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Retrofit in OEM projectors

80K views 215 replies 53 participants last post by  BearL 
#1 · (Edited)
So I found some help from some other retrofitters at HID planet and asked if any projector would fit directly into the OEM housing without modification and the answer is yes! and you do not need to split open the housings! I did not make a tutorial on how to do this because it is pretty straight forward. My truck is a colorado but canyon should be the same as well.

The projector you will need is the 4TL-R bi-xenon from morimoto they can be purchased at the retrofitsource. Also grab some high beam splitters to make install easier to enable 4 high beams. If you already have a HID kit you can buy amp to D2S adapters and you will need to purchase D2S bulbs. The morimoto bulbs works great for the price. Having the option for other D2S bulbs is also great!

The oem projectors will come out of the cap holes with some time, the 4TL-R just slide right in.

If you do not have any HID's and would like to go with this setup, here is the complete kit nothing else is needed.
https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-retrofit-kits/application-specific/morimoto-retroquik-honda-accord.html?preselect=50457%2C51865%2C49468%2C47309%2C48188
It does say for an accord but everything is the same for the install.
You will need to choose:
Bulbs of your choice
High beam splitters are recommended
35w / D2s Ballast
HD Relay h11/h9/h8/880 (optional but recommended)

I emailed TRS on telling them to put together a kit just like this renamed for the Colorado but they will probably have to verify it first.




If you have oem projectors there is no reason not to do this if you want HID's I have done 15+ retrofits in my time so I am used to doing this kind of stuff, this is by far the easiest think you can do for a perfect and proper lighting upgrade. The hardest part is removing the headlights and bumper. took me about 2 hours to complete. Here are some photos:







 
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#3 ·
Nice! You say that the new projector just slides on in -- did you do anything in particular to seat/secure it in the housing?
 
#6 ·
Yes, I removed the factory projector and replaced it with an aftermarket one designed for HID bulbs. Basically to keep it short, drop in HID kits are the incorrect way to add HIDs to a car that was not originally designed for HID bulbs. You might think it is an upgrade but the position of the bulb and the way it reflects can actually put light in places it does not need to go wasted light (most of the time in the eyes of oncoming traffic) Also OEM hid color is around 4300K personally anything over 5000k is degrading night time visibility, there is a reason manufactures stick with 4300k.

Here is a quote from a very popular HID retrofitting website. I started doing retrofits in 2010, once you have a car with a nice retro fit it is hard to go back to anything else.

Now for the question about putting hid bulb in a halogen housing, you cannot do this. Any reflector or projector designed for a halogen bulb will not work with hid. the reason is the different ways the two bulbs emit light. Halogen has a small filament in the center of the bulb, whereas hid has a very large arc tube that emits light. The two require completely different optic design for the lens. The hid reflector and projector are designed based on the geometry of the hid bulb and how it emits light. This is why the oem hardware works so well.

Now if you decide to go with a cheap kit and throw it in a halogen housing, bad things will happen. One, there will be alot of stray light (glare) above the cutoff line which will shine directly into drivers eyes. This is very dangerous due to the angle and brightness of the light. Also, you will have areas on the road where there is no light, and areas with more light. This produces hot spots, or uneven areas of lighting. While some kits provide decent ground light, much of it is lost above the cutoff and never makes it to the ground. in addition, halogen headlamps just do not provide a wide enough beam to really put the extra hid light to use. For example, lets put an H4 rebased hid kit into this civic halogen reflector. Look what happens on the wall, the cutoff is nothing but a large blob, and there is alot of light above the blob where there should not be any.
SOURCE
https://www.hidplanet.com/forums/fo...formative-articles/1313-hid-newb-crash-course
 
#7 ·
The factory projector arent meant for HID use. They do work better than not having projectors but the light ouput off of a HID bulb (the way the light comes off the bulb) comes out differently than that of a halogen which the stock projector is designed for.
 
#11 ·
I understand the whole right housing for the right type of bulb. Been around this stuff way too long.

With that said, has anyone tested the stock projector vs one that is for HID?
Not in theory, or what some website says, test the actual one in our trucks? I am curious to see what the actual difference is.
 
#200 ·
I understand the whole right housing for the right type of bulb. Been around this stuff way too long.

With that said, has anyone tested the stock projector vs one that is for HID?
Not in theory, or what some website says, test the actual one in our trucks? I am curious to see what the actual difference is.
I don't have time right now to look through the entire thread, so did anyone address this? I'm just a bit hesitant to take the word of 'experts' that work for capital interest. Science (side by side experiment) moves me far more than blog posts that might just be cover to move more products.
 
#13 ·
So I found some help from some other retrofitters at HID planet and asked if any projector would fit directly into the OEM housing without modification and the answer is yes! and you do not need to split open the housings! I did not make a tutorial on how to do this because it is pretty straight forward. My truck is a colorado but canyon should be the same as well.

The projector you will need is the 4TL-R bi-xenon from morimoto they can be purchased at the retrofitsource. Also grab some high beam splitters to make install easier to enable 4 high beams. If you already have a HID kit you can buy amp to D2S adapters and you will need to purchase D2S bulbs. The morimoto bulbs works great for the price. Having the option for other D2S bulbs is also great!

The oem projectors will come out of the cap holes with some time, the 4TL-R just slide right in.

