[marvinstockman]

Regardless as to what bulb you use, make sure your headlight lenses are clear and polished.

 

[maxud]

Great stuff Odyfamily, I have been asked many times if there are better bulbs out there. Now I know!

 

[0dyfamily]

Thanks, guys. I've been on a quest for better lighting "the right way" for some time with my Gen 2 Odyssey. Not a lot of options for Gen 2 guys, since the headlights are H4 dual-filament bulbs,. Also, regarding height, they are a number of inches lower than those on the Gen 3 Odys...which means a Gen 3 Ody with good bulbs can really throw light further down the road further than any Gen 2 Ody can.

Luckily, Philips makes a good X-Treme Vision H4 bulb, which we use in the wife's 2002 EX. My TRS mini-D2S projectors in my 2003 EX are not a significant improvement over those top-drawer Philips halogen bulbs.

You Gen 3 drivers can use the very excellent HIR bulbs with little difficulty, something I wish I could do. I did all of the above research while looking for bulbs for our 1998 Accord, which also uses the 9006 Low / 9005 High setup in each headlamp.

Man, the results are so noticeably better, even when measuring the HIR2 Low / HIR1 High bulbs against a spankin' brand-new set of OEM 9006 Low /9005 High bulbs.

I just checked modifiedlife.com's bulb guide, and sure enough, the entire 2005-2010 lineup uses OEM 9006/9005. That means, if you're so inclined, you can also install the HIR1 bulbs (after trimming that tab on each one) into the headlamp's high beam sockets, and get a super bright (but still legal) halogen high beam solution.

Enjoy the light, citizens!

OF

 

[herrhaus]

Hmmm. Looks like 9011 and 9012 are just the ticket. Thanks Odyfam!!

 

[surgeon]

I had installed HID kit from one of our members. Stock housings. Lately I have been getting some folks flickering the headlights. Does not happen all the time but on lower cars like the older honda civic or like. Light output is great but wonder if there is leak or glare. I might have to check this out. If thats the case, I would not mind swapping to HIRs, as we do use the van for road trips.

OF, one question. I remember trying some EuroDesign bulbs and going back to stock 3 yrs back before my minivan. I can use the HIR bulbs into regular housings of our other sedans like camry, etc. Right?

 

[0dyfamily]

Sir, if your other vehicles use 9006 type halogen bulbs for low beam, and 9005 type halogen bulbs for high beam, then you can use HIR2 (9012) and HIR1 (9011) bulbs respectively. This is for any vehicle that uses 9006 or 9005 as OEM equipment.

PNP HID in any 2005-2010 Odyssey stock housing has two problems. That small amount of light engineered to light up overhead road signs gets magnified to punishing levels for oncoming drivers when a re-based HID capsule is fitted to a stock halogen reflector housing.

As well, you get a ton of foreground light with PNP in a stock reflector housing, which is hurtful to your night distance vision.

In essence, with most any PNP HID setup, a lot of light is wasted in places where you don't need it. That's why the HIR type bulbs are so good for 2005-2010 Odysseys (and my 1998 Accord...and my son's 2012 Civic)...they are identical in filament placement, so all you are doing is amplifying a correctly located and sized light source.

Personally, I think just changing the 9006 low beam bulbs for a pair of HIR 2 (9012) low beam bulbs is sufficient for most people, since those are the lights you use 99% of the time anyways at night. That's what we did with the 2012 Civic.

OF

 

[surgeon]

Thanks OF.

 

[0dyfamily]

Guys, I'm just paying forward information from helpful people.

Give us a shout out on how things turn out, when you try out these bulbs. I'm pretty happy, having installed these onto a 2012 Honda Civic and a 1998 Honda Accord.

OF

 

[surgeon]

Its been over a month since the install and happy so far on van + 2 cars. I wrapped foam and electrical tape on the old hid ballast and connector instead of ripping out. It can just collect dust.

 

[herrhaus]

We've had them in the ODY now for ~ month....and are very happy with the amount of light that they produce on low beam. There was a noticeable difference between the old bulb (9006) and the 9012 bulb.

 

[OdyMember]

We've had them in the ODY now for ~ month....and are very happy with the amount of light that they produce on low beam. There was a noticeable difference between the old bulb (9006) and the 9012 bulb.

