Thread: Hid highbeam conversion on a D2a?

Originally Posted by Tombie

Going HID high beam and std low will leave you blind when you dip....

The wavelengths are VERY different and your eyes will 'lag' when you dip, giving a period of poor vision...

(I think I need to start a light thread)

If that is the case why do so many people get HID spotlight's??? Do high beam HID headlights perform differently to HID spotlights???

I have a pair of HID spotties and I would think that they would be exactly the same in terms of light difference when I dip for oncoming drivers...
And if that is the case then, no I will not be blind as I have tried them and know how they perform...

So it is possible it will work but debatable whether it is worth it due to the reflector... However as it is a dedicated highbeam reflector would it not be focused appropriately already as it should perform similar to a spotlight in that it does not need to have a cutoff for the lowbeam...

Originally Posted by Tombie

It may be close, but the Halogen filament doesnt 'move'

Sorry - don't understand. For sure the halogen filament does not move but the same basically applies to HIDs - once the second stage of ignition has occurred in the HID and the salts have vaporised and ignited the whole chamber (same length and width as a halogen filament) is alight and in the same position relative to the reflector as is a halogen filament.

Garry

HID are commonly around 6000k are a completely different wavelength to ~3700k of a Halogen bulb.

You may be lucky and have really good eyesight, but the glare from a HID is harder for an eye to adjust to / from.

If you find the glare to be not 'an issue' thats lucky you...


And in answer to the question "Why do people get them?" Thats a great question... Heres some quick answers..
- Market forces / Advertising
- Often because a mate says they're great / has a pair
- We believe that the small 'power saving' (lower wattage) is of great benefit
- They 'appear' brighter - the Blue tinge makes them appear brighter (also called glare) yet often arent.

A similar question could be "Why do so many people buy Japanese 4wdrives?"
And the answer would be defended similarly..
- Because my mate has one
- They're the best, the adverts say so
- Market forces
- LR & Jeep are unreliable

A lot of it comes down to lack of information, knowledge, marketing and perception (of value, 'energy savings', quality, output)



In relation to the reflector design - NO the reflector in your vehicle is designed for the focal point of a H7 filament, not the curved arc of a HID.




It ***MAY*** be acceptable though.....

Originally Posted by garrycol

Sorry - don't understand. For sure the halogen filament does not move but the same basically applies to HIDs - once the second stage of ignition has occurred in the HID and the salts have vaporised and ignited the whole chamber (same length and width as a halogen filament) is alight and in the same position relative to the reflector as is a halogen filament.

Garry

No its not (quite)... See my post above this one...

Also look at the output wavelengths of the Arc vs a filament...

So there's no point buying HIDs over non HIDs?
GOOD! too expensive anyway!

Originally Posted by BigJon

High beam conversion won't blind other drivers.

Having said that, I did a HID conversion to our Subaru Liberty high beam in an effort to get more light. The results were very dissapointing as the reflector is just too small for any decent light. I suspect the light source is no longer at the correct focal point for the reflector as well.

Fair enough; if you dip your high beam immediately when you see an approaching car or are coming up upon one and don't use it on dual carriageways if there is traffic going in the opp direction.

Some quality HIDs don't have this issue, but most after markets do. As you say the focal pt is different.

as others have said its most likly a waste of time
as for hi beam hid's have a few second warm up time which is probably what you dont want as for low beam like has been mentioned the legality as hid's need to be self leveling the should also be fitted to a projector not a tyipical reflector.
If you want to get creative you can fit a projector inside your exixting light have done this on a few bikes and converted to a h4 style globe with a magnetic shutter for hi/lo a worth whle mod on a bike when you dont have room for spot lights and factory lights are rubbish. Realy just fit good globes and aux lights if your wanting better light.

Sent from my GT-P6800 using Tapatalk 2

I replaced my globes with Narva Plus 100 H7 globes on my D2a. Made a huge difference. I don't see the need for the complexity, expense or risk of HID.