Xenon HID upgrade

[cinergi]

My DDM 55W 4500K low-beam kit arrived today. Since I have no garage and it's 26F out, I haven't installed them yet. Here's a few pictures of what came with the kit -- note the gromet's different as is the lack of any double-sided tape.

You can get to the full-res pics here if you like.

I'll post more when I do the install.

 

[cinergi]

Done. It's not dark out enough to test, but I'll take another video of me driving around like the snow video for comparison.

It took about 4 hours. 3 hours figuring out the first one, 30-45 minutes fo the last one, and then cleanup.
The first one took me a long time for numerous reasons. First, I tried to see if I could do this without jacking the car up -- I'd previously gained access to the rear of the headlamp assembly by turning the wheel out. There's pretty much no way to do this without removing the wheels. Fortunately, I have a floor jack, so I grabbed that, tools for removing the wheels, and a mirror so I could see the jacking points. My jack is too tall to fit under the roadster. I tried a couple "modifications" to the jack to no avail. I ended up putting down a couple wooden boards and driving on top of them to raise the car up enough for me to get the jack under.
Getting the wheel off and whatnot of course was pretty easy (I swap my own snow tires on the Subaru). I found the front wheel & tire (I have the black forged wheels) to be exceptionally light.
I got the halogen lamp out no problem. Getting the new one in, however, proved very difficult -- which really ended up just me being unwilling to back out the mount screws more than the OP (MPT) suggests. Being careful not to back them out so much that they fell out (I don't have a magnetic screwdriver), I loosened them up quite a bit which allowed me to get the 3 lips of the lamp into the mounting grooves and twist it into position. I then tightened up (not too much) the 3 screws I'd loosened.
I also chose to drill a hole in the center of the cover like scott451 did. The wiring and all that was pretty simple. Locating a place to mount the controller was a little tricky (it's just a tight awkward area to work in, especially on the ground and in below-freezing weather). Pictures:

Wheel off

Gasket off (original lamp installed)

Original lamp (still connected)

Disconnecting original lamp

Empty lamp mount (you can see the 3 screws I mentioned)

New lamp installed

New lamp installed & partially connected

Controller connections

Final install (you can see the controller mounted to the orange behind the right clip for the wheel well cover)

 

[cinergi]

Wow ... my beam pattern sucks ... looks nothing like Alan's (below)

It's much brighter though.
I'll take some pics after watching Patiots vs. Jets I have a feeling I'll have to re-open what I did and figure out what's up :-(

 

[cinergi]

Picture isn't doing it justice, but they both point down too much, the left one is off the the left too much, and the right one isn't nearly as bright or focused. Anyone else have to adjust their aim or anything else after the upgrade?

 

[SByer]

Any time you have to do anything with headlights, I'd expect to have to do an alignment. Good luck!

 

[mpt]

I didn't adjust anything but I think the beam is too low down, it ends about three car lengths ahead but it is a fairly sharp top edge. The extra output just makes it easy to seem how wooly the original setup is. Compared to good headlights the output isn't even by any means.

Have you tried the pattern up against a wall? Should be the usual ___/ pattern.

 

[strider]

Picture isn't doing it justice, but they both point down too much, the left one is off the the left too much, and the right one isn't nearly as bright or focused. Anyone else have to adjust their aim or anything else after the upgrade

So here's my saga...

I first ordered the 35W 4500's. During installation I had to really loosen the screws and I didn't feel like I could tighten them all the way down w/o breaking tabs on the bulbs. When I fired them up the alignment was definitely off. I used the adjustment knob to get them pretty close. Then while driving I noticed they were wobbling when I would go over bumps. I attributed this to the fact that the screws were still too loose.

Soon after this Alan posted the pic and results of his 55W install. I decided that I liked the 55W better so ordered a couple of those. I was now an expert at installation and the thing I noticed was that I did NOT need to loosen the screws to install the 55's. I was able to tighten them down after removing the 35's and still install the 55's. I did have to realign them but my guess is that I ended up moving them pretty close to where they were stock. They also didn't wobble.

I attributed the difference in mounting (loosen screws vs not) on a 35 vs 55 difference. But maybe there's a QC issue w/ the thickness of the tabs on the bulbs? I still have my 35's if anyone wants me to measure the tab thickness. I'd rather not pull one of my 55's.

