Hella 90mm HID projector fog lights (night time pictures)

[avidien]

I replaced the stock fog lights with Hella 90mm projectors and an aftermarket HID kit,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

these are super bright with a nice cutoff so no glare, here are some night time pictures

that's a black cat (shocked) about 150 feet away ( LOL ! ),
light pattern goes beyond the black cat about another 50 feet,
so about 200 feet total, give or take






install is slightly complicated, the stock fogs are
mounted to a black plastic bracket held on by three philips screws to the front bumper,
you need to remove the black plastic bracket first, then remove the stock fogs,
need to dremel to get the larger Hella projectors in;
then secure Hella's to plastic frame with heavy duty zipties
difficulty (I rate maybe 8 / 10)
but definitely worth it, the beam pattern is extremely
spread out broadly and uniform, no hot spots

 

[voldsom]

Wow, that's some pretty uniform light! So looks like total project cost around 90 bucks? (60 for the projectors, 30 for a DDM slim line hid kit?) That's cheaper than LEDs... The VLEDs I was looking at were anywhere from $130 to $200! (Granted that's for 2100 or 3000 lm output).
Did you do all the work just coming in from the bottom access panel?

Edit:
upon looking at the listing more closely, it looks like it's $60 bucks for one?

 

[avidien]

Wow, that's some pretty uniform light! So looks like total project cost around 90 bucks? (60 for the projectors, 30 for a DDM slim line hid kit?) That's cheaper than LEDs... The VLEDs I was looking at were anywhere from $130 to $200! (Granted that's for 2100 or 3000 lm output).
Did you do all the work just coming in from the bottom access panel?

Edit:
upon looking at the listing more closely, it looks like it's $60 bucks for one?

Hi voldsom,

The price shown on Amazon is $60 per projector.
yep, everything is accessible thru the bottom undercarriage panels,
there are two small panels under each foglight, once those are removed,
you can easily see the black plastic frame that holds the stock foglights,
that panel is held in by three philips screws, once that is removed,
it's pretty straightforward, swap out lights, some dremeling of the
black plastic frame is required because the Hella housing is larger,
but it will fit, I had to secure it with zip ties.

no need to mess around with removing the front bumper or the chrome fog garnish in the front,
everything is done thru the bottom undercarriage panels.

 

[voldsom]

Nice! Thanks for the info. Would have been so much simpler if these companies would just put projectors in as stock LOL

I know you buttoned it all back up, but it would be sweet to see a day time shot of the back of the housing, if possible. I am definitely interested in getting more light out of the fogs/eliminating the yellow/matching the HID color...

 

[avidien]

Wow, that's some pretty uniform light! So looks like total project cost around 90 bucks? (60 for the projectors, 30 for a DDM slim line hid kit?) That's cheaper than LEDs... The VLEDs I was looking at were anywhere from $130 to $200! (Granted that's for 2100 or 3000 lm output).
Did you do all the work just coming in from the bottom access panel?

Edit:
upon looking at the listing more closely, it looks like it's $60 bucks for one?

Hi voldsom,

The price shown on Amazon is $60 per projector,

note on Amazon they show both versions, the low beam versions have the projector lens and glare cutoff,
these low beam Hellas are meant to be used for main driving lights! that I'm using in the foglight location
(breakn)

The high beam version doesn't have the projector lens (see Amazon photos of both Hella low and high beam used together)

The CX-9 main headlights just doesn't cut it for me (not enough illumination), with these I supplement the CX-9 mains and I can see a lot better without causing glare to oncoming traffic.



yep, everything is accessible thru the bottom undercarriage panels,

there are two small panels under each foglight, once those are removed, you can easily see the black plastic frame that holds the

stock foglights, that panel is held in by three philips screws, once that is removed, it's pretty straightforward, swap out lights,

some dremeling is required because the Hella housing is larger, but it will fit, I had to secure it with zip ties.

