Cascade Crew

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject: New Lights...

Well, housings anyway.

I bought two pair of these housings by Pilot. They list for over $50/pair, but I found them new on Amazon for $21/pair + S&H. Should have them before the weekend.

http://www.pilotautomotive.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=27438&PCID=1070

Now I need to upgrade the harness and get some 9003 H3 bulbs.

'92 camaro boss · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject:

Those are pretty nifty Al, i might have to pick up a set sometime soon

Twilightoptics · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:51 pm Post subject:

Wow. When you get them in get pictures of the "accent ring" If they look good I'll be buying a set. They MUST have a better pattern than the cheapo's I got off eBay. Since I wired the halo in already I'd like to keep that feature.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject:

Will an H4 fit in an H3 housing?
My Foglights have H3 bulbs. LOL Heads are H4

Al Hasse · Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject:

The 9003 bulbs can be replaced by H4 bulbs. According to these guys...

http://www.truckpartsproshop.com/9003_halogen_bulbs.html#

I'm waiting until the housings get here first before I decide on anything like that.

My fog & driving lights are also H3, I think the Pilot page has a misprint. I think only the 9003 bulbs will fit the housings.

Al Hasse · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

They came in today, all plastic but pretty good quality - I would have preferred glass with a glass or metal housing, but oh well Shrug

There's no way these will fit without modifying the buckets, but I expected that. I already botched the first bucket, so I'll be off tomorrow to get some more from the JY. What is the best way to modify the buckets? The only interference is from the two halo lights on the back of the housing.

The ring is pretty neat, the reflector is held away from the lens and the bulbs that power the halo reflect off the back side of the reflector.

Here's what they look like...

Back side

Front

Halo without color gel cap on bulbs

As soon as I ordered these and depleted the stock Amazon had, they replenished with 4 more pair (or so the site says), but now they go for $42/pair - Guess I got lucky, and I can't find them for much less.

85 T/A WS6 · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

If its Chinese made, it will last a year before breakdown.
Then when you cant see at night you will go back to OEM

izcain · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject:

Gee those look mighty familiar lol I found mine on ebay a year or so ago and got them for really cheap but they guy has since caught on and raised his price quite a bit!

Al Hasse · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject:

mrpopo573 · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:21 am Post subject:

I remember when we discussed the evils of chinese housings, of which I have owned many. My ebay cheapos are glass with a molded plastic body.

Isn't all this stuff the same until you purchase something extremely more expensive? I like what you got Al, I just thought everyone was all hating on this stuff last time I brought it up.

Here are some Neolites made in India I got last year off of Ebay. Factory style glass design:

Twilightoptics · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:36 am Post subject:

Al Hasse · Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:50 pm Post subject:

I already need another pair. I was pulling the connector off the back of one and the light got away from me and hit the driveway Mad

I do have everything wired and ready to go except the halos, I'm going to wire those to come on with the park lights and out with the headlights, depending if I use the color gels or not. I intend to use the wiring I put in to make the driving lights DRLs, then all I have to do is move a couple of relay turn on/turn off leads Cool

Had the lights hooked up and on for a few minutes with the high beams on - as I thought, the switch won't take the current, so in went a couple of more relays and fuses.

I figured out all I needed to do was make the hole in the back of the buckets bigger to allow for the rubber boot and for the body to seat. The connector also needs to be re pinned, although I was told otherwise by a salesman (plug & play).

Heres my bucket mod, though the halo connectors still have some pressure on them, but that's where the bucket contacts the header bar for adjustment.

One of the lights I need to re seal, I took the lens off to show how the halo works, a 2-piece reflector with 2 194 bulbs in behind.

Al Hasse · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

I hooked them up tonight and they looked great for a while. I installed two relays with fuses (one for each circuit) and used the existing wiring (stupid Embarassed

). After a couple of minutes on high, the lights went out, flipped to low and they were OK. Checked under the hood, and the fuse in the high beam circuit had not only blown, but melted. I used the relays and fuses for fog lights (a partial harness), but forgot to calculate what size fuse was necessary for the circuit.

High beams are 60 watts apiece, multiplied by 4 for 240 watts and using 14 volts for power, I need 17.5 amps for fusing. So 20 amps it will be instead of the 15 amp fuse the harness came with. No wonder the thing melted away. I'm also building a new harness with a bit larger wire from relays to lights.

Magman · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject:

Sounds like something I'd do. Me and electronics dont get along.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:48 pm Post subject:

Relays are your friend.

APC Makes an inexpensive H4 relay wiring kit. Pretty easy to hook up. I did upgrade the input wire though.

Al Hasse · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject:

Already had relays in there, just not enough fuse for the highs and not a heavy enough wire. I've already built a harness, probably paid more than the APC sells for with the excess material and whatnot. I just need to recheck the pins before installation - already found a high and low wire switched around Embarassed

Al Hasse · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject:

They're all hooked up and working now. Just one more wire I need to ad for the halos, the come on when I switch from low to high beams, I might switch it up and leave them on with the low beams. I decided against any color for the halos for now because the colors included with the lights don't go well with the car (red, green, blue).

Some daytime pics - the highs are so bright that they fooled the camera and under exposed the picture a bit.

cameron7710 · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject:

nice

blue89 · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:46 am Post subject:

Looks good!

aaron_sK · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:13 am Post subject:

I'm blind! Shocked

Looks good though Al. Funny how it nuked your camera.