2005 poor headlights options?

[Dale.E]

Greetings!

I have a 2005 Ram 1500 and i hate the headlights
the bulbs are admitedly old, but even if I got double the light I dont think they would be ok.
I have read now for two days on the subject and am still torn.
HID conversion has so many unanswered questions that I am slowly getting resolved but I am still leary.
I want to install a fairly basic HID kit, AC ballast 6000k 35w
but if I dont change out the houseing I have to use the BI-XENON 9007 bulbs.
These use some sort of electro magnet to physically move the bulb to alter the focal point and change high low beam.

This has me worried regarding reliablity??????

also I dont know what will happen to my daytime running lights.
I expect I will need a canbus adaptor/cancellor/resistor. Not so worried here.

i am fairly electronically sound, I dont mind soldering etc.

has anyone used the basic setups from ebay?

thanx

 

[quietpeen]

Check out retro Shop. He can get you kits to full blown retrofitted projectors.

 

[Graygoose]

Check out retro Shop. He can get you kits to full blown retrofitted projectors.

amen, Retroshop did my custom lights and does many others. You can't go wrong with his advice.

 

[Dale.E]

Thank you for the fast response.

i should have said that I cant afford kits for +300$ sorry.


I have over the last 10 years orderd thousands of $$ worth of electronics from China, with less than 50$ wasted. I have zero fear of this.
When I get all the facts together it works better for me to wait 3 weeks and spend 60$ and a day or so building my own wireing harness.

 

[moparman]

Thank you for the fast response.

i should have said that I cant afford kits for +300$ sorry.


I have over the last 10 years orderd thousands of $$ worth of electronics from China, with less than 50$ wasted. I have zero fear of this.
When I get all the facts together it works better for me to wait 3 weeks and spend 60$ and a day or so building my own wireing harness.

ive had good luck with hid kits from overseas. Right now im running 9007 6k bulbs with 50 watt ballasts. theyre just single beam but bright as hell. I run 4 50w 6 ohm power resistors with a relay for each ballast. No "lamp out" issues, no fried wires and theyre bright as hell when aimed properly. a lot of people frown upon putting hid bulbs in a halogen housing but when theyre aimed correctly, you wont blind anybody.

 

[Dale.E]

ive had good luck with hid kits from overseas. Right now im running 9007 6k bulbs with 50 watt ballasts. theyre just single beam but bright as hell. I run 4 50w 6 ohm power resistors with a relay for each ballast. No "lamp out" issues, no fried wires and theyre bright as hell when aimed properly. a lot of people frown upon putting hid bulbs in a halogen housing but when theyre aimed correctly, you wont blind anybody.

Thank you that does help some, I am hopeing someone can chime in on the Bi-Xenon bulb system and if it is realiable or not.

I want to build a system for real use, family saftey hwy travel.
but your right on with my concern of blinding someone!

 

[moparman]

Thank you that does help some, I am hopeing someone can chime in on the Bi-Xenon bulb system and if it is realiable or not.

I want to build a system for real use, family saftey hwy travel.
but your right on with my concern of blinding someone!

I had started out with bi-xenons in mine. they were cool and all but after a while the bulbs would get stuck on high or low. I had tried everything to keep them alive but once the bulb burned out i gave up and went with single beam. My headlights themselves are aimed almost directly at the ground but with the amount of light the hids throw on the road, i dont see the need for high beam as the singles are plenty bright enough. Are your headlight lenses hazed as well?

 

[Dale.E]

I had started out with bi-xenons in mine. they were cool and all but after a while the bulbs would get stuck on high or low. I had tried everything to keep them alive but once the bulb burned out i gave up and went with single beam. My headlights themselves are aimed almost directly at the ground but with the amount of light the hids throw on the road, i dont see the need for high beam as the singles are plenty bright enough. Are your headlight lenses hazed as well?

