Head lights! What is this?

So spent the day removing arch liners and under trays today, getting to know the car if you like, check condition etc and really pleased so far The head lights appear to have been updated or something, not used them yet in the dark but they do appear very bright. Took a few photos of the rear of the units and the aftermarket gubbins, can any of you say what this is and any advice is appreciated cheers

A mess ?

Looks like ballasts for HIDs, one for dip and one for full beam. Judging by the spaghetti wiring, aftermarket (I believe the OEM ballasts are in the light units). Having done this on my Elise, it's really difficult to find a good place to put all the extra gubbins without making a mess.

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Ah right, would this explain the the lights being brighter than I expected? So what type of bulbs should it take? Think I’ll try and tidy it up whilst the arch liners are out

Those are definitely aftermarket HID ballasts, and they’re probably installed on halogen headlamp assemblies. If you could provide a picture of the front of the headlamps, we’d be able to confirm that. If these are indeed halogen assemblies, you probably have H7-style Xenon bulbs.

Aftermarket HID. Mine has them too. My understanding is that strictly speaking, they can fail an MOT unless you have headlight washers fitted, as they need too be original and not aftermarket. Most MOT testers will overlook it if they have headlight washers as the car could have come from factory with Litronic HID, which would have washers fitted.

Porsche did offer HID headlights as a plug and play upgrade so that should be ok even without level adjusters and washers. Litronics do have external ballasts and the wiring can be adjusted to give HID on full beam as well as the H9 bulb. I've fitted Litronics but, like my original lights, the reflectors are no in great shape so I've bought, but not yet fitted, Retrofitlabs HID upgrades.

Here’s a photo with the lights on, definitely seems like a different colour coming from headlights

Looks like blue temp bulbs, ?6000K, I think you're best with Temp 4600k or lower otherwise doesn't really go with the age of the car. I believe Osram and Philips have a good range of HID bulbs. You need to make sure you have the correct bulb shape for the housing so it holds in and the bulb is in the correct place for the reflector, then you'll need the correct plug for your ballasts. (I don't know if this is standard.) I do know that bulbs come in 35w and 55w but Im guessing a 35w ballast can not drive a 55w bulb. I have 35w 4200k Philips HIDs in my Elise but I'm no expert but they work well for me. Even at 4200k I think the full beams have a slight blue tint even though they are exactly the same specs but different bulb types.

Thanks @drac I’ll look into that cheers

nick, those are definitely halogen headlamps. Simply sticking HID bulbs into those is not a great idea. The light output is bad and the glare is annoying and dangerous. A blinded oncoming driver may swerve into your lane and collide head on with you. You have options for better light output, but they can be costly. 1) Replace your bulbs with high-performance halogen bulbs. This is the cheapest option. 2) Purchase a LED or HID retrofit kit for existing headlamps from retrofitlab.com 3) Buy a used set of OEM Litronics headlamps for your car. I personally went with option 3, removing my original halogen headlamps for used Litronics. I also installed the brightest bulbs available, and I’m pleased to say that this combination provides excellent nighttime illumination. And never has another motorist flashed their high beams at me to complain about glare. Also my Litronics lenses have yellowed a bit, so I’m sure the light output can be improved after polishing them. But they’re plenty sufficient for me (and I would say I’m very picky about lights) so I’m content with things as they are. While I am very pleased with my setup, I will say that I’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing an additional set of used halogen headlamps for an LED retrofit. There are some YouTube videos of 996 and 986 owners who have used retrofitlab’s products, and the outcome looks terrific.

Well I’m in touch with the last owner and he had no knowledge of the aftermarket upgrades on the lights so they’ve been fitted over 6yrs ago at least and he comments on how the lights were always poor so maybe not a great job. Looking at the retrofitlab.com kits with interest, another project for the future

The issue with fitting a HID burner into a reflector designed for a halogen lamp is that the HID arc ends up in a different place to the halogen filament. This throws the focus of the reflector out and you end up with light scattering everywhere you don’t want it. These lights are actually very good in terms of beam focus and cut-off. I use the top-of-the-line Philips Ultinon LED retrofit lamp, which is so designed that the diode mimics exactly the position and size of a halogen filament. I would thoroughly recommend ripping that HID retrofit out and replacing with these. They’re brilliant, and very safe (even if not strictly legal).

Thanks @tttc another option. Lot cheaper too, might make sense as I probably won’t drive in the dark too often Do they require a different holder to be fitted or are they plug n play so to speak with a standard halogen bulb holder?

They just drop straight in. The plastic collar has like a bayonet fitting. You clamp that into the bulb holder on its own first then the ally lamp unit fits into it with a quarter-turn.