Conversion to Forester STi HID Headlights

Alright, I know I have been very much on the quite side for many months now. Alas, the pleasures of a new job and the responsibilities of running a company have severely drawn my time away from the things I love.

For now, a reprieve

I really like the look of HID light. I had contemplated buying something off eBay but was put off with the legalities of it all. Yeah I know, says the man with 70 series tyres on. This way, the headlight assembly is OEM, the globes are OEM and the only things that are different are the way I am going to interface with the original OEM globe plug.

Now the fun begins. After a little plug and play trial and taking some voltage, amperage and resistance measurements, I quickly discovered that the 35w STi HID system was not going to work too well with the 55w output from the my MY05 H4 headlight plugs.

What I was going to need was a 35w HID headlight relay setup. Enter the guys at The Retrofit Source. They had a relay wiring harness specifically for an H4/35w HID system and at US$30, it was far cheaper than that available at Bright Light Automotive.

The beauty of the relay harness is that it will allow me full Low/High/Flash functionality and send the right signals to the Ballasts.

Here are a selection of the photos of the headlights.







Here is the 35w HID Harness


The Harness Relay


And the H4 interface to the OEM plug.


Stage 1 - The High/Low Deflector Solenoid connections
I tried sourcing OEM plugs and connectors but they were only available on harnesses and at $170 for each harness I decided to use the old fashion soldering iron and my own plugs and connectors.


A little bit of heat shrink really makes for a neat and water resistant job. I have not shown it in this pictures, but at either end of the heat shrink and before I shrunk it, I used some a syringe to inject a silicone bead. This would ensure a nice waterproof plug and seal it all up.


I used some corrugated split sleeve tubing to cover my handy work and used some more heat shrink and cable ties for a nice pretty and durable finish. Here is my handy work.



Stay tuned for my next installment when I undertake the same sort of thing for the Ballast connections. I think that this project will take a few months, so in the mean time, I am happy to answer any questions that you may have along the way.

Also, if you have any recommendations on how something may be done better, I am all ears.

Welcome back spinners

Will be great to see the final results when it's finished.

Regards
Mr Turbo

A Forester with decent headlights- that would be nice. Of course, the question of why a country such as Japan gets the better headlights than a country like Australia where they would be more useful- assuming they are better- is an issue we can thank Uncle Nick for I guess

Looks great there, lucky find and I didnt know that they came in HIDs for Foresters as well. I know Gen 3 Liberty did.

With the output, your better off using common and connect it on chassis as ground and left/right for high/low beam. Also install thicker wire - say 8-10mm thick from negative to chassis, without this, have a feel to see how warm the negative terminal will be at full power (heater full blast, full beam, all lights on etc)
Cheers
AP

UPDATE

I tried sourcing some 9006 male plugs for the harness relay so that I could mod the ballast plugs. You'd think that they would be something reasonably easy to get a hold of. Nope. Perhaps I may not be looking in the right places, but a trawl of the Net for Australian distributors failed to turn anything up. Dick Smith, Jaycar, SuperCheap, Autobarn and Repco struck out also.

I ended up ordering a pair of plugs from the US. AU$18 including postage I can live with.

This is what it looks like


I'll post up in the next few days a few pictures of the harness relay all spread out with some descriptions so that it should all start to make sense.

alpineraven said:

...Also install thicker wire - say 8-10mm thick from negative to chassis, without this, have a feel to see how warm the negative terminal will be at full power (heater full blast, full beam, all lights on etc)
Cheers
AP

Click to expand...

Thanks AP. That's a good idea. Mind you, why does it need to be such a thick wire? 10mm is verging on the size of wire on the earth to the battery .

spinners said:

Thanks AP. That's a good idea. Mind you, why does it need to be such a thick wire? 10mm is verging on the size of wire on the earth to the battery .

Click to expand...

Because Subaru is positive to negative.. Just that Ive noticed my Liberty's ground wire is getting really warm so installed thicker wire and havent felt it warm ever since.
Cheers
AP

spinners said:

UPDATE

I tried sourcing some 9006 male plugs for the harness relay so that I could mod the ballast plugs. You'd think that they would be something reasonably easy to get a hold of. Nope. Perhaps I may not be looking in the right places, but a trawl of the Net for Australian distributors failed to turn anything up. Dick Smith, Jaycar, SuperCheap, Autobarn and Repco struck out also.

I ended up ordering a pair of plugs from the US. AU$18 including postage I can live with.

This is what it looks like

I'll post up in the next few days a few pictures of the harness relay all spread out with some descriptions so that it should all start to make sense.

Click to expand...

Its a real PITA that no one sells them in Australia - as far I know too, Ive done this before buying from overseas as well.
Cheers
AP

Interesting that the HID is in a reflector housing. Looks almost the same as a halogen one from the pics.
Are you able to provide a side by side comparison pic with the stock headlight?

