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Adding xenon to megane

27K views 156 replies 15 participants last post by  Corkboy 
#1 ·
Hi folks,

I've just bought a new megane but it was ex demonstrator so unfortunately I didn't get the option to add on the bi-xenon headlights! The car looks brilliant from the front with the drl's but as soon as the standard yellow-ish headlights come on it ruins the look!! I've looked at HID kits but don't know if I would trust myself to fit one... Not the best at DIY stuff. Just looking for any advice on what I can do to get nice white lights to complete the look!! Pictures of any HID conversions you've had done and details of who done it etc would also be appreciated.

Cheers
 
#2 ·
#5 ·
That's not strictly true. You can legally fit an HID bulb and balast kit without the washers or self levellers so long as they were not manufacturer fitted. I had HID conversions on my previous Chevrolet Captiva and they were both very easy to fit and passed the MOT twice. I would go the HID conversion route- it's much less expensive than replacing the headlamp units with the renault xenon units and just as effective. The only physical modification required would be to cut entry holes in the covers at the back of the lamp units for the wiring to the balasts, and obviously finding somewhere to mount the balasts. With the H7 bulbs on the megane there is no cutting of the wiring loom or anything and the lamps can be reverted to standard easily. The brighter halogen bulbs are an option, but in all honesty, they are not a patch on HID for brightness.

Coup, I had orignially just fitted HIDs to the dip beam, but found even with the nightbreaker type bulbs in the mains that they made no difference at all against the HID's, and so added a second set of H1's for the main beam. True, they take about 5 seconds to warm up the first time you use them on a drive, but after that they come up to temp much quicker, but then that's not really an issue as the dip beams are so good. With the mains converted too, my car was like a works rally car with 6 cibie lamps, it was instant daylight. I do quite a lot of driving on country roads in the middle of the night on my way back from playing gigs with my band and they were just brilliant. The only reason I haven't gone this route at the moment with the Grand Scenic is that it is still under warranty and I wouldn't want to jeopardise anything in that regard, but they will be changed when the time comes.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Just to add to Noel's post.

You can get higher power regular H7 bulbs.The osram nightbreaker+ does have a less yellow look than the normal bulbs and is much brighter.About £13 a pair on ebay.
They dont look blue/pure white of course but are better.Mine,in the hi beam have lasted near 2 years.

I wouldnt suggest getting those "xenon look/HID look" bulbs ,you can see a version of them in Halfords.
They are just normal bulbs with a full blue coating.
The light output is down on regular bulbs and they just look like,well blue coated bulbs.They wont match the drl's.

One thing you can do quite cheaply.to start is to replace the sidelight(w5w,t10) bulbs with a white led bulb.
Dont get ones with no cover on the led's/led as they will put a haze on the inside of the lamp reflector.

Ones like these are fine
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/190778812323...9.l2648#ht_500wt_1397&clk_rvr_id=458738001400

and will put a slightly bluer white tinge on your dipped beam as well,if you still have normal h7 bulbs(very slight).

You could get the full kit from a HID equipped megane,like Ahmed24 has done,if you check his posts).Self leveling and wash wipe bits required too as Noel says..for MOT anyway.
A medium to v good electrickery knowledge would be required .
I dont think I could do it myself,even if I could source the parts.

The last option ,as you talk about HID aftermarket kits.

1.Legality in the UK. Im not sure on as it doesnt really concern me.You definitely arent supposed to be able to pass the MOT with a kit fitted since new regs came in there.
You wouldnt be doing the MOT for awhile and its comparatively easy to change the kit back to "normal".Just saying.

I have enquired here,just after cmas at our local nct test centre.. and the situation here is as it was in the UK before the HID regs were brought in.

This doesnt mean that either here or the UK you cant be pulled up cos you have badly adjusted/glaring xenon/HID arclights.
If you are considering them.Get H7R bulbs.The H7R has a special shouding to mimic the beam pattern/use the reflector of regular H7 bulbs.
Its not 100% successfull but reasonablty so.

