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HID or Halogen

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Old 01-07-2019, 06:06 PM
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Default HID or Halogen

I am trying to replace my headlights and the manufacturer wants to know if I have HI D or Halogen headlights. My car was on the road in late 1999.
I am sure some of you know which it came with.
Thanks
Old 01-07-2019, 06:59 PM
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HIDs
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Old 01-09-2019, 04:09 PM
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You're replacing the bulbs or the housings?

HID D2S bulbs in projector low beam housings and H1 halogen bulbs in the high beam reflectors. Universal thru the entire USDM production period to my knowledge.

-- Chuck

Last edited by Chuck S; 01-09-2019 at 04:13 PM.
Old 01-09-2019, 08:56 PM
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I am trying to replace the housing. The headlights they sent me have a extra socket for what I assume is a day time driving light bulb. This is located in the same location as the turn signal. My lights do not light up in that area unless the turn signal is on. I read that the day time running lights were in Canada only. Do you know if a early car had the socket or wiring for that bulb?
Old 01-09-2019, 10:43 PM
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Halogen to LED is the best conversion simple and last the longest.
Old 01-10-2019, 09:06 AM
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No separate DRL I'm aware of. DRLs on the USDM (2006 and later) cars are the high beams at a lower voltage. Since that seems a common solution to DRLs I'm guessing that's how the Canadian spec cars are wired. There's a DRL Control Module in all the Canuck cars and the 2006 and later US cars.



Left 2004+ headlight housing: Four (4) bulbs (none of which are dedicated DRL). Left to right: High beam (halogen) *, low beam (HID), (side reflector), parking light (higher and smaller with clear lens and amber bulb), turn signal (lower and bigger). * runs at reduced voltage when DRL equipped. Four (4) bulbs show on the 00-03 cars as well (but I don't have a clear photo).

-- Chuck
Old 02-24-2021, 02:31 PM
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From what I can understand, the DRL circuit on the AP2 S2000 is much different than the other Honda models (like my '09 Civic Coupe). The Civic LED replacement was a breeze compared to the S2000, no DRL light on in the instrument cluster, and with no need for a decoder/resistor and splicing either.

As for my 2007 S2000, I was able to replace the halogen high beams with H1 LED bulbs by purchasing this kit from iJDMToy:
iJDMTOY 9-SMD H1 LED High Beam Daytime Running Light Conversion Kit Compatible With 2006-2009 Honda S2000 AP2 iJDMTOY 9-SMD H1 LED High Beam Daytime Running Light Conversion Kit Compatible With 2006-2009 Honda S2000 AP2

Instead of using the supplied LED bulbs with the kit, I used a more brighter H1 LED bulb set I found on Amazon, complete with heatsink and fans. The harness that came with the conversion kit from iJDMToy also seems very durable. The main plug-and-play harness connects to the factory's passenger-side high-beam headlamp connector and is run towards the driver's side across/under the bumper support where it connects to the driver's side LED bulb. The factory's driver-side high-beam headlamp connector is terminated with a large resistor/heatsink and connects to the factory wiring with no need for splicing or crimping. The resistor does get mighty hot with the brighter LED bulbs while they have the full 12VDC when the high-beams are selected (not with DRL voltage though), so I bolted it against the driver's side bumper support arm with the existing holes in the frame. So far, this seems to dissipate the heat very well, and I have not had any issues with it thus far. I will post any updates if anything changes.

I hope this information is helpful to someone!

-Mark B

Last edited by mbielech5; 02-25-2021 at 11:55 AM. Reason: rewording the "mighty hot" sentence.
Old 02-25-2021, 05:51 AM
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Thanks for posting! I'm always looking for good high beans. What bulb did you use with the "kit." How's the beam pattern? (Bulbs/LEDs in reflector housings are very sensitive to filament location.)

-- Chuck
Old 02-25-2021, 11:53 AM
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The "Kit" I used with "The Kit" was the
KATUR H1 Led Headlight Bulbs KATUR H1 Led Headlight Bulbs
from Amazon. The initial kit I purchased (before I discovered that a wiring harness/terminating resistor is required for DRLs to work properly) was the
Car Rover H1 LED Headlight Bulbs Car Rover H1 LED Headlight Bulbs
, but soon bought the Katur model when I started running into the issue of the DRLs not working.

IMHO, the Car Rover LED bulbs had a better beam pattern than the current Katur ones that I have installed, so possibly the light-emitting diodes are mounted on the bulb board stalk at a different location than the KATUR model do. I may eventually switch back to the Car Rover ones some day.

I also had to purchase an plastic H1 LED bulb retainer adapter since a H1 LED bulb will not "directly" fit into the headlight housing of the S2000. I ended up purchasing the
Retainer Adapter Holder from iJDMToy Retainer Adapter Holder from iJDMToy
on Amazon.

As for the brightness, IMHO the LED bulbs are just slightly brighter than the stock halogens, but I can't really notice much of a difference with my particular setup since I decided to replace the low-beam HID bulbs with the 6000K D2S Replacement Bulbs from Diode Dynamics. Replacing the low-beam bulbs with these ones really did brighten things up with some pretty vivid white light!

What I do like regarding the LED high-beam bulbs is that now they function as daytime running lights with a white glow, and it really does give this 14-year-old car a more modern look.

I hope this helps.

-Mark B
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