The reflector housing is pretty much identical apart from a small section directly below the bulb. This is where the deflector is located which throws a slide back for the high beam throw.

I will put up some side by side pictures when I am at the stage of swapping over.

It would be interesting on your response from other on-coming drivers which they flick high beam towards you complaining that your headlights are too bright...
I have 50watt HIDs in my projectors on my Liberty and so far no one has complained but the output of the light is AWESOME..
Cheers
AP

UPDATE

I've broken down the components for the HID harness relay for you all. Oh, and for me as a reference of course :lol:

I have to admit that I'm pretty happy with the quality of it.

AlpineRaven said:

...I have 50watt HIDs in my projectors on my Liberty...

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what temperature globes are you using, 4300K or 6000K?

The globes in mine are Philips 4300K.

spinners said:

Just out of curiosity, what temperature globes are you using, 4300K or 6000K?

The globes in mine are Philips 4300K.

Click to expand...

Yep same, Phillips 4300k, I did have 6000k and found that light output isn't 'as bright' compared to 4300k as I do find it better lighting output...
I'm juggling if i should put HIDs in full beam....... i know its a pain that they do take a while to warm up before full strength...
Cheers
AP

UPDATE

I've been struggling with my battery for a month or so now. On the odd occasion I've had to clutch start. Today however, I bit the bullet and forked out for a new one.

I ended up going for an Optima Red Top as I wanted some hard core CCA's (Cold Crank Amps).

These are a fairly hardcore battery. They are an AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) battery which means that the electrolyte (the sulfuric acid) is absorbed into a fiberglass mat. We used these types of batteries heaps in the Army as they were great for withstanding vibration, heat and could be mounted in almost any orientation.

This battery has a CCA rating of 720 amps with a reserve capacity of 90 minutes. They are not cheap though. I got mine from Battery World for $340 and they threw in a new heavy duty clamp.






I'm still waiting for the connectors from the States. Hopefully they are not to far away.

I intend to install a dual battery setup some point down the track and will more than likely go an Optima Yellow Top as it lends itself more to Deep Cycle applications.

I saw some really neat fuse blocks whilst I was at Battery World also not to mention some Circuit Breaker Fuses. Approximately $18 for a 30A fuse. I know that may seem a lot but I guess there is the peace of mind that if it goes you wont have to worry about whether or not you have a spare somewhere.

We have Red Tops in both of our Foresters. It is the only battery I will buy.

After over 8 years of use I gave away my first one. It was still working great but I didn't want to chance Judy getting stranded. I figured at that point it owed us nothing.

spinners said:

UPDATE
I saw some really neat fuse blocks whilst I was at Battery World also not to mention some Circuit Breaker Fuses. Approximately $18 for a 30A fuse. I know that may seem a lot but I guess there is the peace of mind that if it goes you wont have to worry about whether or not you have a spare somewhere.

Click to expand...

That's not expensive for something like that. We have a Painless Wiring Cirkit Boss Auxiliary Fuse Blocks in both of our Foresters. I like them because they isolate all the auxiliary wiring from the stock wiring. If there are any issues you can easily disconnect all your add-on electronics accessories.

I have this one mounted next to the glove compartment. Judy has a weatherproof one mounted on the firewall next to the master cylinder.

https://www.amazon.com/Painless-Wiring-70107-Cirkit-7Circ/dp/B000A8OG2A


https://www.speedysgarage.net/sportrunner/cirkit_boss/projectsportrunner_cirkit_boss.htm

Alright. A little bit of spare time on my hands this afternoon. So with the help of my now spare OEM battery, I hooked up a test circuit with the HID Relay Harness and tested out the lights and connections.

Here is a teaser. Well, a teaser for me at least. I'm hangin' to get these installed.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLncZo6yClU"]DSCN1561.MOV - YouTube[/ame]

On a side note, I noticed that coming off the existing OEM loom was an unused plug. Upon closer inspection, it is the same plug that connects to the back of the HID headlight that looks after the light leveling. COOL


I had a look near the internal fuse block and found another spare plug. I'm hoping that this is the plug for the light leveling adjustment switch. I now need to think about what version of Australian Subarus had headlight adjustment switches.

Anyone out there know?

UPDATE

Went for a little search through my 2005 PDF Service Manual... BINGO... All the wiring is there and the plug behind the coin box is a 6 pin plug as the wiring schematic shows.




Now I have to track down the part and price it up. Sweet. I love plug and play

spinners said:

...I ended up ordering a pair of plugs from the US. AU$18 including postage I can live with.

This is what it looks like

Click to expand...

Woo Hoo... Yeah...

5 days and they were on my desk. Now that is real service. I'll see if I can get some time this evening to silicone the rear of them up to stop water egress and post a few pics.