[urq] HIDS

[Brandon Rogers]

The guy at Ultimate HID said his H4 HIDS have two bulbs - a HID bulb and
regular halogen for use w/ brights.  Would it make better sense to just
put a single HID bulb in the H4 housing and rely 100% on the H1 for
brights?  This would (theoretically) eliminate the problem of two bulbs
- and what sounds like a bulb/light positioning problem WRT to the
reflector, no? 

Brandon

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Eiche [mailto:seiche at shadetreesoftware.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:45 AM
To: brogers at terrix.com; urq at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [urq] HIDS


Well, yes, there is a reason not put them on the brights.  HID ballasts
and bulbs don't like to be turned on and off rapidly, which you would do
if you "flash to pass".  The new Audis with "bixenon" HIDs use one bulb
with a movable shutter that changes from low to high.  The dedicated
high beam is still a halogen bulb, which can survive the flash.  If you
don't flash to pass, then an HID high beam would be great.

I don't like the idea of the "dual bulb" H4s that use two HID capsules
for the above reason as well as the fact that the two bulbs cannot be
positioned properly due to the nature of the HID capsule. On a true H4
bulb, the high and low beam filaments are coaxial, which is not true of
the dual bulb HID. Some of the HID kits that you can find now use a
motor or solenoid to move the bulb so that the capsule is in the proper
position for low and high beam.  So, when you go from low to high beam
the bulb moves without turning off the capsule.    

To me, the ideal HID H4 replacement would be the motor/solenoid
equipped, single bulb unit with 4300k color temperature.  You MIGHT go
to 6000k if you want a little more blue (I don't, I would rather have
the extra brightness of the 4300k bulbs), but you definitely do not want
more than 6000k.  I drove an ur quattro with 10000k bulbs, and they were
awful.  The light was an eye-straining purple and did not provide even
as much light as a halogen.

YMMV.

Steve


Brandon wrote:

Cool thanks.

Is there a decent reason NOT to do the brights too?  Other than another
$200 on high beams that aren't used as often....

Brandon
'84 ur