Can you put auto-leveling HIDs in a car stocked with halogens?

[dirtyc]

I just bought a HID entire headlight assembly (not just conversion kit) off of ebay. It appears that the xenon light is on a swivel hinge because it can move up and down inside the assembly. I've heard that many cars that come stock with HIDs have a sensor that will control a motor that auto levels the beams. Obviously my car will not have this sensor because it did not come with xenons.

Do you think maybe I the assembly I bought will only work properly on a car that has this sensor? It is a Jag OEM xenon assembly. The xenon bulb, the lense around it, and what appears to be a leveling motor, all just pivot freely about inside the assembly. Even if I DID have a sensor, the whole set up just seems unstable. I seems like a bump in the road would through the whole thing out of whack......

I'm sorry if I didn't describe this problem well. I guess if I don't find someone who has run into the exact same problem then I'm not likely to get a good answer, but it's woth a shot

I'd appreicate any advice.

 

[justgti]

from what i know, not every car has an auto levelling sensor, but since u got it from a jag, most likely, the levelling at minimum will be a motorized one as u said, it has the swivel hinge...if u did have the sensor, which i doubt that it comes with the headlights, coz usually this part of it is integrated elsewhere in the car, you may still have to level the headlamps first manually..the reason why the lense if moving freely my guess will be becoz the motor may not have been energized yet, once its connected to a power source or something, the motor will stay at the position as it should be instead of moving all over the place...

 

[dirtyc]

if u did have the sensor, which i doubt that it comes with the headlights, coz usually this part of it is integrated elsewhere in the car, you may still have to level the headlamps first manually..the reason why the lense if moving freely my guess will be becoz the motor may not have been energized yet, once its connected to a power source or something, the motor will stay at the position as it should be instead of moving all over the place...

Yeah, the sensor would definitely be somewhere else on the car (not in the headlight assembly).

The part that *I thought* was a leveler motor is in fact an igniter. Apparetly I have a Hella Gen 4 HID system. You can see it in a pic here: http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-ballasts.htm has a picture of my ignitor and ballast.

Now that we know that the ignitor is a not a motor, I have no idea what part would keep the whole unit stable....oh well. Guess I'm just gonna have to install the thing and hope it all works out. Thanks for the help.

 

[justgti]

no prob..hope it works...i'm not a pro of the hid but i did meddle around with the bmw's headlamps b4, so i roughly know what ur saying =p ..do post up if u manage to fix the headlamps properly ..cheers =)

 

[Doink]

exp and hard to maintain in case the electronic item spoilt...i know porshce cayenne and lexus got it standard

 

[cacin]

I just bought a HID entire headlight assembly (not just conversion kit) off of ebay. It appears that the xenon light is on a swivel hinge because it can move up and down inside the assembly. I've heard that many cars that come stock with HIDs have a sensor that will control a motor that auto levels the beams. Obviously my car will not have this sensor because it did not come with xenons.

Do you think maybe I the assembly I bought will only work properly on a car that has this sensor? It is a Jag OEM xenon assembly. The xenon bulb, the lense around it, and what appears to be a leveling motor, all just pivot freely about inside the assembly. Even if I DID have a sensor, the whole set up just seems unstable. I seems like a bump in the road would through the whole thing out of whack......

I'm sorry if I didn't describe this problem well. I guess if I don't find someone who has run into the exact same problem then I'm not likely to get a good answer, but it's woth a shot

I'd appreicate any advice.

It can only move up and down? I got this crazy idea that maybe it can also be used to trun left and right (if you trun it 90 degree). I remembered looking at an advert for a car with headlights that turns as you turn the steering wheel. Probably, if you provide pic, some of the DIY sifu can provide better suggestion.

 

[jaylun]

The beam that comes from HID is not move right or left by the HID bulb itself, Actually its move by the headlamp reflector. For an example the BMW 3 series will try to adjust the height of the headlamp to its best position once u turn on the light. Even the stock BMW with no HID and only using the normal halogen, it will also have this function. it is a stand alone function.