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SolaraGuy.com • View topic - HID Center Dead Spot Fix
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HID Center Dead Spot Fix

HID Center Dead Spot Fix

Postby someazn » Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:56 pm

Disclaimer: By following this tutorial, you understand that modifying your HID bulbs will void all warranty and may cause irreversible damages. The original poster is not responsible for any damages that may occur by following this tutorial.

The other day I installed new bulbs on my car because I wanted a little more color. Upon installing my new bulbs, I noticed the dreaded dead spot that a few members here have mentioned. I did not have this problem before, so I knew there must've been something wrong with the bulbs. I searched the forums and hidplanet, but found no solution on how to fix this, so I took it upon myself to devise a solution and here it is:

For those of you who don't know what the dead spot looks like, here's a picture I drew in paint representing the light output you would see on the ground. The green portion is visible light, and the red portion is the dead spot. This is what you would see from inside your car:

Image

Now if you look closely at the drawing, the straight lines running diagonally comes from the return wire of the bulb. This is what is causing the dead spot. Since the lens on the projector is ridged, the dead spot becomes more pronounced due to shadow overlap. Had the lens been clear, we would only observe two straight diagonal lines.

Below are two bulbs that give remarkably different results inside the projector. The bulb on the left does not produce the dead spot while the bulb on the right produces the dreaded dead spot. I have positioned the bulbs in the picture so that this would be how the bulbs would enter the socket on the projector. Notice that the bulb on the left has the return wire facing down while the bulb on the right is facing up. (In OEM applications, the return wire would sit at the 6 o'clock position rather than 8 o'clock. Rebased bulbs suck!) Sorry for the blurry pictures.

Image

Now let's have a look at how the bulbs sit inside the projector. For reference, we will call the bulb without the dead spot bulb A and the bulb with the dead spot bulb B.

Bulb A inside projector:

Image

Bulb B inside projector:

Image

Notice that in the first picture, the return wire is facing down and below the cutoff shield. In the second picture, the return wire is clearly sitting above the cutoff shield. The return wire is sitting on the upper left hand corner, so how is it producing a shadow in the lower right corner? Well, with optics, everything is reversed, so the dead spot would indeed be in the lower right hand corner.

Okay, okay, enough with the science crap, I want to modify my bulbs already.

:drinking: :drinking: :drinking:

Things you'll need:
- 60 grit sandpaper or hand-held dremel
- Patience
- An extra set of projectors would be really helpful

Estimated Time of Completion: 45 minutes per bulb with sand paper, 10 minutes per bulb with dremel

Here's a picture of the socket holding the bulb:

Image

What we're going to do is we're going to modify the bulb in such a way that the bulb will rotate one tab clockwise. So tab A would sit in tab B, tab B would sit in tab C, and tab C would sit in tab A.

Here's a picture of the bulb with markings showing how it would sit, unmodified and how it should sit after modification:

Image

In order to accomplish this, we are going to have to sand all three tabs. Since the base is not a perfect circle, the entire base has to be sanded as well. Do not shave off too much. The bulb should still sit in the socket securely after this mod. Do this step SLOWLY. Patience is key! Here's a picture of what needs to be shaved off, in red:

Image

Here's what the bulb should look like after sanding:

Image

Now inserting the bulb, as described earlier, rotating one tab clockwise, the bulb should be seated in the projector like so:

Image

Notice how the return wire is now sitting below the cutoff shield.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of how the modified bulbs look on the car (will get pictures up soon though!). But what I did notice was that the dead spot was gone and it was a lot brighter. The return wire caused a significant loss of light. I can see so much better now :o

McCulloch Ballasts with 6000K Retro-Solutions bulbs.
Image

Here's a reference on bulbs I have tested. Letters indicate grade with A being the best and F being the worst:
Bulbs with dead spots: McCulloch (F), Retro-Solutions (A)
Bulbs without dead spots: VVME (C), XenonDepot (B)

Well, I hope that helps, any questions feel free to contact me. 8)
Last edited by someazn on Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby [SMAN] » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:06 am

While that is nice, there is another major issue, and that is the squirl finder. You are throwing a lot of light up above the cutoff right into the eyes of oncoming traffic.
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Postby someazn » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:01 am

[SMAN] wrote:While that is nice, there is another major issue, and that is the squirl finder. You are throwing a lot of light up above the cutoff right into the eyes of oncoming traffic.


