Bi-LED Headlight Retrofit

[LSCALADE]

Headlight retrofit for 07-14 Escalade.

The headlight donors are new Amazon units sealed with Butyl rubber. OEM lights are sealed with Perma seal and those are not going to come apart easily.

Heat the oven to 225F, remove all covers and screws and let it bake for around 8-10min, you may have to add additional minutes but for me, after 8min I pulled the headlight out and placed it on a table and pulled the lens from the main housing starting at the top center and the lens peeled away very easily.

Next steps the old projector was removed, the new projector was installed and minor trim was required on the bracket to ensure that it seats flush with the adjuster bracket that you can see in the pictures.

Reseal with more butyl following same operation holding the lamp 6-7min to soften the butyl and press the lens back on the housing.

Here are some pictures of the process.

And the output shots. Razor sharp beam with excellent output. No more burning bulbs or HID ballasts.

 

[LSCALADE]

Video of driving with the new lights.

Google Photos

photos.google.com

 

[kbuskill]

Video of driving with the new lights.

Google Photos

photos.google.com

What Bi LED projectors did you use?

 

[CMoore711]

Nice work! The light output is significantly improved on both intensity, width, and throw. This is an awesome upgrade!

What @kbuskill posted: What bi-led projectors did you use?

What exactly did you do to re-wire power to bypass the OEM HID ballast? I’m guessing you had to identify the power and ground going into the OEM HID ballast connector then spliced that into the power and ground out of the Bi-LED projector?

Did you do anything to plug this hole where the OEM HID ballast is mounted and connects to the bottom side of the headlight housing?

 

[LSCALADE]

Nice work! The light output is significantly improved on both intensity, width, and throw. This is an awesome upgrade!

What @kbuskill posted: What bi-led projectors did you use?

What exactly did you do to re-wire power to bypass the OEM HID ballast? I’m guessing you had to identify the power and ground going into the OEM HID ballast connector then spliced that into the power and ground out of the Bi-LED projector?

Did you do anything to plug this hole where the OEM HID ballast is mounted and connects to the bottom side of the headlight housing?

View attachment 471257

This is the projector that I used, it was about 60$ last week looks like it went up to 80. It is a pretty straight forward swap though. https://www.amazon.com/SHNJAUTO-Inc...refix=biled+projecotr+3.0,aps,144&sr=8-6&th=1

What Bi LED projectors did you use?

Nice work! The light output is significantly improved on both intensity, width, and throw. This is an awesome upgrade!

What @kbuskill posted: What bi-led projectors did you use?

What exactly did you do to re-wire power to bypass the OEM HID ballast? I’m guessing you had to identify the power and ground going into the OEM HID ballast connector then spliced that into the power and ground out of the Bi-LED projector?

Did you do anything to plug this hole where the OEM HID ballast is mounted and connects to the bottom side of the headlight housing?

View attachment 471257

The yellow and black connector is what goes to the ballast originally, black is ground the yellow is power. I cut those off and spliced them into the projector which has a Black and Red wires. Black on Black and Yellow goes to Red and thats all the wiring needed to make them work. The skinny connector seen in the image with White and Black wire is the High beam. Basically connect that to the projectors wires does not mare what wire gets connected to the ones on the projector both will trigger high beam.
I used quick connect for household wiring to make the connections, but you can use whatever you like.
Here is the latest shot of the output.

 

[stubbs]

Nice work! I made the mistake of doing my bixenon retrofit on my 07 Suburban years ago with a fresh set of OEM headlights; didn't know about the Perma seal! What a pain that was, and I had to go back later and run a fat bead of clear silicone over the outside to make them watertight. Oh well. If I ever need to re-do them it'll be with bi-led projectors like these!

 

[Charlie207]

How do you tell if the seal is butyl rubber vs. something else? I was looking at this set to chop up with the projectors you linked: https://www.ebay.com/itm/127350902244



Do they create enough heat to melt snow/ice like incandescent bulbs do? I actually had my Yukon housing ice-over in a blizzard last year, and couldn't understand why it was getting harder to see until I pulled off the road to check if the bulbs died. LEDs don't make much heat inside the housings.

 

[LSCALADE]

How do you tell if the seal is butyl rubber vs. something else? I was looking at this set to chop up with the projectors you linked: https://www.ebay.com/itm/127350902244



Do they create enough heat to melt snow/ice like incandescent bulbs do? I actually had my Yukon housing ice-over in a blizzard last year, and couldn't understand why it was getting harder to see until I pulled off the road to check if the bulbs died. LEDs don't make much heat inside the housings.

I know exactly your concern, and I will say that I was shocked to see how much heat comes out from the projector lens right where it exits the clear lens on top, you can warm your hands on it, its not something that is common but these ones seem to do just fine. Will test them out with the upcoming snow this weekend.

 

[LSCALADE]

Nice work! I made the mistake of doing my bixenon retrofit on my 07 Suburban years ago with a fresh set of OEM headlights; didn't know about the Perma seal! What a pain that was, and I had to go back later and run a fat bead of clear silicone over the outside to make them watertight. Oh well. If I ever need to re-do them it'll be with bi-led projectors like these!

sometimes even with the butyl it wont seal perfectly so often I run a very thin bead of butyl at the edge and spread it around with a tool or fingers and that usually does it. Not sure how well silicone fares as it ages, they tend to separate and not bond well to plastics. just my experience.

 

[Charlie207]

I know exactly your concern, and I will say that I was shocked to see how much heat comes out from the projector lens right where it exits the clear lens on top, you can warm your hands on it, its not something that is common but these ones seem to do just fine. Will test them out with the upcoming snow this weekend.

