delusional29 wrote:
I still haven't installed my HID kit yet, although I have all the parts. It's been below freezing for 16 days straight here in New England so I'm waiting for the weather to improve.
That said, coincidentally, my left fog light went out yesterday. So I might as well replace it while I have the bumper off right? Have you guys used any LED replacements? Most LEDs I've seen have heatsinks with fans on them. Will those get hit with water being so close to the ground?
I'm looking at these:
But may go with halogen if there's an issue instead:
Also, can someone confirm which daytime lamps do what? When I looked at my head lights, I noticed that the daytime lamps looked dim. On closer inspection I noticed that the bulb below the high beam was off (probably burned out). In other words, the daytime running bulb on top was lit (this is also the high beam combo bulb) but the one below it was not lit. Both headlights are like this. Again, I'd rather swap out stuff while I'm at it and have the bumper off. I'm researching the replacement bulb now.
Thoughts?
DeL
Regarding LEDs for fog lights:
Unlike the headlights, the back side of the fog light bulbs aren't sealed into the housing. This means that the fan of a LED kit would be exposed. However, the Kizashi does feature a splash guard under the bumper that connects to under the engine so water exposure isn't too much of a concern. I personally wouldn't worry too much about risking the fan, but I'd still go with a heat sink LED kit instead of one that runs a fan. There is plenty of space to accommodate a heat sink connected to the rear of the bulb.
That being said, I have HIDs in the fog lights given the previous owner had them that way. I've since swapped out the bulbs for Morimotos which are much better but I run the same ballasts.
As for the DRLs:
The DRLs are supposed to be dim, running on a fraction of the power that the high beams would normally run on. This is due to the pulsed width modulation which sends unstable voltage to the bulbs to keep them from being fully powered. However, if the bulbs look extra dim and aren't bright when used as high beams, the halogen filaments are likely worn out so you should replace the bulbs.
As for the little bulb directly beneath the DRL/High beam bulb, that's called the Position Bulb or Parking Light bulb. These only operate when the headlight switch is either in Parking mode or On. They don't come on when the switch is set to Off, unlike the DRLs. The purpose of these Position Bulbs is to function as a parking light to show the car's location while idling or waiting without the use of the bright headlights. These are of special importance in Japan where people turn off their headlights when stopped at traffic lights. The Position bulbs work to show that a car is present without the extra glare of the headlights. That being said, because we have DRLs, these bulbs are rather pointless other than while parked with the handbrake engaged. However, they are important during that because our turn signal bulbs do not stay illuminated as markers unlike most other cars and function only in blinking mode. Hence, the Position Bulbs are basically the only frontal marking lights on the Kizashi.
The Position bulbs can also be replaced with T10 LEDs to match the Kelvin color temp of your HIDs or LEDs. I swapped mine out a long time ago.
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