HIDs for SVX!

[mohrds]

Originally Posted by svxcess

The source reference is http://www.hid-sin.com

More than you wanted to know about automotive lighting and HIDs from the NHTSA. Lots of reading, but interesting. http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/glare.html





...and as long as wre are talking government, the ricer's worst nightmare: Federal Motor Vehicle Sahety Standard 108. http://fmvss108.tripod.com/

HID section is under construction but the standard covers "Altezza" tail lights, clear tail lights, blue bulbs, etc. It even told me that my clear factory headlight protectors on my SVX were not legal

S7.8.5 When activated in a steady-burning state, headlamps shall
not have any styling ornament or other feature, such as a translucent
cover or grill, in front of the lens.

So I guess all of those "brush guards" you see protecting the headlights on large jeeps, Hummers and SUVs gotta go

;

"Translucent" is an interesting choice of words. Translucents alter light passing through it. Transparents objects do not. I think clear protective film would fall into the Transparent category. Smoked covers would fall under translucent.

I'm not sure how brush guards will fall into that ruling. They are not translucent as they flat out block a fraction of the light. I'm not a full-fledged lawyer yet, but I would interpret that brush guards would distort the light enough to fall into the Translucent category.

Doug

[ridered777]

Right, I'm with mohrds on that. Not to mention, as he said, "translucent", not transparent, meaning things like crystal clear housings are legal, seeing as how they distort the light less than the stock translucent housing... Intresting...

As far as the color chart goes Diana, I know about HIDs.. I'm not a moron, and I know the colors up to 12k (granted those are CRAZY purple). I am pretty set in the 8k's, I've been looking at HID's a while. I know what I"m getting myself into with them. However the information on the higher Kelvins creating less light I did not know, but it does make sense...

Seeing as how we all know energy cannot be created nor destroyed, as per Newton, it makes very simple sense... Kelvin is a measure of heat, so as heat increases that uses more energy to create, leaving less energy to create light. I just never really thought about it - HID's, not matter what color, put off more light than any Halogen, so its enough for me. I would never go above 8k anyway, you move from "custom" or "luxury/Beemer" look to "RICE!!!" look.

Also note here... http://fmvss108.tripod.com/light_source_list.htm that it states HID's as being acceptable bulbs. However, in the little box at the top, it says after market HID's are generally not allowed... SOooo all you have to do, is convince the cop that the SVX COMES from the factory with HIDs!!! Should be pretty easy, they won't even know what kind of car it is without looking at the rear light bar...

[green_eyed_lady]

Originally Posted by ridered777

As far as the color chart goes Diana, I know about HIDs.. I'm not a moron, and I know the colors up to 12k (granted those are CRAZY purple).

I was not implying that you were anything of the type, the information was presented for ALL viewers of this thread. Up until a few weeks ago, I never even gave a thought to HID's, so I know very little about them.

[svxcess]

I think the key part of the phrase that covers them is

S7.8.5:
"When activated in a steady-burning state, headlamps shall not have any styling ornament or other feature, such as a translucent cover, or grill, in front of the lens".



OOPS!!



OOPS again..!!!



The only exception to this are headlamp wipers, provided that the headlamp system is designed to conform with all applicable photometric requirements with the wiper stopped in any position in front of the lens.



Back when I owned my Triumph TR6, I had these over the headlights. They were so close to the lens that the hlight just went right through it. I wonder if I would be out of compliance had I been driving with them today?



.

[NiftySVX]

I've been Looking at HIDs for a long time. Does anyone know if I am too late to get in on this? And do any of you guys know who makes the ballasts? Are we talking about sturdy metal ones or the plastic sort? Thanks

[pavanbabut]

Originally Posted by NiftySVX

I've been Looking at HIDs for a long time. Does anyone know if I am too late to get in on this? And do any of you guys know who makes the ballasts? Are we talking about sturdy metal ones or the plastic sort? Thanks

I am sure you are not late... and yes you are talkin abt the sturdy metal ones here.. , as far as who makes them, i am not sure abt the parent company, but they say that they are being imported directly from germany. So, there ya go

-Pavan

[XT6Wagon]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but HID's have a nasty "side effect"

Get a nice black road, cover it in a bit of standing water (AKA raining decently), and the HID's will not penetrate the water layer at all. So suddenly you are driving down a pitchblack surface with no markings at all, and if your roads have no curbs, and deep ditches on the side, now you are driving down a road with 0 markings and deep ditches to tell you when you failed to stay in your lane. Curbs prevent this being a color that isn't black.

