[mastacox]

Hey guys.  So I bought some Hella 700FF's off of Elton, and after looking at some H3 HID converision kits, it turns out that they might be in my budget finally (I couldn't afford $600 for a pair, but $150 ain't bad...)  I wanted to hear some feedback on what might be a good company to look at for some HID conversions for an H3 bulb reflector.  Also, I'm not sure what "rating" light I should get, I want them to be the purset white possible- not too blue or yellow or purple (damn ricers).  So I was thinking 6000K, opinions?

I was thinking about something like this:

JLM HID Conversion Kit H3 6000k Diamondwhite

...or this:

XenTec HID conversion kit H3 6000K Single Beam Xenon (ultra white)


to go into these:

[mastacox]

And while I'm at it on another note, what wire do I need to tap into to get these to turn on with my hi-beams?  I know I can't just tap straight into the hi-beam's wires because it's ground-switched, so where do I tap in?

[YotaFun]

Brian,
to save a little cash you might what to look into these,
http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=102&parent=85

also, I took the dash cluster out. And just found the wire that controls the indicator bulb for the highbeams.
It worked great so I knew that the highbeams were on it also mention the aftermarket stuff was on too.

[mastacox]

Brian,
to save a little cash you might what to look into these,
http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=102&parent=85

Hey thanks for the link, those kits are incredibly inexpensive compared to when I was looking around a few years ago    $80 for a pair is not bad at all!

also, I took the dash cluster out. And just found the wire that controls the indicator bulb for the highbeams.
It worked great so I knew that the highbeams were on it also mention the aftermarket stuff was on too.

That might be what I have to do too, what a pain!  I've been wondering if I can come up with a engineered solution using some basic Radio Shack components and relays that allows me to tap into something under the hood...

[mastacox]

For turning on the auxillary lighting, this is basically what I need to do (but on my 3rd gen 4Runner instead of a 1st gen).  I'm sure lots of people have done similar mods on their 3rd gens???

Corax's "Turn driving lights on with High Beams" Tech Article

[4x4mike]

Brian,
to save a little cash you might what to look into these,
http://www.ddmtuning.com/index.php?p=product&id=102&parent=85

Oh boy, I didn't need to see these.

[CYi5]

I have 6000k in my hella 4000's and they look great.  White with a slight twinge of blue.  5000k would be as close to white as possible but i'm happy with the 6000k.

I'm tapped into the high beam lead right behind the driver's headlight.  You do need to setup a relay and all that to power the lights though.  I have a switch on my dash to activate the lights, then once on, they'll come on when I flick my hi's.

[mastacox]

I have 6000k in my hella 4000's and they look great.  White with a slight twinge of blue.  5000k would be as close to white as possible but i'm happy with the 6000k.

Cool, thanks for the feedback.  I like the idea of a very slight blue tint to make it obvious they're HID's, but not super blue like the 10,000K's.

I'm tapped into the high beam lead right behind the driver's headlight.  You do need to setup a relay and all that to power the lights though.  I have a switch on my dash to activate the lights, then once on, they'll come on when I flick my hi's.

Could you take a picture of where you tapped in?

[CYi5]

Yea it's a definitely acceptable amount of tinge, you'll be more than satisfied i'm sure.

Yea i'll grab some pics for ya.  I originally had it done using the wiring harness from some IPF 968's, so it made tapping into everything really simple.  That truck got totaled so I had to salvage some of the wiring and my installer friend did something a little more complicated...but i'll show you the connections...

[oly884]

Anywhere between 4300k and 5000k is going to give you the most light output for HID. I prefer 4300k as the warmer tone seems to give me a bit more contrast at night. I had, mistakenly, got 6000k's a while back, and while they were bright, I was very disappointed with the throw of them.

[CYi5]

Ok, it's not so confusing after all, I remember now we just replaced the IPF relay with a better one and that added to the complexity :-P.




Let me know if I can clear that up any further.

[mastacox]

Well based on some pictures on the internet comparing light color, and Oly's input, I'm going with 5000K lights.  I've narrowed it down to these two options, but I think I'm going to go for the JLM kit because its $20 cheaper and I have an Amazon Prime account which means I get free 2-day shipping on it (shipping on the Raptor kit would be around $15, meaking it $35 more than the JLM kit total).  I like the slimline ballasts on the Raptor kit, but it's not like I'm REALLY starved for space under the hood.

I'm definitely going to have to keep these kits in mind for my wife's car also, her headlights are separate H1 and H3 bulbs (the hi-beams are H3) meaning I could convert her hi-beams to HID for around $60.

JLM HID Conversion Kit H3 5000k OEM White- $59.99


Raptor Brand 35W HID H3 Conversion Kit, 5000K- $79.90

[CYi5]

My ballasts look like the ones in your JLM picture, no problems in over a year.  Good call on the 5000k, i'm looking into putting projectors into my headlights right now and will be going with a 4300k bulb.  Simply because I will be using them all the time and they have the best lumen output.  For auxilary I really think you can go with whatever temp/color you want, and you won't be disappointed, a lot has to do with the housing you're putting it in.

[mastacox]

Ok I have to ask, do you think the 700FF housing could put up with the DDM 55W HID kit?  5000 lumens per bulb is pretty fargin impressive... compared to 3400 lumen for the 35W HID and 1200 lumen for a "standard" bulb.  The 55Watt HID H3 Kit from DDM is only $80 (the JLM kit doesn't have a Wattage rating, I'm assuming they're 35W).

DDM 55W Slim Ballast HID H3 Kit- $80

[mastacox]

Well call me crazy, I decided to go big or go home; so I bought the 55W'ers.  $90 is cheap enough that I couldn't help myself.  If overheating becomes a problem (which I sincerely doubt) I'll reevaluate at that time.  Blind-o-beams, here I come 

DDM 55W Slim Ballast HID H3 Kit- $80