Info on HID conversions (long)

Don't forget APC was fined for selling illegal lighting parts.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/annou...e=pr21-03.html

In short, good chance the HID conversion kit is illegal.

For those who are interested below is a letter relating to HID conversion kits from a person in DOT. Ripped from a FW post:

This is in reply to your letter of July 30, 2002, to John Womack of this office with respect to a High Intensity Discharge (HID) light source conversion kit that you wish to sell for replaceable bulb headlamps in the United States. On August 15, Taylor Vinson of this office e-mailed you to request a sample of the kit so that we might be better able to advise you. The kit arrived on September 12.

Your specific request was "for guidance in how to begin the process of obtaining D.O.T. approval" for your kit. We have no authority either to approve or disapprove motor vehicles or items of motor vehicle equipment. We do advise correspondents of the relationship of their products to applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) and other regulations that we administer. If a manufacturer determines that its product is covered by one or more of the FMVSS, and that its product complies with all applicable FMVSS, it must certify compliance of the product when the product is offered for sale. The symbol "DOT" on replacement lighting equipment is often mistaken for "DOT approval" of the equipment but, in fact, it is the manufacturer’s own certification of compliance.

Because your HID conversion kit is intended to replace certain original headlighting equipment, the kit is subject to paragraph S5.8, Replacement Equipment, of FMVSS No. 108 Lamps, Reflective Devices and ***ociated Equipment, 49 CFR 571.108. Paragraph S5.8 requires that any motor vehicle replacement replaceable light source that is offered for sale in the United States comply with the requirements of FMVSS No. 108. The Federal specifications for replaceable light sources used in original equipment motor vehicle headlighting systems are located in 49 CFR Part 564, Replaceable Light Source Information. The purpose for storing the specifications in Part 564 is two fold: (1) to ensure the availability to replacement light source manufacturers of the specifications of original equipment light sources such that replacement light sources are interchangeable with original equipment light sources and provide equivalent performance, and (2) that redesigned or newly developed light sources are designated as distinct, different, and noninterchangeable with previously existing light sources.

Paragraph S7.7, Replaceable light sources, of FMVSS No. 108, requires in part that each replaceable light source be designed to conform to the dimensions and electrical specifications furnished with respect to it pursuant to Part 564. Thus, in order to use a replaceable light source in a replaceable bulb headlamp, a manufacturer must first have submitted certain information with respect to it (and its ballast if required) in Part 564, or it may use a light source (and ballast if required) if its specifications are already filed in Part 564.

The kit that you furnished us appears to be designed to replace an H1 replaceable light source, and consists of two parts marketed under the name "Thunder Beam." The first part is labeled "HID Bulb Set" and contains two replaceable light sources, identified on the packaging as "WB-H1." The second part is labeled "HID Driver Unit TD-5000," and contains a ballast, an ignitor, a relay, and adapters to convert the motor vehicle’s wiring harness to be compatible with the HID conversion kit.

Based on a review of the H1 light source specification filed in the Part 564 docket (#3397), it is apparent that the Thunder Beam HID Conversion kit is a significant redesign of the H1 light source. At the most basic level, an H1 light source incorporates an incandescent filament in which light is produced by a metallic wire coil heated to incandescence by an electrical current, whereas the HID conversion kit’s light source incorporates a discharge arc to produce the light and requires a ballast for operation. Thus, in order to comply with paragraph S7.7 of FMVSS No. 108, the Thunder Beam light source must comply with, inter alia, the dimensional specifications for the metallic wire coil filament size and location, the electrical connector size and location, and the ballast would need to be a design currently on file for use with an H1 light source. Complying with the dimensional aspects of the H1 light source appears to be an impossibility considering that the wire coil filament and the electrical connector are not a part of your design. Furthermore, there are no ballast designs on file for use with an H1 light source. Thus, your company’s HID conversion kit is not a design that conforms to the Standard and could not be certified as complying with FMVSS No. 108, nor imported into or sold in the United States.

This interpretation would apply to any HID replaceable light source whose base was modified or manufactured to be interchangeable with any regulated headlamp replaceable light source that incorporates an incandescent filament design.

b

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Good read I wonder if you'd actually ever have a problem with using an aftermarket kit though?

[nonovurbizniz]

they've made a specific ban on HID conversions already...

There is currently a petition to have it changed though... It's all public opinion polls...

If they were installed right they should perform better for ALL parties... both those who have them and those who have to drive towards them.

I don't really care either way... most laws go totally ignored by police until they decide to "crack down"... then they only do that for a couple months anyway...

If I had lots of extra money I'd do a conversion... they're HANDS DOWN brighter and better than any halogen bulb.
*edit*
But I would not buy a kit... I'd do a conversion with a6/m5 bi-xenon lenses bulbs ballasts etc.
*/edit*

[MAXed Out]

Yeah this is driving me nuts they are bright from a distance but when u get close to them they aren't all that bright so what is it that is bothering these morons and having petions signed against them.

The problem with conversions is that most people simply install a ballast and a bulb, not even a good bulb at that.

The only technically legal way to do a conversion would be to install an entire headlamp assembly with ballasts and bulbs that all meet all the FMVSS #108 requirements and any other requirements for lighting equipment.

And that's also the only SMART way to do it too. Using a conversion kit in any headlamp assembly not specifically designed for the HID bulb you use is just unsafe and stupid to do. If anybody wants to know more on that, let me know and I can get you the nitty gritty.

I haven't seen anywhere that DOT/NHTSA has made a ban on HID conversions. That's the whole point of that letter. There is no rule stating that you can't do an HID conversion, however there aren't really any conversions sold that are legal because they violate FMVSS #108 requirements. Perhaps you could point me to where that ban is stated?

They have opened up a forum for public comment (actually did this a long time ago) on whether HIDs and HID conversions should be banned. However that keeps open the possibility of banning HIDs as an option on vehicles. I think it's unlikely they'd do that, but I do think it's likely that they'll make a specific ban on conversions. Most of these conversion kits aren't legal to be sold or imported to the US anyways, hence why APC got fined.

b

[pdiggitydogg]

i hate hid...suv's shouldnt have them thats for damn sure (theyre too high off the ground and blind drivers in cars)

I wasn't sold on HID until the first time I rode in an IS300 at night. Wow.....I've had a bone for them since.

I've only had 1 bad HID experience on the road, and that was driving in front of an X5 on the interstate for a loooong ways. They were very bright and aimed too high. If they weren't aimed high they would have been fine. Also if that jackass didn't insist on pacing me for 50 miles they wouldn't have really bothered me either.

b