Author Topic: HID Headlights...what's the deal?  (Read 3924 times)
Peach_Lover
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HID Headlights...what's the deal? « on: April 14, 2012, 05:50:19 PM » Author: Peach_Lover
HID Headlights, yeah, you know...you're driving down the highway and there's that one random car with obnoxiously bright blue headlights. Anyway I haven't see much discussion on here about them, and was kind of wondering what all the 'enthusiasts' think? Personally I'm not a fan of them at all and think they're more of a danger to fellow drivers then a help. I'm not sure if it's just bad design, bad retrofits or what. But whenever I see a vehicle with these HID lights installed they always seem to be intentionally designed to blind oncoming drivers. So what gives?
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Ash
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #1 on: April 14, 2012, 07:15:34 PM » Author: Ash
Properly installed HIDs are very good for the driver in the car and dont blind others

Not only that, but there are many awfull setups with the "traditional" halogens out there - Some are just badly aimed and they light straight in your eyes. Some idiots want the impression of HIDs, so they buy those "HID lookalike" halogens, Those are basically overpowered halogens with filter that make them give out sorta whitish color, as well as overheat the headlight fixture (to the extent of melting parts in the car) and overloading the wiring and relay. Some have "normal" headlights but some screw is loose and the entire fixture (so the light beam....) is vibrating with the vibration of the car engine at a stop - when one like this is on a stop in front of you thats basically epillepsy inducing flickering

Here HID lights are banned except for upgrades made by authorized dealers, as well as near any other car upgrades - You will generally never see anything done freely here like in USA and i really hate our government (Israel) for messing up with stuff like that (as well as a lot of other stuff they over-regulate)
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Peach_Lover
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #2 on: April 14, 2012, 08:18:37 PM » Author: Peach_Lover
Yes, you make a good point. I always thought that HID headlights looked good on paper, I've just seen it poorly executed enough times that it has started to frustrate me. I have seen one or two "good" HID installs, but those were on brand new cars that I believe the HID lamps were a standard option (i.e. installed professionally at the factory and aimed/focused correctly). The majority of what I see however I would assume to be 'DIY' installs where someone has simply swapped out the halogen bulbs for HID lamps, or just put in an overdriven halogen like you mentioned. These seem to be the same type of people who will put a $2500 stereo system into an $800 car. I don't mean to stereotype or offend I just call it as I see it.

Sometimes I think our regulations in the US are too lacking when it comes to such things. At least our locale government has been cracking down on the the ridiculously loud sound systems people have...you can now get a fine if people can hear your subs from 3 car lengths away.
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Ash
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #3 on: April 14, 2012, 08:36:52 PM » Author: Ash
IMHO, the regulation should be when it come to actual performance on the road

What happens now is, the legal border is between "installed by the dealer" and "installed not by the dealer". so all the bunch of the 2500$ stereo guys (you actually hit the description quite well i think) are with cheapish HIDs, and some old cars in licensed dealer's garage come out with rattling lights because he wants to charge extra for tightening that screw, and you are never pulled over for that because "thatsthe way this car is from the factory"

What should happen is, that everybody is allowed to do anything, but will be pulled over if his lights are noticed to actually be blinding, no matter what technology is used

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dor123
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #4 on: April 15, 2012, 05:38:41 AM » Author: dor123
Here HID lights are banned except for upgrades made by authorized dealers, as well as near any other car upgrades - You will generally never see anything done freely here like in USA and i really hate our government (Israel) for messing up with stuff like that (as well as a lot of other stuff they over-regulate)
Ash: The allowed HID lights, aren't upgrades that made by authorizde dealers, but HID light that comes as an option of the vehicle model by the vehicle manufacturer.
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #5 on: April 15, 2012, 11:15:58 AM » Author: Ash
Which is the same thing - Authorized dealers ARE dealers that only make the options allowed by the manufacturer
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Luminaire
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #6 on: April 27, 2012, 12:58:35 AM » Author: Luminaire
Filament(s) in the lamp is quite precisely placed within the bulb so that they work properly with the housing to provide the proper beam pattern.  Those cram in cheapo China made ones do not have the proper optical precision to deliver the proper cut off needed for effective lighting and proper cut off. 

Factory installed ones are fine, because the optics are designed specifically for the HID lamp used in the system. 

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Ash
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #7 on: April 27, 2012, 02:39:10 AM » Author: Ash
The good kits include replacement optical system (and not just the lamps and ballasts), perfect light distribution, still illegal
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dor123
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #8 on: April 27, 2012, 03:33:45 AM » Author: dor123
Ash: There are no ways to get a perfect light distribution with MH kits on halogen floodlights. These kits are efficiently "Energy saving xenon MH retrofit for halogens" which have their ballast and the lamp in the same place and the ballast cause the lamp to be farther from the optical system, resulting in a less efficient optical control and so glare.
There are also no ways to make an optic that is suitable for both halogen and xenon MH lamps. And what if there is a color variations in the arctube?
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #9 on: April 27, 2012, 10:17:46 AM » Author: Ash
Some good kits contain entire replacement optical unit, which is matched to the lamp

The MH lamp can perform at least decent even in some halogen optics. It won't allways be way off
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BlueHalide
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #10 on: October 23, 2012, 11:39:52 PM » Author: BlueHalide
I personally do not like them. The retrofit kits have made HID headlights very annoying, the 3500K factory HID's with projection lenses like you find in luxury cars (eg. Lexus) dont bother me. But the DIY conversions look stupid. My favorite has always been the noticably different color of each headlight on the same car, or the HID lamps are old and burn the green color of mercury vapor, which ive been seeing alot of
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dor123
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #11 on: October 24, 2012, 02:45:08 AM » Author: dor123
Here is a Ynet article google translated , about the ban on HID headlights in Israel.
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #12 on: October 24, 2012, 02:33:03 PM » Author: Medved
Theoretically you could replace the halogen headlights with 25W MH ones, but only the complete headlights (as MH require different optics). Well, I haven't seen any in real life yet (but I know about some development, but I guess it ceased with the advent of LED's)

But not for the regular 35W ones, as these are above the 2000lm limit, so require some means of lens cleaning (wiper and/or washer nozzle) and an active car leveling compensation. While the first is frequently present on many cars, the second would need replacement/upgrade of the suspension components (for those containing required sensors), adding the required wiring and the ECU. Quite a lot of upgrades, moreover all that would need a certification...
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #13 on: October 24, 2012, 05:05:56 PM » Author: Ash
So how about some nice 6500K halides at just a bit below 2000Lm ?
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Medved
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Re: HID Headlights...what's the deal? « Reply #14 on: October 24, 2012, 05:45:26 PM » Author: Medved
So how about some nice 6500K halides at just a bit below 2000Lm ?

Good starting point, but then you have to continue through the headlamp optics development and through all the required testing.

Pretty expensive business, I would like to see you making enough money on such headlights to pay all of that...
People are mad for led's, so even when technically inferior (according to my knowledge up to now), you could still make money in LED business, but for the lower power HID's I doubt...
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