DRL/High Beam LED Conversion Kit (Part II)

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SamirD
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LPSISRL wrote:The ballasts in my HIDs fit very nicely on the bottom of the headlight assembly with some double-back foam tape. Plus they were less expensive than 2 halogen bulbs.
I saw that and there seems to be plenty of space for it, but I'd rather not have wires coming out of the headlight aside from the factory harness. I know this will be a hard thing to do, but I think maybe some newer kits in the next few years might make this a possibility.
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LPSISRL
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I don't think you'll ever find a kit for that. The headlights are internally wired from a connector on the front that's only accessible if you remove the bumper. That's why you don't see wires sticking out the back of the assembly. You drill a hole in the dust cap and there's a rubber grommet that seals it back up. Looks very professional.
2011 Kizashi SLS CVT (silver)
2005 Honda Odyssey
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SamirD
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LPSISRL wrote:I don't think you'll ever find a kit for that. The headlights are internally wired from a connector on the front that's only accessible if you remove the bumper. That's why you don't see wires sticking out the back of the assembly. You drill a hole in the dust cap and there's a rubber grommet that seals it back up. Looks very professional.
But from what I can tell, that's only for a ground wire that if the kit is internally grounded shouldn't be necessary.
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LPSISRL
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Wires to the ballast packs.
2011 Kizashi SLS CVT (silver)
2005 Honda Odyssey
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KuroNekko
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If an LED driver or HID ballast is small enough, it can fit inside the headlight but good luck securing it inside the headlight. It's so much easier to simply drill a hole in the cap and run these components outside. As already mentioned, there is a lot of mounting space under the headlights. In fact, there is enough space to mount HID ballasts, LED drivers, and their capacitors with doubled-sided foam tape. I even took a photo of this earlier in this thread.
Having had the option to mount the LED drivers inside the headlight, I still chose to mount them outside to secure them better and for easier access if needed. Also, if you end up needing capacitors to stabilize either HIDs or LEDs, they need to be grounded to the car's frame. Basically, running components like harnesses from the battery or capacitors for reliability means you can't have a system fully contained in the headlight anyway.

Also, you can always plug holes in the plastic cap of the headlight. I bought a rubber grommet and cap set for this purpose and it worked nicely after I returned my first LED kit and went back to halogens for a while. When I got my 2nd LED kit, I took out the rubber caps to run the bulb wires out. Simple.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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KuroNekko
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Update:

After several years with the same HID and LED set up, I've started to have issues that I've narrowed down to the capacitors for both the HID system and this LED kit. I removed the capacitors for the HID kit after one side failed to work even with a new ballast and replacement bulb. They work now that the capacitor is out. I originally got the capacitors for the HID system because despite the HD Relay harness, they flickered a bit at idle. The capacitors remedied that but I've now realized having an optimal car battery like an AGM is really the best way to smooth out these flukes. Time will tell.

As for the LED system in the high beams, the capacitors are actually necessary as the Kizashi double-duties the bulbs for Daytime Running Lights too. The DRL system uses Pulsed Width Modulation meaning the current is not constant. This causes the LEDs to flicker due to inconsistent power when in DRL mode. The capacitors stabilize the PWM current and supply the LED drivers with a linear current so the bulbs operate normally. It is apparent that the Kizashi's DRL does not use a lower voltage because the DRLs with the capacitors are quite bright, almost like high beams. Now with one capacitor failing, I have one bulb flickering and operating dimly compared to the other. I think a new capacitor should help as the LED driver and bulb don't seem to be the cause, as of now.

LED kits have improved since I started this project but I also want to really see how long the components actually last. I'm now finding that my capacitors are the failing components, not the kits themselves. That being said, they offered several years of service life. Given new cars now have factory LED lights, I'm taking the opportunity to play around with the Kizashi's lighting as such a project likely isn't going to happen with a future vehicle's factory LED lighting.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
SamirD
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Great update as always! I've been following your project since the beginning and it's good to hear that the base components of the kit seem to be still going strong. A few years ago manufacturers were starting to make LED plug-in replacement bulbs, but they were too large for the Kizashi's housing if you wanted to put the back cover back on. I haven't checked lately since our Kizashi is needing a complete brake rework first, but it will be interesting to see what is available the next time the bulb burns out as it inevitably does.

What gets me is how the Kizashi is over 10 years old and yet it still looks like a modern performance sedan when side-by-side with the newest competitors in its category. If I ever get around to working my factory HID conversion idea (as well as all the other projects for the car), it will be interesting to see how that changes the appearance and perceived age of the car.
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KuroNekko
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Yeah, the LED kit market is definitely larger now and even places like Autozone are currently selling LED conversion kits from major names like Philips. While the drop-in kits are not DOT approved, they are sold for "offroad use only". Given that most new cars come with factory LEDs, it's just common now to see LED headlights in the 6000K color temp. The kit bulbs are also better now at placing the emitters in a way to most closely resemble a halogen bulb's filament. This allows the LED bulb to cast a light pattern more closely to the halogen's pattern, which is how it was designed to be. Indexing is another important aspect in which newer bulbs are easier to rotate within the headlight to optimize the reflection. Another aspect is that newer kits also have a wider range of operating voltage. Some work at 8 to 24 Volts while older kits like mine are 12 to 24 V. The lower voltage threshold allows vehicles with low voltage DRL systems to run the LED kit without issue. PWM still need capacitors though. Lastly, it appears that many kits now have smaller fans and heat diffusers so that the bulb can fit inside sealed headlights like our Kizashi's.

If anything, these new developments are why I would get a newer LED kit because though my old one still works, the light pattern can be better. I've wrote about it before but I have an LED kit in my motorcycle which perfectly resembled the halogen H4's filament reflection. It casts the exact same light pattern on the road but with a brighter and whiter light. I'm sure the headlight is also more noticeable to others on the road, aiding in safety.
Basically, there have been a lot of developments that make LED kits better now for conversion and because the Kizashi's bulbs are so difficult to change despite being prone to failure, it's a serious consideration for Kizashi owners.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
SamirD
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Thank you for the summary of the current state of things! You saved me at least 2 hours in research on the topic. :D 8-) Greatly appreciated as always. 8-)

Sounds like we are getting very close to off the shelf products that will be FMVSS compliant and last. :) And maybe they'll even address the PWM in configurations like the Kizashi.
Mjt
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Has anyone found any aftermarket headlight assembly for the Kizashi? I can’t seem to find any
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