Xenon Replacement for Halogen

[JimmyTheLips]

afternoon, please don't snigger or laugh at my ignorance but.... can I switch out the halogen headlight units at the front of my 2012 XC60 D5 AWD for Xenon units? I'm not talking about the bulbs but the entire headlight/headlamp unit in its entirety on both sides. I see that there is already a fuse installed for the ABL/Xenon lights and as I see it the connector is identical albeit with an additional pin on the Xenon unit over the Halogen one. Is this as simple as it gets or am missing something fundamental?

[Crockers]

You would need auto leveling balancing plus front washers to be 100% legal. May be cheaper to buy a model with xenon's fitted.

[Daniel TD5]

Hi mate

It can be done but all the parts can be very expensive try finding a car that's had a rear ender and right off buy all the bits in one go

Regards

Dan

[wimorrison]

I suspect that the extra pin you refer to will provide the high voltage required by the xenon that is not required for 12v halogen bulbs. I would suggest that you need to loate these on the rear end right off and install them in your car wiring as well as the self levelling and headlight washers - a bigger task than just swapping unit over I fear

[JimmyTheLips]

Thanks guys, the car already has headlamp washer jets and when looking at the fuses the xenon/abl fuse is in place. Also having looked at the wiring the harness has cabling in place for pin 5. I plugged them in and they work until you drive then they shutdown when you aren't pushing the accelerator. Its weird, in idle without having driven the lights works and self level. Once you drive though the lights flicker and then go out until you accelerate again. Very odd, any ideas?

[watchboy]

Don't Xenons require a ballast to ensure that the requisite voltage is maintained? It sounds like, as you move away, voltage / amps output from the alternator is reducing possibly resulting in the lights dimming or flickering

I could of course be completely wrong!

Paul

[JimmyTheLips]

Originally Posted by watchboy

Don't Xenons require a ballast to ensure that the requisite voltage is maintained? It sounds like, as you move away, voltage / amps output from the alternator is reducing possibly resulting in the lights dimming or flickering

I could of course be completely wrong!

Paul

The units I have are complete unit replacements with balast, I will post a picture when I get home :-)

[JimmyTheLips]

So here you can see that these are proper replacement units rather than an HID conversion kit. I have ordered some new bulbs to rule those out.

[GreaseNipple]

Okay, I'll ask, how much per unit.

[JimmyTheLips]

Originally Posted by GreaseNipple

Okay, I'll ask, how much per unit.

130 + shipping so all in was about 300 for the pair.