Installing HID lights on your Journey (step by step)

[jkeaton]

Read this before you slap HID's in stock housings. 

 

 

[Exitus04]

25 minutes ago, jkeaton said:

Read this before you slap HID's in stock housings. 

 

 

I've read articles very similar to that numerous times... as long as you have the HIDs adjusted to aim at the ground and not straight forward into the eyes of other drivers there really isnt an issue... And if it was more, more car wouldnt be coming stock with HID option. Plus only older cars come with reflector housings anymore... majority of cars are running projector housings so it helps to keep the light aimed down if you dont have your high beams on... I understand the issue and most people would agree that when someone slaps 4300k or 6000k HIDs in a reflector housing on their 04 chevy suburban you WILL get blinded as they go by... BUT for people with the stock projector housing running 4300K, as long as you put them in and adjust to make sure the angle was not thrown off you will be just fine. I have 6000k in my dart and no one ever flashes their high beams at me to signal that my high beams may be on... But thats also cause i took the time to make sure the headlights were angled the correct way.

 

Lastly, I dont care what that article says... if you see the difference between the stock yellow incandescent lamp and the 4300k HID bulbs at night the visibility is 100% better. The fact that yellow light is better for your eye has zero to do with visibility at night and for people who wear corrective lenses (like my fiancee), my personal opinion is that its would help her to see easier and read signs from further away and be LESS of a hazard on the road. She comments constantly when we are in my dart at night that its so much easier to see everything with my headlights vs. her 07 altima with the yellow incandescent lights... and now her 2016 Dodge Journey... My opinion, is if you have an older car with reflective housings... DO NOT PUT HID BULBS IN THEIR, YOU WILL BLIND PEOPLE!!!! but for people with newer cars... Have at it! 

[Exitus04]

Here are some pictures from the difference in my headlamps before and after:

 

Before:

 

After:

 

I think i understand now more of what they were trying to say about the reflective vs projector headlights... I didnt realize that the journeys dont have projector headlights....

Edited September 23, 2016 by Exitus04

[Cody Chornobey Powley]

On 2016-09-23 at 0:18 PM, Exitus04 said:

I've read articles very similar to that numerous times... as long as you have the HIDs adjusted to aim at the ground and not straight forward into the eyes of other drivers there really isnt an issue... And if it was more, more car wouldnt be coming stock with HID option. Plus only older cars come with reflector housings anymore... majority of cars are running projector housings so it helps to keep the light aimed down if you dont have your high beams on... I understand the issue and most people would agree that when someone slaps 4300k or 6000k HIDs in a reflector housing on their 04 chevy suburban you WILL get blinded as they go by... BUT for people with the stock projector housing running 4300K, as long as you put them in and adjust to make sure the angle was not thrown off you will be just fine. I have 6000k in my dart and no one ever flashes their high beams at me to signal that my high beams may be on... But thats also cause i took the time to make sure the headlights were angled the correct way.

 

Lastly, I dont care what that article says... if you see the difference between the stock yellow incandescent lamp and the 4300k HID bulbs at night the visibility is 100% better. The fact that yellow light is better for your eye has zero to do with visibility at night and for people who wear corrective lenses (like my fiancee), my personal opinion is that its would help her to see easier and read signs from further away and be LESS of a hazard on the road. She comments constantly when we are in my dart at night that its so much easier to see everything with my headlights vs. her 07 altima with the yellow incandescent lights... and now her 2016 Dodge Journey... My opinion, is if you have an older car with reflective housings... DO NOT PUT HID BULBS IN THEIR, YOU WILL BLIND PEOPLE!!!! but for people with newer cars... Have at it! 

Your kidding right?  Educate yourself buddy. There's a difference between a halogen projector and hid lol. You sound stupid when you say just aim them down.  So reduce distance for what? If you have to aim your projectors after installing hid into your halogen projectors well that's an issue lol.  No matter what you say your wrong.  Don't listen to this guy.  Do not put hid bulbs into a halogen projector.  Don't be surprised after a while of using them if you notice it getting dim.  Bet you a thousand dollars your going to melt the Chrome plating of your bowls. You can say oh I haven't had an issue.  Not yet anyways I've come across this with customers. People like you who ignore the facts and think it's fine when really it's not!

