[V8] HID's for V8

[too many quattros]

again roger i have to disagree with you.  there is a HUGE difference to the
human eye when changing the kelvin of a bulb, EVEN in DOT.  why?  simply
put, the human eye pics up variances in objects and sees better, not only
with more light, but with color changes too.  Sometime find two bulbs (u can
buy for only a few $$ neodium R19, common home bulbs at just about any
hardware store in a 4200-4300K rating, but MAKE SURE, it is a true neodium
bulb in the correct spectrum) and put them in the same lamp in your home.
in the case i am describing, assuming u get the same output power of neodium
to non-neodium, you will get about the same lumens.  u will be amazed how
the higher K neodium bulb transforms the area.  same is true with the HID
bulbs in a car.  take lumens out of it for a min, whiter light simply
produces better visibility.  lumens do matter.  not saying they don't.  one
thing to be very cautious of is the quality of any bulb.  higher quality
bulbs produce less light scatter.  My argument is, choose your bulbs as
carefully as you choose your housing and lenses.


Shayne

PARTING:  1972 Mercedes Benz 280 SE 4.5
PARTING:  1986 Audi 4000 CS quattro


> 
> So, what's the point?  Unless the beam pattern is improved, merely changing
> color temperature of the light and increasing lumen output will merely yield
> more of the same negatives of the old beam pattern.
> 
> E-code lights are intended to be operated completely differently from US DOT
> standard.  E-codes have a MAIN beam, which we call "high beam" in the US.
> It is a well defined, long range beam that has an oval shape at its furthest
> effective range, which is about 200 yards or so.  For in town driving, the
> "dipped" beam is used, which has a sharp sloping cutoff on the left hand
> side, a flat cutoff at about hood height and a 15 degree rise to the right
> so pedestrians can be seen when they are walking on the road side.  The
> correct aiming allows a white, halogen light to be applied to the road and
> to the right side but the oncoming driver is not blinded.
> 
> US DOT lights have a lousy, downturned mouth pattern on low beam that shows
> practically nothing.  High beam is a big, unfocussed blotch that doesn't
> show much either, unless you are in a big pickup.
> 
> So many people are using their fog lights all the time because they can't
> see anything with the regular headlights..even now, with the new free form
> bulb and lenses that the DOT has allowed nationally.  More power only makes
> them more annoying.
> 
> The change from DOT lamps in a 200 is remarkable, in a V8 a bit less so, but
> still dramatic.  I have a hard time realizing what an entirely new, and
> presumably expensive, conversion will accomplish that the E-codes don't
> already accomplish.
> 
> Now, a confession:  I haven't driven a NEW Audi that has the NEW zenon
> headlight system.  I find the color when looking at a car with the system
> approaching to be strange, but not particularly annoying.  Subaru fog
> lights, on the other hand, are both annoying and useless blobs of light
> being thrown out for no good reason.  Fog lights are for lighting the road
> right in front of the vehicle in the FOG.  Driving lights are different.
> 
> R

> Yup. True HIDs are special bulbs filled with xenon gas and requiring a
> dedicated ballast for each side and usually used for low beam only.
> 

> 
> I was under the impression that HID used a xenon gas and a special bulb,
> not just super-hot halogen bulbs.  Don't they call that HIR or
> something?  Or is HID just a generic term?
> 
> ~Scott S.
> 
> Ron Wainwright wrote:
> 
>> HIDS use less power to through more light.
>> 
>> Ron
>> 
>> --- Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com> wrote:
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>> I confess that I haven't been faithfully reading all
>>> of the posts in this
>>> most current thread, but I wanted to pose a question
>>> regarding the
>>> retrofitting of V8 headlights with HID equipment.
>>> 
>>> What is going to be gained, I wonder?  Won't it
>>> depend entirely on which
>>> headlight assembly is being used?  If you install
>>> (somehow) a much more
>>> powerful light source inside a regular USDOT
>>> headlight shell, it seems to me
>>> that all you will get is a much brighter terrible
>>> headlight.  
>>> 
>>> If the headlight is a European shell, then HID stuff
>>> will be, what, brighter
>>> than 130 watt halogen H4 plus, say a 100 H3?  Why?
>>> Aside from being totally
>>> obnoxious to that totally obnoxious Ford F250 driver
>>> who won't dip...or
>>> maybe that incredibly stupid broad in the Subaru
>>> Forrester who has her fog
>>> lights on and high beams on all the time by
>>> definition, I doubt that the
>>> light "throw" is any better nor has any better beam
>>> pattern.
>>> 
>>> The problem with US DOT headlights is the beam
>>> pattern that is in the lens
>>> primarily.  Poor focus, poor light distribution and
>>> little differentiation
>>> between high and low beam aside from the difference
>>> in aiming of the high
>>> beam filament.
>>> 
>>> I was reading the Maine DOT vehicle inspection
>>> procedure manual yesterday,
>>> and I can see how it will become impossible for a
>>> TYPE 44 Audi to pass
>>> inspection at some point just due to the fact that
>>> the car is an older Audi.
>>> IF the inspection station ever gets around to
>>> actually looking at the
>>> headlights in my car, it will an automatic
>>> rejection.