HID question

[djomlas]

i think that the biggest problem people have with factory HIDs is the price, so they say forget it and get the next best thing, which is these kits. and from what ive seen, they are not that dangerous to oncoming traffic at all, although some CAN be.

Originally Posted by bmwm750

If you want the most light output, go with 4300K. ALL factory HIDs are 4300K. 6000K is used on the Le Mans cars, but at a higher wattage than the 35W capsules we get for the street. The difference between 4300K and 6000K is the mixture of the gases inside the capsule that insulate the arc. 6000K capsules produce a bit less light than 4300K will. Anything over 6000K is created by coating the capsule blue and thus significantly reduces the light output. I have replaced a pair of capsules in a BMW with 6000k when one burned out, and did enjoy the result.

Now, for the debate over putting aftermarket HIDs into conventional, halogen housings- not a good idea. You can get away with it in a projector type assembly, as you have a focused lens controlling where the light goes, but in a reflector type housing (which the halogen Porsche assemblies are) its a horrible idea. All those aftermarket companies do is take a standard D2S or D2R HID capsule, and mold it into a halogen bulb base so you can stick it into your assembly. The problem is that the source of the light output is different from a bulb to an HID capsule (generally much more forward in the case of the HID capsule, which is not what the reflector was designed for), and you wind up with horrible amounts of spill and an often very incorrect beam pattern. This is not only less than ideal to drive with but, much more importantly, is downright dangerous to oncoming cars as the result can be extremely blinding, and is illegal for the reasons I just outlined.

If you want HIDs, get factory Litronics.

Patrick

[pteam]

Originally Posted by djomlas

i think that the biggest problem people have with factory HIDs is the price, so they say forget it and get the next best thing, which is these kits. and from what ive seen, they are not that dangerous to oncoming traffic at all, although some CAN be.

djomlas is absolutley correct. And anybody who puts in a HID kit ovbiously needs to align the headlights afterwards so theyre in the correct position and not blinding people.

We manually adjusted them to align where the stock factory lights aligned, we measured them before and after on where the lights hit on the garage door.

Also to note, we havnt had 1 person flash us their brights yet. You know when somebody thinks you have your brights on they'll flash you to turn them off, this hasnt happend once.

[michael_dba]

Just to add my 2 cents here...albeit a little late. Jeph has it right when he says the bluish color is caused by the prism effect of the projector's cutoff shield. This is a chromatic aberration. My SL500 HID projectors have this, but they are in fact 4300k (stock, OE Osram 35 watt D2R) bulbs. It's (the blue/purple part) only visible on the edge of the cutoff...usually what the oncoming driver sees.

Also, to get the higher color temps, the bulbs are just tinted....much like the cheap halogens that claim to be HID. The problem is that blue tints filter most of the light that is visible to the human eye.

I've worked with specialty vehicle lighting for many years and have done some special application designs...I've seen all the junk out there!

It's good to see that the retrofit kits that use D2 HID lamps fitted with H7 bases are getting better, with more accurate focal points....or, to put it another way, they're getting the actual arc of the HID to be more accurately aligned with where the H7 halogen filament sits. A properly aligned converted D2 bulb will have the same beam pattern and cutoff as the H7 when installed into the Boxster headlight housing.

Again, just my 2 cents...
~M