[vozaday]

Some halogen projectors do stand up to it and have a decent cutoff.  Not always perfect but 100 times better than HID's in a reflected housing.  Another major factor is the quality of hids, low quality ones tend to build excess heat and can melt components, good quality ones are substantially cooler.  Plus bulb alignment is a lot better with quality HID's.  This I know you know as you do retrofits with morimoto stuff.  It is amazing the difference say between DDM HID's and Morimito. 

 

That being said, wow the glare off of the images 2 posts up is insane.  I haven't even seen that much glare out of any lights I have ever put in.  Be really brutal for other drivers.

[Cody Chornobey Powley]

Yeah morimoto is better than ddm. I used ddm in the past and do not perform as good as morimoto 

[NoXiouS]

I hope I'm commenting in proper place and way, I read the stuff here and still can't seem to find my solution.

I have a 2015 Journey with all stock lights.

I bought a plug and play HID kit for my high beams that also act as DRLs and no luck.

I bought the error canceling units and still no luck.

I get no light at all from either side.

I tried several different troubleshooting methods including switching ballasts, with and without error cancel kit, with factory bulb on one side or other, DRL on, High Beam on, etc.

Only the factory original halogen bulbs light up and I get no warning lights on dash display when the HID kit(s) are connected.

When I have factory original on one side and HID kit on other side, only factory original lights up when activated.

I'm so frustrated that I would actually be happy to see some flickering that would at least indicate something is going on, but nothing.

The HID kits just won't fire at all with or without the error cancel units wired inline.

I'm not happy with the light output of the factory original lights and really miss the HID lighting from my last 2 vehicles.

I've read many threads on many forums over last 2 years about this and tried many methods, but nothing.

Maybe I need a super special HID kit?

Maybe I need to pay big bucks to get it done somewhere?(I'm too poor to afford this option)

Several garages I have spoken to about this will not even attempt to do HID conversions on newer vehicles because it is too complicated and time consuming.

My work commutes are in the dark and I really want HID lighting on my Journey....

Help please?

[bramfrank]

First of all you can't put HIDs into the high beams if you have DRLs.

Second, the conversion is itself not street legal

Third, unless your conversion has projectors (and I gather it doesn't) then your beam spread will be less than optimal even if you do get it to work and you will be blinding oncoming traffic.

My suggestion is that you do it right, or not at all - if you want a plug-and-play solution that is brighter than stock and street legal and works in your vehicle may I suggest you install HIR (as opposed to HID) bulbs - you will need to trim one of the tabs on each bulb slightly, but they are almost twice as bright as stock, last almost twice as long and use the same power that the OEM Halogen bulbs do.

Cost?  About US$70 for a set of 4 from candlepowerinc.com

[NoXiouS]

Hey, thanks bramfrank

1st, that sucks to learn after the fact, but thanks and do you know why?

(curious to know exactly what I wasted my money on lol)

 

2nd, didn't seem to be a problem for me in Alberta & BC on last few vehicles I owned.

One was Ford factory(Towncar) and replaced both HID low beams ($70CAD ea) once.

High Beam/DRL bulbs never had to be replaced.

The others were working great with the HID inserts in both factory and aftermarket housings on  both GM & Fords.

 

Your suggestion, yes I want to do it right or not at all with the Journey.

That's why everything is still factory for now.

It's literally the first brand new vehicle I've ever owned in my whole life.

I'll check out the HIR stuff, never heard of it, I lead a sheltered life I guess.

*EDIT*  

I followed the link and I also had Silverstar bulbs on an older Towncar years ago and they were amazing!

Other vehicles on highway would flash lights at me.  When they flashed 3 or more times, I'd give them the a flash of high beams to settle them down

I'm curious and intrigued about trimming the tabs on connectors or bulbs.

$70USD with shipping etc usually means $300CAD by  the time you get it in your hands, but I may be able to fix that.

