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Repro ST3 Projector Headlights (review and write-up)

83K views 226 replies 56 participants last post by  dra2120 
#1 ·
I recently purchased and became a guinea pig for a set of ST3 reproduction projector headlights. These lights came from China as an advertised "plug-n-play." I was not disappointed. This first post is to show the headlights as they arrived, to include packaging, material, and the lights themselves.

This box was pretty stout. There was no visible damage to the outside of the box nor to its contents.



As you can see the headlights were packed in a cardboard box, which was then 'wrapped' in wood. Literally.



There was no lack in packaging material to ensure the safety of the contents.





Each headlight came individually wrapped in not only packaging material but film in-order to further ensure protection.
*Important to note: The headlights came supplied with all of the lights needed, short of the low-beam bulb. (More on this later)



The headlights also came with all necessary plugs, covers, wiring, connectors, etc..

 
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#2 ·
In this post you'll find a write up for the headlights. Not the HID. That can be found in a later post.

As I said, these headlights are advertised as a "plug-n-play" unit. They are, however, if you want the LED brow to work as a DRL than there needs to be a little work done. That is what this post is, a write-up to get the LED brow to operate as a DRL.

You'll notice that there is a stand alone yellow wire that comes out of the bottom of the headlight housing. This wire is what is used to operate the brow as a DRL. The connector itself is odd and no male end was supplied. So I cut it off...



And crimped a male-end connector to it.



I ran a wire the from the fuse box to each headlight area and crimped a female-end to it. This enabled a easy quick connect/disconnect when pulling the headlights out.



I soldered wire from the right headlight into the left and ran a single wire to the fuse box.



I tapped into the "power/heated mirror" fuse. It is a hot power source ONLY when the ignition is on.



No ignition power. No LED brow.



Ignition power, and viola, LED DRL.

 
#3 ·
I want to make sure that I make this clear:

The inner most light came equipped with an H1 bulb. The harness, however, did not come connected to anything. Literally the green wire in the harness was cut. In other markets, NOT THE U.S., this is used as a 'cornering lamp'. That is not the case here. So. One these headlights, from this manufacturer, there is no use for the inner most light.

The LED brow IS the parking light. Without wiring it as a DRL it ONLY comes on when the parking lights are on, or the headlights have been turned on. The LED brow is the parking light. As you saw in the above post I wired them to be DRLs.

The high-beam comes equipped with an H7 bulb. I upgraded mine to the Sylvania ZXE H7 for better light output and a whiter light.

The low-beam is the projector. It REQUIRES a H7 bulb. Whether you choose to go HID (which I did, you can find that information in a later post) or halogen is your choice. You'll find pictures for both as I wanted to let those reading this see the difference. Projectors are MEANT for HID lights, but can be ran with halogen. Your H11 bulb in the stock housing WILL NOT work. The connections are different.



With halogen:



With HID (6000k):



With halogen:



With HID:



With halogen:



With HID:

 
#220 ·
I want to make sure that I make this clear:

The inner most light came equipped with an H1 bulb. The harness, however, did not come connected to anything. Literally the green wire in the harness was cut. In other markets, NOT THE U.S., this is used as a 'cornering lamp'. That is not the case here. So. One these headlights, from this manufacturer, there is no use for the inner most light.

The LED brow IS the parking light. Without wiring it as a DRL it ONLY comes on when the parking lights are on, or the headlights have been turned on. The LED brow is the parking light. As you saw in the above post I wired them to be DRLs.

The high-beam comes equipped with an H7 bulb. I upgraded mine to the Sylvania ZXE H7 for better light output and a whiter light.

The low-beam is the projector. It REQUIRES a H7 bulb. Whether you choose to go HID (which I did, you can find that information in a later post) or halogen is your choice. You'll find pictures for both as I wanted to let those reading this see the difference. Projectors are MEANT for HID lights, but can be ran with halogen. Your H11 bulb in the stock housing WILL NOT work. The connections are different.



With halogen:



With HID (6000k):

[MG]
Got mine today. The inner light on mine works. Its a bright led that stays on.
 
#4 · (Edited)
In this post you'll find a basic HID write-up. The HIDs I bought came with a wiring diagram. You will not find an extensive "how-to" in this post, merely the mounting points that I used in conjunction with the wiring diagram.

This is where I mounted and grounded the resistor for the left HID.



This is where I mounted the ballast on the left.



This is the ground point I used for the wiring harness NEEDED for the Focus in order to prevent the "low-beam bulb out" error.



Same thing on the right side for the resistor and ground point.



Same location for the ballast as the left.



The black covered wires (the one with writing on it) is the HID wiring. It is what connects the left to the right. I wired it along the front of the car and zip-tied. There is enough wire for slack at either end if routed and done properly. The red wire, you'll notice, is the positive wire for the DRLs.



This is the ground point for the right Focus specific wiring harness.

