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The Low Down on HID

49K views 83 replies 41 participants last post by  BUCK 
#1 · (Edited)
Lately I've seen a whole LOT of talk about HID and all the things about it. I'm getting rather tired of all the hear-say being spread about, so here's the low down on HID. Kornhaus can also back me up/correct me on this as he works for Hella.

First off, HID stands for High Intensity Discharge. Unlike standard halogen lighting, HID lighting typically burns a Xenon gas at such a rate faster than the human eye can detect, hence a solid beam from the lights. HID parts include a ballast, igniter, projectors/reflectors (including dish and lense), and bulb. HID setups create a very intense, very bright light, very closely simulating sunlight during the day. The projectors/lenses create a very sharp cutoff in their beam pattern; that is there is a distinct horizontal line between light and dark. This is what prevents blinding oncoming traffic from being blinded

Again, parts included in an OE setup include ballast, igniters, projectors/relfectors (depends on the spec), bulbs, high current wires, auto-levelling mechanisms, and lense washers. Wiring starts at the ballast (which powers the bulb) connects through a high current wire to the igniter. The igniter is what starts the initial power-on of the bulb (approx 23kV of power). Sometimes the igniters are built into the ballast, sometimes on the wire between the ballast and bulb, and sometimes directly to the rear of the bulb. The bulb then sits inside the projector and the projector inside a large clear plastic housing. Recently auto-levelling and lense washers have come out. Auto-levelling is when a small motor controls the up/down aim of the cut off line when there is a load in the rear of the car (weight in back of the car pushes the headlight beam up). Lense washers are mounted on the outside of the car to keep the large clear lenses clear. I'm not positive if auto-levelling or lense washers are required for legality, but I've seen cars with and without both technologies (BMWs have both, some Acuras have neither).

HID is legal. It comes on high end vehicles such as Beamers, Mercades, Audis, some Volkswagons, etc. HID is legal when the high output bulbs are paired with a proejctor/reflector. HID is ILLEGAL and UNSAFE when a high intensity bulb and ballast are fitted inside a halogen bulb housing (IE Car toys HID kits; also found on ebay). These kits are labeled as "for off road use only" as the light emitted from this setup can blind drivers. The way around this (though technically still illegal) is to take a true HID setup (such as OEM from BMW) including the bulbs, ballasts, and projectors... and then fit the projectors into the halogen housing.

The DOT recently passed a law stating that any alterations to headlights in such manner as not offered from the factory are illegal. Fitting an HID bulb into a halogen is illegal. Technically so is fitting an HID bulb and projector into a halogen housing. Police are not thoroughly and regularly enforcing the HID laws passed by DOT, therefore you could get away with either setup. The problem in using a xenon bulb in just a halogen housing is that there is no distinct cut-off line as there is with projectors. In a halogen housing, light is emitted all over the place with no definition, creating a problem in blinding oncoming traffic.

There are multiple specs and manufacturers for HID setups. Bosch, Hella and Valeo are a few mfrs, each with their own generation of parts. There are also multiple specs, H7, D1S, D2S, etc etc. Sometime specs work interchangeably, though it isn't wise to rely on parts being inter-changeable. The best and safest way to create a semi-legal/working HID setup for your non-HID car is to purchase parts from a single spec/platform and retrofit a projector into your housings.

Xenon technology, when first becoming popular in the late 90s, only provided light as a solution for low beams. Since then a technology has come out called Bi-Xenon, which provides high and low beam light from a single bulb/projector. The way this is accomplished is by taking a projector housing and mounting a small flap/selenoid near the bulb. This flap blocks some of the light from passing through the lense (low beam). When high beams are activated the seleoid moves the flap out of the way, allowing full light to pass through the lense (high beams). Bi-Xenon came out around 2002.

There are two regulating forces to HID. In the Americas, the DOT sets rules and regulations. In europe, ECE is the governing body. I'm not positive on the differences but it's my belief that the ECE standards are more developed, better researched, and safer. Consult HIDPlanet for much more information and resources, parts, and forum help. There's also this thread which has a LOT of information in regards to HID kits.


