HID questions
06-08-2005, 04:20 PM
#1
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HID questions
i was just wondering wat do the ballasts exactly do.
and wats the difference in those HID xenon bulbs and the whole HID kit. someone please help me understand?
thnx
and wats the difference in those HID xenon bulbs and the whole HID kit. someone please help me understand?
thnx
06-08-2005, 04:48 PM
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Baller:
1. Someone can confirm this, but I'm pretty sure the ballasts are there to regulate the current running to the HID units. (Don't know if they're called bulbs or not.)
2. The difference between real HID's and "HID look bulbs" is that with real HID's, the light is caused by electricity arcing across a gap. Think of a bolt of lightning, or the spark jumping from your fingertip to your sister's ear for a static shock. "HID look bulbs" are simply a traditional halogen bulb with a traditional filament (like a household light bulb), except they add a bluish tint to the glass in order to change the appearance of the light- trying to match the color of HID's, but in no way coming close to the intensity.
Hope that helps.
06-08-2005, 05:23 PM
#3
The HID "bulbs" are called "tubes." At least, that's what I've seen them described at in the press.
I think Mr. DB8's explanation is correct. There is no filament in the HID tube itself. It is a partial vacuum filled with an inert gas -- Xenon in the case of ours. I think Argon and aven Neon gases can be used, but Xenon emits the right color. The ballast cranks up the voltage so that an arc will be created in the evaucated tube. The advantage of the HID tube is that it creates a very powerful beam for the wattage it draws, and it has a very long lifetime -- though not as long as the car's lifetime as a number of owners have had to replace them.
I think Mr. DB8's explanation is correct. There is no filament in the HID tube itself. It is a partial vacuum filled with an inert gas -- Xenon in the case of ours. I think Argon and aven Neon gases can be used, but Xenon emits the right color. The ballast cranks up the voltage so that an arc will be created in the evaucated tube. The advantage of the HID tube is that it creates a very powerful beam for the wattage it draws, and it has a very long lifetime -- though not as long as the car's lifetime as a number of owners have had to replace them.
06-08-2005, 07:21 PM
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Chasmo is correct. The "arc tube" in an HID lamp is a small glass enclosure filled with a very finely measured combination of powdered metals and other compounds plus usually a lit-tle drop of mercury and xenon gas. When the ballast of the fixture hits these metals with high voltage, the electricity starts to vaporize them into their gaseous form, which they generally do quite slowly, the larger the lamp (that's why when you go to a ballfield or other large sports field, the lighting seems to take 10 or 15 minutes to reach full song. It DID take a long time. I don't know how they make them come up so quick in the automotive field, but it must be magic.
Anyway, the regular halogen bulbs have exactly that: halogen gas. The reason for halogen lamps both at home, for industrial lighting and in automotive uses is that the halogen gas "recycles" the filament as it burns. They produce a very useful, white light that is higher in kelvin (degree of color temperature), but not as high as the HID stuff. HID are very high in kelvin and thus the sparkly purplish-blue emissions and higher output levels.
The halogen lamp works like this: the tungsten in the filament burns (that's the light emitted) and the molecules of tungsten fly off into the halogen gas. Once the lamp reaches it's operating temperature, the gas returns the tungsten molecule to the filament (instead of it coming to rest as a dark layer on the top of the lamp capsule like the regular screw in light bulbs at home) where it can be, in theory, burned again...and so on and so forth. This is the reason why the halogen lamps last many times longer than a regular incandescent light bulb and also why they cost so much. They are usually under a much higher degree of pressure and utilize a quartz glass (hence the "quartz halogen" description) which is tougher stuff. However, dirt and hand oils can prematurely weaken the glass envelope and cause a "non-passive failure", which you don't want to be directly under or nearby.
Ok enough lighting speak for one day! Now you can lecture your wife/gf, etc. about why you have to spend 80 bucks each to replace the lamps in your car.
Anyway, the regular halogen bulbs have exactly that: halogen gas. The reason for halogen lamps both at home, for industrial lighting and in automotive uses is that the halogen gas "recycles" the filament as it burns. They produce a very useful, white light that is higher in kelvin (degree of color temperature), but not as high as the HID stuff. HID are very high in kelvin and thus the sparkly purplish-blue emissions and higher output levels.
The halogen lamp works like this: the tungsten in the filament burns (that's the light emitted) and the molecules of tungsten fly off into the halogen gas. Once the lamp reaches it's operating temperature, the gas returns the tungsten molecule to the filament (instead of it coming to rest as a dark layer on the top of the lamp capsule like the regular screw in light bulbs at home) where it can be, in theory, burned again...and so on and so forth. This is the reason why the halogen lamps last many times longer than a regular incandescent light bulb and also why they cost so much. They are usually under a much higher degree of pressure and utilize a quartz glass (hence the "quartz halogen" description) which is tougher stuff. However, dirt and hand oils can prematurely weaken the glass envelope and cause a "non-passive failure", which you don't want to be directly under or nearby.
Ok enough lighting speak for one day! Now you can lecture your wife/gf, etc. about why you have to spend 80 bucks each to replace the lamps in your car.
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06-08-2005, 11:45 PM
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The so-called Xenon lamps you can see in Kragen, aren't the same as HIDs either. They will add some Xenon gas to the regular Halogen mix and tint the glass blue to look like an HID. A lot of them run a higher voltage as well, which makes them look brighter, but they usually burn out sooner, and can actually melt the housing, or catch fire. The blue tint that makes them look pretty is also basically reducing the effective output for the sake of a pretty color. But we don't have to worry about it, we have nice purdee real HIDs 
06-09-2005, 05:32 AM
#10
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Originally Posted by SC Alex,Jun 8 2005, 11:45 PM
The so-called Xenon lamps you can see in Kragen, aren't the same as HIDs either. They will add some Xenon gas to the regular Halogen mix and tint the glass blue to look like an HID. A lot of them run a higher voltage as well, which makes them look brighter, but they usually burn out sooner, and can actually melt the housing, or catch fire. The blue tint that makes them look pretty is also basically reducing the effective output for the sake of a pretty color. But we don't have to worry about it, we have nice purdee real HIDs