HIDs are not an upgrade to a properly upgraded halogen setup, largely because HIDs have maximum glare for the light output, improper focus unless a proper projector is used, and poor color rendering. As I stated above, its not just wiring, I said an upgraded relay harness, it comes as a plug and play kit. It bypasses all the high resistance factory wiring, which has many benefits. Firstly, your bulbs produce their rated output, most stock setups reduce the brightness by up to 30%. Secondly, because the load of the headlights is no longer on the stock wiring, your headlight switch and multifunction switches last much much longer.
Those who claim HIDs are brighter are correct, but that does not help you see better. The color of the light is critical, and the yellow light of the halogen is well suited to night vision, while the dominantly blue light of the HIDs causes the eyes to switch to day vision mode. At night, your are in a dark world, which means your eyes need to be adjusted to see in the dark, you will have an illuminated zone in front of you, but you still need to be able to see in the dark. Blue light has a high energy, which cause the rod cells in your eyes, the ones responsible for seeing in the dark, to shut down. It can take several minutes for them to reset and again allow proper night vision. The cone cells are not well suited to seeing in the dark.
Halogens produce large amounts of red, yellow, and orange lights. They produce less blue, which would impair night vision. The color and brightness of the headlights was studied and determined a long time ago when scientists wanted to know how night vision works.
HIDs produce light from an electric arc that jumps a gap through a special gas. This makes the gas glow. The problem is that the colors produced tend to be intense spikes of specific colors. They produce some spikes of yellow, and intense amounts of various blues. They produce little light of other colors, a problem found in common with flourescent tubes (which have come a long way). It can make distinguishing certain colors difficult. HIDs main advantage is the amount of light they produce for very little energy. The problems are the color rendering and the brightness.
If you do HIDs, they will be out of focus in a halogen reflector, and those who argue otherwise are basically stating that the laws of physics have made an exception for them. They are also not the ones who have to deal with the glare of the headlights, it is oncoming traffic that has to cope with the ill effects.
The best upgrades you can make to your lighting, is first to optimize the power that reaches the bulbs. This is where the harness comes in. A 30% increase in brightness is nothing to shrug at. It is an inexpensive upgrade with other benefits. The next best upgrade is converting from DOT headlights to eCode. Ecode has a better beam pattern that puts more light on the road and reduces glare. They are not DOT approved because they do not illuminate overhead signs. This being said, you should still be able to see the signs, and the tradeoff for more light on the road is worth it in my opinion. Plus they reduce glare, which is always a good thing.
The world leading lighting consultancy is
www.danielsternlighting.com. These guys state the facts.
not trying to be a douche but seriously if you want bright lights get a h i d conversion kit or sumthin but an entire discussion on headlight bulbs stangnet has gone to poo sorry
