MX-3.com

thats what i thought to but JDM's post got me all confused now

The projector is your main light, the inner is your high beam, and the outer i'm not sure, could be a turn signal.

On Taras and my lights the projectors we are using are Bixenon's meaning they have a lowbeam and a highbeam. Low beam for night time driving and high beam for well high beams. The other high beam in our "Raccoon eyed headlights" is for flashing to pass ect. as Taras has described in another thread, since the projectors take a couple seconds for the high beam to light up it cannot be used for flashing. Therefore the other high beam is needed, it also helps for aiming. The projectors can be aimed more downwards so they do not blind people, while the other high beams can be aimed further up so the beam reaches further ahead as a high beam should.

Thats my little bit of lighting knowledge so far. I'm still a noob to all this too :p

Ok, Here is a little experiment for you all. Go find a flat vertical white wall. Park your car facing the wall at the distance of about 25'.

Turn on your lights that are closest to the middle of the car (call them reflectors). See the beam on the wall. Take a picture for us too while you are at it.

Then turn on your projectors. The ones with big curvy glass lenses. See the beam on the wall. Compare to reflector's beam. Take a pic for us too.

The beam that will have least glare on the top part of the beam would be your low beam. It's very possible that your reflector are your low beams, but the majority of the automotive world uses projectors for low beam and reflectors for the high beam. Look at new Mazda 3 for example or a BMW or an Audi. The reason projector is a better candidate for a low beam is because it is much more efficient than a reflector. Progectors can be focused properly and beam pattern could be made very smooth and even due to optics utilized in the projectors. Having said that, there were two particular vehicles that use projectors as high beams alone. Older Infinity J30 and an older Lexus ES300. Well, modern bi-xenons as well, but they are really proper low beams.

The other thing for you to check is: do you have a bulb underbelly shield in that reflector cluster that you want to use as low beam. It's usually black and used to block the light from being projected above a certain point. Oul stock headlights use them too. If it does not have them then it's definitely a high beam. Also take a bulb out of a projector and see through an opening. Do you have some sort of a horizontal shield inside. It should run from on the bottow half of the projector. If it's there, it's a low beam.

As I said, anything possible with aftermarket headlights and the quality of optics can not be guaranteed, nor the fact that your beams will be of a good quality actually aiding you in your night vision and not just for looks and not illegal.

Whatever you find out, by DOT and ECE regulations, your high beam is the one that is on the inner side of the low beam, in relation to the centre of the car. In those Civic lights, that should be the projectors.

Originally posted by Gregory Christian:

Originally posted by lok:
hmm.. i think the outer one is for turn signal rather than running lights.. day time running lights should be the inner one and the middle is for the high beam i think..

That is my unerstanding of the light also , I am eventually gonna add my turn signal in the outer port

Just re-reading all of this and you guys are talking about so many things. Really, low beams and high beams are the most essential there. Daytime running lights are optional in US. You can either hook the original configuration (Canada) to your high beam to run on a depowered mode or bypass the resistor and hook them up to your outer cluster that some of you called a turn signal. It could be a turn signal as well, but you already got one on your bumper, so why have two.

From the post I quoted, sounds like you guys call low beams - Daytime running lights. Low beams are not even mentioned there. I think those would be the most important ones.

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:

Originally posted by JDM:

Originally posted by Gro Harlem:
.... I could take a maglight & make it look like 10,000K if i set the exposure long enough.

Lol, 10000K is actually very dim...

10k K is like a 130 watt bulb right? Our stock buls put out 4500-5000 i thought.

K is a measure of Kelvin. Colour temperature. Halogen is about 2800k, Xenon 4100K, Sunlight 6500K, Ultraviolet 25000K. It has a relation to intensity that is usually measured in lumens or candela. But it is not a direct relationship, otherwise infrared would be the brightest. When you see HID kits of 10000K, most people think that those are very bright. Naaa. 4100K is the brightest, given the same power input. So at 130watt 10000k may be pretty bright in comparison to 6500K at 35watt, but you gotta compare apples to apples. So that is basically why I said that 10000k is very dim, because if you take a simple halogen bulb of 55w that will put out 2800K and compare to a 55w Halogen bulb coated blue to emulate 10000K colour, 10000k will be pretty dim.

<small>[ September 15, 2004, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: JDM ]</small>

so using "K" as a measure of light is basically a crock then and misleads ppl on ebay and everywehre else.

Whats the proper light "unit of measurement". lumens i'm assuming but whats the abbrev.

Lm for Lumens
Cd for Candela or Coefficient of Drag
There is also a Luminous Flux, don't ask me what's the difference. Also, there was a good site that explained the differnce between Cd and Lm. If I find it, I'll post.

They came! They're here! I can't wait till I have enough time to work on them. It sucks that this is my only car so I have to drive it everyday. I have to find a weekend that I'm not doing ANYTHING! haha. Thanks Talon_66 for suggesting www.tommotorsport.com. Only $129 including shipping. Can't wait.

any night pics?..thx

i need some made for me, someone please make some for me

Just incase you still havent got it figured out. The inner most headlights are your high beams, the middle ones with the halos are you low beams and the outer your turn signals. The halos can be wired to your side markers for use since hookin them up to a switch or whatever will be fairly pointless since when the low beam is on the halo will not glow blue but a whitish color due to the headlight shinning through. I plugged my lights into a civic to make sure of the lights and which one was which.
Great lights Didlin and what a great job! Ill be starting my fitting soon I hope. Thanx for the write up!
Mike

I also already ordered mine I cant wait to get them. Im quite nervous since I dont know how it will come out for me. But this way seems easier than the one where you open the lens and cut away at it. I rather cut the back hehe. Anywho... wish me luck o.0 ill take pics when done. I can be up to the tast since I usually never give up at something until its done right.

hmm what exactly is that circle that is around the "angel eye" is it some sort or turn signal? I believe its orange when plugged to a 12v battery..ot sure. any ideas? this is for the 01 civic black projector.