6N2 - Fitting of aftermarket Xenon healights

Post Instructions on DIY modifications here - use all information with caution!
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polo2k
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6N2 - Fitting of aftermarket Xenon healights

Post by polo2k »

as some of you will have seen i have recently fitted an hid kit form martyn at vag parts and now that testing it nearly complete and i am very pleased with the quality of the kit i have deided to post the fitting instructions and some testing pictires. to date i have not had anyone flash me due to excessive glare and i have not had any problems form the police even though i am using the 8000K bulbs which are a little too blue really so a police officer may see reason to stop you but now the kits are supplied with a different bulb so this shouldnt be a problem.
Notes
the nature of xenons is not the same as for normal bulbs as a normal bulb (incaandecent) uses a thiin strant of wire which when a current is passed through glows white hot and thus illuminates the surrounding area. The way that a xenon cpsule works is completly differnt and the required eqipment is different as well. when you turn on a xenon capsule you will see that there is a much brighter flash of lightm this is because there is no wire and the light produced is literally controlled lightening. The reason for the initial flash is that instead of using a wire the capsule has an electrode at each end and a gas in between, the light is produced by an arc jumping across the gap in the electrodes and in order to establish this arc it is nessesary to apply a voltage of approximatly 35,000 Volts and then maintain a voltage that an sustain the "jump2 between the electrodes.
Many people are concerned about glare which ocours with some kits but i have not found this to be a problem. Another concern (especially on the mk5) is heat output as people are used to a higher outpup buld creating more heat wheras even though the light is man, many times brighter the unit only consumes 35W of power which is uch lower than the stock bulbs. I used to use phillips blue vision bulbs, and thought they were very good but as you will see it is a day and night comparison.

Time to fit them now
theese were fitted to a mk5 polo so please remember that they may different on your car and depending on your engine you may have to use your ingenuity a little (dont worry it desnt hurt :P )
please remember that theese units do produce a hery high voltage so care should be exercised at all times and i am not responsible if you cause damage to you, your car, your gold fish, or hampster!

Firstly you need to fit the ballasts which i decided to try and hide as much as possible as not only does it keep things tidy but you also stand less chance of damamging one of them while working under the bonnet.
after a little looking around i decided that i could hide one of the ballasts under one of the headlights, so i started to make a little room to get into the area:
the engine cover must be removed which on my engine is held by 2 10mm nuts hidden under plastic covers

Remove the battery first which is accomplished by loosening the 2 10mm nuts on the terminals and then a 13mm bolt that secures the battery in place.
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herae i have removed the battery and next the battery tray comes out


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here you can see that i have removed the battery tray which is secured by 4 10mm nutsbut you may notice that one of them holds the clutch cable support in place so dont forget which.

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by now you can probably see that there is a gap under the headlight, which is where we will be fitting the ballast, upon closer inspection there is a 10mm bolt running vertically in an almost perfect position however the ballast bracket must be slightly modified to alow the ballast to squeeze in the available space

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there are 2 fixing points normally but due to the location we have to flog one against the ballast and slightly enlarge the other mounting point with a needle file or similar (the pen indicates the position of the folded tab) now if you remove the afore mentioned 10mm bolt you will be able to fit the ballast in place so that the blot can pass through the remainging mounting point, once satisfied with the position refit the 10mm bolt

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here you can see how well hiden the ballast can be.


now you need to modify the rear light cover to allow the capsule wireing to pass through so roughly find the point behing the headlight bulb and drill a 25 mm hole (either by making a few smaller goles or by using a large wood working drill bit)

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i advise that you test fit the capsules gromit in place periodically an shown here

you will now need to fit the capsule in place as you would normally but be warned that the base of the bulb is a little thicker than lnormal so you may be tempted to force the clip BUT DONT as you may hear a pop which is the ball joint for the headlight adjuster disconnecting, if you do by accident pop out this ball joint then try and grip under the reflector and pull it towards the rear of the car until it pops back into position, however it is easier to gently bend the metal retaining clip so that a little pressure is needed.
once you have fitted the bulb you need to arange some power to the ballast, this is one by passing the wires (supplied) through the same plug as the capsule wires in the remaining holes as seen below and then crimping on the supplied spade connecters ( i soldered them and used heat shrink to be 100%. the 2 spade connecters can then be plugfged into the old bulb pug (black -> brown and white -> yellow)
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now all that is left is to connect the 2 plugs going to the capsule which are impossible to reverse and then plug the blue plug into the ballast after which you end up with somthing a ilittle like this
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which i decided to tidy up a little with some spiral wrap

