[samxerxesn]

Hi all, long time no see.

I picked up some facelift headlights and wanted to put some HIDs in them, but the best way to do this is to relocate the battery to the frunk to give the adapter power.
I realize this is a weird thing to post in suspension/handling, but most people relocate the battery for weight distribution reasons so I figured this was relevant.

Anyways, I was wondering if there was anything new in the world of battery relocation. I know most people made their own battery hold downs and ran thick wires the length of the car. Does anyone make a kit for this now, and as far as the batter itself goes what's the news on those lightweight batteries people were looking at?

Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[carlbecker]

I use a lightweight battery in the OEM place. Removed 22 lbs from high and in the rear and can still easily jump someone when needed. I didn't feel the need to add copper wire weight or price or add weight to the front, not that we are talking about much. I don't run with a spare though, another 24 lbs or so, keeps my balance

 

[FormInFunction]

I think it's odd to relocate the battery solely to power the headlights instead of just running a single wire to the positive terminal. What kind of HIDs are you using? FWIW I have used 35W & 55W on the stock wiring (adapted just for the correct bulb plugs). The 35W is no issue, with the 55W HID setup the initial switch to high beams causes an incredibly quick flash as the low beams go off, then both low & high beams power on. I have no flickering, decrease in light output, etc...just this phenomenon when the high beams are switched on. Since the HIDs are already up to temp they come back on at full brightness, this all occurs in well less than half a second. I realize the quick flicker on & off means:
1. the right answer is probably to wire power to the battery
2. I have an extra duty cycle on the HID ballasts when I use the high beams.

I use halogen bulbs in the high beam, I adapted a different type of bulb into the 9005 socket which is newer & supposedly gives the same output as the brightest halogen bulbs at a lower energy draw. I can't remember the exact bulb type but I can figure it out if you care to know.
I'm not saying it's the right thing, I'm just saying that it's a thing. YMMV, unless of course you're just looking for an excuse to relocate your battery

 

[ISpy]

I run HID, normal location battery. I drilled 2 holes. One to the right of the harness in the rear then ran 0/1 wire to small power distribution splitter. One wire to home made fuse box located to the right of the glove box, one to the amp behind the passengers seat and one to the HID. The second hole was for that wire to the HID relays mounted in the frunk. I am pretty sure I posted the location and pictures here in SC. The place to drill is behind the glove box. Send PM if you want pictures.

 

[Funkycheeze]

I run 35W HID kits using the stock wiring, works great.

 

[Haloruler64]

A 2000 shuts its low beams off when you trigger the high beams, which is a bad time on 2003 headlights. That's why he's running a Motocontrol harness to fix that.

 

[FormInFunction]

My first Spyder with the 35W HID kit didn’t have any issue with the low beam when the high beams came on. The only other difference is that I had a pre-made adapter wiring harness (made by MikeV??) in my first Spyder and in this one I wired in the plugs myself. To be clear both beams stay on, just that the low beam now cuts off & very quickly comes back on when activating the high beams. I always thought it was the initial power draw but since it happens quick enough that it doesn’t affect driving I never really cared to do a deep dive on it.

Another weird thing is that once the high beams have been on for a bit, flicking them off & on again does not affect the low beam, another reason I shrugged it off as the initial power draw due to using a 55W kit.

 

[Petrus]

I realize this is a weird thing to post in suspension/handling, but most people relocate the battery for weight distribution reasons so I figured this was relevant.

The weight balance thing is much maligned as 50/50 is a myth for FR only and even then most often not the ideal.

Secondly the US type autoX confuses things as that is a very specific low speed tight corner use not representative for real world road use weight distribution.

For our Spyder more rearward balance than OEM reduces understeer and imo you sure don´t want móre up front for road use.

and as far as the batter itself goes what's the news on those lightweight batteries people were looking at?.

I have an 800 gramm LiFe battery in the original tray. It was out of my ralley car then so now at least 4 winters old and starts the car on -5 mornings.

As to the light bulbs the PFLs are nowadays poorly indeed. in perspective of the modern lamps. I have replaced the H4 bulbs with higher wattage. The Osram Nightbreaker are surprising too. Since those are cheap and a simple swap I would give those a try first.

Good luck.

 

[MerryFrankster]

Sammy why don't you get the power from the fusebox in the frunk. Whatever happened with your dipstick blow-off issue is what I want to know.

 

[samxerxesn]

Sammy why don't you get the power from the fusebox in the frunk. Whatever happened with your dipstick blow-off issue is what I want to know.

You mean that time the dipstick tube tried to make a break for it? I just put it back in with a new bolt and nothing has happened since. I guess my theory that there was pressure building up wasn't true.

Anyways, I've been thinking of upgrading the engine when I reach 200k miles (coming up soon!) and I've been considering a k24 or 2GR. The biggest hurdle will be CA smog, but some people claim to have a BAR certified K-swap, so maybe it's possible. 2GR might actually be harder in terms of legality.

 

[samxerxesn]

I left out an important piece of info. I'm using this harness to handle the low beam high beam switching issue.
MotoControl Bi-Xenon: H4/9003 Hi/Lo Relay I XD

I did see ISpy's guide on making your own wiring to fix this, but I figured I'd just use this harness. I wanted to pull power straight from the battery, and figured I'd relocate the battery at the same time to clean up the engine bay. It looks like that was based on old info though. This thread wasn't inteded to be about lighting though, so I'm going to leave it at that.

At the end of the day it looks like battery relocation isn't the way to go, so I'll look at other options. Thanks to shipping delays I have plenty of time, too. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[serialk11r]

2GR swap would involve a Lotus ECU...good luck with that. Apparently SW20s can pass with a 2GR if you do it right because they're OBD1 cars so the rules are a little looser, but very few if any people have managed to BAR those too.