 

[avidien]

Nice! Thanks for the info. Would have been so much simpler if these companies would just put projectors in as stock LOL

I know you buttoned it all back up, but it would be sweet to see a day time shot of the back of the housing, if possible. I am definitely interested in getting more light out of the fogs/eliminating the yellow/matching the HID color...

sure no problem, I'll take a picture with the bottom panel removed so you can see how it looks from the inside.

 

[xxxmonoxidechil]

Those look great. Now only if i could source a set of Fog light surrounds for cheap!

 

[phubar]

Those look great. Now only if i could source a set of Fog light surrounds for cheap!

Same here! $300+ is the cheapest for the whole kit and that doesnt even include the switch! Its right there with BMW prices, the alarm retrofit kit for my convertible BMW is only $150 lol

 

[xxxmonoxidechil]

Yea, the $300 kit doesnt include the switch, or the install wiring kit either. Which is another $149 i believe.

Id be perfectly happy just sourcing the surrounds themselves though. As wiring and switches i can handle with stuff im sure i already have in the garage. Well cept those Hella projectors. haha

 

[avidien]

voldsom,

are the VLEDS you're thinking about have those tiny little fans
in the back of the lights to cool the heatsink ?

are those active cooling fans reliable ?
if the fan fails , wouldn't the light overheat ?

 

[voldsom]

voldsom, are the VLEDS you're thinking about have those tiny little fans in the back of the lights to cool the heatsink ?

are those active cooling fans reliable ? if the fan fails , wouldn't the light overheat ?

Yeah, I was a little concerned about those fans too. They're rated for 25000 hours of operation, but I'm not sure about if they get splashed. The listing says IP65 waterproof connectors, but nothing about the fan. In addition, I noticed yesterday that they aren't recommended for projectors (probably because of heat). Although the stock housing isn't a projector, it is small, so that would probably be an issue.
http://www.vleds.com/h11-5k-mtg2.html

However, the $200 kit only uses heat sinks, says it's ok for projectors, and is insanely bright (I mean, 3000 lumen each?!?). They're a little spendy, but would be a huge upgrade.
http://www.vleds.com/shop-bulb-numbers/h-series/h11-vx3.html

Or a cheaper alternative to just drop in would be these. $60 bucks, white light, but not adding much I wouldn't think for 850 lm. Although the reviews say they are impressive for fog light applications.
http://www.vleds.com/5k-white-10-led-drl-fog-light-bulbs-h11-1-pair.html


If I go just the bulb route (as opposed to your Hella/HID option) I would probably go with the $200 kit and ask the VLED guys what they think. I'm sure if I took a picture of the housing and asked them what they thought they would give me an honest opinion. Always had good customer service from them.

 

[avidien]

Nice! Thanks for the info. Would have been so much simpler if these companies would just put projectors in as stock LOL

I know you buttoned it all back up, but it would be sweet to see a day time shot of the back of the housing, if possible. I am definitely interested in getting more light out of the fogs/eliminating the yellow/matching the HID color...

Hi voldsom,

per your request, weather finally warmed up and I got a chance to take a picture of the

Hella 90mm projector from the inside:

here you go:

as you can see, pretty straightforward, the Hella's are mounted using the original CX-9 fog bracket

it is not plug and play though, need to Dremel some of the plastic off to fit the larger Hella housing


while I had the undercarriage panel off, I decided to take picture of my train horn, (nana)

yes you read that right, LOL, I installed a train horn with an air tank,



it is LOUD as heck for anyone who cuts me off,

the air tank valve is activated from a relay off the steering wheel horn, so when I press the steering wheel horn,

the compressed air from the tank is released to the horn.

 

[voldsom]

@avidien, thanks for the pictures man!

And that train horn is hilarious!

VLEDs just dropped the price of the 3000 lm (non-fan, big heatsink) model of their H11's to 130 bucks, so I'm probably going to pull the trigger. I'll update with how the install goes!