Those "diamond cut" little blue "city lights"

[plasmadis]

Hey everyone. Long time reader, first time poster. :)
Well, not that long. I just got my 3G a month ago, and since then I've been cleaning it up, making little tweaks here and there, and reading up on this board to see what other people are doing to their 3Gs.
First thing that caught my attention were the headlights. Mine were looking a little dim, so I was like, instead of getting the same old thing again, let's see what we can throw in there. After some searching, I came across the infamous "diamond cut" lights people have been talking about, that are being sold on eBay.
It seems there's a mixed opinion of these lights. Some like them, some think they're cheap, some think they're "ricey", but I'd have to say they're really not bad for the price (around $20 shipped). They're pretty well made, have nice thick glass lenses, and IMHO really do improve the look of the car with the lights up.
A confusing aspect of these lights seems to be the little blue "city lights" that are inside these lights. People have been asking what are they for, what do I do with them, should I hook them up, etc. As far as I can tell, no one on the board seems to have actually hooked them up and given their opinion of them, so here goes...
http://members.dslextreme.com/~plasmadis/3gaccord/bluelights1.jpg
And, heh, there you have it. These are just the little "city lights", the main lights are off. They're actually pretty bright, and pretty blue, but not bright enough to cast a light on anything. Well, I don't know about you, but IMHO...
:rice:
I won't be hooking them up permanently. I don't see a use for them. You'll totally get pulled over if a cop catches you rolling around with these on, so barring that, what else do you do with them? If you do plan on hooking them up, here's my suggestions:
1) Wire them up to a small switch on your dash. Then put your lights up, and flash them on for various fun reasons (not while driving). Roll up on your friends and surprise them! Flash them at people driving down the road! "Whoa, what's with those blue lights?" Put them on when you get a chick to pose on your hood! If you don't have a chick, while you're sitting in your car waiting in a lot or something, if you see some walking by, flash the blue lights at them! That'll get their attention!
2) Wire them up to your car alarm. Most car alarms have this feature where it flashes the lights so you can find your car in the parking lot. Well, your car will be a lot easier to find, being the only one with the blue lights!
3) Wire them to your dome light, so they go on every time you get in and out of the car! Whoa!
Aside from that, the headlights themselves are quite nice. I was a bit skeptical to see a blue coating on the bulb they came with, but upon turning them on, was quite pleased to see a nice, clean, soft light, with just a slight bluish tint. I was afraid I'd get that really blue "fake HID" light I've seen some ppl rolling around with, but these aren't that at all. Here they are with just the main lights on:
http://members.dslextreme.com/~plasmadis/3gaccord/diamondcut.jpg
I'm sure others will have opinion on better lights; real HID kits, Silverstars, etc., but I think if you want something new that'll give you a unique look, this is your best bet for just 20 bucks.
There goes for my first post. See you all around the board.

[LiTtLe xOx BitT]

Well thats one hell of a first post, i didnt know you could write so much about headlights, lol. The lights look good, not a bad start. Welcome to the board and good luck with your progress.

[lamontlamont]

i suggest to people that instead of putting in a switch you can go to the junk yard and get another cruise control switch or a sunroof switch and put them in your car. it willl look like factory installed and the dash already has the holes for those switches.

[3G Jester]

thats a helluva pair of flashlights maing. lets see the rest of the ride.

[2drSE-i]

nice dude, clean coupe

[frankie89]

nice.. a brown coupe, opps sorry gold...welcome and remember coupes own alll, but hatchies are cool too..

[crazykamper]

wow. crazy nice. who did you get them off of, im trying to see what seller people preffer (that is if you got them off ebay...) i would drive with those around and have my driving lights on the bottom... hopefully cops wont care. also. do you know if you can change the bulb of the city light???

[Acid X]

Do these "diamond cut" headlights have glass lenses? Also, would they work with an HID kit from, say, HIDynamics?

I'd like to know, i might invest in these. :)

[88Accord-DX]

I got a pair of them lights off ebay too. I just hooked the city blue lights up to my fog light relay/switch. I'll sometimes roll around on a cloudy day with the lights flipped up & have just the fog lights on w/ "city blues" on. Haven't got messed with by the cops though. They are real glass too Acid X.

[Acid X]

Cool. So would these be able to handle real HID bulbs?

[frantik]

wow i always wondered how blue the city lights were.. now i know :D i'd like to replace them with white bulbs and cruise like ddude2uc mentioned on cloudy days

[BDaccordguy]

i was thinking maybe replace the blue bulbs with yellow ones seeing as how yellow is supposed to cut through fog better. It might look cool like those LeMans cars.. hehe.

[88Accord-DX]

Cool. So would these be able to handle real HID bulbs? I don't see why not. I think you need a thicker wiring harness & upgrade the relays some. Not sure what guage the wiring is on the headlights. I would send a e-mail to the guys selling them lights on ebay & ask them if HID's will fit in the headlight assemblies.

