HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

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HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

September 24, 2013, 09:11:10 am

Yahoo Message Number: 142859

I was driving home from a NELD meet last week (lots of fun) and was again struck how bad the lighting is on my truck. I will be adjusting the lights in the very near future. As compared to other cars and trucks on the road the other night (driving 55 mph gives one a great chance to compare headlight patterns) my truck is not putting that much light down on the road ahead.

The E450 is a 07 model year and has 20k miles on it. The lenses seem good and clear. I did a search and found Andrew's link below. I am thinking of making the jump to HID lighting. Has anyone on the forum installed the HID lights in a LD (sorry Larry, Jeeps don't count for this question)? Was the effort worthwhile or did the headlight pattern defeat the extra light? John (in the dark) DaCrema NELD 68 07 mid bath

Here is a link for you.
http://www.hidxenonconversionkit.com/e-450-super-duty/fog-lights-complete-hid-conversion-kit-for-ford-e-450-super-duty-2007/

Best regards,

Andrew

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #1 – September 25, 2013, 04:56:01 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 142878

Update, The company associated with the link below sells on Amazon. I could not find reviews of their product installed on a Ford van. Reviews on other cars gave generally good reviews.
Other research (wikipedia and other links) indicate that these lights run cooler (in terms of heat produced inside the housing) than standard bulbs. I had thought about using higher wattage bulbs but was worried about hurting the electrical system with some combination of heat and, or overloading. I had read that later Ford wire harnesses for lighting use a thin gauge wire that restricts current. They are fine for normal bulbs but putting a higher wattage bulb will yield little extra light. I am not a EE so forgive me if I have the exact terminology wrong.
I will post more once I have the kit installed.
John

Here is a link for you.
http://www.hidxenonconversionkit.com/e-450-super-duty/fog-lights-complete-hid-conversion-kit-for-ford-e-450-super-duty-2007/

Best regards,

Andrew

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #2 – September 26, 2013, 04:02:18 am

Yahoo Message Number: 142881

I bought a HID kit for the LD but haven't installed it yet. I DID install a HID kit on my 2010 FJ Cruiser and ran into a minor problem which may occur on the Ford chassis:

The HID lights are single arc gap, they change to a "high beam" through the use of a solenoid than moves the arc gap within the light fixture and thus changes it's focus and removes the arc from the low beam shield. Reason for this is than the HID has a short warm up before coming up to full light output, so there would otherwise be a delay in going from low to high beams.

So, one minor problem is that if your lights are off, you cannot flash your high beams.

The other problem I ran into is that since the high beam circuit is no longer used except to power the high beam solenoid, the dash high beam indicator no longer worked. I solved this by installing a 1000 ohm resistor in the unused bulb socket.

bumper

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #3 – September 26, 2013, 03:08:48 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 142882

Thanks for the feed back. I flash my lights when trucks have cleared me and can return to the lane after passing. So that would be a minor problem. The high beam indicator light is an issue as well. Thanks for the information.
John

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #4 – October 17, 2013, 02:33:14 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 143197

I ordered a set of HID lights from the referenced location. I ordered two kits, one was for a Hyundai the other for the F450. The kits look to be well made.

I returned them.

After a closer reading of the instructions I was not happy with how they were to be installed. It requires drilling a hole in the removable door on the headlamp assembly that allows one to access the bulb. I have concerns about weather and grime getting on the bulb. Also I did not get the best of help from their help desk. I voiced concerns about the bulb length and they said it would fit, even though their bulb was substantially longer on the back side that the original bulb. I did not actually install the items because that would not allow me to return them. The help desk was not able to answer my questions to my satisfaction. So this was a rather expensive experiment. For the better mechanics or if you have seen the items already installed you might not have the same issues as I did.

This is to bad, I really wanted this to work. But the kit costs to much to just play around with it and throw it away if it does not work.

John

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #5 – October 18, 2013, 01:31:19 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 143205

John

Your experience with HIDs is common. These kits were very popular a couple of years ago but the folks I know that tried them quickly removed them due to the very poor aiming or the failure of the 'quality' components. It is a little unreasonable to expect a $100 kit to retrofit HID when HIDs are normally a very high price option on most cars. Many of the kits claimed to use high-quality European parts but are really just junk from China.
Our Ford headlights were design for H4 halogen bulbs with the glowing filaments located precisely in the 'sweet spot' to properly aim the high and low beams.
Instead of a filament, HIDs are a completely different technology and use an arc.
It is difficult to have the HID bulbs properly focus the beam, without glare and while retaining the proper low-beam cutoff, because of the different shape and the lack of precise location of the arc light source. Bulb housings need to be designed for the type of bulb used for best results.
With only one light source (as opposed to two filements in a tradional halogen bulb) HIDs requires either a mechanism to move the arc up and down, for high beams or it requies a scond set of bulbs for high beam usage. Many car with HID low beams use halogen high beams
I understand your desire for more lights. Most of us here are older and appreciated stronger night time lighting.
I switched the stock bulbs with Silver-Stars but was it wasn't enough for deserted dark roads so I install a pair of 100-watt driving lights. Below is what I used, minus the stone guards.
IPF driving lights.
http://www.4wheelparts.com/Lighting-Lighting-Accessories/IPF-968-Series-Driving-Light-Kit-with-Stone-Guards.aspx?t_c=14&t_s=448&t_pt=4242&t_pn=ARB968CSG They are wired with a separate switch, and relay, and operate only when the high-beams are on.

Larry

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #6 – October 18, 2013, 06:01:06 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 143206

That looks good. After this try I believe that better bulbs and aux lighting are the way to go. What I most want is more or better distributed light for the low beam lamps. We get a lot of rain and poor weather here. I may follow your lead but add a set of fog lights and just aim them a little high. Here on the east coast the high powered/narrow beam lighting is not as useful. To many people.

Of course if I find a true bumper mounted light bar, you never know. The RV could wind up looking like it is owned by one of those World Rally Rally Champchimp want-a-bees ;-) John NELD 68 ...
IPF driving lights.
http://www.4wheelparts.com/Lighting-Lighting-Accessories/IPF-968-Series-Driving-Light-Kit-with-Stone-Guards.aspx?t_c=14&t_s=448&t_pt=4242&t_pn=ARB968CSG They are wired with a separate switch, and relay, and operate only when the high-beams are on.

Larry

Re: HID headlamps in a later ventage (07) E450

Reply #7 – October 18, 2013, 09:17:55 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 143208

"Of course if I find a true bumper mounted light bar, you never know. The RV could wind up looking like it is owned by one of those World Rally Rally Champchimp want-a-bees ;-)"

John

Large LEDs light bars are the rage in off-road racing, I'm waiting on the prices to drop.

Your lighting needs are different, our desert roads can be very dark and lonely at night. The IPF lamps I listed have a combination of mid and long distance coverage.
A set of high powered clear fog lights, with a sharp cutoff, is what you want.

Unfortunately, we are limited in upgrading the stock headlights. The housings are not designed to take the heat from higher wattage bulbs. Halogen bulbs burn very hot to begin with. I'm not sure if the Silver Star bulbs actually produce more lumens or if the apparent increase in brightness is the result of the color of the light being hotter.
One thing we all need to do is protecting the clean headlight lenses from the sun. Like so many vehicles, the lenses are plastic and yellow and turn cloudy with age, sort of like cataracts. The headlight refinishing kits will clean the lens once but the lens is never as good as when new and the process of removing the yellow surface also removes the ultraviolet protective coating. This causes the lens deterioration to continue at a much faster rate.
Best to avoid it in the first place by keeping the lenses covered or facing north when parked for long periods.

Larry

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