The Hid Thread

[SKITTLES]

Preamble

This thread aims to help a few of you guys understand what HIDs are, how they work, and why the use of projectors is pretty much a necessity.

I'll attempt to explain how the bulbs are illuminated, what each part in a basic assembly does and the various colors that are available.

What are HIDs?

HIDs (High Intensity Discharge) are a bright-shining, low-voltage light globe with a rather aesthetically appealing glow. When most people think of HIDs, they think of those annoying, bright, blue headlights.

HIDs can actually come in other colors, such as purples, yellows, orange, green, etc.

A HID globe looks like this;

Non-HID is on the left.

* PHOTO COMING LATER *

Please refer to the following picture for reference about the voltage VS color side of things.

How do they work?

HIDs work by passing a current through a compressed gas. For those who did physics at school, and studied CRTs, you'd have witnessed excited atoms in a vacuum, HIDs work with the same theory.

What happens, is the energy from the electrical current excites the particles within the vacuumed HID bulb. These excited particles begin to glow.

This glow is rather bright, and it doesn't draw as much power from your cars electrical system as a conventional bulb would. So by using HID bulbs, you're effectively reducing the amount of electrical energy drawn from your battery, and gaining better visibility.

Some of you smarter cookies will now realize that if these bulbs run off a lower voltage, how is this regulated?

When you install a HID, you'll plug the bulb into a ballast, and said ballast into the cars eletrical system (to replace the old globe).

The ballast limits the amount of power going to the bulb, effectively working as a step-down transformer, except it doesn't generate a tremendous amount of heat (in my experience).

How does a standard setup look? (No projector)

I'm just focussing on the wiring here.

* PHOTO COMING LATER *

A simple, basic setup goes...

BATTERY -> Ballast

BALLAST -> HID

What are Projectors?

Projectors are enclosures which you put your HIDs into before replacing your standard globes. The main features of the HID are the lense and internal light-wave reflection.

Refer to the diagram

What this basically means, is that light waves won't be shone into the eyes of oncoming traffic, and noone get's blinded.

As you can see, the only lightwaves that aren't cut off by the cut-off shield are the ones that would be refracted through the lense, up into the eyes of oncoming traffic. The lightwaves that do pass are reflect back down onto the road. This increases visibility as well, so it's not totally a selfless act

Simple write up I might update after reading over it tomorrow / the next day.

I'll do photos later.

Inspired by this post.

If you feel i've got something wrong, please feel free to comment and I'll have a look at it. Sort of went by common sense/basic physics for the majority of this.

[Spurdo]

ok so after having a good read im still a little confused.. my headlights are the black jdm "shark eye" types (pictured) all the "blue/white" halogen bulbs i've tried in the past are complete shit, they just colour the outer lens a light blue but the actual shine is still pretty yellow.. very minimal difference over standard bulbs.

i would probably go for 4300k or 6000k.. what exactly would i need to do to my headlights so they dont cause glare etc?

[PM-R33]

what exactly would i need to do to my headlights so they dont cause glare etc?

Get in on this lol

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Cu...re-t334490.html

Some of you smarter cookies will now realize that if these bulbs run off a lower voltage, how is this regulated?

When you install a HID, you'll plug the bulb into a ballast, and said ballast into the cars eletrical system (to replace the old globe).

The ballast limits the amount of power going to the bulb, effectively working as a step-down transformer, except it doesn't generate a tremendous amount of heat (in my experience).

Actually that is quite incorrect.

HID's run off a hell of a lot more voltage, not lower. On start up a typical HID ballast will output 18,000-24,000V (18-24kV) for up to 30 seconds (this is called the warm up time). Once they are at operating temperature a ballast will output around 85V.

What you ment to say is HID's use less power (Typically 35W) P=VI

Projectors are enclosures which you put your HIDs into before replacing your standard globes. The main features of the HID are the lense and internal light-wave reflection.

Just thought I would add to this aswell so people don't get confused. A projector used for a halogen bulb is not the same as a projector used for a HID bulb. While a halogen bulb projector does work better with a HID bulb over a reflector, it is still not perfect. This is the reason why in the glass headlights we are designing with Spinto we are using Bosch projectors made for HID bulbs so there is a perfect focal point and cut off.

Edited October 9, 2010 by PM-R33

[Spurdo]

Get in on this lol

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Cu...re-t334490.html

ok well that doesnt help me much for 2 reasons

1. i have an R32

2. very much out of my price range at the moment

i've found a few HID kits that are much more in my price range, but i dont want to install it then find it causes glare all over the place. i've read that you can play around with the adjustments on the headlight and cut down on that.. has anyone here done that with any success?

[PM-R33]

ok well that doesnt help me much for 2 reasons

1. i have an R32

Oh woops my bad lol. I didn't even click on that picture to see what car you had

[SKITTLES]

Actually that is quite incorrect.

HID's run off a hell of a lot more voltage, not lower. On start up a typical HID ballast will output 18,000-24,000V (18-24kV) for up to 30 seconds (this is called the warm up time). Once they are at operating temperature a ballast will output around 85V.

What you ment to say is HID's use less power (Typically 35W) P=VI

Ahh see I was going by what I had been told from friends. Thanks for clearing that up, I'll append OP accordingly.

Just thought I would add to this aswell so people don't get confused. A projector used for a halogen bulb is not the same as a projector used for a HID bulb. While a halogen bulb projector does work better with a HID bulb over a reflector, it is still not perfect. This is the reason why in the glass headlights we are designing with Spinto we are using Bosch projectors made for HID bulbs so there is a perfect focal point and cut off.

Didn't know that either, thanks. I'll add that to OP as well.

Thanks for the input I really appreciate it.

edit; They're preventing me from editting it... that's bullshit..

Edited October 12, 2010 by SKITTLES