Appearance Body Kits, Hoods, Wheels, Spoilers, Interiors

HID heat up times.

Old Sep 17, 2008 | 09:21 AM
  #1  
Mr McCabe's Avatar
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From: Saint John, New Brunswick
HID heat up times.

Lately I've been doing a lot of night driving and I've noticed that my 3B Spec. HID's take a LONG (15 seconds) time to completely heat up. I noticed on a G35 coupe that the HID's in that car the HID's heated up and were at max brightness within seconds.

What can I do to have my cars HID's brighten up faster? New quality bulbs or ballasts?
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 11:09 AM
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15 sec is not that long man... What problems does it cause?
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 11:27 AM
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i have an hid kit from 3bspec and mine take bout 10 to 15 seconds, thats not that bad
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 11:32 AM
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That's not that bad. I wouldn't worry about it...
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 12:43 PM
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From: Saint John, New Brunswick
Originally Posted by flash13brandon
15 sec is not that long man... What problems does it cause?
The problem is when I turn on the low beams after having my highs on for a long time... for about 15 seconds I am more or less driving blind on the highway.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 12:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr McCabe
The problem is when I turn on the low beams after having my highs on for a long time... for about 15 seconds I am more or less driving blind on the highway.
thats because when you drive with your high beams on for a long period of time your low beam HIDs are essentially off. So it's like your turning them on for the first time
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 12:48 PM
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i have a cheap kit that costed me 70 bucks and they get to complete brightness in about fifteen seconds.... and i really dont think that you should be worrying about how fast they brighten up...
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 02:15 PM
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Why do you drive with your highs on for a long time? lol
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 02:21 PM
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From: Saint John, New Brunswick
Originally Posted by flash13brandon
Why do you drive with your highs on for a long time? lol
please tell me your joking... if your not I'll explain

Its night time on the highway. I am a courteous driver, I turn my highs off when I see on coming traffic so I don't blind them. Once traffic passes, I flick my highs back on. Yes, I have HID's as my lows but they don't light up as far down the road... hence the reason I use my highs.

Do you understand? It IS a fairly simple concept. I don't know how you guys do it in florida but thats how its done here in the north.

(Sorry bud, a stupid question usually results in a stupid or sarcastic answer)
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 02:21 PM
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? mine take bout 6 Sec...


6K BTW
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 02:25 PM
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From: Saint John, New Brunswick
Originally Posted by originaladrian
? mine take bout 6 Sec...


6K BTW
Mine did... when they were new.

I got 6k as well.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 02:58 PM
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in my experience the cobalt lights suck soo bad the hids light up more than the high beams do, is there a way to run just a little current through them so when you flick back and forth they dont need to warm up? i wouldnt use my high beams at all cause they just dont do enough for my car
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 03:05 PM
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From: Saint John, New Brunswick
I have the 3rd gen projectors. Highs are very bright and light the road up very well. Stock can't compare.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 04:16 PM
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The reason is because of the ballasts that are used in the aftermarket kits. The amount of power the ballasts need to ignite the bulbs and the amount of resistance there is to keep the bulbs going causes a short delay in warm up.

I have a set of Denso ballasts (OEM Lexus) and mine take about 3 to 5 seconds
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 04:20 PM
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My not throw in some relays and extra wiring so that your low beams stay on with the high beams? Wouldn't that be alot more cost effective?
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 05:20 PM
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Wouldn't that draw too much power through the stock harness?
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 05:56 PM
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From: S. Easton, Ma
you could wire in a set up with capacitors im sure.... good thought tho

what about re wiring the internals of the ballast?
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 07:05 PM
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From: Beiseker AB Canada
Originally Posted by HackAbuse
My not throw in some relays and extra wiring so that your low beams stay on with the high beams? Wouldn't that be alot more cost effective?
Thats the way my '89 535i is wired, switch to high beam and the lows (projectors, not HID though) stay on as well. Since the HID's draw less power than the halogens (once they are started anyways) it should be no problem. And the wiring on the 535i is no bigger than on my 'Balt, it handles a 55w low and a 100w high on both sides.

Wonder if there is an easy way to do this without adding on extra relays? Any of the variations of this car come with 4 lights instead of 2? Hmmmmm........


And the guy who asked why you would want your high beams on for a long time has likely never encountered a moose / elk / bighorn sheep at 2 am.
Some of use DO get out of the range of street lights.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 07:10 PM
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lol... some of us LIVE outside the range of street lights.
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Old Sep 17, 2008 | 08:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Switt23
The reason is because of the ballasts that are used in the aftermarket kits. The amount of power the ballasts need to ignite the bulbs and the amount of resistance there is to keep the bulbs going causes a short delay in warm up.

I have a set of Denso ballasts (OEM Lexus) and mine take about 3 to 5 seconds
I have the same balasts. I love em!
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