Actually my lenses/housings are in great shape.
This confirms what I suspected all along, the BI-Xenon bulb system did not sound reliable.
Moving parts in that setup seemed……. Wrong….. 

As I really want dual beam it just sounds like HID is not going to be what I want then….
Thanx!

 

[0212353]

The bixenon bulbs are fine. I rarely ever see a problem with them.

300+? Well......sure, for a full blown setup, retrofitted with HID projectors, etc. Not for a drop in kit. Your drop in with a harness that works with your truck is under 200.

Yup, far cry from $60, but you'd have something that works out of the box.

 

[Dale.E]

The bixenon bulbs are fine. I rarely ever see a problem with them.

300+? Well......sure, for a full blown setup, retrofitted with HID projectors, etc. Not for a drop in kit. Your drop in with a harness that works with your truck is under 200.

Yup, far cry from $60, but you'd have something that works out of the box.

THANK YOU!!!
in most cases the extra $$$ is well worth it for most peeps to have a drop in setup. but me... I love working on things myself
I restore vintage dirt bikes for a hobby, little fiddly things are what I love
and right now, after Christmass $$$ are a bit harder to find, maybe when the VISA has more room LOL!

 

[03MopaRamman]

I find the 02-05 Lights are Ok when Properly aimed and used with the OEM fog lights and for the open road to see the coyotes and elk or deer I fire up my 2 big Tractor lights hidden behind my Grille. Trucks to Ol to get a Nice JJ set-up. Sounds Like you know what you want and have the Knowledge base to Make something Good. I would like to see your results and Welcome to RF.

 

[Dale.E]

I find the 02-05 Lights are Ok when Properly aimed and used with the OEM fog lights and for the open road to see the coyotes and elk or deer I fire up my 2 big Tractor lights hidden behind my Grille. Trucks to Ol to get a Nice JJ set-up. Sounds Like you know what you want and have the Knowledge base to Make something Good. I would like to see your results and Welcome to RF.

Thanx for the welcome
Born in Edmonton btw moved to Van Island bout 20 years back.

 

[Dale.E]

Another question if the HID guru happens by again...

how do the HID kits work with daytime runnign lights?
is a relay needed?

 

[0212353]

most of the HIDs that are put into your application (ie, a single bulb) - your highs will be on ALL the time. If you buy a bixenon setup, bam........HID highs all the time.

Honestly, that would drive me bonkers.

 

[Dale.E]

most of the HIDs that are put into your application (ie, a single bulb) - your highs will be on ALL the time. If you buy a bixenon setup, bam........HID highs all the time.

Honestly, that would drive me bonkers.

So if I get this straight your saying the DRL in a normal filimented stock setup its the high beam filiment that is powered at 1/2 power?
and this results in the HID Bi-Xenon bulb being on and in the 'HI' position?

I wonder if I can work around this with a relay/harnes adjustment.

cause that would be unacceptable.

perhaps I could alter things to have the fogs on at 1/2 power as DRL and the HID system off.

 

[Dale.E]

Well I confirmed the last post, the DRL is on the high beam circut, and to make things worse DRL is controled by the ECU.
There does not apper to be away to disable the DRL other than to program the ECU to another country code. That is possible but I doubt it is reasonable.

So to sum up, Canada 2005 Dodge Ram 1500:
1) DRL is on highBeam circut
2) DRL cannot be disabled by fuse or relay
3) HID will have high beam on and due to high efficency of HID -blind peeps as DRL

Since there appears to be no way to make this an 'acts like stock' system
IMO HID upgrades are out the window.

Back to Halogen and poor lights.

unless someone knows something I missed......

 

[Cthulhu]

I know the 2005 is not a TIPM truck, that crap started in '06... but there should be a way to set it up as a USA truck. I know my BullyDog programmer can do that to my '06, although I don't know if it works on '05's or not..

A quick search on google looks like its possible. If you get someone's bullydog, it doesn't need to be VIN locked to do that.