Ignore my squirrel finders, I was experimenting with bending down the tab and as you can see, I did not get the best results. LOL. I'm going to do it right and tape them up soon.
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Postby [SMAN] » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:44 am

If you still have the lights apart, would you mind taking some pictures of the housing and the projector and the mounting points. It would help me plan my projector swap if i had an idea of the shape i am working with.
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Postby mazen222 » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:43 pm

thanks for the tutorial.

have a question... not directly related to this tutorial.
How do you get that cut off line? i have a gen 1 with hids but no projector... so the light goes all over the place... i would realy like to have this cut off line like in the picture, whick will also focus the light where it is supposed to be.

Is it the projector that does that? if not then how do i do it? if it is the projector, anyway arround it?

thanks!
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Postby someazn » Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:56 pm

mazen222 wrote:thanks for the tutorial.

have a question... not directly related to this tutorial.
How do you get that cut off line? i have a gen 1 with hids but no projector... so the light goes all over the place... i would realy like to have this cut off line like in the picture, whick will also focus the light where it is supposed to be.

Is it the projector that does that? if not then how do i do it? if it is the projector, anyway arround it?

thanks!


the projector gives the cutoff line, so you'll have to do a projector retrofit in order to get the cutoff line.
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Postby someazn » Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:20 pm

[SMAN] wrote:If you still have the lights apart, would you mind taking some pictures of the housing and the projector and the mounting points. It would help me plan my projector swap if i had an idea of the shape i am working with.


I'll get you the pictures this weekend, I have midterms coming up so I gotta deal with that first.
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Postby iinokturnolii » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:25 pm

thanks and good job on the tutorial!
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Postby PXLpainter » Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:16 am

Wouldn't it be easier to just get the other bulbs that don't cast a shadow? Just wondering... :think:
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Postby someazn » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:03 am

PXLpainter wrote:Wouldn't it be easier to just get the other bulbs that don't cast a shadow? Just wondering... :think:


Well, it costs about $80-$100 for new bulbs and thats just money better spent elsewhere IMO. I bought a set of VVME bulbs for $30 on ebay from a guy named mydepots, but he doesn't sell the bulbs anymore, just kit.s Other than the brands I've listed, I wouldn't trust any other brands.
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Postby Ruski » Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:21 pm

Great fix, but that beam is way to strong in the center spot i feel like i could get ticketed really quick here in Md for blinding drivers
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Postby Sebas007 » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:21 pm

Ruski wrote:Great fix, but that beam is way to strong in the center spot i feel like i could get ticketed really quick here in Md for blinding drivers


Re-aiming your headlights should solve this problem easily. There is a thread in tutorial about re-aiming headlights
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Postby someazn » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:26 pm

Ruski wrote:Great fix, but that beam is way to strong in the center spot i feel like i could get ticketed really quick here in Md for blinding drivers


I've bent down my squirrel finders and I've tested the amount of glare my car produces. There is very little glare (way less than before) unless the car is at an incline, but then again, any car on an incline produces glare. The more centered the beam, the less glare there is. Light scattering everywhere is an indication of glare (i.e. headlamps without projectors).
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Postby someazn » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:31 pm

Sebas007 wrote:
Ruski wrote:Great fix, but that beam is way to strong in the center spot i feel like i could get ticketed really quick here in Md for blinding drivers


Re-aiming your headlights should solve this problem easily. There is a thread in tutorial about re-aiming headlights


There is a different way to aim hids. The top of the cutoff should be aimed so that it corresponds with the height from the ground to the top of the projector. The driver side should be 2.1 inches lower than the passenger side. This is done with the front of the car 25 feet away from the wall.
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