What you need to know about HID vs HID kit

[leenangle]

Originally Posted by striker_1818

hey dude what is the different with the new headlights lexus is making...
with leds
I still don't understand why a multiple-led based headlight would produce more light than an HID projector based headlight?

I have no idea.

[striker_1818]

Originally Posted by leenangle

I think thats part of the reason for your bad reps, you are trying to present a strong argument with false information.

Light is not controlled or limited by the HID ballast. The ballast is simply a transformer, converting 12 volts to some 20 kajillion volts or whatever it is required to produce an arc in the HID bulb. It IS limiting voltage, but not trying to limit light intensity as you state.

Halogen bulbs do NOT have ballasts......correct.......but its not because halogen lights need to control the output, its because halogen is designed for 12 volts.

And to further analyze, you could use these PNP HID kits. You would either have to engineer and design a shield to limit the light output to mimic the same light emission of the halogen bulb or you would have to stick the PNP bulbs in a projector, which is NOT sensitive to filament location.

I get it. I thought the ballasts that produce the electrons are the heart of the HID which is what produces and controls this "High intensity Discharge lightning" through the bulbs.

Question though, how can companies make a shield built-in the bulbs to minimize glare on the pnp kits? I know some add shields but i still don't get how its built-in shield allows less glare. I've seen many pnp kits and bought myself a 8000K kit with supposely a shield but all it did was give a glare which is why i threw it out(<<buh bye 200 bucks there)

[leenangle]

Originally Posted by striker_1818

I get it. I thought the ballasts that produce the electrons are the heart of the HID which is what produces and controls this "High intensity Discharge lightning" through the bulbs.

Question though, how can companies make a shield built-in the bulbs to minimize glare on the pnp kits? I know some add shields but i still don't get how its built-in shield allows less glare. I've seen many pnp kits and bought myself a 8000K kit with supposely a shield but all it did was give a glare which is why i threw it out(<<buh bye 200 bucks there)

You can do a make-shift shield. You've just got to compare the original OEM Halogen bulb with the HID bulb, and try to imitate the light emission by placing a shield over the bulb with cardboard or plastic or whatever. The problem is that you would have to make the shield small enough so that you can still re-insert the bulb into the mounting hole in the headlamp. Plus whatever concoction you brew, you would have to make sure it can hold up to vibration, moisture, etc. Not easy, but do-able, but it you might be better off just buying some OEM projectors and sticking them inside your housings.

[striker_1818]

Originally Posted by leenangle

You can do a make-shift shield. You've just got to compare the original OEM Halogen bulb with the HID bulb, and try to imitate the light emission by placing a shield over the bulb with cardboard or plastic or whatever. The problem is that you would have to make the shield small enough so that you can still re-insert the bulb into the mounting hole in the headlamp. Plus whatever concoction you brew, you would have to make sure it can hold up to vibration, moisture, etc. Not easy, but do-able, but it you might be better off just buying some OEM projectors and sticking them inside your housings.

haha yeah that glare from the 8000K was driving me nuts It made my car look a train on the road

[Tim]

Originally Posted by gbae007

Then this begs the question: what can we do to the OEM reflector housing to make an effectively glare-free HID reflector? Leanangle talked about the focal point location differential between HID and halogen reflector designs. Is is possble to mount a D2R in our stock housing farther back in the housing to change the focal point of the reflector?

It'd take a lot of trial and error to reverse engineer the halogen headlights as Honda has designed them to know which sections of the reflector are casting off unwanted glare under extreme lighting conditions.

What SOME people do is just retrofit the reflectors from HID-equipped cars directly into the car's headlight housing. Theoretically, someone could retrofit a CSX housing (HID-equipped) inside the Civic headlight, and with a D2R bulb, the output would be good. But when people recognize the similar cost of doing that kind of retrofit, they often lean towards a full projector retrofit.

[marc-o-lishuz]

That was going to be my question - how would the output of a CSX/IS300/older Acura and Benz HID setup compare to an OEM projector lighting system?

[ethlar]

light output should be similar to the projector since the HID reflectors are designed to have a sharp cutoff, much like the stock halogen on our civics. But there is the possibility to have a small amount of light directed up for road signs on a HID reflector system

[Tim]

I would compare it to any other halogen lighting system- only brighter. Have you ever been in a car with D2R lighting? It's a little different from a projector. Not a huge difference, but different nonetheless. Not as wide or as bright *usually*

[gbae007]

I have YET to see a OEM reflector with D2R bulbs. All the PnP kits are D2S bulbs so glare is bound to be more pronounced.

[gbae007]

Originally Posted by striker_1818

haha yeah that glare from the 8000K was driving me nuts It made my car look a train on the road

Now I see why you have a negative view on PnP kits.

First of all, 8000K has more "refractivity index" than 4300K. What this means is that (all else being equal) the higher up the Kelvin spectrum you go, the more the light is susceptible to being bounced of anything that would refract (change the path) of it. For example, this is why fog lamps are 3000k, because relative to 8000K, it has a much lower refractivity index. In the rain, 8000k will suck because the water droplets of the rain will change the light trajectory - thus glare.

From what I have seen, 4300k in stock halogen reflector is not that bad. (Certainly when compared to the 8000k.)

There IS a reason why NO OEM manufacturer uses 8000k, and it has to do with more than just glare.

[ethlar]

damnit i wish i payed more attention in HS physics, we went over the refractivity of different colors and stuff.

[themystx2]

Former owner of G35 coupe here... not ALL factory cars with HID use projectors for the light output... one of them is the G35, along with the 2nd generation TL, and even the 2nd generation Lexus GS.

Installed a cheapo 6000k ebay pnp HID kit on my Si, obviously the beam pattern isn't as clean as one with projectors, but they are perfectly fine with no problems with the beams aim or what-not.

[tennisfan16]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooo, i was hoping this thread would just die.

[striker_1818]

Originally Posted by gbae007

Now I see why you have a negative view on PnP kits.

First of all, 8000K has more "refractivity index" than 4300K. What this means is that (all else being equal) the higher up the Kelvin spectrum you go, the more the light is susceptible to being bounced of anything that would refract (change the path) of it. For example, this is why fog lamps are 3000k, because relative to 8000K, it has a much lower refractivity index. In the rain, 8000k will suck because the water droplets of the rain will change the light trajectory - thus glare.

From what I have seen, 4300k in stock halogen reflector is not that bad. (Certainly when compared to the 8000k.)

There IS a reason why NO OEM manufacturer uses 8000k, and it has to do with more than just glare.

What? this was already talked about lol. That's why you can see cops cars better with high rating temperature bulb....when they're hidden, road signs, etc.
The higher on temperature kelvin you go, the lower of USABLE light you will get. That has nothing to do with glare. You can have a 4300 Kelvin pnp hid kit on a stock halogen reflector and still get glare. Truth is that blue hurts your eyes. That's why when Osram bulbs colorshift, it tends to be kinder to the eye. Osram has less blue and more yellow than Philip bulbs. But if you want that noticable "colorshift", you go with Philips.

[kronusthebonus]

Originally Posted by themystx2

Former owner of G35 coupe here... not ALL factory cars with HID use projectors for the light output... one of them is the G35, along with the 2nd generation TL, and even the 2nd generation Lexus GS.

Installed a cheapo 6000k ebay pnp HID kit on my Si, obviously the beam pattern isn't as clean as one with projectors, but they are perfectly fine with no problems with the beams aim or what-not.

Sorry to resurrect this thread here, but yes, this is also true. My 2003 CL type-S does NOT have projectors. It's got the 4300K D2R HIDs from Phillips. The light is nice....