those that installed aftermarket HID's-what happens when you click on your hi beams?
02-12-06, 08:17 AM
#1
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
those that installed aftermarket HID's-what happens when you click on your hi beams?
does the lo beam HID click off or do they stay on....in additon to the hi beam?
mods...please don't move this to LIGHTING....this is a direct question for IS only owners.
mods...please don't move this to LIGHTING....this is a direct question for IS only owners.
Last edited by bagwell; 02-12-06 at 08:21 AM.
02-12-06, 09:25 AM
#3
It depends on the HID kit you bought. If you bought one of the cheaper ones, what will happen is what Payam said. If you purchased a bi-xenon kit, then you should get what I call a "fake high beam" which is caused by the movement of a piece that surrounds the bulb area and makes it reflect in such a way that it creates the effect of a high beam.
02-12-06, 11:22 AM
#4
Originally Posted by Alex350
It depends on the HID kit you bought. If you bought one of the cheaper ones, what will happen is what Payam said. If you purchased a bi-xenon kit, then you should get what I call a "fake high beam" which is caused by the movement of a piece that surrounds the bulb area and makes it reflect in such a way that it creates the effect of a high beam.
i wouldn't call it fake, bmw was one of the first to have bixenon, and that's what they hve been doing for hid hig beam
02-12-06, 11:42 AM
#5
Lexus Test Driver
The Lux and Sport packages both have..
the BiXenons but since they are expensive and not readily available on all versions of the IS there is high interest in the aftermarket HID's. The factory HID's also turn left and right with the steering and also have auto leveling. The conversions will not acheive this or the BiXenon effect. In either case the high beams are Halogens. The Low beams will remain on and the foglights will turn off when engaging the High Beams.
Rock
Rock
02-12-06, 01:10 PM
#6
Originally Posted by rominl
there is such a kit?! what kind of wires would you connect them? that means when you flip the high beam a signal will send to the hid kit (and the kit have to sense that signal) and flip the lens?
i wouldn't call it fake, bmw was one of the first to have bixenon, and that's what they hve been doing for hid hig beam
i wouldn't call it fake, bmw was one of the first to have bixenon, and that's what they hve been doing for hid hig beam
Yes there is!!
As far as my knowledge goes, before BMW, Lexus or any other company started using Bi-Xenons in their vehicles, Catz HID had developed a patented Bi-Xenon HID kit (back in 2001). Now, according to CATZ'S former US website, they developed HID technology for all major Japanese/German vehicles (BMW, Lexus, Nissan, Acura, etc) so the technology might have been applied/borrowed using their patented technology. I haven't heard of any other aftermarket companies with this technology yet, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.Unfortunately, a law was passed in early 2003 which declared all aftermarket HID kits illegal in the US
and CATZ, being a Japanese company and having high ethical values, decided to buy back their entire stock of unsold merchandise and closed operations in the US 
I don't know if this law has been ammended yet or anything as I haven't done any HID installs for a while and haven't kept informed of new laws. CATZ HID still sells their HID kits in Japan. I installed my fair share of HID kits back in the day from many companies (including my 6000K XenonDepot HID kit in my 1994 Corolla) and NONE of the ones I installed compare to CATZ HID in quality of ballasts, ignitors, bulbs, brightness, color temperature, variety, etc. For those interested in purchasing one, a company called SuperAutoBacs is one of CATZ HID authorized sellers; their website is www.superautobacs.com. The website is entirely in Japanese, but a guy I know sent them an email in English and they replied back and he purchased a kit from them. A lot of websites claim to have "CATZ powered" HIDs, but don't be fooled, CATZ only sells their products through authorized retailers and does not lend their technology to anyone. There is a possibility that a website might sell their products in the US by importing them from a Japanese company, but I don't know any as of yet. Anyway, sorry for going a little off topic here, but I just wanted to give you a little history behind the company.
In reponse to your questions, the Bi-Xenon kit allowed you to make a connection to the high beam signal which would activate the "high beam". I call it "fake" in the sense that it doesn't have an additional bulb and it's just an "effect" created by changing the light arc of the bulb. Now, don't get me wrong, the high beam does work very well and creates a similar effect to high beams on regular halogens... only BRIGHTER!!