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all that is left to do now is to refit the battery tray using the 4 10mm bolts (not forgetting to to attach the cluch cable support) and then the battery DO NOT CONNECT IT AT THIS POINT please make sure that the battery is secure as it is an MOT test and if it is loose may be dngerous and fail your MOT
thats the hard side out of the way now on to the easy side starting aghin with fitting the ballast and then the capsule
you have 2 alternative mountings (the second is also possible on the first side if you dont want to remove the battery but its almost obligitary for access reasons) the first is the easiest but least tidy but the second requires removing the front bumper

first option:
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this option uses a 13mm bolt which is used to hold the engine support
Option 2
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if you decide to use the second option then you must mount the ballast as high as possible otherwise it will foul on the foglights. You also need to drill 2 holes in the vertical plastic compostite to allow you to attach the ballast securely however dont secure it yet as if you do you wnt be able to plug in the blue connecter
the capsule fitting is identiacal to the other side so i shall leave it out to save repitition
after fitting the capsule plug un all the cables and secure the ballast then refit the bumper if removed.
after checking ALL cables are not near any moving parts (and if so then secured) reconnect the battery and turn on the ignition (do not touch the accelerator as you have to readapt the throttle body which i shall cover later) and turn on your new headlights to test them
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if yopu experiance any problems then recheck all your connctions and if they still do not work then plese try reversing the spade connceters as you cannot harm the ballast by doing this as they are protected

To readapt teh throttle body
to readapt the throttle body you must turn on the ignition for 10 minutes without touching the accelerator nd then start the angine and let the car idle for another 10 minutes without touching the throttle body

now all thats left to do is go and try theese on the road

FOOTNOTE (TEMP)
i havnt got time to proof read this article now but i will proof read it tomorow and past the testing pictures


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my camera is quie blue sensitive so they arnt this blue in real life
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there more like this :)
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as i said the testing photos will follow soon
Speedlaw
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Post by Speedlaw »

Excellent stuff. Looks pretty easy now- interesting...!

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ciden
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Post by ciden »

Do you mind showing us what the headlight looks now from a close-up view?
polo2k
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Post by polo2k »

sorry for the delay in the update but i have had to go tho the hospital for a cut on my cornea and i had a very serious non related electrical problem which caused my dash to catch fire :o but its all good now and ive had to fit a new alarm but since its 5 am nearly and ive just got in from fitting it plus im starting work at 8 am (3 hrs) ill have to leave the update till tonight sorry
allow me to clarify that the dash fire was not lighting related it was my alarm that shorted and caught fire so i now have one which can do trick things like turn on my headlights from 1/2 a mile away :D
Speedlaw
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Post by Speedlaw »

polo2k wrote:sorry for the delay in the update but i have had to go tho the hospital for a cut on my cornea and i had a very serious non related electrical problem which caused my dash to catch fire :o
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You allright though?
polo2k
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Post by polo2k »

oh im sound :)
JWC
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Post by JWC »

As a footnote, you can fit the xenons and the ballast without moving the battery, though it is not easy. Alternatively you can use a battery saver, because all VAG models have a live lighter socket.

Also, I got an arc between the feeds to the xenons. This causes the ballast to give up after a couple of seconds, and it will try again on the next switch on. So I fixed that.

I have 5,900K bulbs, but I still think they are too bright. They don't glare but they just stand out too much. If you look all xenons are projector types not reflector types.

If you are too worried about this sort of problem, a nice solution is to use the fog lamps with the xenons. There are not any restrictions on these other than they must be white or yellow, must be two of them, and must be 60W or less. The mk5 ones are ideal.
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Kristof_clg
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Post by Kristof_clg »

Could anyone re-up the photos?

Thanks.-
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8080
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Post by 8080 »

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