Changing stock D5S bulb

[jjoosshh]

In my 2017 Silverado, I have D5S HID bulbs. They are only 25 watt bulbs, which is super low compared to other HID systems. Has anyone looked into upgrading to a 35 watt or even a 50 watt system?

[ewiski]

I always wondered why stock systems werent as bright as after market. I had 35 watters on my camry and they were pretty darn bright compared to a car with stock system. I think 50 is the next step up those are just over driven 35 watt bulbs.

 

I do have a 35 watt morimoto system if someone is interested.

Edited December 29, 2016 by ericw

[jjoosshh]

I always wondered why stock systems werent as bright as after market. I had 35 watters on my camry and they were pretty darn bright compared to a car with stock system. I think 50 is the next step up those are just over driven 35 watt bulbs.

 

I do have a 35 watt morimoto system if someone is interested.

 

 

My question is, can I just swap in 35 watt bulbs? I know for a 50 watt system, you need a relay harness.

[ewiski]

I doubt it. But im not the HID encyclopedia of knowledge on the subject.

 

I would suggest using the relay harness. It takes a whole lot more to light an hid bulb initially than a halogen. Dont want to risk burning up wiring or your truck.

Edited December 29, 2016 by ericw

[x219c]

I've looked into it a little.

 

Short story, it isn't worth it yet. Right now it would probably require some custom work on the bulb and ballast. Possibly even the housing.

 

The new bulbs have the ballast and bulb in one package. You replace one, you replace both. For this to work, you'll be needing separate ballast/bulb combos. Due to space, this could introduce moisture issues. You'll have to run wires to the ballast, and if moisture gets in...

 

I'm waiting for a drop in replacement with better specs.

 

I came from a Camry with a rx350 retrofit. Although these are better than most halogen, it's really not even close to what's possible. Speaking of which, I've still got those headlights sitting in the garage. I gotta get rid of that stuff.

 

 

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[Nwatson99]

I've looked into it a little.

 

Short story, it isn't worth it yet. Right now it would probably require some custom work on the bulb and ballast. Possibly even the housing.

 

The new bulbs have the ballast and bulb in one package. You replace one, you replace both. For this to work, you'll be needing separate ballast/bulb combos. Due to space, this could introduce moisture issues. You'll have to run wires to the ballast, and if moisture gets in...

 

I'm waiting for a drop in replacement with better specs.

 

I came from a Camry with a rx350 retrofit. Although these are better than most halogen, it's really not even close to what's possible. Speaking of which, I've still got those headlights sitting in the garage. I gotta get rid of that stuff.

 

 

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Thank you for the info, I was noticing my lights seemed to be cut off short in front of my truck and when on high beam there is a black line on the road in perfect line of sight that I do not like.

If anyone knows of a drop in / plug and play replacement better than what we have I would really like to know about it myself.

[x219c]

Thank you for the info, I was noticing my lights seemed to be cut off short in front of my truck and when on high beam there is a black line on the road in perfect line of sight that I do not like.

If anyone knows of a drop in / plug and play replacement better than what we have I would really like to know about it myself.

If you're talking about the cutoff, that should be able to be adjusted. But as far as with the brights, I haven't noticed anything like that. Maybe I've been oblivious. I'll have to look later on. Is it a horizontal dark spot? If there's a defect, maybe you could get them replaced. If you'd like, I can take a few pictures of what my pattern looks like.

 

I'm kinda hoping to get d2s bulbs to fit, but haven't wanted to pop the seal on the back of our current lights to see what it would take. I've read about some having moisture problems with the past few model year headlights and I don't want to jinx my set that seem to be keeping water out.

 

 

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[Txjose]

Ive said this too about my 16' sierra.... Lighgs seem to be not as bright as i would like.

 

So no upgrades yet hu??

 

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[FL335i]

While we are on this topic. My '14 has reflector lights. I'm looking at buying some used OEM LTZ projector lights and doing an aftermarket 35 or 50 watt HID kit. Will the LTZ factory projector housings handle an aftermarket HID? My wife's '15 Enclave has HID from the factory.... They are awesome.

Edited January 8, 2017 by FL335i

[x219c]

While we are on this topic. My '14 has reflector lights. I'm looking at buying some used OEM LTZ projector lights and doing an aftermarket 35 or 50 watt HID kit. Will the LTZ factory projector housings handle an aftermarket HID? My wife's '15 Enclave has HID from the factory.... They are awesome.

They will, but they'd just be a kit... they won't be quite as bright or focused as what your wife's car is like. If you'd like what your wife has, you'll want to look into a company called the retrofit source. They basically take factory HID headlights and build them into your existing headlights. I've done it this way once and the results are amazing. They also sell the parts so that you can do it yourself if you feel it's something you can do.

 

It can be pricy, but I don't know if it'd be much pricier than buying a whole second set of headlights and a drop in kit. If nothing else, it's worth looking into.

 

 

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[FL335i]

Good info man. I'm looking for a OEM setup as much as possible. I did find my wife's Enclave HID parts on ebay from wrecked versions. Looks like you can buy the modules and such. But the headlight housing itself as you noted is the key.

[Alfred Arcidi]

I have looked into this as well. Apparently the underpowered 25w D5S bulbs we have in our headlight assemblies have a different focal distance than a traditional 35w bulbs. In other words the chamber that houses the salts that ignite and provide the light is in a different spot on our bulbs then, say a d2S bulb. If we were to simply swap bulbs (and retrofit ballasts of course) the stock projectors would not throw the light properly due to the light source being in a different spot. It seemes to me that either a lens or entire projector swap is in order to truly get the desired outcome. The retrofit source' new mini D2S 4.0 projectors would do nicely, though it is a pretty big can of worms to open...

 

Link: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/components/projectors/aftermarket/bi-xenon-morimoto-mini-d2s-4-0-projectors.html

Edited January 9, 2017 by TarmanAlf

[FL335i]

I can't believe that HID's were introduced in 1997 on a BMW 7 series for the first time in a production vehicle. It's 2017. 20yrs later there is still no easy HID retrofit kits on the market. You literally have to buy them with the vehicle or it's a science project and a headache. in 2011 I did a HID retrofit to my wife's C300 who had projector halogens. What a fiasco. One night while traveling they just quite working, would flash... Fn mess. Put the OEM halogens in and my life got a lot simpler.

[trp3383]

Morimoto just came out with 35w ds5 bulbs

[snowbrewer88]

Got a new option for all us stuck with D5S bulbs, but I have a question:

 

Can I just remove the whole D5S bulb and ballast unit and wire in a 25W JDM Astar LED? I've installed the 8th Gen JDM LED H11 bulb before and I'm VERY impressed.

 

The D5S and the JDM 8th Gens are both rated at 25W, so it might just be the perfect miracle solution for us. Only concern is that I might have to replace the projector housing for a good fit.

 

Any thoughts?

 

-Danny G