HID

[The Krypt Keeper]

Went with my brother in law to a sports bar to watch the Caps and Rangers games. (long ass game if your a hockey fan, went into triple overtime and ended at 12:15am this morning)

I knew it would be dark on the ride home as the game started at 730pm, so this would be a good time to try out my new HID's. 35W 5000deg bulbs for low and hi beam.

Low beam worked good in the urban area with stoplights and such, certainly lit up the road in front of us. However this is only a few miles till we hit 20 miles of nothing but us in the dark with deer filled roads.

first time I thumbed the switch to go to hi beam the glow just got brighter and brighter. After a few seconds the bulb was glowing at 100% and DAMN Let there be light and plenty of it.

One section of road is straight and flat for almost 3 miles. I could see 3 miles of road reflectors, and signs that you normally never see. Even my Charger with 4 Silverstars burning didn't give off this much light.

turning off onto my twisty backroad the light was really nice, only downside is the color of light. I could see everything, however the 5000 deg bulb gives off a slight blue tint. A 4200deg bulb would probably be perfect. But is certainly leaps and bounds better than halogen bulbs.

Don't know why I didn't do this sooner. Brother in law told me this morning her certainly missed having me lead when we seperated. Said it made his stock bulbs in his bike fucking worthless.

Just be kind to the traffic around you. I don't want to blind anyone so I stay on top of turning off the hi beam well in advance even before installing these.

quick pic with both burning

[Zero Knievel]

The blue tint is a bit of an illusion.

The normal bulb gives off a yellow tint because of the nature of the bulb. Fortunately, yellow is a good color for seeing things in low light.

HIDs cast a "true white" light in that it is full-spectrum. It looks "blue" because we aren't used to it. Hell, the sun is white...it only looks yellow thanks to what the our atmosphere does to its light as it passes through. Otherwise the moon would be yellow all the time.

In that "true white" is the yellow spectrum.

This was the criticism against HID-look bulbs. They might look brighter...even test brighter in candle power, but they got that effect by coating the bulb that filtered out the yellow spectrums in favor of the blue ones. In other words, they eliminated the part of the light frequency you really need.

If you want improvement over stock bulbs but don't want HID, the only real choice is to buy the brightest traditional bulb they make. HID-look bulbs actually hurt your night visibility.

[The Krypt Keeper]

The blue tint is a bit of an illusion.

The normal bulb gives off a yellow tint because of the nature of the bulb. Fortunately, yellow is a good color for seeing things in low light.

HIDs cast a "true white" light in that it is full-spectrum. It looks "blue" because we aren't used to it. Hell, the sun is white...it only looks yellow thanks to what the our atmosphere does to its light as it passes through. Otherwise the moon would be yellow all the time.

In that "true white" is the yellow spectrum.

This was the criticism against HID-look bulbs. They might look brighter...even test brighter in candle power, but they got that effect by coating the bulb that filtered out the yellow spectrums in favor of the blue ones. In other words, they eliminated the part of the light frequency you really need.

If you want improvement over stock bulbs but don't want HID, the only real choice is to buy the brightest traditional bulb they make. HID-look bulbs actually hurt your night visibility.

Guess you missed the part where I said my Charger had (4) 2 highbeam and 2 lowbeam Silverstar bulbs burning and didn't give off as much light as the HID's did.. My Charger put out some awesome light with them VS the stock bulbs (yellowish and shitty vision). The (4) SS's don't hold a candle to what I was able to see last night on the same stretch of road. Could see shit I have never been able to see while at night.

Guess I was seeing stuff though.. I drive over 30k miles a yr, Leave for work everyday before 6am so I got plenty of night driving.

[RedEye]

The blue tint isn't necessarily an illusion, HID bulbs (the shit ones you can just plug into your stock halogen headlight housing) come in colours from OEM (4300K) all the way to 12000K or so, which is such a faggoty purple that even Elton John finds it tacky.

5000K isn't bad at all in that respect. Putting kit bulbs in a halogen reflector housing is lame, but the XX is one of the least offensive vehicles to do this in, because the top of the headlight housing itself makes a decent cutoff so the beam pattern isn't as bad as it could be. But using a plain HID as a high beam is definitely doing it wrong. HIDs are supposed to be turned on an left on, short power cycles are very bad for both bulb and ballast, plus they take a while to ignite and reach full brightness. That's why real HID high beams are bixenons.

Good installations use a switch, time delay relay, or other setup (having the headlight circuit power up when the oil pressure light goes off is one) to avoid the lights going on when turning the key, then going off again right away when you hit the starter. So imagine what having the thing just wired up light a halogen light is doing for the life expectancy of your hardware. Especially if you flash the brights at cagers in a position to pull out in front of you.