I had problems with my H7R bulbs being just 2 mm too long and fouling the metal bulb cap you can see over the dipped beam bulbs.
I had to put in spacers. Other posters here have fitted them without such problems.

To be absolutely sure of fitting you would have to get H7RC bulbs which are specially 2-3 mm shorter.
Sorry for all the types,but its best to be aware.
For bulb colour..get 4300k bulbs,thats pretty close to the white you see on all originally fitted HID and drl's..

Concerns for other road users..HID is much brighter,but if the aftermarket kit is set up properly it should be ok even tho other road users may think its too bright looking compared to theirs.

What you wont have..self leveling headlights:
Even HID cars with those fitted as standard have glared me on inclines/going over speed bumps as the leveling seems a little slow to react.
Not a big concern.

Mist/rainwater with no wash wipe system.
The headlamps on our cars are clear plastic with a surface that curves right back.
I find normal driving is fine,but if going slowly in towns/slow traffic blobs of water can build up and because of the nature of the lights and light dispersal this can raise the dipped beam light pattern enough to inconvenience others.
I lower the lights if im going slowly in bad conditions for any length of time(with the headlamp height adjust).

Insurance considerations..changing to say an osram nightbreaker or the phillips equivalent would be just like changing your normal bulb,as long as you didnt change the wattage from 55w.
The position on HID aftermarket lights in the UK..Ive no idea on.Even if a complete original renault system was fitted..,common sense to the motorist should mean hey Im good.
Whether the ins co would see it that way if there was a claim and they werent notified of the "modification" take your own guess.

There is also the colour issue of the H11 driving/fog lamps.
Those you will also have on a lot of the time.They are angled down anyway and my HID bulbs dont "lift" the beam.
The MOTaspect in relation to driving/foglamp HID's seem less clear than the dipped beam.

The lamp glass is near vertical so doesnt seem to disperse the light with rain/dirt

Hi beam..no point in changing..who is going to see it.. and because HID bulbs have a comparatively long warm up time,it would be more of an annoyance than anything else .By the time the lights warmed up enough to have better than normal bulb light output it could be time to dip them off again

nb .if you were thinking of getting something like osram H11's for the driving lamps ,they are much more expensive than H7 headlamp versions.


edit:Most of my "light changes" are in this thread : http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=115651

Ahmed24 hasnt made that many posts so searching his posts should get his HID oem conversion easily.
 
#6 · (Edited)
:) well ok, I was/am going on the new MOT rules supposedly introduced at start 2012.
I hadnt read about it too extensively,just so long as it wasnt going to affect Irish cars !.

Reading around now and thru mot's that have been done in the past year::
1. certain regs have been delayed from Jan2012 and will now go from advisory to fail on mar 20th this year.
Lights were mentioned but Uk members can delve deeper .

2.It seemsthere is some confusion in a few respects
Some guy with a 2004 factory equipped HID setup was failed because it DIDNT have wash wipe and self leveling :(

3.All cars registered after 2011 with factory fitted HID must have wash wipe and self leveling fitted.(something about if the light output is over 2000 lumens)

4.If wash wipe and self leveling are fitted they must be working properly.

5. The aftermarket kits.apparently as you say arent reqd to have wash/waipe and self leveling according to some interpretations and HID aftermarket equpped cars with no self leveling or wash wipe are at present anyway passing MOT's at the examiners "discretion".
Whether this will change on Mar20th..no idea.

Presumably if the beam is adjusted properly,just like any light,it wont dazzle (most of the time).

Seems very odd/bad that some poor sod with an original factory non wash/level HID setup has failed and yet if he converted to aftermarket ones heed pass..(you are now entering the twilight zone).

There are it seems also variations between MOT regions, such as NI,Scotland and England :(

Im not totally unconcerned with this , since the regs are to do with EU directives and in Ireland we are usually pretty quick to pucker up if the EU says so.

