how do you care for HID headlights?

[chenshuo]

The internet doesn't seems to have a lot of information on what not to do to HID headlights. What do you do to ensure your HID headlights don't burn out prematurely?

[KSC]

Stop using them. Mount candles on the front of your car instead.

Seriously, though, HIDs last like 2000-3000 hours or so. Just turn them on when you need them and turn them off when you don't. When they burn out, buy new ones.

edit: The only thing I've ever heard, was that turning them on/off multiple times over a short period could effect life, but that was from a single source on the internet, that I can't give any credence to.

[Calin]

Like KSC said, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Beyer Subaru]

Nothing to do with em really. I had mine on everyday I was driving my STi. Night or day. I think one of them started to burn out when I sold the car at around 66,xxx miles. The new owner replaced them. No worries.

[LeeMaster]

Even if they burn out, they are not that expensive to replace. You will start to notice the life expectancy to go away when it's putting out a less output than what it use to and the color tend to change as well.

[chenshuo]

this is my first time with a car that has HID lights so yea i didn't know if there's any special precautions.

For replacement bulbs, what's the difference between D1S, D2S, D1R, D2R? Where i live, each bulb costs $100 - $150 each, depend on the type.

[infinite012]

Buy your bulbs from theretrofitsource.com. Buy only OEM bulbs (Philips or Osram are the two that TRS sells, both at ~$100 shipped for a pair) - do not buy "OEM quality" because that's a lie. Do not buy TRS's own Morimoto bulb - these are China made bulbs that suffer the same QC issues as the "OEM quality" bulbs that are sold by many vendors.

D1x, D2x, D3x, D4x. These are all bulb types. Different projectors/manufacturers require different bulb types. S or R - S stands for projector use; R stands for reflector use. Think about the difference between, say, a 2004-2005 STI and the 2006-2007 STI. The 04-05 used reflector HID and the 06-07 used projector HID.

D2S - This is the bulb type our (BRZ) projector headlights use.

[chenshuo]

what about Sylvania D2S bulb? how's the quality on that?

[Ranatsu]

My 04 STi I traded for my BRZ had almost 100k miles on it and I never replaced the HID bulbs. I only know of 2 people personally that had a bulb go out on their OEM hid lights.

Not saying it won't happen eventually, but I wouldn't worry about it. Odds are they will last for years.

[BioRage]

Each bulb has a different life span.

Some last forever like the ones on my forester (3years+), and some burn out after a day.

It all varies.

It's nothing to worry about, such a minor thing.

[infinite012]

Originally Posted by chenshuo

what about Sylvania D2S bulb? how's the quality on that?

Sylvania is owned by Osram. They're good to go.

Originally Posted by Ranatsu

My 04 STi I traded for my BRZ had almost 100k miles on it and I never replaced the HID bulbs. I only know of 2 people personally that had a bulb go out on their OEM hid lights.

Not saying it won't happen eventually, but I wouldn't worry about it. Odds are they will last for years.

HID bulbs don't "die," but they do wear out and lose output over time. If you had half of the light output of a brand new bulb on those 100,000 mile bulbs, you either never turned your lights on or you just didn't notice how damn dark it was.

Originally Posted by BioRage

Each bulb has a different life span.

Some last forever like the ones on my forester (3years+), and some burn out after a day.

It all varies.

It's nothing to worry about, such a minor thing.

HID bulbs don't last forever. They lose output.

[Ranatsu]

Originally Posted by infinite012

Sylvania is owned by Osram. They're good to go.



HID bulbs don't "die," but they do wear out and lose output over time. If you had half of the light output of a brand new bulb on those 100,000 mile bulbs, you either never turned your lights on or you just didn't notice how damn dark it was.



HID bulbs don't last forever. They lose output.

So I emailed Daniel Stern and this is the response.

Hello, I am having a discussion with some friends and we are trying to
> determine what the "average" life span on a factory equipped HID bulb
> is. I understand that all bulbs are not created equal, but if you have
> any experience in average hours of life before the bulb gets
> noticeably dimmer, that would be awesome.

Hi, Matt. Nominal specifications published by one of the
(few) reputable makers of legitimate original-equipment automotive HID bulbs are as follows for a D1R, D1S, D2R, or D2S:

Lifespan B3: 2000 hours
Lifespan Tc: 3000 hours
Lumen maintenance: 75% at 1500 hours

B3 is the hour figure at which 3% of tested samples have failed.

Tc is the hour figure at which 63.2% of tested samples have failed.

You can see the bulb can get significantly dimmer well before even the lower limit of the expected life range is reached!

DS

I tried to get as close to a round about number as I could.
But assuming 60 miles per hour * 1500 hours = 90000 miles

I'm sure someone out there drives with there lights on all the time.. Be it because they work at night or whatever. I know I didn't so my lights were fine from what I could tell. Even at 75% output, its probably brighter than the ass hats that drive around with nothing but their DRL's or no lights at all.

[infinite012]

That's still fairly significant. Sure, you most likely won't notice 750 lumens decrease, but if you compare a brand new bulb to a bulb with 1500 hours on it, you will be liking the output of the new bulb more.

[evand]

Just order off amazon or ebay they are pretty cheap.