Twinkle twinkle little star
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Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2013
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2001 CLK 320 coupe
Twinkle twinkle little star
Just had High Intensity headlights installed in my 2001 CLK 320.
Not quite as bright as I'd expected, but enough that I can live with.
I noticed a faint "twinkle", or flicker in the one on the passenger side.
It's faint, but definitely there. I was told by two different people that
it's somewhat common with H I's. Looking at the headlights at night, they
both appear equally bright, and the "twinkle" isn't apparent except when
turned against a wall from a dozen or so feet away.
Anyone out there have suggestions and/or comments, I welcome your
contribution.
Cheers
Not quite as bright as I'd expected, but enough that I can live with.
I noticed a faint "twinkle", or flicker in the one on the passenger side.
It's faint, but definitely there. I was told by two different people that
it's somewhat common with H I's. Looking at the headlights at night, they
both appear equally bright, and the "twinkle" isn't apparent except when
turned against a wall from a dozen or so feet away.
Anyone out there have suggestions and/or comments, I welcome your
contribution.
Cheers
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,781
Likes: 13
From: The Heights, CA
Tesla Model S
Just had High Intensity headlights installed in my 2001 CLK 320.
Not quite as bright as I'd expected, but enough that I can live with.
I noticed a faint "twinkle", or flicker in the one on the passenger side.
It's faint, but definitely there. I was told by two different people that
it's somewhat common with H I's. Looking at the headlights at night, they
both appear equally bright, and the "twinkle" isn't apparent except when
turned against a wall from a dozen or so feet away.
Anyone out there have suggestions and/or comments, I welcome your
contribution.
Cheers
Not quite as bright as I'd expected, but enough that I can live with.
I noticed a faint "twinkle", or flicker in the one on the passenger side.
It's faint, but definitely there. I was told by two different people that
it's somewhat common with H I's. Looking at the headlights at night, they
both appear equally bright, and the "twinkle" isn't apparent except when
turned against a wall from a dozen or so feet away.
Anyone out there have suggestions and/or comments, I welcome your
contribution.
Cheers
Please tell me you didn't put HIDs in a halogen housing. Blinding people isn't cool.
The problem could be a lot of things, loose connection, bad ground, bad ballast or bulb, canbus error (depending on car year), etc. Need lots more info as to what you actually installed to have an idea what the problem is.
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Joined: Dec 2013
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2001 CLK 320 coupe
H I D info
Hi Josh:
Thanks for the reply. Not being familiar with this sort of thing, and
not being the one who installed them, all I can tell you about which
lights were installed is, they are H 7 35 W 6000K, with canbus ballasts.
No, they're not blinding oncoming traffic. They're bright, but not that
bright. I had my friend drive toward me and they're definitely not blindingly
bright. Also, they're white, not the irritating blue I've seen on other cars.
Sorry I can't offer much more info. Hope that gives you some idea
of what has been installed. No, I didn't get the kit from ebay or online.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Dale
Thanks for the reply. Not being familiar with this sort of thing, and
not being the one who installed them, all I can tell you about which
lights were installed is, they are H 7 35 W 6000K, with canbus ballasts.
No, they're not blinding oncoming traffic. They're bright, but not that
bright. I had my friend drive toward me and they're definitely not blindingly
bright. Also, they're white, not the irritating blue I've seen on other cars.
Sorry I can't offer much more info. Hope that gives you some idea
of what has been installed. No, I didn't get the kit from ebay or online.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Dale
Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 75
Likes: 1
2003 CLK430
Sounds like you probably had them installed in halogen housings. HIDs need a hard "cutoff" vertically so that other drivers are not blinded. If you don't see a distinct line when you are pointed at a wall, you are gonna tick off some folks.
My recommendation is to take the car back to the installer and have them verify what's going on. Flicker is not desirable and may get worse over time.
My recommendation is to take the car back to the installer and have them verify what's going on. Flicker is not desirable and may get worse over time.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 2,781
Likes: 13
From: The Heights, CA
Tesla Model S
Sounds like you probably had them installed in halogen housings. HIDs need a hard "cutoff" vertically so that other drivers are not blinded. If you don't see a distinct line when you are pointed at a wall, you are gonna tick off some folks.
My recommendation is to take the car back to the installer and have them verify what's going on. Flicker is not desirable and may get worse over time.
My recommendation is to take the car back to the installer and have them verify what's going on. Flicker is not desirable and may get worse over time.
Unless you angle them so far down that they don't even light up the road, it's definitely glaring at other drivers. The reflector assembly isn't designed to handle the increased lumen output and new hotspots the HIDs create.
You will still have issues in a projector housing that is designed to run a Halogen bulb, specifically the dead spot in light created by the exterior electrode (or whatever the metal piece is that runs on the outside of the bulb), but at least the cutoff will ensure glare doesn't go up in people's eyes.
Your problem is most likely a poor quality kit, or iffy connections. If you want to do it right, get housings made for what you're trying to do, or go to The Retrofit Source if you really want to get your hands dirty. They sell a very good quality wiring harness for HID retrofits I highly recommend. Much better than the garbage DDM and other cheap kit distributors sell.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
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2001 CLK 320 coupe
Thanks Gents
Thanks Gents for your good advice. I probably should have done
more research before putting them in, but I guess it's a case
of live and learn. I definitely do not want to blind another driver
so I guess it's back to the drawing board and do it the right way
this time.
Thanks again for your time and advice.
Dale
more research before putting them in, but I guess it's a case
of live and learn. I definitely do not want to blind another driver
so I guess it's back to the drawing board and do it the right way
this time.
Thanks again for your time and advice.
Dale
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,178
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From: Los Angeles, California
2000 CLK 430
The flickering in my experience is due to cheap ballast, if you want HID and done the right way, you will have to retrofit them. Check out TheRetrofitSource. Lots of projectors that will give great output, but it does take some fabrication know how.
I have E55 projectors in my depo aftermarket headlights. I also changed out the detuned stock frensel lens to clear zkw eplica lens to increase light out put, then i tuned the cutoff shield so it is razor sharp like the s2000, its took a week to do this but the results are amazing, focused and bright with a ting of purple and blue right at the cut off, very cool thin line of color, but the bulbs are 5000k and pure white.
Also another tip from modding over the years, use a relay harness, otherwise your flickering can be a number of things like Josh said, but with the harness if there is flickering it is most likely the bAllast
I have E55 projectors in my depo aftermarket headlights. I also changed out the detuned stock frensel lens to clear zkw eplica lens to increase light out put, then i tuned the cutoff shield so it is razor sharp like the s2000, its took a week to do this but the results are amazing, focused and bright with a ting of purple and blue right at the cut off, very cool thin line of color, but the bulbs are 5000k and pure white.
Also another tip from modding over the years, use a relay harness, otherwise your flickering can be a number of things like Josh said, but with the harness if there is flickering it is most likely the bAllast
Last edited by CurYousGee; Jan 28, 2014 at 04:08 AM.