[HANKSXXX]

May be true but after 3 or 4 years of using the HID's in both low and hi beams and not using any special switches or delays or whatever, mine still work every time, are a vast improvement over stock and are still covered, both ballasts and bulbs, by the manufacturers lifetime warranty. Your points may be valid but in actual practice, who cares?

They simply work way better....and cost what, about $60.00 a pair now from DDMTuning?

The 5000K is a bright white trending toward a blue tint, especially with the 5000W ballasts.

If I buy another set, I'll try the 4300-4500K range...

[The Krypt Keeper]

everytime you turn the power off and back on you are killing a bulb. Be HID or a simple household bulb. Ever notice how 99% of the time a bulb blows when you throw the switch? Its slowly burning itself out every minute its working and then "pop" all gone.

I could have replaced the stockers with Silver Star Ultras for $40 for 2 bulbs and replace them every yr as even on the package it stats they have a shorter lifespan. (and they do) They burn hotter and burn out faster.

Sure the lense may not be made for the HID bulbs, but it wasn't made for SilverStars either (They are H7 bulbs and DOT approved yet) as they are shitloads brighter than the stock bulbs in which the shield was designed for. The low beam does have a great cutoff line and focuses the light to the road where its needed. Also plan to add a shield to the Low bean bulb to prevent excess glare.

I can see better and use my highbeam wisely. I don't run it during the day as I know it will blind on coming traffic. Far more responsible than every BMW rider who get them extra lights mounted onto their bike shining in the air looking for raccoons, or every idiot who slaps 22" wheels on their $500 hunk of shit with subpar brakes and now have 35lbs of more rotational mass per wheel to stop.

Next on the list is probably why aftermarket exhausts are bad, and how speeding 56 in a 55 zone kills.

[slowrideCX]

I have had my HID kit for high and low beam installed for 4yrs now and I do a shit load of night riding on my way home from work and into work depending on my shift. They work leaps and bounds better than the halogen bulbs I have put 20+ thousand miles on my bike with these bulbs in and only had to change them once. They are cheap and if they blow every year I don't care I bought replacement bulbs a pack of 2 for $15 off eBay and they work just fine!!!! The kit new cost me $80 and was probably the best upgrade I did to my bike.

I can ride at night with a lite smoked visor and see better then with a clear and stock bulbs.

Let there Be Light !!!!! Good move Dave Congrats on the new farkle enjoy!!!!

[EVLXX]

This was the criticism against HID-look bulbs. They might look brighter...even test brighter in candle power, but they got that effect by coating the bulb that filtered out the yellow spectrum's in favor of the blue ones. In other words, they eliminated the part of the light frequency you really need.

Not entirely true.

[EVLXX]

But using a plain HID as a high beam is definitely doing it wrong. HIDs are supposed to be turned on an left on, short power cycles are very bad for both bulb and ballast, plus they take a while to ignite and reach full brightness. That's why real HID high beams are bixenons.

What?

[cbrxxquad]

So much errant information, it makes me wonder.

Just put them in and forget about it. Eight years without a problem. Would not ride like I do without, not even a question. Daytime highbeams save lives,,,mine!!!

Hope they think is is a UFO, or landing plane, or tanker truck. Cause it's all they can see, that and the spots after I'm gone.

[Silverbird2]

So much errant information, it makes me wonder.

Just put them in and forget about it. Eight years without a problem. Would not ride like I do without, not even a question. Daytime highbeams save lives,,,mine!!!

Hope they think is is a UFO, or landing plane, or tanker truck. Cause it's all they can see, that and the spots after I'm gone.

Well said, sir....bravo!

[kiwimack]

So much errant information, it makes me wonder.

Just put them in and forget about it. Eight years without a problem. Would not ride like I do without, not even a question. Daytime highbeams save lives,,,mine!!!

Hope they think is is a UFO, or landing plane, or tanker truck. Cause it's all they can see, that and the spots after I'm gone.

Well said, sir....bravo!

yes I agree I want them cagers to see me, no I want everybody to see me. It's the one "who doesn't see me" that will get me.

[xrated]

RedEye wrote:

HID bulbs (the shit ones you can just plug into your stock halogen headlight housing)

There is no such thing as a HID that you can plug into your stock halogen bulb socket. HID requires a ballast and and an ignitor and if you bought something that doesn't have that, you ain't got true HID's. The older style HID's had a separate ballast and ignitor; some of the new one combine the ballast and the ignitor in one "can". The most light available is in the 3900 Kelvin range and most manufacturers make a 4300K bulb/set. The higher the Kelvin number, the bluer the light is going to be. Lots of folks go for the higher Kelvin number for the bling factor, when in actuality, the lower numbers (4300, 5000K) will give you more useable light. I put a set of 55W 4300K H13's in my new truck about a year and a half ago and the only way it could be better is if I decide to take the headlight housing apart and an install projectors in there.