My local roads are like this. with no oncomming traffic, I found I could see BETTER on the moonless nights in the rain with the stock STi HID headlights off.

Lucky for you/us the SVX has foglamps stock, so you can use those to bring out the lines in the rain. So ah.. DON'T HID convert your foglamps.

[RSVX]

Originally Posted by XT6Wagon

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but HID's have a nasty "side effect"

Get a nice black road, cover it in a bit of standing water (AKA raining decently), and the HID's will not penetrate the water layer at all. So suddenly you are driving down a pitchblack surface with no markings at all, and if your roads have no curbs, and deep ditches on the side, now you are driving down a road with 0 markings and deep ditches to tell you when you failed to stay in your lane. Curbs prevent this being a color that isn't black.

My local roads are like this. with no oncomming traffic, I found I could see BETTER on the moonless nights in the rain with the stock STi HID headlights off.

Lucky for you/us the SVX has foglamps stock, so you can use those to bring out the lines in the rain. So ah.. DON'T HID convert your foglamps.

Thats funny, I get the exact same effect... with my stock lamps.

[ensteele]

And you still have the high beams that will be stock to show the lines unless you have oncomming traffic. That is a good point about the fog lights. Those would help if the lines wouldn't show otherwise.

[ridered777]

Originally Posted by XT6Wagon

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but HID's have a nasty "side effect"

Get a nice black road, cover it in a bit of standing water (AKA raining decently), and the HID's will not penetrate the water layer at all. So suddenly you are driving down a pitchblack surface with no markings at all, and if your roads have no curbs, and deep ditches on the side, now you are driving down a road with 0 markings and deep ditches to tell you when you failed to stay in your lane. Curbs prevent this being a color that isn't black.

My local roads are like this. with no oncomming traffic, I found I could see BETTER on the moonless nights in the rain with the stock STi HID headlights off.

Lucky for you/us the SVX has foglamps stock, so you can use those to bring out the lines in the rain. So ah.. DON'T HID convert your foglamps.

It's even worse for us "New Englanders"... we have a pretty thing called snow, which is REALLY bad for HID's - the snowflakes reflect the light right back at you.

[svxash]

Originally Posted by ridered777

It's even worse for us "New Englanders"... we have a pretty thing called snow, which is REALLY bad for HID's - the snowflakes reflect the light right back at you.

So speaking of snow how many people with HID's have driven while it's snowing? How bad is it?

[svxfiles]

Originally Posted by svxash

So speaking of snow how many people with HID's have driven while it's snowing? How bad is it?

I just spoke to my brother Mark, who has been driving with HIDs for four years.
He lives in the snow belt, (as do I) so he has driven in the snow, in the rain, in the fog, whatever.
Mark tells me that in the four years he has driven in good, bad and ugly weather, only once were the lights a factor.
It was during a white-out!
The much improved lighting has been a benefit to him on every other night,
And it DOES get dark EVERY night.
The good news is that if you had to drive in a white-out, you could switch back to the 1/3rd or 1/5th the power of the stock bulbs in about two minutes
Tom.

[ridered777]

Originally Posted by svxfiles

The good news is that if you had to drive in a white-out, you could switch back to the 1/3rd or 1/5th the power of the stock bulbs in about two minutes
Tom.

Probably a stupid question but... HUH?

You talking about wiring up the fog's to work without the lights on?

[Tim]

Originally Posted by ridered777

Probably a stupid question but... HUH?

You talking about wiring up the fog's to work without the lights on?

You can unplug the wiring to the ballast and plug your normal 9006/9005 back in.

[svxash]

Originally Posted by TE1221

You can unplug the wiring to the ballast and plug your normal 9006/9005 back in.

Wouldn't be much fun to do during a whiteout.