Have a few questions with HID Lights / Fog Lights / DRL

[DominicJE]

Hi Guys, I have a few questions:

1) HID Lights - Can anyone link me to a vendor with the exact ones I should buy and are reputable? I want the lights to be as close to the white led strip as possible.
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2) Fog lights - I want to purchase something for these as well to match with the HID Lights and change them to white. Any suggestions on where I should buy these?
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3) Daytime Running Lights - Switch to white lights? I seen someone else do this but have no clue what light would be best to use for this.

Thank you so much! I'm a newbie when it comes to things like this.

 

[brfatal]

1. Can't help. Generally speaking kits such as you want have extremely high failure rates and last nowhere near as long as the OEM grade parts should.
2. Anything except an HID kit. Those will glare like crazy making your car a mobile road hazard and they will actually kill their entire usefulness in bad weather. They won't match exactly but you can try Osram Nightbreakers, Philips Xtreme Powers, or Narva Rangepowers. Though for foglights you don't want them too bright to begin with because they are designed to disperse lower intensity light on purpose because that's what you need to see in incremental weather.
3. Can't help.

 

[lilxskull]

Did you ever get to buying a fog light that matches the stock HID lights? I want to get a good match with the HID and fog lights as well.

 

[Strick]

After alot of reading and some advice from another member I went with these Hoen Xenonmatch H8. I really did not want to go a true HID because of the ballast addition or risking getting something that might destroy the housing. These are halogen bulbs that match very close to the factory HIDS.

Strick

 

[lilxskull]

Do you got some pictures of the Hoen Xenonbulbs installed. I want to see how it looks. I was just about to buy the Luminics 5150k bulbs. Appreciate the help.

Edit: Oh just noticed you own a 5.0 R-Spec. Just wondering is the stock HIDs for that year different from my 2009. I think your year was more a white/blue tint, and the 2009 was a white/yellow tint for stock HIDs.

 

[scottdk]

Do you got some pictures of the Hoen Xenonbulbs installed. I want to see how it looks. I was just about to buy the Luminics 5150k bulbs. Appreciate the help.

Edit: Oh just noticed you own a 5.0 R-Spec. Just wondering is the stock HIDs for that year different from my 2009. I think your year was more a white/blue tint, and the 2009 was a white/yellow tint for stock HIDs.

All OEM HID headlights are 4300K to meet the DOT standards in North America. No difference from 2009 to 2012.

 

[OneFunGenesis]

All OEM HID headlights are 4300K to meet the DOT standards in North America. No difference from 2009 to 2012.

This is not totally true. I am quite sure that BMW's and Merk's spent a few years putting in 5000K bulbs. Which, IMHO, are best.

 

[scottdk]

This is not totally true. I am quite sure that BMW's and Merk's spent a few years putting in 5000K bulbs. Which, IMHO, are best.

Correction - current color temp is 4100K - Many projector headlights in upscale vehicles may look like they have higher Kelvin rating, but that is an optical effect.

Philips and Osram are widely used in vehicles in North America/Europe. They come with standard 4100K color temperature only. This is the only legal HID bulb color temperature under DOT/ECE regulations.

What does "best" describe? Best IMO is performance i.e. light output. OEM HID has the most light output out of any color temp.

 

[OneFunGenesis]

I know that 4300k has the most light output in lumens...but I wonder if the amount of usable lumens is optimal.

I cant see a damn thing with these headlights compared to my last car with my 5000k lexus projectors in it...I need to change the damn bulbs lol

 

[Strick]

I will get some pics up this weekend.

Strick

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[scottdk]

I know that 4300k has the most light output in lumens...but I wonder if the amount of usable lumens is optimal.

I cant see a damn thing with these headlights compared to my last car with my 5000k lexus projectors in it...I need to change the damn bulbs lol

What wattage were the ballasts in your Nissan? If you were running 50w ballasts, there is your answer.

If you ran a standard wattage ballast-

"Brightness" is like "Loudness". It's a subjective perception. The reason why some people think their headlamps really work better once entering the blue light spectrum has to do with the interaction of light that is tinted blue (to any degree) with the human eye.