By the time my nct comes around,if I still have the car Im sure some testers discretion at least will have arrived here.

One thing Im reasonably sure on, I wouldnt have been able to get a correct dipped beam without a H7R HID bulb.

The warming up thing,youre right on to an extent,it does warm up quicker if its not long since it was turned off,but there is still a delay.
On mine(dipped and driving) its more like 5 sec to full intensity if they have been used recently and over 10 from cold.

Still I may go for some 55w hi beams..never say never at least the design allows it to work like a tinted normal bulb until it fully warms up.
edit:The bulb would be unshrouded and not covered by a metal cap like the dipped beam(the only piece of metal in the whole headlamp :) ).I wonder about the logevity of the clear plastic with all that light and heat.
Another possible disadvantage is not detecting another cars approach on a winding road.I/we know getting a long blast from a car that fails to dim its lights quickly can be a real eye strain. A full on 55 w HID bulb would be real "hit me with your laser beam" stuff. Ill think on it further .

6 ballast resistors knocking around,(more ferrite chokes for the radio interference)
Forgot to mention that before:
On my renault at least there is bad radio interference unless you fit ferrite chokes around the output leads from the ballast resistors.

Gotta love the EU , regulations sans frontieres.

edit: The guarantee thing ,well lights are lights,its not like bulbs are covered .Power consumption should be the same.
My only real worry was/would be that the heat and light frequency output might damage the reflector and or the headlamp plastic.
The dipped one seems ok(touch plastic)
 
#7 ·
HID's run much cooler than halogen lamps as they are, in effect, small fluorecent tubes, requiring a high current input to start (hence the balasts) but thereafter drawing very little current. Most aftermarket bulbs are 35w. With 55w you could probably light the remains of Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon! I've never had nay of the interferance issues either, although it was a much bigger vehicle where everything was just a bit more spread out!

Quote: Seems very odd/bad that some poor sod with an original factory non wash/level HID setup has failed and yet if he converted to aftermarket ones heed pass..(you are now entering the twilight zone).

Were these light units retrofitted or from an export model destined for a far distant land outside the EU as I have never seen original xenon lamps without the washers etc? Just doesn't make sense. I guess the rationale is that if it's fitted as part of the xenon kit, it had better be working!

From the AA website regarding HID's;

Lighting
Products on the lens or light source that obviously reduce the light's intensity or change its colour will become a reason for failure ***8211; applies to front/rear position lamps, registration plate lamps, stop lamps, rear fog and direction indicators,

Headlight requirements are updated to take account of the particular characteristics of High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps.

HID headlights can cause dazzle if they are dirty or aimed too high, so they are generally (if light output exceeds 2000 lumens) fitted in conjunction with headlamp cleaning and levelling systems. Where HID or LED dipped beam headlamps are fitted the tester will switch on the headlamps and check the operation of any headlamp levelling and cleaning devices fitted.

The car will fail if a headlamp levelling or cleaning device is inoperative or otherwise obviously defective.
If a headlamp bulb is not seated correctly the resulting beam pattern will be indistinct and this will result in a test fail.
 
#8 ·
Well the vagaries of the regs seem a little strange .
The failed car was a 2004 mitsubishi Whether it was a jap import or what,it didnt say but the lights were the original.
It was in NI (Noel's neck of the woods).
Heres what they had to say about it. General googling should find the article..I didnt want to link the direct article but its from auto express.

The section on HID lamps is slightly different to the one issued by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) to garages in England, Scotland and Wales. VOSA’s states: “A car with HID lights MAY also have headlight washers and self levelling which must be checked and in working order if fitted.” The DVA’s states: “A car with HID lights MUST have headlight washers and self levelling...”

We pointed out the discrepancy to the DVA and asked if the wording would be changed so cars couldn’t be failed for not meeting regulations introduced many years after they were made. But a spokeswoman said the DVA believed its regulations were right and that the same test standard would be applied by garages in the rest of Britain.