 
#6 ·
Excellent writeup so far, looking forward to the rest. Curious if anyone who has ordered these has ordered the ones on Alibaba that come with HID already installed. Seems like it would save a few steps if you're planning to put HID in anyway, but who knows what the quality of the components they include is like.
 
#7 ·
I have tried to provide as many pictures as I could as well as providing as much explanation and detail I could.

Feel free to ask any questions you want, and I'll answer them the best I can.

This thread is NOT for debating the worth of Chinese headlights. If you want to do that. Feel free to...somewhere else.

Rep, if you want to, and enjoy. [thumb]
 
#8 ·
I should also mention that at this point I have done the following to 'test' the lights:

- 1500 + miles since installation.
- Power car wash (to test the lights seals). No leaks, no fogging, no condensation.
- Three storms, one to include hail [V].
- They've been in weather below freezing and in weather above 90 degrees. How is this possible you ask?! OKLAHOMA. That's how.
- I've ran them non-stop for 8 hours.

So far these headlights have held up like I would expect OEM headlights to hold up. I haven't had an issue with them yet.
 
#14 ·
This.

Also, nice write up man! Very detailed... Got two questions though I didn't see covered (And if I missed it sorry!)

1. The inner mist light that came with a bulb and had the green wire that was cut... Could that be wired up to actually work as a parking light?

2. The bottom most light where the Turn signal is on the OEM lights... Does that have a bulb and connector and function as a front turn signal light? I see the reflector is clear and it has a little yellow behind it which makes me thing there is a bulb there... Does that work?

Now my big debate is do I get these or send my headlights out for two weeks to be professionally retrofitted....

Oh.. also, when you hit the high beam is there a thing that flips up in the low beams or does the high beam light just come on?
 
#12 ·
Excellent write-up! As a potential ST buyer who is disappointed that I can't get HIDs in the ST2, this thread is very relevant to my interests... Curious to see how they hold up over time, but looks like it's so far so good.

Could you ballpark a total price for this project? Lights, HIDs, bulbs, etc.
 
#15 ·
Do you have a rough cost for this yet?

Also, is it possible to wire the LEDs to be true DRL, where they turn off if the headlights are on? I'd just assume they don't light up when the actual headlights are illuminated.

Compared to the stock headlights, what is your opinion on the materials used for the lenses, housings, rubber caps, etc.? Does it feel like same/very similar material?

Also, did the lights come with everything like the ballasts and resistors?
 
#30 ·
I believe that the manufacturer is the same, just different retailers. And apparently the manufacturer has changed a little bit on the housing to make sure it could be installed as easy as possible. Now it is truly plug-n-play. I used the ballasts set from the manufacturer and according to what I had read that ballast also function as a decoder to make sure the signal from the car will enable the right light of the housing.
 
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#19 ·
I did not cut off any wires, just connects all the part together, no needs to cut any stuff. For LED light, use the red wire that comes with the package to connect the #14 hole on your headlights dock on each side with the 25A in fuse box, than it is done~ Only took me like 15 mins.

P.S. when you turn on the lights with the new headlight housing for the first time, it would take up to 5 mins for the car to recognize them.
 
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#22 ·
Everyone is making some wild assumptions and conclusions without any sound reasoning.

Half of what is being said is false.

I'm sitting outside of a courtroom and cannot address the questions or conclusions being made.

When I get home, rest assured, you will get the CORRECT answers to your questions instead of conjecture. [thumb]
 
#45 ·
SMC is currently working on some different things. One of which would be to potentially offer a set w/ and w/o an HID kit.

Very nice work. Im not a fan of HIDs in ebay projectors, but you pulled it off pretty well.
Well...thank you sir! [thumb]

Great write up! The housings look very OEM, looks great. I'm wondering for those of us with factory DRL (Canadian ), if it would be possible to wire in the LED eyebrows to work as a DRL as intended. Presently the low beams act as DRLs, I would prefer to have JUST the LEDS as DRLs without the low beams coming on all the time.
I don't know...BUT...you could be the pioneer and let us know!

Not really the same as the ST3, but as close as you can get without breaking the bank for now.

Is SMC going to be selling these for more or less than one can get them from direct from China?
That is the goal, yes. [thumb]

Excellent write up and for ruining my day! I will only be thinking about these lights and foaming at the mouth until I can purchase them. Keep us posted on the group buy.
Wilco. Hopefully there will be more news coming soon.

Jdub, where did you get the ballasts from? Link?
www.retro-solutions.net (Nightvision)

Thanks for the review and pics jdub!
You're welcome!
 
#34 ·
Great write up! The housings look very OEM, looks great. I'm wondering for those of us with factory DRL (Canadian ), if it would be possible to wire in the LED eyebrows to work as a DRL as intended. Presently the low beams act as DRLs, I would prefer to have JUST the LEDS as DRLs without the low beams coming on all the time.
 
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