Did you have bright foglights compared to the Genesis? Having a lot of strong light in the foreground, that is on the road close to the car and out to the sides, is very comforting and reliably produces a strong impression of "good headlights".

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Had 35w ballasts, 5000K bulbs, lexus RX330 projectors, clear lens on the projector.

Fogs were 3000k HID that glared terribly. The genesis fogs are considerable better...and more usable lol.

What I meant by better is that I could see CONSIDERABLY farther with my 5000K's than these stockers. It could be that these bulbs are almost 4 years old (actually, they turn 4 this month). But I have them aimed EXACTLY like my nissans...used the same wall and everything lol

 

[scottdk]

Had 35w ballasts, 5000K bulbs, lexus RX330 projectors, clear lens on the projector.

Fogs were 3000k HID that glared terribly. The genesis fogs are considerable better...and more usable lol.

What I meant by better is that I could see CONSIDERABLY farther with my 5000K's than these stockers. It could be that these bulbs are almost 4 years old (actually, they turn 4 this month). But I have them aimed EXACTLY like my nissans...used the same wall and everything lol

good point about the age of bulbs - Found this interesting chart on HIDexpert.com

The hard facts on 4100K Philips HID bulb:
This is the bulb installed OE in many HID headlamps today. It is 3200lm bright and 4100K colortemp. At zero hours it starts off at 4100K and goes upwards to 4600K after 1500 hours. After that there are no measure points, but curve has the direction to reach 5000K after maybe 2500hours. Do not rush out and buy some 5 year old bulb from an old BMW 750iA yet; As all other bulbs, they also get dimmer with time:
100% at 0 hours
90% at 200 hours
80% at 1000 hours
75% at 1500 hours
70% at 2000 hours
There is no reason to jump any conclusion that they loose lumen too fast. I would be surprised if any other lamp can do better. A halogen lamp is usually out of service after 5-600 on graphs like this. Asian HID bulbs have reputation for 5-600 hours of life as well.

 

[krunchy]

Ever try to drive on a dark snow covered road with 5000K headlamps? You can't see a damn thing! There's a reason that cars don't come stock with these. Lights with some yellow in the color range are the best compromise in all driving conditions, especially in more dangerous conditions (snow, ice, fog, rain...). Blue headlights look cool and everything and you do seem to see better in good driving conditions. I'd rather see the road better when my stopping distances are compromised by the weather thanks ......

 

[scottdk]

^More on that^

Does the scattering tendency of blue light affect headlamp performance and road safety in other ways?

Yes, in two ways:

Because blue light scatters very readily in the human eye, casting a beam that's blue-tinted by any amount in a rainy, foggy or snowy environment causes increased perceived backglare for the driver of a car equipped with blue headlamp bulbs.

Also, blue light per secreates increased glare for oncoming traffic. That's because blue light does not trigger a strong pupil-closing response in human eyes. It is yellow light that stimulates the human eye most strongly to constrict the pupil. Due to the comparatively weak pupil response to blue light, the human eye is very glare-sensitive to a blue signal image. With the yellow light filtered out by the blue bulb and prevented from reaching the observer's eyes, the pupils remain wider open than they should, and the eyes are hit with a blast of difficult-to-process blue light.

Danielsternslighting.com

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Nm guys. I am just going to say that 4300K is a sunshine kind of white/yellow and 5000k is actually white. If you get a high end 5000k bulb, there is no blue in it at all. Proof:

4300k is on top:

This is 5000k in the same projector:

That is a high end 5000K. This is it being aimed...IN THE SNOW:

I am taking a stand that 5000k is considerably more usable than 4300k. In the snow it is better, for long drives it is better. Just all around better. My eyes dont fatigue like if it were actually blue....

 

[Aquineas]

Where did you get the high end 5000s?

 

[OneFunGenesis]

theretrofitsource.com

Sell high end phillips and morimoto 5000k HID's. Not some cheap Chinese kits. Made in germany.

 

[scottdk]

theretrofitsource.com

Sell high end phillips and morimoto 5000k HID's. Not some cheap Chinese kits. Made in germany.

I forget so fill me in, did your car have the tech pack and you just changed out the HID bulbs, or did you have the halogens and install and HID kit?

 

[OneFunGenesis]

I have the tech. I have not changed the headlights out yet....