[crazykamper]

do you guys have the old auction links were you bought them?? im trying to find the one that is most preffered, and the best quallity i guess. i was thinkin bout doin the angel eye, but something tells me not to trust that one guy cause it says *No Returns or Warrenty* or something of that sort.

[carotman]

i was thinking maybe replace the blue bulbs with yellow ones seeing as how yellow is supposed to cut through fog better. It might look cool like those LeMans cars.. hehe.

I was thinking the same thing :D

[Acid X]

Who was the seller on ebay that you bought them from?

[crazykamper]

yeah. who was it, iwould want it green so it matches my car more, or white or yellow is fine though.

[Magny]

Cool. So would these be able to handle real HID bulbs?
If the housing is made of glass instead of cheap plastic that can melt from the heat, yes it will hold up to the tru-HID lights. If it is the cheap plastic, it will melt after a while from the heat that the HIDs produce.

[3gn86lxi]

The problem you are going to have with the cheap housings is GLARE.....and lots of GLARE. They are not designed to handle the output of a HID bulb.
I have the Autopal housings, basically a Hella E code housing.............
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d45/3gn86lxi/oh.jpg
And they project the beam better. And if you get a KIT, it will have all the necessary glare shields ect.

[Acid X]

Aren't those housings way expensive?

[3gn86lxi]

Aren't those housings way expensive?
Not too bad really. I think I paid around $60 on e-bay.

[Acid X]

AH, do you know if your seller is still selling them?

[lostforawhile]

haha I had you all beat by about ten years,In one of my 81 civics,I had the authentic Italian tri bar round seven inch lights,and they had real european city lights in them. found them in a mercedes junkyard,dug through a flloded barn for an entire day on the rumor they were there. I have the 6 inch simulated hid lights from pilot now, i replaced the blue bulbs with amber ones,and tied them into the side markers. now the amber bulbs make them look like running lights,and they blink with the turn signal on the corosponding side. or the hid bulb is on with the high beams. these lights were only forty bucks,but they have a nice bright light,and the lens is glass i believe. it looks like plastic but is glass.

[3gn86lxi]

AH, do you know if your seller is still selling them?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/200mm-H6054-H4-EURO-CONVERSION-HEADLIGHTS-KIT_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33710QQitemZ8013226 615QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
Here ya go.

[halxi]

ive been thinking about doing the same thing with my city lights, only im going to replace mine with xenon white bulbs... i think it would be a good idea for those foggy days

[crazykamper]

yeha. now i cant wait to get some!! anybody else have very good feedback on someone... or who you got your lights off that you prefer??

[A18A]

why wud the cops pull you up for somethinglike that? honestly!!! i mean, those lights are bad ass

[2drSE-i]

when i had my blue leds he put it this way

"you get behind a lil ol lady and she freaks out thinking your a cop, slams on her brakes and ur screwed"

[crazykamper]

i ordered mine on last wednesday, from y2kmotors, anybody know howlong they take to ship?? they still aint here.

[2drSE-i]

i ordered somethign the other day, its gonna take till the 30th. the holidays approach gentleman, it will take longer from here until january 30th

[lostforawhile]

where are you al getting yours from the ebay site says the auction has ended

[crazykamper]

so what kind of bubls are the city lights??? i want to replace mine.... anybody have a picture of the city light bulb?? or what size or whatever you wanna call them they are.... im interested in gettin a diff colored one....

[FyreDaug]

Was it just the blue lights you got for the 20 bucks? Or were there brighter driving bulbs aswell? I must have missed that, if it improved the quality of your lights I may try em out.

[lostforawhile]

so what kind of bubls are the city lights??? i want to replace mine.... anybody have a picture of the city light bulb?? or what size or whatever you wanna call them they are.... im interested in gettin a diff colored one....well if they are an led you just have to figure out how to get a differnt color led in there,if they are the two prong bulb like what goes in the side marker lamps,it's a 194naxl for amber. you can get that at any auto parts store,it's a standard bulb.

[suvsareretarded]

i was thinking maybe replace the blue bulbs with yellow ones seeing as how yellow is supposed to cut through fog better. It might look cool like those LeMans cars.. hehe.


More info:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/light_color/light_color.html

[crazykamper]

how freakin long will shipping take, it will be 2 weeks on wednesday, if it takes 2 weeks, i will probably give bad feedback, shipping ground usually takes 7-9 days, and he said it takes 1-2 days to procces everything, so overall, im lookin max at 11 days, wich was yesturday (sunday) im starting to get pissed!!!

[FyreDaug]

were there brighter driving bulbs aswell? I must have missed that, if it improved the quality of your lights I may try em out.

