I was at a restaurant with my friends. We drove separate cars and were all parked in a row. One had an Audi, another a BMW and the third a Benz. When we got out, I was the first one to my car. I was out first and when I turned on my headlights, everybody said "Hey, you've got HIDs" I went "yeah, and so what??" They said "Ours are Xenon"
As far as I was able to tell, there was no difference in brightness, or whiteness of the lights. (Our cars were facing a wall)

Can anyone here explain what the difference is between a HID system and Xenon headlights ? Pros & cons ???

 

There is no difference, HID and Xenon are names for the same technology. Xenon just refers to the gas used inside the chamber.

 

HID = Xenon
same thing.. as long as they are truely D2S/D2R HID bulbs filled with Xenon gas.. powered by a ballast.. and give the same 4200K color temp.

You have Xenon as well..
Your friends have HID as well..
Next time they tell you it's diff, them them they are exactly the same thing, probably exactly the same bulbs/ballast as well.

I'm guessing your friends didn't know they are the same thing just referred to by diff names.. like calling a photocopy a xerox copy.. same thing, but it's become known by other names..

There are fake HIDs out there, these are just halogen bulbs with a filter in it.. these are not powered by a ballast, they are just replacements for regular bulbs..

 

Thanks guys. I guess it just looks different cause we have reflective lights and they have projective.

 

Yeah, and they may have some 6000k's (don't some Germans come with 6000's?)

Some say soda, others say pop.

 

Nope, German cars have exactly the same bulb(4200K), it's just the projector lenses that make it look diff.. and projectors use D2S bulbs instead of the D2R buls we use..

But I wouldn't be surprised if the 04TL has Projectors in it.

 

Yup I am pretty sure 04 TL will have Projector HID's because the New TSX Has it from the S2k

 

Also, HID stands for High Intensity Discharge (lights)...HID lights

The temp. range of 4100K-4300K is the maximum brightness output. I doubt any car manufacturer will make their bulbs 6000K because the 6000Ks are dimmer. When you stare at 4100K-4300K directly it's like looking at the sun so don't stare, you'll go blind.

PS don't stare at the 6000K bulbs either, (I did) you start seeing everylight source blue....I was laughing at a Mercury Sable who's lights were blue but then I realized that it was my eyes and anything that emmited light was blue (went away after a couple of minutes)

 

Tell them Xenon is what they call the lights when you are over charged for them!! HAHA!!:p

 

hahahaha

 

The best is when u go to dealers and they dont know what ure talking bout... if u say HID to them, some look at u weird (they only know Xenon) and the others u say Xenon and they are confused

but yeah... HID - high intensity discharge (just in case you want to know how it works: The xenon gas inside the bulb gets excited to a high energy state when you pass a current through it - hence you need an AC adapter otherwise u cant get a back and forth current.... and then when the gas lowers to a lower energy state, u get light )

if someone sells u the bulbs and no AC converter, dont buy it.. the system is useless for your car (unless u already have one)

 

wtf??
i i thought xenon are HID.

 

I just love the warning on the back of the lights. Do not remove this cover - 25,000 volts - can kill....

Now those are some REAL headlights!

 

actually to tell you the truth, i'm afraid of opening up that thing becuse of that warning.

 

hahahahahaha lol

what a woman.. go back to AW

lol j/p

 

man too many whores there and they all drive different cars.
did you see my thread about what kind of cars they drive?
i get reply like 89 legend and 91 integra and stuff like that. I was like wtf. i like this forum better.

 

and oh yeah i posted a thread concerning my oil change at the TL section and still no response yet! They're all dead or something.

 

My biggest friggen pet peave in my life is seeing those idiots with fake HIDs. I cant STAND them!!! Anyways, why does it say that 25,000 volts thing? Its not that powerful is it? I thought they ran lower voltage than regular halogens... or is it 25K when they first ignite?

-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

they run lower wattage but i dunno bout the voltage, its probably from the AC adapter though i dont know if its 25k Volts

 

the start up voltage is about 23-25k drawing a good 20 amps after the warm up state the ballast regulats the flow of charge to about 3.2 amps and a stedy wattage of 35 watts with the voltage at about 85 volts from the 23-25k volts

 

to be honest...the term xenon is very misleading as to regular halogen based filiment lamps can be called XENON as it refers to the gas filled in them...BUT HID refers to the way the bulb works...so yeah...they could posibly just have xenon filled filiment bulbs that arent HID's.....but HID are simply ONLY filled with Xenon and other rare noble gases, and metalic salts...