Now, for some pics to illustrate what I'm talking about...
This is the cutoff created with a true HID Setup (xenon bulb mounted in a projector with ballast)



This is what happens when you mount a xenon bulb directly into a halogen housing (aftermarket kits, ebay, car toys, no projectors)
Notice the light has no distinct cutoff and the light spread out in all directions




These are Bi-Xenon projectors/lenses. The projector holds the bulb and focuses the light


This is how they look installed on a car from the factory


Here are the parts necessary in doing a proper retrofit to your car.
In the top center are the bulbs/projectors. Outside of them are the high voltage wires (in this case the spec is D2S). Below the projectors are the HID Xenon bulbs. The wires attach to the ballasts (at the bottom of the pic) which also include the igniters in this case.


These are also Projectors with separate igniters
 
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#27 ·
crash00527 said:
if anyone wants hids i get them from this place. they are great! have put them in all my cars. the SC is next. i think they are $239 shipped.


http://www.oznium.com/hid


Wow... Not a bad price.... Lets us how it went... I might try it to on my 95 cat!
 
#30 ·
Rally said:
Kind of odd how they say that those HIDs are illegal for road use.
well seeing how i blinded EVERYONE with those hid's w/out projectors yes they are very illegal. our stock headlights were meant for non-hid bulbs and when you put hid bulbs in there the beam pattern changes and looks slightly off. Before i had projector headlights i could see glare off the freeway signs above me and far ahead. ever see a freeway exit sign glow like it was hit by black light? well thats what my hid's did and thats what those hids above will do also. im not trying to say they are poor products or anything but i just want to warn those that you WILL be pulled over if you get anything over 8000k. you might even get pulled over for anything over 4500k if the cop knows everything about hid's which i doubt. but it isnt hard to tell that a early 90's domestic coupe came with non-hid's.

yea yea, i know some cars have hid's but dont have projectors ie: the 97+ mark 8's, so why should i get projectors then? well to answer that question is that those cars came with hid's from the factory and thier headlights ARE designed to take that light output. compare the inside design of a 98 mark8 headlight to a 95 mn12 headlight and you will see what im talking about. downside of non-projector hid equipped cars is that they dont have that cutoff line of a projector and have tremendous glare.





maybe in a different car those bulbs mentioned above might work well. i knew a buddy with a subaru legacy with 8000k hid bulbs and the light that it put to the ground was far brighter than when we took his bulbs out and put them in my car. i guess subarus design on the inside was still able to control the beam output of hid's. not all cars are like this though.

we all talk here about putting power to the ground and that horsepower is useless unless you can get traction and take full advantage of it. well just think of hid's as putting a blower on your car. without traction, tune, and necessary mods your not using 100% of its potential. sure it would be better than stock, but who would buy a blower only to use 55% of its potential? that is why i got projectors.

simple re-cap:
3000k- Yellow/Gold Coloer *JDM foglights*
4000K- True White *Silverstar Color output*
6000k- Super White w/ small hint of blue
8000k- White-ish Blue *my current*
10,000k- Blue-ish Purple *high end mercedes, also color posted above*
12,000k- Deep Purple
40,000k- Black Light Output *why get this? i dont know*

-Mike
 
#31 ·
Whats the wattage rating between stock halogen and the HID's? Are the HID's going to pull more from the electrical system?
 
#33 ·
is there some trick to gettin hid bulbs to work in our cars? i bought an hid kit for the 9007 bulb off a friend of mine, got them put in, ballasts and igniters all hooked up, and they wouldnt light up, we tried them in my buddies 05 ion redline, which also has 9007 bulbs, and they worked immediatly, these r just the bulbs in a halogen housing, im just confused as to why they worked in his car, but not in the thunderbird, they were hooked up exactly the same in both cars, i cant figure out why they werent working
 
#38 ·
probally crappy old 9007 connecters in your car and nice new ones in your friends brand new car. i hard wired my hid kit

and as for blueeyes post before
you can just stick hid bulbs in the stock housings, thats what I did and it does work great. look around you'll see. you need ballasts of course.
 
#34 ·
do you use any relay system for the ballast to draw current directly from the battery? if not you are running the risk of killing your mfs switch because when the ballast kick in it draws quite a few amp.

also some car have ground switch while some have positive switch lighting system. our is positive switch and his maybe ground switch.
 
