap" Xentec kit on my fogs and projectors. Zero complaints. I made sure to get the beefier ballasts and not their slim ones. I had VVME ballasts and they were junk ($15 more than Xentec).

chrysler kid

iTrader: (14)

Well I'm going to get flamed for this one, but projectors are over rated

If I cared about other people at night I wouldn't be driving a car with a dual catless exhaust

I've ran Hid's in projectors in all of my cars since they came out. If you adjust them properly they are no more dangerous than projectors.

Conrad

iTrader: (20)

That's a good point

Even if you properly aim hids in halogen housings, the glare is still there. The beam may not be in people's eyes, but the glare is. Projectors aren't for everyone, but they do provide a night vs day beam pattern which truely does help visibility.

VIP1

Can you post pics aimed at a flat wall instead of a fence so we can see the spread of the beam and where the hot spot is in the beam. We can't tell from shots on a fence. It is possible that the bulbs may not be seated completely or that the shield needs adjustment.

Cloudy headlights make a huge difference in output. They will reduce output and alter the cut-off. For example, the cut-off of those Morimoto Mini-H1 should be blue, not yellow.

A Relay harness will help with the flickering.

You should replace the blade connectors on the low beam HID kit with 9006 connectors so it will plug into the stock low-beam socket on the car. That way everything will be firmly connected and sealed from the elements.

If the fog light HID kit is only blade connectors, you should replace those with those with 880 connectors as well.

When you replace the connectors, be careful of the polarity (+/-). HID will only light up one way.

Black96z28

I'm sure you have tons of scientific knowledge and test data to prove that, right?

dabest09

iTrader: (1)

Your comment makes no sense. Alao, a catless exhaust isn't going to blind people and risk causing an accident.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Alright guys lets not turn this into another HID flame war.

VIP, for the wiring harness adapters (which would be coming from the HID ballast, to the factory harness) I'm guessing I would want an H1 to 9006 harness? Or are the ballast sides of the harness all the same and it's just called a 9006 adapter? I'd feel MUCH better than the blade connectors that came with the HID kit.

Reference, the pair in the middle that are twist tied together:

Black96z28

The plugs just above the twist tied wires are the ones that you would need. once you put those pins thru them, they would work as regular oem style connectors.


I would, like VIP, suggest that you either order or make a relay harness that would use common power points to put power to the ballasts instead of relying on the factory headlight harness.

98 WS6

iTrader: (20)

Just ordered a Morimoto HID kit. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

VIP1

The twist-tied wires in the middle of that pic look like one side is already a 9006 or 9005 connector. Its probably a female connector since most HID kits have a 9005 or 9006 male connector for the input on the ballast. You can test that by seeing if the car's stock socket fits on the ballast.

The wires in the Camaro's headlight socket are backwards from most other cars so you may have to swap the pins on the car's connector.

Either way, what I'm suggesting is cutting off those bare spade connectors and replacing them a male 9006 connector so that it will plug directly into the car's stock female 9006 socket.

When you do that, you'll need to buy or make a 9006 relayed wire harness. I made my own, but many on here buy pre-made ones.

On second thought, if you buy a 9006 harness, it might plug directly into the ballast so that you won't need that short wire anymore. It depends on how the harness was made.

Looking more closely at that pics... aren't those two small black things in the middle the body of a male 9006 connector? If so, you should have been able to just assemble them on that wire and plug it into the stock socket. Why did you have to trim anything?

Here is a pic of the harness I made (since my projectors are H9, the harness has H9 connectors).