Good to know!

I guess my next question is how they are described in the Amazon listing as direct drop-in/bolt-in for certain standard light bulb sizes, but the Yukon bulbs aren't listed. I wonder how difficult it would be to get the projector housings to mount & seal into the H13/9008 bulb sockets.

 

[kbuskill]

Your results have me itching to pull my Morimoto Bi-Xenon projectors out of my Burb and replace them with some Bi-LED projectors.

I have mixed feelings on these because if the LED goes out it requires opening the headlight to replace the whole projector, as opposed to just swapping in a new bulb with what I currently have.

I'm also not 100% sure that the juice would be worth the squeeze. In other words, I'm not sure there would be a noticeable difference in light output compared to the HID projectors.

When I did my retro I used the H1 mini 2.5" projectors because they were a known fit into my headlights.

I am curious if I could squeeze a 3" Bi-LED in there and how much difference it might make.

The output pics from your's look awesome but I also know that what a camera "sees" and what the naked eye sees are often very different.

 

[LSCALADE]

Good to know!

I guess my next question is how they are described in the Amazon listing as direct drop-in/bolt-in for certain standard light bulb sizes, but the Yukon bulbs aren't listed. I wonder how difficult it would be to get the projector housings to mount & seal into the H13/9008 bulb sockets.

In your case what you would do is install a semi stiff rubber ring on the back of the projector, feed the shaft through the hole for the bulb some trimming may be needed, and then there is a lock ring and nut on the backside. That mounts the projector, the rest adjustment for rotation will need to be done when in the vehicle. The wiring will be straight forward, but given that its a H13 bulb those have dual fillament and I think when high beam is enabled the low beam is turned off but I could be wrong. If thats the case then there are some tricks with Relay and diodes but I think thats an easy to solve problem. For shrouds they have a ton of options, I love the Porsche Panamera with the built in LED DRL and turn signals in them.

 

[Charlie207]

In your case what you would do is install a semi stiff rubber ring on the back of the projector, feed the shaft through the hole for the bulb some trimming may be needed, and then there is a lock ring and nut on the backside. That mounts the projector, the rest adjustment for rotation will need to be done when in the vehicle. The wiring will be straight forward, but given that its a H13 bulb those have dual fillament and I think when high beam is enabled the low beam is turned off but I could be wrong. If thats the case then there are some tricks with Relay and diodes but I think thats an easy to solve problem. For shrouds they have a ton of options, I love the Porsche Panamera with the built in LED DRL and turn signals in them.

Thanks, I was about to pull the trigger on the projectors, and some sacrificial Yukon housings, but found a deal on some home speakers (Snell Acoustics Type E II), and that'll put a dent in my discretionary fund.

I'll be circling back to this project soon enough, and probably have some more questions for you in the future.

 

[j91z28d1]

nice build..

do you have fog lamps? of the projectors have a stepped cut off, I pull them apart and trim that flat for fog lights. the stick them in the fog light housings, low beam for fogs on, high beam turns on the fogs bi-led on high.

I have my c6 and yukon like this, and it's very enjoyable. I was towing a trailer and it had my lights up a little high, I was able to cut off the headlights, run just the fogs on low and it was good light and since the cut off is lower, I didn't blind anyone from the squat. for nromal use of high beam, all 4 projectors on high is very nice.

 

[LSCALADE]

Your results have me itching to pull my Morimoto Bi-Xenon projectors out of my Burb and replace them with some Bi-LED projectors.

I have mixed feelings on these because if the LED goes out it requires opening the headlight to replace the whole projector, as opposed to just swapping in a new bulb with what I currently have.

I'm also not 100% sure that the juice would be worth the squeeze. In other words, I'm not sure there would be a noticeable difference in light output compared to the HID projectors.

When I did my retro I used the H1 mini 2.5" projectors because they were a known fit into my headlights.

I am curious if I could squeeze a 3" Bi-LED in there and how much difference it might make.

The output pics from your's look awesome but I also know that what a camera "sees" and what the naked eye sees are often very different.

Well as a hardcore light fan, I have currently Bi Xenon Morimoto D2S 5.0 running on 50w. The lighting is good especially for distance but it seems that my eyse like a little more light to the sides and closer to the vehicle and the Bi-LED does that for me. The razor sharp beam is equivalent the BI-LED have way more color.

The particular BiLED unit has a little less peak brightness at the center where the step is and you can see that when you aim the lights far down the raod, thats where the HID system seems to throw more light in the center. Problem is its an escalade and it wobbles a lot so aiming far down the road is like SOS signal to all the oncoming traffic, so I aim them slightly closer to the vehicle still long distance and that works.

If I have to do this over and over, I am choosing BI-LED, the HID is old tech and while it was peak the complexity of ballasts and bulbs and warm up times I prefer the ease of the BI-LED. I think NHK units are probably going to be the sweet spot but they also cost a lot more.

 

[LSCALADE]

For my Escalade 2.0 I decided to use the DEPO lights with the 3 chrome slots and a BiLED projector with triple High beam LED assist. Turned out quite well actually. I am happy with the lighting performance and ease of retrofit. As far as opening the DEPO lights, never again, I will stick to the versions with butyl seal. Permaseal took me about 4hrs per light to open and I don't wish that upon anyone to ever encounter.

Enough talk here are some pictures.

Installed some marker lights inside the headlight lenses that actually turned out pretty ok. Not bright enough to be seen in the day but look good at night.

Now both rigs are equipped with amazing forward lighting systems and I can't stop going out for night drives.

 

[j91z28d1]

very clean setup.