If HIDs pose a danger to people working cars that are not used to them, imagine what a hybrid can do. I've heard there are special warnings and training classes for emergency workers in case they encounter a hybrid crash. Imagine an EMT coming to the scene of a hybrid accident, not knowing there's a trunk full of shorted batteries.

 

Hmm. When you say "power", I do not think you mean what you say. Power is work per time. Voltage, as you say, is work per charge.

Volts multiplied by amps, in fact, is the measure of power.

 

A ballast is a transformer, which is a device that changes the voltage of an alternating current. A capacitor wouldn't work for this purpose because (a) it doesn't itself change voltages, and (b) after it empties, it has to refill before it can output again.

Barry

 

I would expect the label to say something like, "Please service from your authorized Honda dealer, may cause serious injury or death."

I've never seen a label so bluntly stated on a vehicle.

This thread is very educating. Thanks for the replies.

 

Cool, didn't know that. Where does it get the AC? Is there an inverter hooked up to the battery somewhere in our cars?

 

well, volts is joules per coulomb, or the amount of work one coulomb of electrons could do.

that is another way of saying work (or power) per electron. A 1V coulomb has exactly 1 joule of energy. Thus, you could say that each electron has 1/6.022*10^23 joules.

 

Err... Power = work/time. Power != work.

For example, I can do the work of carrying a 50lb bag of sand up three flights of stairs. It'd just take me a really long time to do it. But a horse could do it a lot faster, and a 50hp winch could do it quite quickly indeed.

Not a big deal, just a nitpick in terminology.

 

I've just translated the Japanese text and it reads;

" WARNING : If you are Japanese and read English, kindly ignore the above. That is written for the Americans who will bankrupt us with law suits bigger than J Lo's ass should one of them get a shock from opening this cover. Ah so."

 

HID's are still relatively new, and I doubt your "average joe" knows the details of how they work. I certainly didn't. So, I think it is sensible to give a "heads up" that the normally simple act of changing a light bulb might be a little more dangerous than you are expecting.