Nissan Versa HID install with pictures

The Nissan Versa Tech Discussion forum is the place to discuss Versa performance modifications and maintenance.
User avatar
williamk10
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 7:49 pm
Car: '07 Versa SL
Location: Richmond, BC

Post

Since I haven't seen one made, here goes.

H4 8000K HID kit

Image

Image

Phillips bulbs

Image

I'll start with the driver side first - Old bulb in:

Image

New bulb in:

Image

Cables connected to see if everything works

Image

The best double side tape in the world

Image

There is an obvious good mounting area for the ballast as seen below

Image

Cables tied down and tucked away neatly

Image

8000K HID on the left, Phillips bulb on the right

Image

Passenger side ballast installation - Remove the fuse holder bracket with a socket wrench to make some space

Image

Test fitting the ballast underneath the strut mount. It is a tight fit, but it is the best I could find

Image

Everything installed, zip tied and put back in place

Image

The results:

Image

Image

Image

I'll need to adjust the beam angle down to not blind everyone on the road at night. There really is nothing more annoying than a light brighter than the sun concentrated at you when it is pitch black everywhere else.

I'll have pics once the lights have been adjusted. If it is still blinding, off they go...or projectors here I come.


User avatar
Codelicious
Posts: 698
Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 11:05 am
Car: 1989 Nissan 240sx
Contact:

Post

Good write up. :DI'm considering getting HID's but I want to install fog lights prior.

User avatar
tata12001
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:57 pm

Post

Congratulations And Waiting Your tutorial for adjusting the angle of the beam,coz I need it so much , and I've posted a thread before and did not get an answer.And please post pix in the adjusting tutorial for the best beam angle and for the adjusting screw! coz I do not know where is it exactly.

User avatar
Atx_Versa
Posts: 439
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:57 am
Car: 2008 Nissa Versa SL

Post

Simple, yet effective.

Thanks for taking the time to post that!

User avatar
reyes1212
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:29 am
Car: Super Black '07 Nissan Versa

Post

There are two ways to adjust it, but end up using the same little white twisting thing that is located on the headlight facing the the back of the car. Just turn them while the lights are on and there you go. Adjust till happy. I should have thought of putting my ballasts there. I might re-adjust mine to be the same as here. Simple enough to find problems faster, etc.
tata12001 wrote:Congratulations And Waiting Your tutorial for adjusting the angle of the beam,coz I need it so much , and I've posted a thread before and did not get an answer.And please post pix in the adjusting tutorial for the best beam angle and for the adjusting screw! coz I do not know where is it exactly.

User avatar
williamk10
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 7:49 pm
Car: '07 Versa SL
Location: Richmond, BC

Post

I found the white knob on the back of the headlights. Adjusting the beam angle is quite easy. However, you must have a allen wrench as it'll hurt if you try and use your fingers. A few turns counter clockwise and thats all your should need. Pictures are below:

Original beam angle with tape on the wall to mark new angle

Image

White knob behind headlamp with allen wrench in it

Image

Before height

Image

After adjusting driver side

Image

After adjusting passenger side

Image

View from in the car

Image

I parked the car in the dark and walked halfa block back. With the angle now, it no longer shines into eye level. It is bright, but won't be a nuisance to other drivers on the road.

User avatar
feloniousmonk
Posts: 490
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:51 pm

Post

williamk10 wrote:I parked the car in the dark and walked halfa block back. With the angle now, it no longer shines into eye level. It is bright, but won't be a nuisance to other drivers on the road.
Gotta give you credit for even thinking of it, good effort. Unfortunately, while it may be OK on level ground, with bumps in the road and hills to crest... you're still going to be blinding people. There is just no way to avoid the hot spots you get from retrofits. This is why OEM systems have self-leveling and HID specific optics with very well defined cut-offs. The blue hue is also a magnet for Jonny Law. A 4300k system would be a little more low key (allowing you better odds in getting away with the brightness) since it's closer to Halogen in color. Proper HID capsules really should not be tinted like that. That's a no-no. Not a negative dig on what you did. It is what it is. I'd consider trying different bulbs.

Oh and somewhat unrelated, someone said in a different thread that HID's run cooler and poses no threat in melting plastics. That information is entirely incorrect. HID's draw 35w of power, that doesn't mean it's cooler in terms of heat as a halogen bulb that draws 55w. There is a electrical arc in the capsule for crying out loud. That's a lot of energy! Energy produces heat. In a halogen bulb, it's just a very thin filament heated up to glow. Much less energy than an arc. If you held a lit HID capsule with your bare fingers, it's probably hot enough to burn your flesh right off the bones.


