CherokeeChamp2000

Whats up guys, I figured I would share something I tried out and think some of you budget wheelers will enjoy. I tend to spend my pennies on things that are not super important when it comes to wheeling, lighting being one of them. I am not a fan of the generic lightbar what so ever, and I really enjoy the look of old school lighting. I was looking into a set of KC HiD lamps, and was discouraged by the $850 price tag.



So, I set off to build my own. This is my first "write up" so bare with me! I will do my best to explain everything I can! It's super simple, and I spent close to $55 all said and done, and I am EXTREMELY happy with the results. I plan to do a video comparing led bulbs to the HiD kit I used!
-Here is a list of the things I used!

1. Harbor Freight 6" Off road light
2. Your choice brand/color H3 HiD kit
3. Wire Strippers/ Dykes
4. Soldering Iron
5. Heat Shrink
6. Phillips Head screw driver
7. Needle nose pliers

Lets get started! There is two small phillips head screws with a nut holding these two bands around the lights. Un-bolt both bands and remove the plastic clip for the corrugated tubing protecting the wires on the back of the housing.







So, Now that you have the two halves apart you can start replacing the bulb with your HiD bulb! There is one tiny phillips head screw and a small tab you must carefully remove to get the original bulb out. Save the philips screw, toss the ground wire though! Just do the reverse process to insert your new bulb!
WARNING *Do not touch the HiD H3 buld!* the oil from your skin can ruin it!





Final stretch!
The plugs on the HiD light are far to big to run through the back of the light housing. I cut the plug staggered. This way when I got to solder the plug back on, the ground and positive will be in separate places. Once you have the plugs soldered back on you can re assemble the light! Don't forget to shrink wrap your connections! After that, solder whatever type of plug you plan to use on your onto the ballast and you are good to go!




Now, mount the lights and ballast wherever you like! Make sure you keep the ballast in a safer area, mine claim to be waterproof but I used a small project box to seal them in on my roof rack. This way they don't take the direct impact from the elements. I really like how they turned out, and for roughly $55 I was able to achieve that old school look with that modern HID light!

Now, onto the results! The barn is around 35 yards away!

1st. Test with no lights



2nd. Just headlights



3rd. Just Harbor Freight HIDS



4th. HIDS and flood lights



To conclude, this simple "conversion" is very easy, its cost effective, and I really like the end results. I hope others who are on a tighter budget can find use in this.

investinwaffles

Dude, epic! I have been wanting to do this for ages now.

You can't beat a 35/55w HID setup for long distance throw, they just have SO MUCH light intensity that you need 2x the LED power to match it at far distances. I want to use some of the Hella 500 series lights and convert them to HID (very common conversion on the interwebz)


Nice work

Pete Driver

I've got 5 or 6 kc hiliters I've been thinking about doing this with.

RockyMtn96XJ

For those of us that are slightly less knowledgeable on specifics, can you elaborate on "The plugs on the HiD light are far to big to run through the back of the light housing". With the plug being too large to run through the back of the housing, what did this prevent?
And your comment on "I got to solder the plug back on, the ground and positive will be in separate places. What did you cut out in order to solder it back together? In addition to that, you mentioned in the beginning to "toss the ground wire". But then mention the "ground and positive will be in separate places." Is that the ground off the light housing you toss, then the other ground you mention is on the ballast or something?

Sorry if i'm overthinking this and making it more difficult than it needs to be...

kstopp

OP means that the connectors don't fit through the hole in the housing, so he had to cut them off and re-splice together after. He cut the wires staggered (where he said "the ground and positive will be in separate places"), so that the overall size of the spliced joint is smaller. You could also cut them at the same length also, but staggered is best practice.

"Toss the ground wire" = The ground wire that came with the housing is no longer needed, as the HID harness has it's own ground wire.