HID main beam lights

[300bhp/ton]

So, with all the talk of HID headlights and their legaliity issues.

What's the score with HID main beam lights? e.g if you have a seperate lamp for main beam are their any restrictions or limitations to swap in some HIDs?


I ask as it doesn't seem something talked about much, and as a preference I'd rather have even better main beam lights for country lane driving.

Ta

[troc]

Main beam HID (as against the shuttered single bulb dual-HIDs that many manufacturers now fit) would be a pain I think as you'd blow em up bloody fast. HIDs only last a smallish number of "strikes" (i.e. being turned on) so imagine your usual night drive and how many times you have to dip the lights for oncoming traffic or because you enter a lit build up area etc. You'll kill the bulbs in a few weeks or months, especially in winter.

Second, they have a noticeable start-up time so would be useless for flashing or warning people.

If you want more light on dark B-roads, fir a pair or 55W driving lights that are set up to go on with your main beam lights.

[V10Mike]

My Phaeton has separate HID main beams and they are a pain in the a***! They take ten seconds to warm up to full brightness, so unless you are continuously on main beam they are useless. Stick with high output conventional bulbs.

[Defcon5]

Get some 100w+ main beam bulbs instead.

[Fastra]

Bang some of these on... somewhere!

[DAVEVO9]

300bhp/ton said:

So, with all the talk of HID headlights and their legaliity issues.

What's the score with HID main beam lights? e.g if you have a seperate lamp for main beam are their any restrictions or limitations to swap in some HIDs?


I ask as it doesn't seem something talked about much, and as a preference I'd rather have even better main beam lights for country lane driving.

Ta

Yes it can be done.

I have a HID kit for my main beams but I only really use them on the way home from work in the early hours where they will be on for any length of time.

You only have any usable light after about 5 seconds, 10 seconds they will be very bright.

When you have full brightness and turn them off, and then switch them back on again, they will then be instant bright straight away. This is called "hot re-strike"

Flashing them however will reduce the life of the ballasts and bulbs!

Most HID kits are what they call "plug-n-play" this means you plug the wiring from the feed from the headlight plug to the ballast and it does the rest for you.

I have mine wired via a relay to protect the wiring. It's safer doing this as the relay is just a switch and takes the feed to the ballasts straight off the battery.

See the diagram I have shown to illustrate this.

HTH.

[christofmccracke]

I have 6000k Hids for my headlights and when I unlock the car they come on automaticly and have had no problems with mine concidering the amount of times they are turned on and of