35w hid vs halogen how to#

Xenon can last 10 times longer than Halogen.Xenon light is 300 times brighter than Halogen.There are many advantages to the Xenon bulb: Halogen does not emit as much light as a xenon and road vibrations will cause the Halogen incandescent filament to slowly decay.īut it is also less expensive than xenon.

35w hid vs halogen how to#

Instead, it uses two electrodes that meet inside the xenon glass filled bulb.Ī Ballast is used to send up to 24,000 volts of electricity which creates a potent spark and ignites the xenon gas mixture.ĭiscover how to change the tail light bulbs on your car Disadvantages of halogen bulbs Today, a factory equipped xenon lighting use a 35w lighting system.Ī true xenon HID bulb does not use a filament, like the Halogen bulb. This xenon gas creates a much more powerful amount of light- measured in thousands of Lumen- depending on the power consumption which normally is 35w, 55w or 75w. The HID light bulb (which stands for High Intensity Discharge) is filled with Xenon gas which responds to the spark created inside the HID bulb. Xenon bulbs (also called HID bulbs) are not the same as a Halogen bulb. Compared to the tungsten, the previous metal used in bulbs, they were superior. It is also why standard automotive headlights are called Halogen bulbs. Halogen reacts to the hot filament by creating a large amount of light (1,200 Lumen of light output). Incandescent light bulbs, as used in car headlights, are filled with a special gas called Halogen. Incandescent light bulbs are not very efficient - about 5%-10% goes to making light and the rest makes heat. Light bulbs that use filaments are called incandescent light bulbs. Simply put, a light bulb has a filament and when electricity is applied to each side of the filament, the filament gets very hot and reaches a state of incandescence. Thomas Edison, the inventor credited with the first long-lasting headlamps in 1879 used incandescent light bulbs and most cars today are based off his original designs. My tables show the reflectors would operate on average ≈70 ☏ (39 ☌) cooler with HID rather than OEM H11 bulbs.The lamps used in the first vehicles were very rudimentary basically, they were lamps that used a glass housing with a candle burning inside it to light up the road. I only care about the reflector/housing temperature as I want to feel assured switching to HID won't overheat my OEM projector headlight housings. The garage ambient temperature was 58 ☏ (14 ☌).Īttached is a snapshot explaining where the temperature readings were taken. The power supply was steadily pushing 14.8 V.

Using a laser thermal gun, I took readings of the reflector temperatures after the bulbs were on for 15 minutes (time for reflectors to warm up). My HID kit is the H11 Extreme Digital kit (with Philips bulbs) from KBcarstuff. One reflector with the H11 bulb as came from the factory, while the other with a 35 watt 4300K HID. In this set up, I'm using the Terrain OEM foglight reflectors.

So I did a simple bench test to compare the temperature of the reflectors between stock H11 and HID conversion. Others stated no, the technology is different, it burns hotter. Some stated HID are of lower wattage, so it's cooler. Not only in this forum, but from other sources throughout the internet. I've seen both sides to possible heat concerns when converting from stock H11 to HID.