hq_

Yours look almost exactly like mine, but with a lens. That will help with water coming from the outside, but what I'm slightly worried about is moisture from anchor chain, ropes etc. The backside of the lamps I bought is like in any other (cheap) auxiliary high beams, there's virtually no seal between the bulb and the lamp.

I already found a 4.5" o-ring (or more like c-profile) that'll seal the front of the lamp nicely and fit snugly between the lamp and the tube. I'll have some spare time later this week, I'll have to dig in my spare parts boxes and see if I find something I could use. If not, next step will be to attack the original rubber housings with some major force and big tools, to see if the GE sealed beam lamps would budge...

FREAKY FAST

All of the HID kits that I've put on my UTV's/Trucks are fully waterproof. Have you thought about just upgrading to a one of those kits? I dont see how the anchor locker could produce moisture up in the nose of the boat. The locker has some drains but they go to the back into the bilge.

Regarding my boat, I've never taken the lights apart or even looked behind them. What HID conversion kit would I want to go with? is there a direct plug and play conversion kit? Or would I need to do some splicing etc. I think i read you went with an H3 HID bulb? Why this particular bulb? Thx.

hq_

I'm not really concerned about the ballast or even high-voltage wiring, even the connectors are reasonably waterproof. The real issue is the bulb, lamp and lack of proper grounding; the cathode lead that runs along the bulb (filament/capsule) isn't really protected. Combining that with poor seal between the lamp and the bulb can cause problems with moisture - oxidization or corrosion of the reflector isn't a big deal, lamps are cheap and easily replaced, but high voltage arcing in an environment that lacks proper grounding like the chassis and body of a truck is a risk.

I've done about 50-60 different HID conversions, from simple high beam bulb replacements to all-out canbus, autolevel "bixenon", custom beam pattern HIDs and after getting shocked a few times, you tend to get a bit cautious with high voltage.

The reason for choosing H3 is simple - OEM lamp is sealed beam type, meaning that the lamp itself is a bulb so for a HID conversion, the whole lamp has to be replaced and there's no plug & play solution. Most auxiliary driving lamps use H1 or H3 bulb, some use H7, H9, H11 or even 900X-type bulbs; it doesn't really matter which one to choose, as long as the halogen bulb is removable and can be replaced with a HID conversion bulb.

inthetundra

iTrader: (1)

I found some "PAR 36" reflectors (without bulbs) that accept an H-3 bulb for the HID kits. They look like they might work for this conversion.
http://www.duckworksav.com/Upgrades.html#Round for $18 it would be worth checking out.
I have HID's on everything I drive, adding them to the boat would be great. 5000 degree bulbs would light up the lake for sure.

hq_

"PAR 36" lamps are 4", which is ½" too small to replace docking light lamps. Fitting them requires some kind of ¼" adapter ring while 4½" lamps are a perfect fit.

I'd advise not to use bulb color temperatures over 4300K, unless you're in it just for the 'cool' looks instead of visibility. Higher color temperature dramatically reduces depth perception and while blue hue may appear to be brighter, 3500-4500K is physiologically optimal for human vision. The problem is more pronounced on water where it already is more difficult to estimate distances than on land.

Personally I wouldn't use 5000K or higher bulbs anywhere. If you want the lights to appear brighter, it's much better to get a pair of high-output (100W or more @ the bulb) ballasts and bulbs to match. Actual candlepower is what really counts.

(No, I still haven't had time to continue the project; I've got the lamps, I've installed the bulbs, I've shimmed the beam slightly wider on both, but I have yet to figure out how to waterproof the setup while keeping it reasonably easy to replace the bulbs when the time comes...)

inthetundra

iTrader: (1)

I run 5000K on everything, it's the brightest white right before it turns blue. 6000K have that blue tint. I'm not into that ricer look. Living out in the sticks I want all the light I can get. I guess it depends on whose color chart you look at.

hq_

I'd recommend reading medical/physiological material about color temperature and actual visibility. Daylight during noon is around 5700K, which has caused a common misconception (that's constantly repeated by people who sell cheap HID kits) that it'd be ideal for vision. Nothing could be further from the truth; in reality the human eye has evolved to be by far most sensitive during dawn and dusk, when color temperature of daylight is much lower.

Some basics of trichromatic color vision can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision

I've been studying the subject for a while, in addition to driving 30k miles every year between September and April, at latitudes where there's NO daylight (and up north where I hunt and ski, no other artificial light than what you have in your vehicle) for about 3-4 weeks around Christmas.

I've had lots and lots of different HIDs in driving lights / low bems / high beams / auxiliary high beams / fog lights / etc. for just about as long as you've been able to buy cars and trucks with OEM HID:s, or been able to source 12V DC ballasts and bulbs that have lent themselves for H1/H3/H4/H7/H9/H11/9005/9006 housing adaptation, for a remotely reasonable price from anywhere - including aviation industry. And a variety of halogens during close to two decades before that.

Trust me, you don't want high color temperature, not even 5000K, if you actually want to see as well as possible. Additionally, HIDs tend to have their optimum efficiency (the amount of light produced per watt) at around 4000K so you're not only getting fairly optimal wavelength, you're also getting more real, hard, measurable lumens.

Ok. Off the soapbox for now.

FREAKY FAST

hq, get us some pics!

hq_

OK, here are some pics of the setup.

The lamps I'm using. These are fairly basic 4½" auxiliary high beams.



HID conversion bulb installed, one of the aluminum spacer rings I tried is on the table behind the lamp.





And here's the real issue. The bulb seals against this surface, which won't make it watertight.



I could use sealant to glue the bulb in place, but that's not a service-friendly solution.

The good thing is that the diameter of the lamp is exactly the same as that of the GE fog lamp used in OEM setup. A piece of 4" inner tube stretched over the lamp will hold it in place if need be, but some additional protection from moisture will be necessary.

I also have 100' of anchor chain in the same box - the windlass is mounted directly above it - and sometimes it bounces around. There's a good chance it'll break the lamp, bulb and/or ballast sooner or later if I leave them unprotected.

I don't have any beam shots yet but these babies are BRIGHT. So bright that comparison shots with OEM docking lights are fairly pointless as you can't even see if they're on or not. I don't have a dSLR at hand right now so that I could use constant exposure to illustrate the difference, but like anyone who has played with HID conversions knows, there's really no comparison.

FREAKY FAST

Very nice! Would also love to see pics of how you have the bulb mounted in the tube and of the beam like you mentioned. Still trying to figure out what's holding the stock light and the new light in the tube? sounds like just a piece of rubber for the new ones? Wouldnt that vibrate or bounce lose in some rough chop? As far as water tight, could you not use a rubber spacer in between the bulb and lamp where it twists in? or are you talking about on the back of the bulb where the wires are exposed? If so, I've seen a lot of HID kits that are wireless. Seems something like that, in addition to lens covers on the beam, would be all you need. Thx for the update. This gives me a better idea of how to do mine. Jay