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What's the Candlepower output of the
HID? Hella does not rate
it's lamps in candlepower and
you should beware of anyone
who does because it's a misleading
measure of lighting power.
Where is the measurement taken
from? Right next to the bulb?
Three feet in front of the bulb?
Six inches? With or without
a reflector? See my point?
There is no industry standard
for such a measurement so a manufacturer
can really make his lamp look
good with a really meaningless
number. The real test of a lamp
is where the light goes - is
the output useful to you. At
300 feet, the HID 35W Rallye
4000 MotorSport is three times
brighter than a 100w bulb
in a comparable lamp.
Doesn't the HID draw a lot of current? The
Hella HID is a 35W lamp - which
means it draws about 2-3 Amps
when lit. There is an initial
surge of about 15 Amps for less
than a second to kick it off,
but then it rapidly tapers off to the 2-3 amps.
Don't these lamps run hot? Actually,
there is very little heat involved.
The technology runs cool -- one
reason for the long life of the
bulbs and the big reason for the
efficiency. In a Halogen, most of the energy is
converted to heat, not light. Just the opposite
in an HID. There is little heat generated by the
gas discharge. Most of the energy is converted
to light - a highly efficient
light source.
Suppose I burn out a bulb. Aren't
they expensive? My
list for the capsule is less
than $100 - but the rated life
is a conservative 2000 hours. As
compared to a few hundred hours
for a high wattage Halogen. The reason a halogen
fails is because of vibration
affecting the hot filament
- it's basically a mechanical
failure - like if you continuously
bend and rebend a piece of
wire, it eventually breaks. An
HID has no mechanical filament
as the light is from a gas
discharge - hence, vibration
has no effect on the life. Heat
is also a factor on the life
of a bulb - little heat in
this case.
They
use 28,000
volts to
start. Is
the technology
SAFE? Because
the Hellas
are used
on the road
in Europe,
they had to
meet
the condition
and the qualifications
of the German TÜV
-
their equivalent
of our DOT. Safety
is a big
factor for
them - so
the Hella
design contains
the RF field
normally
generated
by this
technology
and also
has built
in protection
to shut
the lamp
off in the
event of
a crash and
damage. The
ballast
associated
with any
HID, when
it first
turns on,
sends out
a 28,000V
signal to
the capsule
to start
the gas discharge. Then
it tapers
off to about
40V to keep
it going.
If it detects
the discharge
shutting
off, it
sends the
28,000V
signal again. So
if you
are in an
accident
and damage
the lamps,
you'd have
28,000V
sitting
on your
front
bumper! The
design
used by
Hella detects
this condition
and shuts
the lamps
down. Others
may not
as they
are only
designed
to run
in the
US where
auxiliary
lamps
are not
regulated.
See Hella's page about HID "Conversion
Kits", Please Click
Here. |