Zenon versus HID versus Halogen, and LED resistor info

[macx]

Considering H4 Zenon bulbs, didn't know what the "5000K" meant, but
here's the answer! Also discussed HID versus Zenon versus Halogen.
Clears it up pretty well.

http://www.hidlook.com/catalog/index.php

Also, here's some good info on the LED bulb / resistor question.

http://www.plasmaled.com/tail_light_led_bulb_fix.htm

[combustor777]

Considering H4 Zenon bulbs, didn't know what the "5000K" meant, but
here's the answer! Also discussed HID versus Zenon versus Halogen.
Clears it up pretty well.

http://www.hidlook.com/catalog/index.php

Also, here's some good info on the LED bulb / resistor question.

http://www.plasmaled.com/tail_light_led_bulb_fix.htm

My BS meter pegged with that first site. It is a mix of truth, misinformation, and outright lies!

[challey]

From what I've read, for HID to be effective, you need not only the HID light source but more importantly, a new lens. Using an HID bulb with a lens designed for incandescent light actually reduces the range of your vision at night. The reason is that the HID without the proper lens will make things close by appear much brighter thereby decreasing your ability to see further down the road.

Charlie

[macx]

My BS meter pegged with that first site. It is a mix of truth, misinformation, and outright lies![/quote]

OK, always eager to learn, how about enlightening me and the rest of the audience?

[rdsmith3]

My understanding is that an H4 bulb, such as the one in the Roadster, is tricky to replace with HID because one bulb has two filaments -- one for low beam; one for high beam. There are two solutions to this problem. The so-called bi-xenon solution actually moves the bulb in/out for low/high beam. That's what these guys are selling

http://www.hidlook.com/catalog/motorcyc ... p-638.html

I know nothing about this, but it seems to me that the reflector and lens placement, relative to where the bulb is, would be very important. The lens optics would also be important. The moving parts would cause me some concern. What if it gets stuck?

The second solution uses HID for low beam and a halogen bulb for high beam, in the same package. This approach does not move.

If it were me, I would stick with a good halogan H4 bulb, such as the Osram Night Breaker. Buy a package of two and carry the spare with you in case the bulb burns out.
http://www.powerbulbs.com/product_detail.asp?prod=111

If you need extra light, get some add-on driving lights, such as Hella. If you get ones with an H3 bulb, you can always do an HID conversion later. This way, your main light, the headlight, will not leave you in the dark if you have problems with the HID conversion product. I have read stories of bad ballasts, etc.

[combustor777]

My BS meter pegged with that first site. It is a mix of truth, misinformation, and outright lies!

OK, always eager to learn, how about enlightening me and the rest of the audience?[/quote]

First off, any bulb with a blue coating on it is a POS marketing gimmick. Yeah, it looks "whiter" and produces more glare, making it appear brighter. In fact it is dimmer, because some of the wavelengths of light that the human eye is most sensitive to are filtered out, not to mention the reduction in total illumination wasted as heat. A simple experiment can prove this, and don't believe any photographs. The brightest bulb is going to be a clear bulb of a given wattage. If you need more brightness either add more lights or add a relay and heavy gauge wires and put a high wattage (>100 watts) bulb in there. The reflector and lense on our headlights are also designed to reduce glare to oncoming drivers, and that also results in reduced lighting efficiency. I've been pondering a creative solution for this (maybe an aircraft landing light).
HID lights have some advantages (not necessarily brightness), but to me it seems like a waste of money for this application.

[MattPie]

For the record, I've considered HID for my R1150R, but haven't come to a decision. The following is what I turned up in my looking around.

Webbikeworld.com did a review on two HID conversions. Two, because the first never really worked right and eventually failed. I know a couple people who have used 'cheapy' kits (+-$100) and haven't had any issues, so who knows. One thing I highly recommend is getting a kit that plugs into the stock headlight plug. That way, you can always keep a regular H4 bulb with you if something goes wrong.

A note on color temperature: as I understand it, the Mark 1 Human eyeball is tuned to see the wavelengths the sun puts out best, and is less sensitive to other colors of light. To my eyes, HID bulbs with lower color temperatures (around 4300K) look the most like daylight. Halogens are even lower, something like 3200K. Going with bluer light (6000K+) may put the light emitted outside your eyes' 'sweet spot'.

The other thing you have to be *really* careful about is the in-rush current. At steady state, HID setups require less current than a halogen bulb. But when starting up, some ballasts (part of the HID setup) will draw a ton of current for a short period. It is generally not long enough to blow things up immediately, but eventually stuff breaks down. This Xenon Depot kit (untested by me!) lists the inrush current at 4.5A, which is fine (4.5A * 12V == 54W).
http://www.kbcarstuff.com/ProductDetail ... =TechSpecs

A lot of people read the Daniel Stern Lighting page about HID lighting. (http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech ... d/HID.html). He's also trying to sell Halogen bulbs on other parts of the site, so there's a bit of a conflict of interest there. Anyone considering a HID set up should read it, and make their own decisions. That page has been around for a long time (several years), and some suggest that the HID kit manufacturers are making better kits that don't throw light all over the place. I don't know the answer, which is why I haven't bought a kit yet.

[rdsmith3]

I still submit that the best way to dip your toe into the HID lighting pool is to use it for auxiliary lights, not your main headlight.

[Canyon Runner]

All I know is I have seen a LOT of aftermarket HID lamps out here in the desert that are really annoying (I'd go so far as to say dangerous in some instances) due to lack of focus.

I am sure a lot of this is implementation, not technology, however.

Being in the professional AV industry, I am super suspicious of snake oil and new technology simply for it's own sake. I'm staying where I am, at least for now.