You can see the variety of HID kits/color temperatures CATZ HID offers by going to their website: www.fet-japan.co.jp/catz/
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Last edited by Alex350; 02-12-06 at 04:20 PM.
02-12-06, 01:30 PM
#7
nice bit of info there alex, i too had a CATZ hid system on my old del sol. they worked amazingly but the bulbs only lasted about 12 months. then again bulbs were around $60 so it wasnt that bad. I had the old 3200k kit and i will say this, I HAVENT SEEN A BETTER LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR THE PRICE YET! unlucky me I had a mishap with a friend that decided to "borrow" the kit while i was away on vacation and forgot to mount the ballasts. so when he was driving they both full under the car destroying them. that was right around the time they bought back all the kits... 
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02-12-06, 03:43 PM
#8
wow, nice read there alex, thanks for the great info. this is definitely the first time i heard about the bi-xenon hid kits. catz definitely make some nice hid stuff in japan, but i guess they are very pricey? most of the stuff i have read so far are philips or osram
02-12-06, 05:07 PM
#9
Originally Posted by rominl
wow, nice read there alex, thanks for the great info. this is definitely the first time i heard about the bi-xenon hid kits. catz definitely make some nice hid stuff in japan, but i guess they are very pricey? most of the stuff i have read so far are philips or osram
I spent $$$$ like crazy when I was modding my Corolla and purchased a LOT of things that I wouldn't have if I had been better informed about them (example: 3 sets of suspensions!!! 
until I found the right one) The way that I see it is if I can avoid other people some by giving them a recommendation on a product that I know is good, then we can all share the knowledge and everybody wins!!! CATZ HIDs prices vary per kit. The higher the color temperature, the more expensive they are (at least back in the day). The Bi-Xenons would usually cost an average of $80-100 extra per kit, but they worked really great!!! The prices would start at $400 approximately and would go to around $700 for the Bi-Xenons, which is not bad considering the features they had and that other lesser quality HIDs sell for around the same sometimes. The bulbs were of really high quality, but they had several kits with tinted bulbs that I didn't like as much. The best CATZ HID kit that I installed is the Galaxy White, which is supposed to be around 5700K, but lights up really bright and has the infamous "blue hue" that everybody likes; also the bulbs on those kits were not tinted
As of today, none of the CATZ HIDs that I installed have had any burnt bulbs, but I took every precaution NOT to touch the bulbs. According to their manuals, natural skin oils left on the bulbs by touching them could cause them to burn out once the bulbs were ignited.
The Phillips and other brands of HID you hear about are kits that include ballasts and ignitors from the brand name, but with an unknown manufacturer bulb
I bought one for myself thinking that it was going to be of better quality than CATZ HID and I wasn't as happy... 
- Phillips Ultinon 6000K ) Don't get me wrong, the kit does light up pretty bright as you can see in the pic, but the CATZ was 1,000,000 times better. I did some research after buying the kit and was disappointed to find that Phillips does NOT make HID bulbs 
.
02-12-06, 06:16 PM
#10
oh of course if people get philips hid kits, i care more about the bulbs. it has to be philips or osram, for sure. i have had 3 sets of philips (bulbs and ballasts) hid kits and they have been great, cna't have any complain.
if i knew of the catz kits before, maybe i would have tried those!
if i knew of the catz kits before, maybe i would have tried those!
02-12-06, 06:31 PM
#11
Philips 6000K HIDs
My HID low beams stay on and the old halogen high beams come on at the same time. Not sure about the fog lights since I had to turn them off because they didn't match my HIDs.
My HID low beams stay on and the old halogen high beams come on at the same time. Not sure about the fog lights since I had to turn them off because they didn't match my HIDs.
02-12-06, 10:46 PM
#13
Originally Posted by RshaoKh
Philips 6000K HIDs
My HID low beams stay on and the old halogen high beams come on at the same time. Not sure about the fog lights since I had to turn them off because they didn't match my HIDs.
My HID low beams stay on and the old halogen high beams come on at the same time. Not sure about the fog lights since I had to turn them off because they didn't match my HIDs.
02-12-06, 11:54 PM
#15
Originally Posted by Alex350
You can resolve that problem by purchasing an HID kit for the high beams.