User avatar
tata12001
Posts: 50
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:57 pm

Post

Thanks Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much Williamk

User avatar
superskunk
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:16 pm
Car: '07 Super Black Versa S Hatch,'06 Super Black Murano SL

Post

10mm socket will adjust them too....

User avatar
superskunk
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:16 pm
Car: '07 Super Black Versa S Hatch,'06 Super Black Murano SL

Post

so you didnt buy a set with glare shields? my light pattern looks way different from yours.....

User avatar
fazer55t
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 30, 2008 12:14 pm
Car: 2007 Nissan Versa SL Hatchback

Post

Can't you just get xenon lights so you don't need to put a conversion kit in your car?

Or am I way off?

Shad0wXCalibur
Posts: 622
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:02 am
Car: Nissan Versa SL Sedan

Post

I still don't agree with HIDs in halogen reflectors but it's whatever you wanna do. My idea for better lighting is to use higher performance halogen bulbs and use relays to give them power straight from the battery instead of through all the thin factory wires that drop voltage.

User avatar
superskunk
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:16 pm
Car: '07 Super Black Versa S Hatch,'06 Super Black Murano SL

Post

the only reason i upgraded to HID was cuz my silverstars burnt out and i didnt want to replace them.... so i will see how long the HID bulbs will last.... hopefully a couple of years

Shad0wXCalibur
Posts: 622
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:02 am
Car: Nissan Versa SL Sedan

Post

HID bulbs should last an extremely long time compared to halogens unless you got crappy quality stuff.

User avatar
superskunk
Posts: 1416
Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:16 pm
Car: '07 Super Black Versa S Hatch,'06 Super Black Murano SL

Post

well thats just the thing... i have a lifetime warranty on the ballast, so all i really have to worry about it replacing bulbs, and i dont see these ones going out anytime soon....

User avatar
SpeedyV09
Posts: 151
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:04 am
Car: 08 Versa SL Black

Post

I own a H4-3 Bi-xenon kit with the glare shield and my cut off looks a lot different would the glare shield change it?

On the road when my HID's are on at night I notice that they seem to cross or the light pattern does on the ground, anyway to adjust this? (I know projectors but no)

Lastly when you adjusted your HID's roughly how far were you from the wall?

Thank You

daffyack
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:55 pm
Car: 2007 Nissan Versa S Hatchback

Post

you didnt need to plug any relay or harness to battery? I was looking through YouTube on how to install HID. Their way looks way more complicated than your post. Yours seems like just plug in and thats it. Is your HID Hi/Lo? Would it be different procedure if my HID is hi/lo?

Thank you

User avatar
Promise Land
Posts: 2168
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:52 am
Car: 2011 Nissan Versa
2001 Chevy Suburban
1992 Ford Mustang
Location: Sprague River, OR
Contact:

Post

Am I able to pick up a set of 5000k HID bulbs from over here (in Japan) and just install them to my Versa? They have a huge selection available over here.

User avatar
GapRunr
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:55 pm

Post

Find any H4-3 Bi-Xenon with metal shields over a portion of the bulb area and you should be good to go, and if they are made in Japan they may be of a better quality than the ones made in China, or maybe not.

User avatar
GapRunr
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:55 pm

Post

feloniousmonk wrote:
Oh and somewhat unrelated, someone said in a different thread that HID's run cooler and poses no threat in melting plastics. That information is entirely incorrect. HID's draw 35w of power, that doesn't mean it's cooler in terms of heat as a halogen bulb that draws 55w. There is a electrical arc in the capsule for crying out loud. That's a lot of energy! Energy produces heat. In a halogen bulb, it's just a very thin filament heated up to glow. Much less energy than an arc. If you held a lit HID capsule with your bare fingers, it's probably hot enough to burn your flesh right off the bones.
You say that energy produces heat. Can you explain how consuming 55 watts of energy with a halogen bulb produces less heat than consuming only 35 watts of energy with an HID bulb? The 35 watt HID produces far more light than the 55 watt halogen. If it can convert less energy into both more light AND more heat, we could solve the energy crisis!

HID's generate less heat than halogen bulbs. A halogen bulb will also burn "your flesh right off the bones". In the field of indoor gardening, for orchids, herbs, and even illegal growers for pot, there is an ongoing issue with the excess heat created by the halogen grow bulbs. As a result, more and more of these growers are turning to HID light sources, as they have a much higher luminous efficacy since a greater proportion of their radiation is in visible light as opposed to heat.

