HID Conversion

Topic: HID Conversion (Read 1227 times) previous topic - next topic

HID Conversion

February 08, 2007, 08:02:10 PM

Ok i have been looking for a while at the HID Conversion kits and wondering since the bulb i want "8000K" burns hotter then would it melt the housing?

HID Conversion

Reply #1 – February 08, 2007, 10:11:10 PM

When they say the bulbs burn "hotter," that's actually just another way of saying it's brighter. HID bulbs actually use less amperage than a standard bulb.

HID Conversion

Reply #2 – February 09, 2007, 09:11:40 AM

but still would it melt the housing?

HID Conversion

Reply #3 – February 09, 2007, 10:28:32 AM

I do believe that the temp on those bulbs are in Kelvin. If you look at the back of the Sylvanya's silver star package it gives you some information about this. I haven't seen anything else refuring to the light output of the headlight bulbs. I do know that the silver stars are still the same wattage as the regular halogen bulbs but the silver stars put out way more light. Best I can tell you is to try it out and keep checking the housing after every use to see if there is any signs of melting. If not after extended use you should be all right.

I don't remeber the conversion from Kelvin to F or C but I can tell you water freeze's at 273K and boils at 373K. So if you were to convert the temp to C or F you might have a btter idea of what temps to expect the bulbs to reach in a form that you are used to dealing with

HID Conversion

Reply #4 – February 09, 2007, 12:44:01 PM

What they are referring to is color temperature, not thermal temperature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature

Brent

HID Conversion

Reply #5 – February 09, 2007, 01:12:22 PM

If you've ever tried to calibrate a computer monitor or LCD screen, you run into essentially the same principle. There is a certain white point for computers where the whitest light is either on the bluish side or the yellowish side. This white point is adjusted on a scale with markings in Kelvin. You may know this as the "gamma" settings.

As for melting the housings...it could still happen, but that all depends on the wattage rating for the bulbs, the wiring gauge, if relays are used for the headlight wiring system, and so on. A full HID conversion requires its own wiring harness with relays so that will pretty much keep things running smoothly, since it pulls power directly from the battery. At that point all you'd need to worry about is the bulb wattage. I believe the housings can withstand 90-100W bulbs...after that you'll get meltage. However, as delicate and sensitive to UV light as these housings are, they'd probably start to discolor and yellow a bit quicker with HID's than with regular halogen bulbs.