As above this doesnt really concern me directly but seems odd :(

I personally find heat mucho ,more so than the 55w filament bulbs transmitting to my lens cover..thas just my experience.Maybe its cos theyre 55w bulbs,dunno.
The driving lamp bulbs are 35w,HiD but the lens is glass feels about the same as the old bulbs, but im not gonna do temp tests :)

The only other anecdotal heat evidence is :
Paul, "Velsatisfied" got a Rodius last year:
He got some effective lens darkening material applied.
AnywayI looked up a supplier of this stuff to maybe fit to my own.
On their website they have a warning not to fit it to HID equipped cars cos it might melt.

:) Im not debating or anything.. thats all I know about that.

Its possible tho by the time I get to do an NCT and maybe you for an MOT, things may have varied :(
 
#9 ·
The link below may be helpful regarding HID headlights - it contains a information sheet from the UK Dept., of Transport.

From reading it appears quite clear the conditions that must be met when fitting after-market HID headlamps.

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/dft-information-sheets/aftermarket-hid-headlamps.pdf

In summary it clearly states:-

.....it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs.....

The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked".

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and be self levelling.
 
#10 ·
cheers for all the replies. I'm defo gonna be getting an HID conversion cos the standard lights are horrendous. Has anyone attempted changing interior lights to LED's? I changed the interior door bulbs and one of them is working but the other one isn't... think i may have blew the fuse and I have no idea where to find it!!
 
#12 ·
I changed the interior door bulbs and one of them is working but the other one isn't...
LED bulbs will only work if they are inserted correctly ie one contact is positive and the other negative. If you insert the bulb the wrong way around it won't work. You only have a 50/50 chance of getting it right first time. Did you try taking the bulb out and reversing it?
 
#11 ·
One thing you can do quite cheaply.to start is to replace the sidelight(w5w,t10) bulbs with a white led bulb.
Dont get ones with no cover on the led's/led as they will put a haze on the inside of the lamp reflector.

Ones like these are fine
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/190778812323?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648#ht_500wt_1397&clk_rvr_id=458738001400

and will put a slightly bluer white tinge on your dipped beam as well,if you still have normal h7 bulbs(very slight).


My megane doesn't have sidelights apparently because it has DRL's which act as sidelights?! This is what the garage told me today when i took it into them because I thought the sidelights were not working. I think you have the same model as me, what plate is yours and do you have sidelights??
 
#15 ·
Lets see..
The 2012 model ,I mean a genuine 2012 model made after march 2012( a lot of 2012 models sold here were made in 2011) has drls mounted just below the main headlamps.
Ones prior to that,like mine had the drl(non led) mounted inside the headlamp unit just in front of the indicator.
These came on as soon as you turned on the engine,or not at all depending on what you set in the menu.

They also turned off as soon as you turned on the sidelights.
There are various eu regs around for the operation of drls..but glossing over that.
Yours may be exactly as renault says in a cheapness drive.:0 but there must be a sidelight position on your light stalk.

The drl's may dim when you hit the sidelight position and the rear lights come on also?
If so.well they saved a few pennies/pounds in taking the sidelight bulbs out and making the drl's perform a dual function.Is there a small hole in the headlamp reflector between the hi beam bulbs and the centreline of the car?


The interior led's.As bosco said they will only work one way but youve tried that.
My experience:
You have 3 choices
1.you can replace every interior bulb except the driver door bulb with cheapo leds and everything will work ok.

2. you can replace all the interior bulbs with "canbus" leds.

3.you can replace all the interior bulbs except the drivers door bulb with cheapo leds and put a genuine canbus 4-5w resistance led in the drivers door.

Why ? cos the drivers door circuit controls a lot of other functions, like radio on off ,lights,beepers n so on and seems to need the full normal bulb resistance to operate properly.