Bump ^

[NRRACING]

I got mine in and it took like three days and they look very nice, I am going to order a 60-70 pair of bulbs for my car , these com from japan, and are not legal in american, but they look very nice, my bumper lenses and corner shell be in on friday, I ordered a whole new front ( I mean lights and lenses)..

Oh yeah my car is all black droped 2 inches, with white 17's, and red tails, new fronts and it is very clean. LX-i baby 5-speed

[logic]

I don't see why not. I think you need a thicker wiring harness & upgrade the relays some. Not sure what guage the wiring is on the headlights. I would send a e-mail to the guys selling them lights on ebay & ask them if HID's will fit in the headlight assemblies.

Actually no, one of the big advantages of HID is that you get a lot more light for less power...

[FyreDaug]

Arg, any light output increase??

[suvsareretarded]

YES! I had them on my last honda. They worked quite well, but it really depends on the bulbs you use. If you use ricey blue bulbs, light output sucks. But if you use normal WHITE bulbs, not superwhite super lame super rice bulbs, the light output is GREAT. I want to get some for my new 3g but I haven't had the $ yet.

[jlros75]

From my own experience the Raybrig White Sonic Bulbs are the best. I tried Piaa,Nokia,Silverstar,Cuzo,Autolite and by far Raybrig is king. It will cost around $80 shipped, but you wont regret it. :rockon:

[suvsareretarded]

All of those blue bulbs are crap really. Don't believe me? Go here:

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/superwhite/superwhite.html

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/blue/good/good.html

[lostforawhile]

finally someone put it in writing,thats why I'm getting the hella lamps,better optics,better lens, the mass produced lenses on sealed lamps are manufactured as cheap as possible, the lenses on quality composite lamps like hella have much better quality optics.

[HondaBoy]

very good write up. that was pretty well done an i hope more people see that. check out this old thread where i compared GE super blue bulbs to Sylvania silver stars. the GE's out performed the Sylvania's
http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?t=31287&highlight=silver+star

[suvsareretarded]

Silverstars are junk. They have a heavy blue coating, so the filament is overdriven like crazy in order to get decent light output from them, which makes their lifespan almost NIL. Anyone remember the Sylvania Cool Blues? Those were pretty decent... they weren't really blue at all, they just didn't look yellow. Lots of light output. Too bad they quit making them and switched to the twice as expensive replace every season Silverstars. :\

[BDaccordguy]

Anyone remember the Sylvania Cool Blues? Those were pretty decent... they weren't really blue at all, they just didn't look yellow. Lots of light output. Too bad they quit making them and switched to the twice as expensive replace every season Silverstars. :\


I have cool blues in my beretta right now, they look a lot better than stock (bright white output).. and I have been very pleased.

[88Accord-DX]

Actually no, one of the big advantages of HID is that you get a lot more light for less power...
I be damn, didn't know that. Learn something everyday "so to say".

I thought it was the opposite, & drawing more wattage, being that is was a better light output.

[HondaBoy]

heres something else. the HID systems usually draw 35 watts and have a ballast that brings the power up, so its pretty much doing what an amplifier does on your stereo. someone had said the hid bulbs dont get hot, but they do. i felt the lense on my friend porsche. they do get hot.

[cody509]

any pictures of your 3g with the "blue city light" and the main headlight on at the same time?

[Acidbath88accordlx]

I just bought my "Ricer lights" last tuesday.... if I don't like 'em I'll sell mine but we'll see... thinking on getting an oem foglight switch to hook up the little blue lights... we'll see on that too....

[EricW]

I wouldn't waste your money on the eBay special H4 conversions. I had some and then i bought the Hella H4 conversions and the difference is night and day. The light from the eBay conversions was just kind of a blob and had glare everywhere and the Hella's have a great cut off line that you can see way down the road and the light is concentrated where you need it. The ebay specials where so cheap that the glass was glued on up side down so that it said to on the bottom of the lens. I have some pics some where if anyone is interested in seeing the difference.

[theDougler]

i wouldn't mind seeing some pics of the difference. might pursuade me to buy some good ones down the road

[88Accord-DX]

Nevermind. I don't have a day & night pic of them. Just the day pic. Opps.

[EricW]

i wouldn't mind seeing some pics of the difference. might pursuade me to buy some good ones down the road


I'll post some later when i have time to resize them and upload them.

[EricW]

http://www.knology.net/~ericrw/Pics/100_1671r.jpg
http://www.knology.net/~ericrw/Pics/100_1674r.jpg

[2ndGenGuy]

I have a set of the cheapo eBay ones in my Accord for the low beams (2nd gen 4 headlights system). They suck ass. If you can get the nice Hellas they are the only way to go. I originally had all 4 lights with the insert conversions, but 1 set of them cracked. 1 set of them, the lenses just fell off after a while. The light output blows too. I have some nice expensive bulbs in there thinking they would be better, but I can't see crap. I installed sealed beam Silverstars in my high beams and what a difference vs the inserts high beams.