If you have oem projectors there is no reason not to do this if you want HID's I have done 15+ retrofits in my time so I am used to doing this kind of stuff, this is by far the easiest think you can do for a perfect and proper lighting upgrade. The hardest part is removing the headlights and bumper. took me about 2 hours to complete. Here are some photos:







What Kelvin rating did you use for your D2S bulbs
 
#17 ·
They are the XB Bulbs 4500k, best part about d2s I can run the night breakers which I am thinking about ordering. But the xb bulbs perform very well

Also, which high beam splitters did you get, 9005 female, and how many total, 3?
2 x Splitter: 9005 Male > 9005/9006 Female - Looks like you will need to order x2

Their website says this
(QUANTITY: ONE Splitter (Order 2x for a Pair) )

Thanks nwscoobie for trying this out. I have been working up the nerve to retro in a pair of FX-Rs but these projectors will do a great job for now. I am wondering...no issues with alignment at all?
Since they bolt right in there is no need for alignment, I have a pair of new FXRs that I was going to put in my last truck but they are 3" I still would have when this same route. Considering how easy this was. I wish there was a side to side adjustment but that is GM's issue.

I had heard those projectors fit and I'm very happy that they slide in without cracking the housing open. Ill have to pick up a set. I want to do some other things to my lights eventually that will require opening but for now the new projectors will be great. Thanks!
Definalty do it when you get a chance its so easy and the reward is worth it, You will have x4 high beams as well. I like the mix of halogen and HID for my highs.

Do you have a close up of the front of the light finished?
You cant tell the difference between them, It looks like OEM. I thought about doing a red eye mod but I will wait until the weather warms up.
 
#14 ·
Also, which high beam splitters did you get, 9005 female, and how many total, 3?
 
#15 ·
I had heard those projectors fit and I'm very happy that they slide in without cracking the housing open. Ill have to pick up a set. I want to do some other things to my lights eventually that will require opening but for now the new projectors will be great. Thanks!
 
#16 ·
Thanks nwscoobie for trying this out. I have been working up the nerve to retro in a pair of FX-Rs but these projectors will do a great job for now. I am wondering...no issues with alignment at all?
 
#47 ·
Should I use the Morimoto anti-flicker capacitor link also just for good measure? Also, how difficult is it to connect this set-up without instructions?

Thanks
 
#30 ·
Argh! I'm doing it! I literally just ordered some new ballasts and bulbs, but it looks like I'll just be eating the cost of the bulbs for now. Next weekend will be a project weekend with a brush guard and fitting these pups in.
 
#43 ·
The circles are the 3 screw locations and the star is the tab you can easily pop off in the headlight, best I could do.
Thanks for the pics and taking the plunge to confirm all of this! And you also showed off that you're playing with a Vive and I'm jelly. :nerd:
 
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#44 ·
Good information here. I've done retrofit before in my Frontier from TRS. I am bummed though to find the headlights in the Colorado aren't real HID projectors.
 
#45 ·
Damn, right when I thought I had settled and decided on popping in a set of Morimoto 2Stroke LED bulbs for the lows, I have to stumble across this thread and re-think everything with HID again. Definitely subscribed to follow some more progress of installs, but I am still on the fence between the full retrofit and 2Strokes to be honest. Plan on pairing down the road with some amber Squardron-R Sports for the fogs as well...
 
#46 ·
Darn...just installed my Morimoto XB HIDs a couple months back...would have preferred going this route. Oh well. I'll keep what I've got until I get the itch to upgrade.
 
#49 ·
I haven't had any issues with flickering and I'm without the canbus/caps -- running for over a year and a half now.

Got these fellas in today, so now Saturday can't get here quick enough!

 
#53 ·
Have you got around to retrofit project yet, how did it go?
 
#60 · (Edited)
I would add capacitors across ballast inputs or LED retrofits for that matter. The chassis controller pulse width modulates drive to the halogens, regulating filament voltage at 13 Vrms for longer life. The PWM frequency is 100Hz. That's plenty fast for thermal averaging of a tungsten filament but a bit long for repetitive dropouts to electronic circuit inputs.

Duty cycle varies as system voltage varies. To regulate lamps at 13 Vrms, duty=(13/Vsys)^2
At 16Vdc max per J1455 the ballasts will have to draw current from capacitors for 3.4mS every 10mS. 7400uF would hold input voltage ripple voltage to 1Vpp for a 35W ballast.

The typ 4700uF caps provided by the retrofit vendors are likely ok as the ballasts can stand more ripple voltage than 1V.
I would personally DIY and look for 10,000uF 25V 105C with a ripple current rating of 3Arms or better. Actual ripple current stress will be 2 to 2.5Arms. I wouldn't expect affordable caps that can fit in these small ballasts to be very happy about that in the long term.

None of these ballasts interface to canbus. The system wouldn't know what to do with them if they did. The system controllers that do things like PWM the headlights may communicate with each other over canbus but they are upstream of the headlights and would perform the same function regardless of communication bus. The issue is PWM and the resulting repetitive dropouts when applied to power converter (ballast) inputs.

See attached scope capture of low beam filament voltage. This was taken directly after start at about 1500rpm and 14Vdc system voltage.
 

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#61 ·
Good info Chuck. I am wondering. Is there a relay/switch out there that is voltage dependant which could be used to effectively "turn off" the DRLs?
 
#63 ·
Looks like you already did, am I correct?
 
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