 

Thanks again

Edited October 30, 2016 by NoXiouS

[bramfrank]

The reason is that DRLs try to run the bulbs at half brightness and HIDs are 'all or nothing' devices, they can't be dimmed.

Here's a link to the bulbs and to the trimming instructions:

http://store.candlepower.com/hirsponeseto.html

 

http://store.candlepower.com/mohirbuba.html

[Mer Febbraro]

Your journey must be a lemon lol. My hid kit works perfectly fine. I bet your not running a relay harness. Bet you 1000$ .  It's either that or you have done it completely wrong.  I have a few threads on here of my build.  Proper way of using hid.  It's expensive but you can see why.    HIR is definitely better that stuff hid into our reflector housing.  

[NoXiouS]

Thanks Mer, I don't think it's a lemon.

I've read lots about various issues with conversion kits, it's great to hear that you found a way around it.

I'm trying to keep mine as much stock and generic looking as possible, your custom stuff looks slick.

The cheap HID kit I bought wouldn't work on high beam/DRL circuit and that seems common.

I got an error cancel kit and still no luck.

The HIR thing is very interesting and if they sold that at the Auto Parts distributor where I work part time, I would nab them.

Unfortunately, we don't carry them as of yet.  I'll be bugging the brass about that soon enough.

We don't even carry the Sylvania Silverstars that I was fond of before I got my first HID set.

In the interim, I was able to get a couple dirt cheap plug and play sets of Eurolite Xenon Fusion bulbs that provides a much nicer look and better light too.

Can't really tell much difference w/photos.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by NoXiouS
alignment of last words

[vozaday]

NoXiouS, do you have a harness with a relay for the HIDs?

[Silvestre]

emil4walker, Thanks for the info, was very helpfull. Now I know why only one bulb work on mine. I don't have the rely harness. My question is do I need a harness per kit or just one will do?

Edited January 23, 2017 by Silvestre
Especific person

[Baumrb]

Hey everyone 

lots of questions on here! I have another! I looked through a lot of the posts and don't think I saw it. So I also am HID kit- I have one relay set up for both units. One side will light and the other side was intermittent and would squeal at times. Now it won't light at all but the one side continues to. I got a new ballast as that's what I thought the problem was but same thing with the same side. I emailed the support for the HID and they are saying I need a second relay, capacitors and resistors. Now from reading the posts I'm wondering if just adding one capacitor would do it and maybe there's not enough power to light both of the HIDs. I have installed many HIDs in the past but have never had only one side not work when they are connected to the same relay. Any thoughts ?? Do you think it just needs the capacitor? 

 

Thanks everyone!

[email4walker]

9 hours ago, Baumrb said:

Hey everyone 

lots of questions on here! I have another! I looked through a lot of the posts and don't think I saw it. So I also am HID kit- I have one relay set up for both units. One side will light and the other side was intermittent and would squeal at times. Now it won't light at all but the one side continues to. I got a new ballast as that's what I thought the problem was but same thing with the same side. I emailed the support for the HID and they are saying I need a second relay, capacitors and resistors. Now from reading the posts I'm wondering if just adding one capacitor would do it and maybe there's not enough power to light both of the HIDs. I have installed many HIDs in the past but have never had only one side not work when they are connected to the same relay. Any thoughts ?? Do you think it just needs the capacitor? 

 

Thanks everyone!

For low beams, you should need only one relay harness, cap, etc. Did you try changing bad side connector polarity? Sometimes the connector looks like it can be plugged in only on way, but it can be twisted and blugged in the other way as well. It will not work if it is plugged in the wrong way, which discribes/sounds like your problem. Try it and let us know. 

[Baumrb]

Thanks for the response... I did try switching the comnectors and still no luck. I do not have a capacitor installed yet so would that be the reason? I do have one being shipped. I just thought that they both wouldn't work versus only one working

 

thanks again

[Baumrb]

My thought was that I would try to unplug the working one from the relay and then see if the non working one works... if it works than I'm guessing it must be a power consumption issue and the cap should help - if not maybe a connection issue. Does that seem logical haha?