Quote:
Originally Posted by svxfiles
Yes Gordan, with different leads/plugs and some work on the socket that the bulb goes into you can go from 2000 lumens (for both bulbs) to 3400 lumens with a 9005 upgrade. And if it is not legal it should be!
Out here in rural country I prefer the a$$ kicking HIDs at the lower temperature ranges.
On the Claret she has 4300k low beams and 5000k high beams, and when I am out with my 60yo brown eyes, after 45 or more years of welding, it makes my driving safer for everybody!
And, no I have not been flashed by other drivers.
Their 3' off the ground factory installed HIDs blind me, but they are legal.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slowner44
lol you can't tell me that HIDs aren't a good upgrade just because our housings weren't meant for that shape of light pattern.... I dont care what the math says lol
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Slowner44, yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you. Unfortunately, our eyes were not designed to be able to accurately tell the difference between "good" light and "bad" light, our brains automatically correct for these differences and our interpretations of what is good and bad are often totally opposite of what science shows to be true. (I can tell you didn't bother to read the article I posted, so here are some excepts).
"A halogen bulb has a cylindrical light source: the glowing filament. The space immediately surrounding the cylinder of light is completely dark, and so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is along the edges of the cylinder of light. The ends of the filament cylinder fade from bright to dark. An HID bulb, on the other hand, has a crescent-shaped light source -- the arc. It's crescent-shaped because as it passes through the space between the two electrodes, its heat causes it to try to rise. The space immediately surrounding the crescent of light glows in layers...the closer to the crescent of light, the brighter the glow. The ends of the arc crescent are the brightest points, and immediately beyond these points is completely dark, so the sharpest contrast between bright and dark is at the ends of the crescent of light.
This diagram shows the very different characteristics of the filament vs. the arc:
When designing the optics (lens and/or reflector) for a lamp, the characteristics of the light source are the driving factor around which everything else must be engineered. If you go and change the light source, you've done the equivalent of putting on somebody else's eyeglasses: You can probably make them fit on your face OK, but you won't see properly.
Here are some downloadable PDF tests done by DOT and CalCoast Labs on halogen headlamps equipped with "HID kits":
Test #1, with 9004 "HID kit" vs. 9004 bulb
Test #2, with 9006 "HID kit" vs. 9006 bulb
Test #3, with 9004 "HID kit" vs. 9004 bulb
And here is a documentary done by Auto Express showing the results of installing "HID kits" in UN ("ECE", "E-code", "European") headlamps, which are designed for notably tight control of glare on low beam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=Y5n38wDe684
Now, what about those "retrofit" jobs in which the beam cutoff still appears sharp? Don't be fooled; it's an error to judge a beam pattern solely by its cutoff.
In many lamps, especially the projector types, the cutoff will remain the same regardless of what light source is behind it. Halogen bulb, HID capsule, cigarette lighter, firefly, hold it up to the sun—whatever. That's because of the way a projector lamp works. The cutoff is simply the projected image of a piece of metal running side-to-side behind the lens. Where the optics come in is in distributing the light under the cutoff. And, as with all other automotive lamps (and, in fact, all optical instruments), the optics are calculated based not just on where the light source is within the lamp (focal length) but also the specific photometric characteristics of the light source...which parts of it are brighter, which parts of it are darker, where the boundaries of the light source are, whether the boundaries are sharp or fuzzy, the shape of the light source, and so forth."
Read up, gain knowledge, profit.