+1 (somebogustextsoIcanpostit)

 

[ODC2010]

Guys, I'm just paying forward information from helpful people.

Give us a shout out on how things turn out, when you try out these bulbs. I'm pretty happy, having installed these onto a 2012 Honda Civic and a 1998 Honda Accord.

OF

Thanks to your helpful posts, I did the "conversion" with mine and could not be happier. The amount of light "appears" to be the same but there is significantly more foreground light (a better spread of light).

Now I'm contemplating doing the same with my other car's fog lights (which use 9006). I think that'll be a great "upgrade" considering the HIR's will give a better light spread on fog lights, which are closer to the ground.

 

[0dyfamily]

You "make a lot of illumination money" with this conversion on dark, unlit roads. The light throw at the extreme end of the light pattern is better, way out there.

Where this would really help (for your locale) are those dark, nighttime drives up I-15 into the Cajon Pass.

OF

 

[ODC2010]

You "make a lot of illumination money" with this conversion on dark, unlit roads. The light throw at the extreme end of the light pattern is better, way out there.

Where this would really help (for your locale) are those dark, nighttime drives up I-15 into the Cajon Pass.

OF

I had a chance to drive the van tonight and get to really test the lights. I'm actually surprised it appears brighter than the first time I tried them. Perhaps this time it wasn't just around the block (with street lights) but on the highway.

So I just placed an order for another pair, for the Subaru which uses 9006 fogs. I just wish the light cutoff was sharper.

 

[0dyfamily]

I just removed the headlight housings containing TRS Mini-D2S projectors from my 2003 EX. One of the projectors had its reflector coating peel off completely. Both TRS D2S HID capsules badly color shifted toward something over 5,000K (more towards blue).

Worst part about this TRS retrofit experience? It's three-fold.

First, TRS has to make the projector body of its Mini-D2S pretty short, so that it can fit into OEM headlight housings without any major cutting. This promotes a lot of foreground lighting, which actually kills the driver's nighttime distance vision. Cool looking? Yes. Useful? Well, puddle lights right in front of you are not helpful. I have a set of foreground limiters cobbed up from aluminum roof flashing and a spare set of Mini-D2S projectors, but no time to finish the project.

Second negative: that sharp HID cutoff is not useful when driving on really dark rolling hills. As you descend into the bowl between two hills, everything above the cutoff is pitch black. If there is oncoming traffic, you can't use your high beams. Having decent low-intensity light above the main beam (no cutoff) like on a halogen setup is something I wish I'd had many times when driving under those conditions.

Third negative: the TRS H4-to-projector alignment ring is off by about 8 degrees. They need to fix that.

I re-installed a pair of Honda OEM headlight housings I had in my utility closet, and fitted them with Philips Xtreme Vision H4 bulbs. What a positive difference! They're not of the same caliber as replacing OEM 9006 bulbs with the very nice Philips 9012 in a 2005-2010 Odyssey, but I'm glad to be done with the pitch black area above the cutoff for now.

OF

 

[maxud]

where are you guys buying HIR bulbs? Don't want to get stuck with some counterfeits

 

[surgeon]

From r3seller on e bay. It was mentioned on one of OFs posts. I got 3 sets.

 

[Yourfishman]

Odyfamily, just so im clear, you like these for the 3rd gen Odyssey's low beams.
https://www.amazon.com/Philips-9012...ips-9012-Standard-Halogen-Headlight/dp/B00480N18G?tag=vs-auto-convert-amazon-20

I want the light with max throw. Those dear can get you if you can't see them.
Thanks for all the good info.

 

[OdyMember]

He meant this, $14.99 a pair:

PAIR PHILIPS 9012LL/HIR2 LL BULB 12V 55W STOCK COLOR COMPATIBLE HEAD LIGHT

 

[0dyfamily]

Yes, OdyMember has the right link. I've purchased a number of these from r3seller on ebay, and they are legit Philips 9012 bulbs.

That is the lowest price for a pair of these that I've seen, ever.

My wife just set off to work in her Accord, and it does me good to see those bright headlights offering up good illumination for her to safely drive downtown. Same for my son's 2012 Civic.

This is one of the least expensive safety upgrades you can do for a Gen 3 Odyssey. Purchasing a couple-three pairs would keep you in good shape for years to come. Makes me wish the Gen 2's used the same bulb setup.

OF