Here's something to think about. A standard halogen bulb consists of a sealed glass tube with a short tungsten filament inside the tube. The tube is usually filled with argon and/or other inert gases. When current is applied the tungsten burns yet remains a solid, and you get heat and light as the byproducts of the current being applied. HID lights on the other hand produce light by applying a higher voltage to ignite an arc of xenon gas between two tungsten tips. The tungsten tips are the source of the current igniting the gas, yet the tungsten tips themselves do not burn or glow. This is because the xenon gas burns at a lower temperature than tungsten.

I work in the motorcycle industry, and a lot of motorcycles have plastic headlamp lenses instead of glass. Converting to HID is a non issue for heat, whereas putting in a higher wattage halogen bulb will almost certainly melt plastic reflectors and housings.

__________________GapRunr

User avatar
NODES
Posts: 939
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:49 pm
Car: 2007 Nissan Versa SL (Blue)

Post

Promise Land wrote:Am I able to pick up a set of 5000k HID bulbs from over here (in Japan) and just install them to my Versa? They have a huge selection available over here.
hardest part for me was to install the actual bulbs into our stock headlight housing what a pain the a$$ that was, I was swearing left and right for hours.

hostkiller
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:56 pm
Car: 2009 Nissan Versa 1.8S Hatchback

Post

Sticky please!!!

User avatar
x4sper
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:59 pm
Car: 2010 Nissan Versa 1.8S HB
Location: Sun City, AZ

Post

im installing some of these right now just got the bulbs in without hitting them on anything.. phew lol now how do i get the big rubber bushing thing around all the cables and connecters? i was thinking cut it but doesn't look like you did so whats the secret?

User avatar
ME18VERSA
Posts: 198
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:15 pm
Car: 09 nissan versa
89 5.0 mustang
Contact:

Post

just force them out with out ripping the wire thats what i had to do ive had mine in since i bought the car in august and have never had any problems with the popo lol and ive got the 10000k the super blue ones and sorry to any one coming the other direction lol

User avatar
anthony870
Posts: 420
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am
Car: '11 Nissan Juke 1.6L Turbo S
'09 Nissan Versa 1.8L S H/B (traded)
Location: Bell Buckle, TN

Post

thanks for this tutorial. I will be putting hids in my '09 versa in the next couple weeks. this should help out a lot. glad i found this.

I first looked in the tech articles and then the nissanversa.org tutorial pages and found nothing. any chances of getting this tutorial in those section for easy access. I know it is stickied but for others like me it would be easier to find if it was in those sections.

stick734
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:30 pm
Car: 09 versa

Post

So how good do they work? Are you happy with them?

User avatar
Tigermack
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:41 pm
Car: 05' Mazda3, 03' 2500HD Duramax, 91' MR2T
Location: Bay Area, CA
Contact:

Post

I installed to the HID to my gf's car... didn't know where to adjust the headlights. Thanks for this post.

Also, I am not sure if I put the lights in properly because the passenger side doesn't seem to show just one line... Maybe just need to be adjusted?

eecc17
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:46 pm
Car: versa sl cvt

Post

I'm from Canada and they require DRL's... which I am assuming uses the same filament as the high beams on the stock H4 halogen bulb.

So I got a H4-2 kit (HID low beam + a small halogen bulb on the side to function as a DRL and a "high beam") instead of a bixenon (magnetic actuated Hi/Lo function) because I don't want the HID to function as the DRL.

Does anyone have experience with this a H4-2 HID kit?
I haven't received the kit yet (bought it online) But I worry about any wiring issues and high beam/low beam/DRL problems.

I have also noticed that with stock lights, turning on the high beam automatically shuts off the low beam filament and vice versa. Is this normal? I ask because normally, turning on high beam = low beam + high beam ON simultaneously.

eecc17
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:46 pm
Car: versa sl cvt

Post

For the above post on HID being hotter than halogens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwbCo7Vbc5w

note that the guy in the video is using 55w HID's.

future_stx_cube
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2010 4:45 am
Car: 2011 metallic blue versa s hatchback


(imo, just fyi, omg im super sarcastic and only tease online and in real life. if you take offense take deep breathes and relax im just joking!)
Location: Robstown, tx
Contact:

Post

which brand and where did you get the hids? i usually buy mine from ebay for my civics but recently ive been hearing alot of negative.. so maybe i should just stick with brands everyone else seem to use.. thanks..
joe


Return to “Versa Technical Discussions”