#37 ·
Im glad this thread is sticky and hope people read it. Ive seen alot of mis-advertising of bulbs especially on Ebay. Mostly I see:

9007 HID bulbs for 94-97 Thunderbirds

First of all these cars dont have HID stock and you cant just stick HID bulbs in without the projector system, but if someone who doesnt really understand the lighting parts read that they may think they can just stick HID bulbs in and they would work.

I know someone here has managed to get the HID system to work in a MN12 but from what Ive read its alot of work and a little expensive.

An alternative to HID which I did was get a upgraded headlight wiring harness for the 9007 bulbs, it has 2 relays and connects directly to the battery with 16 gauge wiring so you dont have the voltage limitations of the fusebox. The harness does NOT include fuses so you will have to add some in yourself. Actually if you plan on upgrading to true HID some day you will need this harness.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...tToStoreCat&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

With this wiring harness I put 100w/80w Hella bulbs in and they work great, and are at least twice as bright as the stock 65w/55w bulbs. The 100w/80w bulbs are hard to find in local stores but I got mine at Summit Racings website for the same price as a set of SilverStar Ultras..

For my MN12 the problem was always dim headlights and couldnt see well at night. I always wanted to improve it without having to add driving lights and this was a good solution for me. Although now I do want to also add in the driving lights. Sometimes I drive long distances (700 miles) and so part of the driving is at night, I like to light up a good area because Ive seen cars which have ran into Deer, Elk, and even cows which is like running into a brick wall.
 
#41 ·
what you saying???work? yes? no? fuses?...
 
#44 ·
#46 ·
You can't just drop in a set of d2r bulbs into your housings. The length of the bulb itself has direct relation to where the focus of the arc itself will be in the housing. In order to have any decent beam pattern(with a lot of glare still unfortunately), the focus of that bulb needs to be exactly where a 9007 bulb would focus its filament. However, I am definitely interested in what a d2r bulb looks like in a fluted lens so if you could post a pic or two that would be awesome. :)
 
#47 ·
I matched up the bulbs before i put them in. they are around the same length as a stock 9007 bulb. i figured the metal inside the halogen housing would atleast take some glare out. like i said i have not been flashed yet. they are a tad brighter than my hella optix that were in the car aswell.

I am also running a aftermarket light harness that hooks straight up to the battery aswell.

i will post pics later on this evening.
 
#48 ·
Here are some pics.



- THEY ARE NOT THIS BRIGHT. Its the camera phone.


Here are my hella optix bulbs for brights. (Inside marker lamp)




Drove by 3 cops today and it didn't even phase em. Had some guys drive in front and oncoming and they said that they aren't bad. Almost like a superwhite halogen.
 
#49 ·
I have some in my 92 cougar

Mine are awesome I love having them and will never take mine out I have the Hid's with the actuator or servo that pulls them down at an angle for the dims and I actually got flashed by a cop in Woodway (notorious for being jerks) I flashed back and they never bothered me. I could care less about blinding other people because I am tired of being blinded by all the high end cars in my neighbor hood any way so they can kiss it. I actually get a huge kick when someone flashes me and I get to flash them back. Any way my friend was in front of me and he said they arent as bad as some of the stupid f350s and other trucks with halogens ( he drives a mustang gt) Any way he said they are pretty bright though and can be very harsh on the bright setting. I can see way better at night and I love them and I just ordered some more for my 97 t-bird. I will post pics some time any way I do want to make my own projector style headlight casing like gohst and some of the others but for now the cheap ones from ebay are great and I wont give them up.
 
#51 ·
Why not use HID as hi-beams only?
 
#53 ·
Not if you live in rural areas, also it helps midagate the legal issue plus is safer for fellow drivers.
 
#55 ·
Try diving with it in thick fog, there is a reason for the yellowish halogen light. Now yes in clear conditions I'd agree with you but the refraction of the HID light can be a serious issue in fog afflicted areas.
 
#56 ·
A simple solution to that would be a lower temperature HID bulb. I'm running 3200k hids in my foglights right now. Holy crap does it make a difference and it looks just like a slightly yellow halogen. In fact, I probably see more with those fogs than my headlamps alone.
 
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