Quote:
Originally Posted by 71C10SWB
Hmm, interesting comment about why HID was developed, becuase of wanting to package cooler light source in cheaper plastic housings.
I was a lighting engineer at a major OEM supplier for 17+ years. I designed multiple different HID headlamps that you probably see everyday. the reason for HID was for the incredible amount of light that comes out of them versus halogen. Plus they last longer because there's no filament to burn out.
Just for your information, it takes more space and higher temperature materials for HID due to the importance of an accurate reflector optical design. Cheap plastics warp and cause glare. You can't make a legal, good performing headlamp with cheap plastic reflectors. and you can't change the lens material due to impact resistance.
Now, that being said. Yes, LED is the new deal. HID's will phase out. Mostly due to the high cost and the difficulty packaging the HID bulbs. Plus, you block most of the light coming out of the bulb (actually called a burner) to avoid it hitting unwanted internal surfaces and causing illegal glare. THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PUT THEM INTO REFLECTORS THEY WEREN'T DESIGNED FOR.
There's a couple of guys on my way to work that I meet on a regular basis who have illegal HID's in their vehicles. Looks stupid, probably isn't creating a lot of useful light and if there was ever a cop who understood how to check for DOT compliance they wouldn't have them.
That's my $.02
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If you are referring to my comments, I never said cheaper plastic housings, I said molded composite housings, which is true. It's also a high level of lumens with a minimal amount of heat (compared to a filament or arc lamp) but you could push halogen to the same light levels and beyond, you just can't do it in a practical package. 1000W halogen capsules are common and 5000W+ ones exist, just not for automotive. Focus has always been the problem of vaporized metal lighting, it's been around longer than the Edison bulb and almost never used as focused lighting source.
But yes putting HID "conversion bulbs" in a housing designed for halogens and expecting it to produce anything remotely resembling focus is ridiculous. The housing is designed for a lighting source that focuses a filament that is about a 1/4" by 1/16th and replacing it with a source that fluoresces a tube that measures an inch by a 1/4"or more, focus of any sort isn't gonna happen.