P38 headlight bulbs - upgrade to HID or 100w

I am looking at the possibility of upgrading my headlights to HID - Xenon or 100w

Now let's get the terminology right first. I am from the Continent so we call them:
Short Lights (normal driving lights) - I believe that would be Dipped Beam
Long Lights (the blinding ones, blue symbol appears on the dashboard) - I believe that would be FULL or Main Beam, or High
Q. Any comments on that, I am I correct?

Now I see that the Dipped beam in RR uses a H4 bulb with 3 wires
And Full beam is a H1 with two wires, with its own housing - closer to the grill.

It is a bit confusing as my previous car (not a RR obviously) had only H4 that did the hi/low.
Q. How is the H4 used on the RRover?

Q. The big question is do I need just a normal HID H4 kit, or a Bi-xenon?

As we are talking about upgrade the cheap version is 100w bulbs.
As far as I understand a H4 is on either on the first filament or the other, so 55w or 60w and for the upgrade bulbs 90w or 100w and I think when you flash both filaments are on. So 190w x2 = 380w ?!?!?
The questions here are:
Q. Anyone of you uses them on the road, I hear they are illegal, why? A Hid systems seems to be brighter!
Q. Can the RR suport them for all time use? Any problems, wire heating, ECU etc?

Thanks in advance

Hi i have upgraded my lights to a H I D system and can highly recomend it ,
they produce a much whiter light and throw a longer beam.
check out HID 4 U web site

I am using 100W headlamp bulbs, and have no problems with either the wiring or fuses blowing etc. They have been fitted now for over 4 years.

Irishrover said:

I am using 100W headlamp bulbs, and have no problems with either the wiring or fuses blowing etc. They have been fitted now for over 4 years.

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Do you not find that they get effing hot ? - I use these on my 90 and can hardly touch the glass if they have been on main beam for a while
Good spread of light mind

Of course they will get hot with the extra wattage. The glass is toughened the same a Pyrex dishes and driving lights are available that will take up to 130watt bulbs and these have the normal glass. I wouldn't worry about it.

check out this link i posted a wiring diagram for the h.i.d. to stop the computer fault meassages as most h.i.d. kits come with a standard wiring loom that only uses one of the h4 plugs to swich them between hi-lo, i have had a set of bixenon on my p38 for about a month now and had no probs and they light the road up much better than halogens.

sorry forgot the link here it is http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/h-i-d-s-51150.html

I think I understand now that on full beam the second part of the H4 and the H1 in the headlight housing, close to the grill, come on.

Anyone can confirm this?

That's right.

Well, I went for a HID Bi Xenon kit for about £80 + PP and it's very nice.

i recently gone for 100/80watt blue tinted bixenon H4's and 100watt blue tinted H1's for driving lights!
they make a huge difference and are much "whiter" as well. £16.....

Mornin P38

with regard to upgrading i put 130w rallly bulbs on the main beam and it certainly makes a difference i stayed with more convention lighting for the main Dip / beam with a Philips up grade keeping the std wattage with a supposed 50% brighter bulb

Big failing on the p38 are the 4w side lamp - a led up grade helps but unless you install some kind of resitence in the circuit then you get the sid lid warnings

any suggestion on the sidelight inprovement would be greatly appreciated

Be carefull if fitting HIDs in the UK,

I just copied this from the DoT website, but I've also spent all morning on the road, and as far as I can see, apart from Volvo and Saab there ain't any cars with wipers, and most do not have washers, so it seems a lot of OEM fitments don't comply with that particular part of it.

Fact sheet: Aftermarket HID headlamps
December 2006

In the Department's view it is not legal to sell or use after market HID lighting kits, for converting conventional Halogen headlamps to HID Xenon. If a customer wants to convert his vehicle to Xenon HID he must purchase completely new Xenon HID headlamps. The reason for this is that the existing lens and reflector are designed around a Halogen filament bulb, working to very precise tolerances. If one places a HID "burner" (bulb) in the headlamp, the beam pattern will not be correct, there will be glare in some places and not enough light in other places within the beam pattern.