The original lights..I didnt find them crap or anything,even tho they are "normal yellow".
The nightbreakers did,as in my last car provide a really big improvement .

The HID/arclite,whatever you want to call them do burn a path and in a quest for "white lightning" they will supply what you need but it isnt ,fire it up and good to go,especially considering all the legal implications^^^.

I mean Im sure if I contacted our motoring authorities and asked for a definitive ruling on my fitments(on behalf of the local "wide boys club") Id get a dark blue knock on the door .
Im happy to live in what is at present a "grey area" here.

The UK,well youve seen the previous posts.
 
#14 ·
Who knew there was so much legislation about lamps. I guess at the end of the day you pay your money and take your chance. I was never questioned at 2 MOTs at different garages. Likewise, I'm not keen on perpetuating a debate that seems to be based on contradictory information from multiple sources. It would seem that so long as the lights work, you may well be okay.

In my experience, you are more likely to be dazzled by a poorly fitted or aimed halogen bulb on a poorly maintained standard car than anything else! :eek:
 
#16 ·
Mine is the one with the led drl's mounted below the headlight unit and when the lighting is switched to sidelight position in the car the drl's dim and the back lights come on. There are bulbs in the front but they're just not connected to anything was basically what the guy at renault said.

I'll buy the canbus led's and hopefully that will sort my door problem! Do you know if there are any guides on here on how to fit led's to all the interior lights??

I'm running out of ideas to mod the car now... debadged it, getting the windows tinted and changing the lights. I want to get it chipped as well but I haven't looked into that yet.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Led's to interior lights.They are all pretty much as easy to remove as the door ones ,with a little bit of wiggling to see which way the unit comes out easiest.
Theyre all the same type of bulb.. 8 or 9 of them.
The glovebox one is slightly trickier, but youll get it.

There is no chipping as such.. you either get a tuning box or a remap.
The advantages/disadvantages of those,considering guarantee and everything else are mostly found in the tuning and modding sections.
Ive done a bit of appearance modding on mine and posted a bit about it springs(mild),the lights,the wheels some exterior ..heh all the usual stuff really, while still hoping to have guarantee comeback.Something like chopping the roof would probably be pushing it.

Hey debadged ..got any pics? you can post em up in my mottah or maybe showcase forum.. or here if you want to wait till its "finished"
 
#19 ·
Bought philips diamond vision bulbs for the car - superb! Crisp white look that matches the drl's without paying a bomb for HID conversion!! Would 100% recommend them. Also put LED bulbs in all the interior lights (except the glove box cos i have no idea how to get it out!) and the registration plate lights.
 
#23 ·
I've got standard bulbs in my grand scenic and the view of the road is fine, even in unlit country roads.
Make sure your bulbs are correctly fitted and lights correctly aligned and you'll be fine. All you're going to get with hid kits is grief from the police and mot failures for misalignment.
 
#27 ·
#29 ·
Penny dropped :grin2:

"his kits...."
"hit kit....."

HID is the word you are looking for Corky :laugh:

Same problem with HID blubs in reflectors that are not designed for them, doesn't matter if normal headlamps of projectors.... Focus may be wrong, light scatter, dazzle other drivers.
And need to add ballasts for the lights to work plus washers etc if you really want to stay within law
 
#30 · (Edited)
This is what confuses me some new cars including the new Kadjar have the hid kit fitted to them and no sign of a washer or headlight cleaning system put in place I was reading my user mannual and the hid is a option for my car only for projector lamps by the Time I am finhsed the lamps will be set and focuses the same I did when i fitted the bright h7
 
#33 ·
The cars with the optional hid lights have completely different light units and wiring as well as bulbs. What you're proposing is just whack a kit into the ordinary light unit, it simply won't work properly and comply with regulations.
My mate fitted a kit to his Kia projector lights and sure they looked cool but no matter what he tried, he couldn't stop them dazzling people and failing it's mot test.
If you're desperate to have bright modern lights it's going to cost you to do it properly...
 
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