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HID lighting question?

villestrip

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Roseville CA
Currently I am running the IPF H4 conversion with the upgraded harness with some 90/100 watt bulbs. I want more light than what I have now. So from all the research I've done on converting to an HID kit you have to have so type of projector type lenses for the pattern to be effective. So that being said the lenses I have now won't work properly. So will these lenses work with a HID kit http://www.norcalmr2.com/h4-proj/h4-proj-Pages/Image0.html
 
Depends upon the form of the HID capsule proper - if it's an H4 style, you can probably use the lenses you have now, and they'll just be brighter (and whiter, probably, with just a slight bluish cast. Side effect of the light generation.)

The "HID" is "High Intensity Discharge" - as I recall, it's an electric arc, rather than just a filament heated to incandescence. That's why you get a bright white light with a slight bluish tint - it's the same sort of light you get from an arc welder (just with a MUCH lower current involved, which is why it won't strike you blind, and can be used for illumination.)

I suppose we should first pose the question, tho - why for do you need more light? What are you trying to do? Sounds silly, but knowing that will help drive lighting selection...

If you want more light just to be difficult with people, tho, I won't be any help. I, for instance, run 90W/130W Super White H4 bulbs simply because I do a lot of driving on mountain roads and in unlit areas, and I like to be able to see. I use these bulbs with "E-code" bowls, which gives a much sharper low beam cut-off (allowing me to run more light without annoying oncoming traffic) and a fuller high beam (giving more illumination.) I have wide-angle driving lights (100W Super White bulbs) for short-range fill-in when the full beam is on, since the E-code bowl gives a more focussed full beam with less "spill" near the vehicle. This allows me to catch things at the side of the road that would not otherwise be lit with the full beam - and the whole thing was done for "driver safety" considering the conditions I tend to find myself in. It was a little more work to aim my headlamps, but it's been worth it, since I don't get any "flash" complaints from oncoming drivers (even with my low beams being about twice as bright as their high beams...)

5-90
 
I do the same a lot of back road driving and just want the better lighting for the safety aspect. From what I was understanding was that in order for a HID system to work properly though I would need some sort of projector type lenses. That being said the H4 housings I have now by IPF are just normal H4 housings and not the projector type I had a linked to in my first post. I just want better lighting for driving down dark windy roads and I was thinking an HID conversion would be my answer?
 
villestrip said:
I do the same a lot of back road driving and just want the better lighting for the safety aspect. From what I was understanding was that in order for a HID system to work properly though I would need some sort of projector type lenses. That being said the H4 housings I have now by IPF are just normal H4 housings and not the projector type I had a linked to in my first post. I just want better lighting for driving down dark windy roads and I was thinking an HID conversion would be my answer?

You do realize you'll lose high beams, right? There are plenty of H4 HID conversions out there.

Have you thought about a good auxiliary light you can turn on when you need it instead? PIAA 580, for example...
 
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