HID cabcorner floodlight conversion

[GinNB]

I do a fair amount of work at night and needed a lot more light to be able to see properly so I did a bit of reading up on HID light conversions. A good choice for my cabcorner lights was a kit from VVME on EBay. 35w, 4300k light temperature, and H3 bulbs to match the stock floods on my M105S. It required drilling holes in the back of the flood housings because the H3 HID bulbs stick out about an inch farther than regular H3 bulbs. The kits come with rubber boots to make the housings weatherproof after the mods.

The following pix show where I tucked the wires under the cab roof and some pics of the lights at night. The views from the tractor seat were taken without a flash. One shows the stock 45w lowbeams, one the 45w highbeams (looks like no lights are on because they're aimed a bit high), and the other what it looks like when I flick the HID floods on. There's another pic (using a flash) looking at the front of the tractor with both turned on.

 

[RFB]

Very Interesting!

35 watts and real light.

Do you have any photos showing details of the install (particularly how you stowed the ballasts and modified the lamp housing) and information on the kit you bought?

 

[GinNB]

Basically, I just unscrewed the bolts inside the cab that hold the roof on, tilted it backwards a bit, and set the ballasts on top of the ceiling, dropped the roof back down, and tightened it up. I made sure the wires were tucked in behind the steel corner upright (shown in the pic) to help the front of the roof stay sealed better against water and dust. There's a sweet spot just next to and behind the post that looks the best to me. I may have to add a little rubber or foam weatherstripping to keep nature out, but no problems so far.

I thought I took more pics of the extra rubber boot at the back of the light housing but I can't find 'em.

The kit is the same as this one- Xenon HID 9006 4300K FogLight Kit Matrix 03 04-08: eBay Motors (item 350361503042 end time Jul-01-10 02:54:23 PDT)

You just have to tell them in the order that you want an H3 bulb (or whatever fits your housing) and 4300k bulb temp if you want the whitest light.

I used a 7/8 spade bit to drill the center of the back of the housing and widened it out a little with a dremel tool. I'll try and take a few more pics showing the tools, etc. I've got another kit to install on that tractor as well for the rear lights, and I'm going to put a 55w kit in two as-yet-unpurchased floodlights on the loader.

 

[nwngunner]

get your self a set of 6000k bulbs. The 4300 are more of a yellow light. How ever the 6000k are bright white. The color of the light makes them that much more brighter. While it doesnt produce any more lumes it is just different.

I put a set of the 6000s on my atv and it is so bright, i would do it over again in a heart beat.


To get a better idea of the blub color go to your local home depot and take a look at your compact florcent bulbs. You will be able to see the differences.

 

[GinNB]

The VVME 4300k bulbs are white. I didn't want purplish so I didn't go higher on the colour temp.

 

[Jaylegger]

get your self a set of 6000k bulbs. The 4300 are more of a yellow light. How ever the 6000k are bright white. The color of the light makes them that much more brighter. While it doesnt produce any more lumes it is just different.

I put a set of the 6000s on my atv and it is so bright, i would do it over again in a heart beat.


To get a better idea of the blub color go to your local home depot and take a look at your compact florcent bulbs. You will be able to see the differences.

If the 6000k color temp is achieved by applying a blue filter to a halogen bulb your lumens will actually decrease and be less than a standard non filtered halogen.

 

[nwngunner]

No, i have 6000k HID's They dont have a blue filter in them. Just bought a conversion kit that had 880 bulbs plugged right in.

The building is 40' wide, the car is a min of 20 feet long. My atv is another 70 feet at least behind the car. I ordered 6000k and those seem white to me. Maybe they sent me the wrong item. But i am happy with them.

 

[rswyan]

Natural daylight (ie. the sun) has a color temperature of 6500 Kelvin

 

[leonz]

The four bulb combine light bar from Northern tool is a great light set from what I can tell too, two forward spots in the center and two angled spots on the outside.


leonz

 

[Monster5601]

Natural daylight (ie. the sun) has a color temperature of 6500 Kelvin

Actually, the sun has a Kelvin of 5300K at high noon. 6500K is what you get on an hazy/cloudy day.

Automotive manufacture use 4300K HIDs for vehicles so equipped.