 

Like asiankidd stated, the ballast takes an enormous amount of voltage to ignite (in the area of 20K). Here's a very oversimplified explanation:

At sea level, it takes about 10,000 volts of electricity to jump 1/4 inch through the atmosphere (think about those hand-held electronic stun guns--they're about the same voltage as our ballasts). With a regular halogen bulb, electric current flows through the tungsten filament and it heats up the small coils in the filament. The hot coils glow and you have light. In a Xenon headlamp, the voltage is passed through Xenon gas and the burning of the arc in the gas is what creates the light. But just like the stun gun analogy, there are two terminals on either side of the gas chamber and the current has to "jump" from one to the other though the gas, which is why so much voltage is required. However, the *big* difference between our headlamps and the stun gun is the amount of amps required to make the arc. A stun gun has microamps or milliamps of power. You can survive a shock from a lot of volts as long as there are hardly any amps. Painful, yes---but the amperage is so minute that it doesn't kill you. Our lights on the other hand, draw about 20 amps on start-up and then drop dramatically to sustain the arc. 20 amps at that voltage would most certainly kill you. HID ballasts are so dangerous that most manufacturers design them so if a vehicle is involved in a collision that damages the lights while they are active, the ballast permanently shuts down and needs to be replaced. This is so rescue workers don't accidentally get electrocuted trying to get you out of a car or disconnecting your battery if there is a damaged ballast.

 

Matt-
Thanx for the info! Remind me if my HID bulb ever needs replacing to go to the dealer!

-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

I'm definitely with you on that one!

 

well just to clearify what pianoman said.....the 20 amps is being drawn at 12 volts...of course this is way more than that of a 9 volt battery in a stun gun....how ever using the formula v*i=p, at startup the ballast draws about 12 volts at 20 amps... roughly about 240 watts, now on the high side of the ballast there is about 25,000 volts comsuming about 240 watts...do the math on that one and its only about .0096 amps or roughly 9.6 mA which isnt that bad actually, but if you had say a pace maker it will definatly mess that up, and say if you were a lil kid your body mass is exponitially absorbing in that bored with a more concentrated force....but not going against anyone but it not a instant death type electrocution....just a rather painful one.....

 

oh yeah...been shocked 2 times from these lovely bast@rds and still kickin' haha...but it wasnt a complete short so i was lucky..haha..

 

IIRC, HID's usually use 35W (less wattage but more voltage than halogen) I may be wrong though...anyone confirm this?

 

I know if you look on the top of the headlight housing (at least on the '02) the wattage and bulb type are molded into the plastic and reads D2R 35w for the low beam.

 

nope its less wattage over all at the same voltage draw...

initial wattage draw is around 240 watts and then stabilizes at 35 watts....

 

Just to add my worthless two cents into this discussion--real HIDs don't use bulbs--they use "capsules", or perhaps referred to as "lamps". IIRC, technically the meaning of the word "bulb" implies the use of filaments, whereas a HID lamp/capsule contains electrodes. So, it is a misnomer to say that HID "bulbs" are used in a true HID system...

Think I'm just blowing smarta$$ smoke at you guys? Go to Sylvania's web site--they don't refer to HID lighting element as "bulbs"...

 

The 25k volts is a momentary capasitive discharge required to ionize the gas in the bulb. It is at a fairly low amperage compared to the voltage, but certainly enough to make you think twice. Once the gas is ionized, everything functions at a more sane voltage.

Opening the balast could expose you to the capacitors used to acheive the 25k volts. As capacitors are not necessarily discharged when the power is turned off or disconnected, there could still be voltage in the cap when you open the cover.

 

OK then.... gotta question for you HID people.... I looked at mine last night, and the passenger headlamp is more purpleish than the driver one. In fact, when compared to other TL's (I was next to a new CL tonite too) mine look purple, while theirs are more blueish. What the hell is up with that, do I need new bulbs?


-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

Yeah, I wish they'd kill those punks who steal our lights.

 

all hid capsules go thru color shift when the capsule nears the end of its life cycle it will become very blue in color....you shoudlnt need to ever replace the bulb if it came with your car!!!

 

I wish those 20-25K voltage would kick in when the thieves try to steal our HIDs! (NY/NJ guys know what I am talking about)

 

Isn't there a trick that allows remote operation of the head lights? Combine that w/ the 25K volt. Use your imaginations.

 

(What does IIRC mean?)

 

asiankidd... does that mean that one is near the end of its life? one is blue, the other is slightly purpler, although they are bother purple in colour.... LOL... I thought mine had 6000K in it when I first got them!

-Ryan
'99 SSM TL

 

IIRC = If I Remember Correctly

 

well if we both speaking about the 4300k it should come new white with a tint of yellow/blue, as it gets older and older it goes more to the blue color spectrum, upon death color temperature can reach over 6000k, as for the 6000k they are more purple because of the gases in them, and then continually get bluer as they age hitting the 8000k mark near death. reason for this color change is cus of the wearing properties of the gasses and the arc shape as the electrodes wear....when the electrodes wear out the arc gets longer and the arc part of the capsule is what gives off the blue color...as it gets bigger it gets more reflected, as they age differently different color will appear, in your case one bulb may be older than the other....hence yielding the blue color vs purple color.

JON