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Need help with JDM OEM Element HID headlights

2722 Views 16 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  barvel
3
So I picked up this pair from a EOC member. I would like to do this together and hopefully it will become a sticky. As far as I know I am the first person in the USA that will install a pair on his car.

So here are the pics:



Here we see the back of the HID unit, with it's 4 prongs.



Here's a closeup of the 3 top prongs. #1 is POWER (with a red wire & a black wire on the back of the connection. #2 is a parking light (?) with a small bulb on the other side. #3 is a turn signal (?) with an larger amber bulb on the other side.



Here's the bottom of the assembly. This is the built-in ballast and #4 is apparently to the ballast. Since I am not very good with electronics I'm going to assume this is something that controls the ballast.

So...I'm stuck as this point as I don't want to take apart the lights on my daily driver and not be able to wire this up.

Any ideas or suggestions at this time would be appreciated.

I will study the other threads on this forum where the owners converted their cars via aftermarket kits.

If any of you owners have already taken apart your stock units, pics of the wiring looms and connections would be great. Also, any pics of the back of the stock headlight unit would be appreciated as well.
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What did you have to fork out for these?
Show the front of these as well so people can get an idea of what bulbs these plugs actually go to.
Those are the ones I bought...
Obvious answer would be to try contacting the seller.

My guess would be
#1 HID bulb
#2 city light
#3 indicator/parking light

Hell I don't know. :D


Here's a closeup of the 3 top prongs. #1 is POWER (with a red wire & a black wire on the back of the connection. #2 is a parking light (?) with a small bulb on the other side. #3 is a turn signal (?) with an larger amber bulb on the other side.



Here's the bottom of the assembly. This is the built-in ballast and #4 is apparently to the ballast. Since I am not very good with electronics I'm going to assume this is something that controls the ballast.

So...I'm stuck as this point as I don't want to take apart the lights on my daily driver and not be able to wire this up.

Any ideas or suggestions at this time would be appreciated.

I will study the other threads on this forum where the owners converted their cars via aftermarket kits.

If any of you owners have already taken apart your stock units, pics of the wiring looms and connections would be great. Also, any pics of the back of the stock headlight unit would be appreciated as well.
your assumption on the top 3 plugs appears correct. #1 is probably the "city lights" as he put it in the other thread, or just something to make the housing "glow" when it is on, either with the parking lights or with a seperate switch. how many pins are in the #4 plug that goes to the ballast? shoulw be three, low, high and ground, like a regular headlight. also please fill out your profile so we all know what year and model you are trying to put this in so we can give you accurate info.
Yoda,

The #4 prong has 2 pins, laying horizontally, with a vertical plastic piece in the middle.

I updated my profile. I've got a 2007 E.
that last one then is gonna be headlights on, + & - but as far as polarity your guess is as good as mine. i am guessing that they dont do high beams over there? the only thing you could really do without a wiring schematic from over there is hook it up and put a very small amp fuse on the + and try them. (nothing in service express ,hondas factory service site for both honda and acura, on anything jdm like that.) if it pops one way and not the other then you know which way is correct, if it pops with both it is cause the ballast is pulling more amperage than that at startup and you need to go one size bigger and try again. start with a 3 or 5 amp and go from there.
So I took a peek at my factory headlights.

There's only 2 plugs from the wiring harness:

(1) leads to the headlight
(2) leads to the turn signal

This should be fun.
3
ok so....

red/yellow at the parking light/turn signal bulb in the original harness will go to your parking light in the new housing (both sides). as will the black that is the ground (both sides). that black will also get split and go out the the ground for the turn signal on the new housing (both sides), and green/red (left) and green/yellow (right) will go to the turn signal bulb on the respective sides.

headlights you will hook the red/white (both sides) to the ground you found by the earlier defined way at the ballast, and the red/yellow (left) and red (right) to the + at the ballast.

the other one may be a bulb shifting for the "high/low" as this is how the single bulb type hid aftermarket systems work and you said there was not a bulb on the other side of the plug. get the headlights working first and we will tackle that one after. just make sure you leave the headlight plug where you can get to the highbeam wire so we can tie that in when we get to that point

good luck and may the force be with you.

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How are you going to aim these lights? The light patterns from any headlights are not symmetrical. And, since these are from a left side driving country the pattern will be opposite from what you need. If you don't correct this somehow you will blind all the oncoming traffic. The pic below is a U.S. spec light pattern. The light is aimed higher towards the right side to make it easier to see roadsigns farther down the road. The left side is dipped to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic.

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hmmm...I checked my wife's TL...the lights appear to be "straight" as opposed to "aimed"

I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

As far as updates go...I cross referenced a couple of parts catalogs...it looks like I can use a wiring loom-to-ballast wire and an ignitor (ballast-to-bulb) wire off of an S2000. Since they are $190 per side I will be scouring through some junkyards for cheaper units.
Update: I just went to 6 different LA area junkyards looking for the ignitor and wires off of either an S2000 or a TSX.

No luck.

One more junkyard to try next week.
get a good close up of the bulb connector and one of the input to the ballast for me. i might have something that could work.
Update: I was able to use a connector from an S2000 to plug into the ballast. This should make it easier to use the engine wiring loom.

Still need to figure out how to wire for the other 3 plugs.
Update: I am to receive a Japanese Element's repair manual with wiring schematic next week. In addition, my Japanese connection is also looking into buying the electrical connectors/clips from a dealer in Japan.

He suspects that the plug I originally called the #1 (Power) is actually for leveling of the lights. There should be a corresponding switch inside of the car that he's going to look for.

The #4 plug is the power to the HID ballast, and the ignitor is built internally into the housing.
Can't wait to see those on

When you get done.

I'm willing to host a meet just to Show those off.
You are working really hard and we all appreciate it.

Can't wait:D
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