Q: But I want BLUE bulbs:
A: Go and read the background information links, ricer! Blue is bad hmmmkayy...
Q: OK - I already have Vision Plus or Osram Silverstars in my headlamps, they are aimed
properly, clean, and there are no headlamp protectors - but I want more light. What can I
do?
A: Fit relays + wiring harness - these reduce the voltage drop in your wiring, giving all of the battery voltage to the bulbs that they can get.
Read more here:
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...ys/relays.html
This should also be done in conjunction with fitting new, quality, glass filled Phenolic plastic headlamp connectors (they don't melt), and cleaning up all of the connections.
This also allows you (in the future, if this isn't enough) to upgrade to overwattage bulbs
if you so desire.
Q: What about these mysterious black boxes that supposedly make your headlamps 150% brighter?
A: Was once sold as a Catz Zeta (amongst other things). These are DC to DC converters, that take the 12V or so that would normally be fed into your headlamps, and convert it up to 16V. Makes the headlamps a great deal brighter and whiter but exponentially decreases their life. Can also cause overheating of your wiring and connectors.
Of marginal use (especially considering the lifetime reduction of the bulbs) causes bulbs overheat and distort (have seen bulbs get bulging 'pimples' on the sides) and even crack and explode.
You would be better off with relays.
Q: I have a 3rd Generation Executive, and I want to fit the parabolic headlamps to get
better lighting - would these help?
A: NO, NO, NO! The parabolic headlamps are a very poor design, basically designed for the
export market (they are a flat beam cutoff, so they are usable for LHD/RHD). They are
manufactured by Stanley (the standard executive headlamps are manufactured by Hella).
The parabolics also are not 'E' marked - so are technically very shady under our ADR's. They
are DOT reflectors, so the pattern is very poor, with very bright foreground lighting
(giving the illusion of better lighting, but actually reducing your long distance vision)
and giving a wide angle dispersion of light for the high beam - which also is very poor for
long distance vision.
The executive headlamps on the other hand, have excellent long distance high beams, and are ideal for highway/night driving.
The second generation parabolics are a true complex corner reflector, and are excellent. I
would be interested to know if they could be shoehorned into a 3rd gen. (Havn't tried yet).
Q: What about a HID kit?
A: Read the background information links on HID first to get some information. I can speak from personal experience with HID kits (and retrofits, which I will explain later) in 3rd
Gen headlamps.
OK - while you can get a HID capsule to work OK in a Magna Executive headlamp, it isn't as
simple as just throwing a plug and play kit into it. All of the kits I tried had insufficient shielding, and caused excessive glare to oncoming drivers (a lot of people flashed high beams)
As an experiment, I used two Philips 4300K D2S bulbs (3200 lumens), two Hella Gen 3
ballasts, some modified Casper's electronics Billet Aluminium shields (very well designed
and made) painted matt black, and fitted with a nose shield (to shield oncoming drivers from
looking at the bulb) it produced an acceptable beam pattern on the wall (no glare) and a
beam pattern with a lot of hotspots.
Properly aimed, it was not glaring to other drivers, but the amount of shielding required to
produce a safe(ish) beam meant that a lot of the output of the bulb was lost, meaning that
the increase in output was not at all worth the effort.
Apart from the colour, its output level was indistinguishable from a Philips Rally overwatt bulbs, with relay, and the beam pattern from the Philips Rally was better, not to mention the fact that you still have two
high beam filaments!
And for those with parabolic headlamps - a H7 kit does not fit. The return wire (at up to
25,000V potential) touches the glare shield. First time you power the bulbs up, you risk a
fire at worst, and blowing your $500+ HID kit at best.
Not recommended - don't waste your money, especially on a high kelvin (>5000K kit).
Q: Whats this about a HID retrofit?
A: A HID retrofit takes all of the parts out of a car with OEM xenon (in the magnas case, an Audi TT or BMW 3 Series E46) including the reflector/shield/lens assembly (a projector), bulb and ballast, and mounting it in place of the OEM magna headlamp reflector.
This is a time consuming and quite frustrating procedure, and must be done with great care
so that there is not glare produced for other drivers, and that the headlamp can still be
aimed, and is level. It can be done with 3rd generation Parabolics, either single piece
(polycarb lens) or two piece.
The result is that they are almost indistinguishable from standard headlamps when off, with
the same beam pattern and intensity as the donor vehicle when on.
They are illegal, because they remove the parking bulb and there is no headlamp washers.
Possibly the best lighting you could ever get on the magna, especially if using the Bosch Bixenon modules (which use xenon for both low and high beam, and work by using a solenoid to move the shield, thus moving the pattern).
Q: What about custom headlamps with Hella 90mm headlamp modules?
A: Costly, but doable, and possibly (depending on your RTA engineering signatory) ADR compliant. This involves creating a totally custom headlamp, keeping only the directional indicators. Even more complicated and expensive than a HID retrofit, if you are keen, it can be done.
The limitations of this are the bulbs that can be used - the low and high beam reflectors are both H7, and designed for both 12 and 24V - the highest wattage from this would be about 80W for the lowbeam (as they use a plastic housing) and 100W for the highbeam (as they use an all metal housing).
This is the best lighting you could ever fit (legally) to a Magna.
Q: What bulbs does Mitsu use and where?
A:
Standard headlamp high beam - H4 55/60W
Standard headlamp low beam - H1 55W
Driving lights - H3 55W (They are actually Foglamps)
Parking lights - H5W (5W)
Parabolic headlamp high beam - H1 55W
Parabolic headlamp low beam - H7 55W
Verada driving lights - H3 55W
Parabolic parking lights - Errr... Good question - I'll have a look. 5W
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Please feel free to ask any more questions that you feel need to be added to the FAQ!
Cheers
Heath Young
(edit Tim: Updated with Globes...)
Originally Posted by heathyoung
Q: But I want BLUE bulbs:
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