Why do the HIDs not look like HIDs?

My friend has a prius with hid lights. I was driving his car once and I must say you do notice the difference between regular prius lights and the hid lights.

 

There are two type of housings for HIDs; projectors and reflectors. HID is a builb type. It requires a ballast unit. They are much brighter than Halogen bulbs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_discharge_lamp

There used to be an article floating around about the difference between Projector and reflector. It's rather simple. You either have a reflector ( like the prius ) and you move the reflector.... or.... you have a projectors and you only move the lens in front of the reflector casing.

 

I've always disliked projector HID headlights. While they look sort of cool and ray-gunish when seen up close and from the side, the color fringeing they project into my eyes from an oncoming car is really annoying. I like the Prius HID's sharp cut-off and even illumination.

 

Lexus has really nice projector HIDs. My parents rx400h has really nice lights. they never seem intrusive from the other direction. Just below and always below the eye.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SandMan @ Mar 30 2007, 11:19 PM) [snapback]415291[/snapback]</div>

The allure of HID's is not the color to the observer, but the visibility for the driver.
I drive 8k+ miles per month and a significant amount of that is at night. The difference between HID's and halogens is dramatic, and removes a whole lot of eyestrain.
As for the bluish tint...that's a misnomer. HID's come in an array of colors...yellow, white, blue, violet, purple, etc.
I do like the projector style bulbs, but I wonder if that would have been counter-productive for Toyota since they wanted to use the same headlamp for both halogens and HID's.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SandMan @ Mar 31 2007, 02:08 AM) [snapback]415374[/snapback]</div>

My understanding is that most manufacturers have been using tinted bulbs for their HID lights so people will know that their car has HIDs. Of course now you can get halogen lights that also have blue tinted bulbs, so blue lights are not exclusively for the rich. Toyota does not used tinted bulbs, so the color of the light is the natural color for HIDs. There is the slightest of blue, but they are mainly white. They do look different next to a halogen equipped car, which has a warmer color.

If you want better illumination while at the same time using about half the wattage, get the HIDs. If you want to impress others, get the standard halogen and replace the bulbs with the blue tinted ones.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bill Merchant @ Mar 31 2007, 02:49 AM) [snapback]415387[/snapback]</div>

And there is the added disadvantage around NYC, Boston, and parts of Jersey that if your headlights look like HIDs they are soon no longer your headlights. Althought this is no guarantee, as we have had a few thefts reported on this board, there seem to have been way fewer than for cars with projector HIDs.

- Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(faith2walk @ Mar 31 2007, 03:05 AM) [snapback]415412[/snapback]</div>

It would appear that cost was a factor. After all, Toyota engineered the Prius HID to use the same bulb for both the low and the high beams. I doubt that would have been possible with a projector design.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SandMan @ Mar 30 2007, 11:19 PM) [snapback]415291[/snapback]</div>

Actually, every car equipped with HIDs DOES NOT have projector beam headlights. My Lexus has HIDs...no projectors. Plenty of Lexus cars had HIDs without projectors. Projector beam headlights are just in style right now, that will change. Lexus has also moved to projectors for their new AFS adaptive lighting system.

Actually, the Prius reflectors ARE different between halogen and HID. In an HID lamp the shape of the bulb is different neccesitating a different reflector design.

Yes, they look like HIDs at night. In fact I think reflector HIDs look more blue than projector HIDs, projectors can go yellow depending on the angle. Projectors have nicer cutoffs.

Actually many cars with bi-xenon headlamps have projectors.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Mar 31 2007, 05:02 PM) [snapback]415706[/snapback]</div>

I did not know that. Live and learn. Thank you.

 

Bi-xenon headlamps do not use a halogen high beam. Bi-Xenon means that both the lows and highs are HID. For instance in my Lexus when you turn on the highs, the halogen high beams come on and the HID low beams stay on. These are not bi-xenon headlamps. The reason the HID lows stay on is that HIDs take second to fire, if you were to go from highs to lows and the HIDs had to refire, you could possibly be left without lights for a second.

Its this delay coupled with decreased lamp life with refiring that made manufacturers use halogen highs with HIDs in the first place, in a Bi-Xenon lamp the same bulb actually either moves or the reflector moves to go from low to high beam.

I don't believe any Lexus has bi-xenon headlamps, the Prius does.