copyright 1998-2018 by Mark Verboom
ipv6 ready RSS Feed Schakel naar Nederlands

Go back to Opel Speedster 2.2 16v

HID Xenon

In december there was a group by for HID Xenon kits on Seloc through Elise shop. This is a High Intensity Discharge Xenon kit, a replacement for the standard bulbs. These bulbs produce significantly more light than the standard bulbs.

The kit looks like this.

img
Everthing in a neat little box.
img
All the parts.

This kit is for the Elise S2 but can also be used for the Speedster. The kit contains the following parts:

  • 1 x installation manual for the Elise S2
  • 2 x Ballast and starter
  • 2 x Xenon bulb
  • 1 x set of tiewraps
  • 1 x set of screws
The idea behind all these components is that the starter unit (the littble black box) generates a high voltage to initiate the discharge in the bulb. The ballast unit takes care of providing a continuous high voltage to run the bulbs. The starter generates a very high voltage (the ballast too, but a lot lower), so be careful with these components.

Installing the kit is a two part job. First the lightunits need to be wired. After that the ballast and starter need to be installed in the car.
We'll start with the lightunits. These have to be removed from the car. It is very handy to have a ratcheting spanner 13 for this. It saves a lot of trouble and time getting the nut loose (it is a nyloc nut, so it is tight till the end of the bolt). Disconnect all wires and take the units to a place where you can work on them in peace.

img
Units removed from the car.
img
The rear is where it all happens.

The low beam lights have to be replaced by the xenon bulbs. This is the bulb behind the lid near the H1 label.

img

Remove the lid.

img

Remove the 12V connectors from the bulb.

img

Unclip the bulb from the holder.

img

Remove the light from the fitting. Take care not to touch the glass of the bulb, that will significantly shorten the life of the bulb (if you want to use them after the conversion that is).

img

I wanted to make sure that I could replace the xenon blubs with the original bulbs without special tools. If one would stop working and I would be in a situation where I can't arrange for a new one, I can atleast get some light back on the car. Therefore I choose to make an extention cable for the 12V supply. The disadvantage of this is that you have to use extra connectors, which theoretically can lead to a higher chance of faults in the system.

Make sure you have some wire (preferably in two colors) to make the extention cable.

img

To get the wires to the outside of the unit we use the air vent pipe (thanks to Stev6 for that idea). Remove the vent from the unit.

img

Pull the two wires through the pipe.

img

Pull the two wires through the unit.

img

Put the pipe back on the unit.

img

Strip both ends of the wires.

img

Crimp a connector plug on each wire.

img img

Connect those two connectors with the ones that were on the original bulb.

img

Insulate the connectors with insolationtape.

img

Put the cables inside the lamp. You won't need these untill you want to place the original lights back in the unit.

img

Get the xenon bulb from it's container. Take care not to touch the glass.

img

Place the bulb in the fitting.

img

Put the clip back in place. The base of the bulb is a bit thicker, which can make this difficult. Best option seems to be to hook the clipends together so they stay in place.

img

Join the clips together with a tiewrap so they can't get loose. And cut the end of the tiewrap.

img img

Now we have to make a hole in the cap to put the wires from the blub through. I used a speeddrill 12 and 14 for this. Started off with 12 and enlarged with 14.

img img
img img

Pull the connectors through the hole in the cap.

img

Push the little cap attached to tie wires in the big cap.

img

The unit is now ready.

img

Do the other unit the same way.

img

Now part two of the installation can start, the part on the car itself.
Remove the front wheel.

img

Remove the screws and plugs keeping the inner lining in place and remove the inner lining.

img img
img img

Figure out where you want to put the ballast and starter on the panel that is behind the liner.

img

For the starter you can use the hole that is allready there. For the ballast you will have to drill three holes.

img

Use stainless steel bolts and nuts to make sure the won't rust. Use a ring on both sides of the panel. Hang the starter and balles from the bolts.

img

If you don't use nyloc nuts, then use some threadlock on the bolts to stop them from vibrating loose.

img

Put the nuts on the bolts.

img

Drill an extra two holes at the bottom of the panel to put a tiewrap through. That way you can keep the wires in place.

img

Everything is in place and secured.

img

Place the lightunit back on the car.

img img

I've replace the standard nut with a wingnut. That makes it much easier to te remove the lightunit.

img img

Attach the highvoltagewires to the ballast.

img

Cut the 12V wires from the lightunit to size (I've kept them fairly short), crip connectors on them and connect them to the ballast.

img

Insulate the connectors.

img

The installation is now finished.

img

The bulbs use less power than the original blubs. But when the lights are warm and the need to be started, the starter unit can use a lot of current because starting in these conditions can be very hard. It is recommended that each light can get 15A. Unfortunatly on the Speedster it is not very clear how the lights are fused. In my dutch manual there is no mention of a fuse for the lights. In the english one it says it is the 25A fuse on position 14 that is marked as head lamps. Probably that 25A fuse is sufficient, but I'm going to ask the dealer just to be sure.

img

The lights seems to work ok. The effect of the xenon light is difficult to get on a picture.

img

After testing the light, the lining can be put back in place. Put some coppergrease on the screws before putting them back. If you need to remove the lining in future you'll be sure it wont have rusted.

img

After placing the lining, put the wheel back.
The other side is allmost the same. The difference is that at the top side of the lining there is a relay and fusebox. You will have to remove those before you can remove the lining.

img

First impressions of this kit is that it is a significant improvment from the standard lights. It is difficult to get the effect on photo. I can recommend this as an upgrade for the Speedster.