The following is the legal rationale:

The Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989 regulate the situation in the UK.
Under these Regulations, HID/Gas Discharge/Xenon headlamps are not mentioned and therefore they are not permitted according to the strict letter of the law.

However new vehicles have HID headlamps. This is because they comply to European type approval Regulations. The UK cannot refuse to register a vehicle with a European type approval. These are to ECE Regulation 98 (for the HID headlamps which are tested on a rig in a laboratory) and ECE Regulation 48 (Lighting Installation on the vehicle).

For the after market, a used vehicle cannot obtain type approval because it is only applicable for new vehicles. However we feel that saying "HID is banned in the after market" would not be reasonable. Instead we should make analogies with new vehicles. It would be reasonable to require HID in the after market to meet the same safety standards as on new vehicles. The same level of safety should apply.

Therefore a HID headlamp unit sold in the after market should:

1. be type approved to ECE Regulation 98 as a component.

2. when fitted to the vehicle should enable ECE Regulation 48 to be complied with (although no government inspection will take place).

3. Comply with RVLR as far as "use" is concerned.

In practice this means:

1. The headlamp unit (outer lens, reflector, bulb) shall be type approved to ECE 98 and be "e-marked" to demonstrate this. That can only be done by the headlamp supplier - Hella, Valeo etc. who must test the headlamp in an independent laboratory.

2. Once fitted to the vehicle it must have headlamp cleaning and self-levelling (which can be for the headlamp or can be in the vehicle suspension - some expensive estate cars have "self-levelling suspension" and that is adequate). Also the dipped beam must stay on with the main beam.

3. The headlamp must be maintained in good working order, kept clean, and aligned/adjusted correctly like any other headlamp.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988 it is an offence to supply, fit or use vehicle parts which are not legal.

In summary it is not permitted to convert an existing halogen headlamp unit for use with HID bulbs. The entire headlamp unit must be replaced with one designed and approved for use with HID bulbs and it must be installed in accordance with the rules stated above.

If you require any further information regarding the regulations covered by this fact sheet, please contact the DfT at the address below:

Transport Technology and Standards 6
Department for Transport
Zone 2/04
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR

Telephone: 020 7944 2078
Fax: 020 7944 2196
Email: [email protected]

Old thread I know but my full beam has just gone and cos its cold and dark I thought id find out on the net rather than opening my bonnet and looking
But I cant find an exact answer is it h1 or h7?
Even the hand book dont say??��

Normal dipped/main H4, extra (inside) main lamps H1.

redrange said:

i recently gone for 100/80watt blue tinted bixenon H4's and 100watt blue tinted H1's for driving lights!
they make a huge difference and are much "whiter" as well. £16.....

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Abe said:

Mornin P38

with regard to upgrading i put 130w rallly bulbs on the main beam and it certainly makes a difference i stayed with more convention lighting for the main Dip / beam with a Philips up grade keeping the std wattage with a supposed 50% brighter bulb

Big failing on the p38 are the 4w side lamp - a led up grade helps but unless you install some kind of resitence in the circuit then you get the sid lid warnings

any suggestion on the sidelight inprovement would be greatly appreciated

Click to expand...

High wattage bulbs are illegal and on the P38 may well destroy the MOSFET's that drive them in the BECM.

No just gona put standerd wattage in but earlier in this thread he says h1 but a few on ebay are selling "xenon blue headlight kits for the p38" concisting of h4, 501 and h7

gfromleeds said:

No just gona put standerd wattage in but earlier in this thread he says h1 but a few on ebay are selling "xenon blue headlight kits for the p38" concisting of h4, 501 and h7

Click to expand...

There are indeed three bulbs in each P38 headlamp unit, a sidelight, a H4 dipped/main + an H1 extra main.

canbus compliant LED sidelight bulbs are available, I got mine from halfrauds