HIDS that don't require a ballast/ignitor, what's the catch?

[sixty]

Fitted HIDS to my previous VW passat, they cost me £60, and had a lot of wires, the ballast, ignitor, etc and cutting holes in the rubber dome for the extra wires. The light output difference was unreal though and night driving became a pleasure.

I've fitted some Halfords Ultra Brilliance 120% to the xtrail on Saturday and although better than the stock halogen yellow ones still arn't great.

Whats the catch with these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-X-TRAIL-T30-2001-...


no ballasts/ignitors or wires, just straight bulb swap?

[Jakg]

They are halogen bulbs, filled with Xenon gas - they burn hotter (a little brighter) but last a LOT less time.

Nowhere near as bright as HID's, and nothing like them (HID's NEED the extra voltage etc that a ballast provides - they run on thousands of volts

[sixty]

ah cheers, thought it seemed too good to be true!

This more like it?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/H4-BI-XENON-HID-CONVERSI...

[DAVEVO9]

Jakg said:

they run on thousands of volts

Only when they first fire up

85v when they have stabilised