4Motto

Hey guys, who's on first?

Chiung

I'm surprised that the HID's come on when you flash-to-pass during the day (lights off). My experience with HID's indicates that it is the on/off cycling that decreases lamp life. This experience is based on my usage and research into HID dive lights. Here is an excerpt from Halcyon.net

[I]Understanding Halcyon HID Lighting
High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting technology replaces the filament of the light bulb with a capsule of gas. The light is emitted from an arc discharge between two closely spaced electrodes hermetically sealed inside a small quartz glass tubular envelope capsule. To operate, they require ballasts, which supply proper voltage and control current. The amount of light produced is greater than a standard halogen bulb, while consuming less power, and more closely approximating the color temperature of natural daylight.

In all High Intensity Discharge lamps, light is produced by passing a current through a metal vapor. Free electrons colliding with an atom in the vapor momentarily knock an electron into a higher orbit of the atom. When the displaced electron falls back to its former level, a quantum of radiation is emitted. The wavelength of radiation depends on the energy zone of the disturbed electron and on the type of metal vapor used in the arc tube.

Although it produces 5% of its output when first ignited, the HID light requires a few seconds (usually 15-20) to come up to full output. Also, if power to the lamp is lost or turned off, the arc tube must cool to a given temperature before the arc can be re-struck and light produced. Halcyon HID lights only require a brief (15-30 second) cooling period before they can be re-lit.

What are the advantages of Halcyon HID lights over conventional halogen primary lights?
HID lighting has several advantages over conventional halogen primary lights:


More light output. Halcyon's 18 Watt HID light source produces approximately the same lumens at the light source as a 55 Watt halogen bulb at a three to five times the halogen's efficiency. The 10 Watt HID only produces ~500 lumens, but thanks to its true 6000K color temperature it appears almost as bright as a 55 Watt halogen bulb when in use. The HID lamp's lumens per watt (LPW) efficacy is roughly six to eight times that of an incandescent lamp.

Whiter light. The color temperature of HID lighting more closely approximates the color temperature of natural daylight than does a halogen system, which appears yellowish in comparison. We use the term "correlated color temperature" to indicate that the light appears as if the discharge lamp is operating at a given color temperature-- traditional measurements of color temperature are drawn from the properties of the metal used in the bulb's filament. Typical color temperatures are 2800K (incandescent), 3000K (halogen), 4100K (cool white or SP41 fluorescent), and 5000K (daylight-simulating fluorescent colors). Both of the Halcyon HID lights produce a light with a color temperature approaching or above 5000K. A white light has a perceived brightness which may equate to the higher stated efficacies-- ie., although an HID lamp might have equivilant lumens as a higher wattage halogen bulb, the HID will appear brighter and more pleasing to the eye than the output of a halogen lamp.

Longer Service Life. An HID lamp will last, on the average, 3 to 5 times as long as a halogen bulb. In normal use, your Halcyon HID bulb should last beyond one thousand ignitions.

Lamp Type: 18 Watt
Lumens: 1150
Rated Median Life @ 1 hour/start 1100 hrs.
Correlated Color Temperature. 6500

dangarza

Chiung: Thank you so much. Excellent and well-documented response.
In reality, that's what I've been doing, (avoiding daytime flash to pass) but wondered why the engineers didn't factor this in when wiring the car

Anyway, awesome response, learned something.

Daniel

Johnny--2K

if you use pass to flash during the day, just leave your lights on all the time....i drive with them on even on the brightest days just because having such a small car, most soccer moms in SUV's wont see us. Mainly just for safety, and also because the look bad ass coming down the street!

payneinthe

Just downshift to 3rd. That always lets them know you want to go by. And the side benefit is that you're ready to accelerate away when they move over.

Chazmo

Thanks for bringing this up, Dan. I think it's brain-dead that the HIDs come on when you pull the stalk, but so be it.

I'm not a big "flasher," but I will surely be conscious of this in the future.


And, Chiung, thanks for the info!

brian_k03

Chazmo

I'm not going to dissuade anyone from driving with their lights on, but do be aware that you are wearing the bulb out by doing that (albeit slowly). Dan's question/point was about the "duty cycle" issue, but the fact that you wear the thing out each time you use it is to be considered as well!

Of course, 1000 ignitions (if our bulb is like the Welch Allyn bulb) is like 2.5 years of daily driving. And, likely, this published number is a pessimistic one. I just wanted folks to be aware that flicking the thing on and off is not the only wear factor for the bulb.

scooby2

So for those who like driving with the headlights on maybe it's time to see if there's an easy daytime running conversion for the high beams like the ones for Canadian cars. I think it's kind of hokey seeing the tail and side marker lights on all the time.

Chazmo

It's too bad Honda didn't make this a common thing on all the north american cars. My wife's volvo has a little plunger switch to enable daytime running lights.