I would play around w/ the adjustment knob and also see if they wobble.

 

[mpt]

and the right one isn't nearly as bright or focused.

Ah, re-read your post. I see the same; the right seems weaker. I think that the spread of the right is different to the left, it includes more light sent to the right and up to illuminate the side of the road.

Left pattern: _____/
Right pattern: ___// (well, more so anyway)

At dusk it seems that the left is brighter but as it gets darker I felt that it was equal in the end.

 

[cinergi]

The light does wobble over bumps. I'll re-check the mount and screws, but when I was having trouble installing the first one, I compared the bulbs and the entire lip is thicker.
The cutoff pattern still exists, but the light within that pattern is uneven.

 

[cinergi]

Another picture of the poor output

You can d/l the full-res picture (words are hard to read in the linked version) here.

It's -12C outside so I'm not playing with the aim of the lights anytime soon

Found this aiming guide while reading up on lights, assemblies, aiming, etc ... I don't have a good way to do this, especially in the cold.
Regardless of the poor pattern, it's still brighter and serves me better than the old lights. I'll update again if/when I figure it out.

 

[vfx]

Finally got mine in adjusted properly. So far I only installed 35W bulbs. The coverage light is blotchy not smooth as stated above but now my mountain road at night driving is much more safe.
I can go a 1/3rd faster without wondering what's out ahead of the old short-throw lights. I'm finding that I don't even need the brights for light reach. They are more for lighting up the sides. I will be replacing those as well since seeing the side mean you can catch animals darting out a fraction sooner.

Also, the 3M scotchlight street signs are almost too bright. Makes me wonder if I really need to try the 55W globes.

 

[NigelM]

Tesla is offering Xenon HID as an option on the Roadster now - the supplier of the headlights for the Model S came up with them. They are apparently also available as a retrofit upgrade but I'm told the price is $2,250. Since I got the initial fix on my fogging headlights (there is apparently a better fix coming) I am more than happy with my current headlights; it's amazing how bright they are when they're not fogged up!

 

[Warrenbonz]

I am told that my custom order will be the first to get the new xenon headlights. If my car arrives on schedule (Sept 20) it will come with the standard headlights and be upgraded within a couple of weeks as this new option is expected to be available early October.

 

[NigelM]

Warren, once you get yours we have to get together one night and do a comparison!

 

[mpt]

I never thought that it was practical to do! This could be great assuming that the improvement is in the optics, they may be even better than the homebrew updates we've done. Can't wait to see the results.

 

[7racer]

I am told that my custom order will be the first to get the new xenon headlights. If my car arrives on schedule (Sept 20) it will come with the standard headlights and be upgraded within a couple of weeks as this new option is expected to be available early October.

Warren,

what build number are you? I wonder if I'm getting Xenons?
I'm #1400

 

[Warrenbonz]

A comparison sounds like fun Nigel. We'll have to post the results when we do.
7racer - my vin is #1437. I was billed an additional $2250 for the Xenon headlights and was told that it will be a paid option going forward which will also be available to current Roadster owners as a retrofit option which matches what Nigel had posted above. Congrats on your new Roadster; what is your expected delivery date?

 

[7racer]

I have no idea! LOL

probably in another 4 weeks.

I just got an email that my car moved to Factory 4. So probably will receive it in 4 more weeks.

Hmmm interesting that they would make this an option on such a few remaining cars.

Wonder what my chances are of getting the option so late in the build.

 

[dsm363]

A comparison sounds like fun Nigel. We'll have to post the results when we do.
7racer - my vin is #1437. I was billed an additional $2250 for the Xenon headlights and was told that it will be a paid option going forward which will also be available to current Roadster owners as a retrofit option which matches what Nigel had posted above. Congrats on your new Roadster; what is your expected delivery date?

Really? That's awesome. Finally they're listening to people and offering small upgrades for current Roadster owners.

 

[Alan]

Its great if they are going to offer upgrades to keep improving the car during its life (smaller, lighter battery pack with higher capacity cells next .

To be fully legal in the UK (and I suspect EU) the Xenon lights will have to be self leveling and include washer jets which may go some way to explain the aftermarket / OEM price difference.