Re: Xenon HID retrofits: an optical engineer's view


"JB" <JB@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4e3u5dF1cv4omU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I modified a pair of spare headlight units for my SO's BMW E36 over the
last week or two. Osram ballasts, Philips D2S lamps and original Bosch
reflectors with special cutoff 'masks'. The difference is simply
*astounding*. I knew they would be an improvement, but Jesus do they do
the business. Not an easy DIY conversion unless you have access to the kit
I've got at work in the lighting lab, but still not too demanding.
For a comparison, I tried a pair of these Chinese
"Sooper-Dooper-10000Kelvin-Burn yer Eyeballs Out & fry yer Ballasts" H1
retrofits which my friend had bought from Ebay for about £240. These
so-called retrofits are a cheap copy of the Philips D2S arc-tube cemented
into an H1 halogen base with heavily insulated flying leads (25kV ignition
voltage. V.Nasty). Once fitted into standard E36 headlamp, I photometered
the original 55W H1, this Chinese one, and my conversion with a properly
focussed Philips D2S lamp. Considering the 'claimed' 4x lumen output of
the Chinese lamps, they actually produced only a real 13.8% improvement in
lamp lumens reaching the road surface over the original Bosch H1 halogen
units. The beam quality however was ******* and certainly illegal.
Using correctly focussed genuine Philips lamps and new masks in the same
reflectors, the improvement became 281%! Xenon HIDs do seriously *rock*.
I seem to have also gained a spare ballast and lamp too which will now be
going into my Trike's Cibie 'Z-beam' low beam unit :>).


So basically what you're saying is run 100W bulbs and don't bother pissing
about unless you want to lay down serious cash?


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