How long can HID kits run in vehicle before overheating?

[Roursch]

Any rough ideas from experince?

How long can typical 55w 12v or even 100w HID kits run for before getting too hot under the bonnet?

My observations on a 55watter left at just 22degrees C in my shed is after 40mins constant operation its approching warm enough to cause sweaty hand holding it.

Do drivers with these in there vehicles just run them for hours while driving? I know these are considered illegal on roads, but im more consencered with 4wd offroad use. 4wding can go for hours.


Should I stay away from the ccheaper kits & just go with brands like lightforce?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

0 hours. They should not be installed; they are illegal, unsafe, and ineffective.

How long do factory headlamps run in a vehicle before overheating? They don't overheat. It's never a concern, because factory headlamps are designed from the start to function in a very broad range of conditions. They are also designed to provide a beam that provides useful light for the driver without excessive glare for other drivers.

These "HID kits" are useless toys to be cast aside. Either add good auxiliary lighting and good quality bulbs, and perhaps upgrade the headlamp wiring, but don't install HID kits.

Also, for good auxiliary lighting, avoid Lightforce (known here as "Lightfarce"), Baja Designs, and PIAA.

 

[-Virgil-]

Roursch, the lighting modifications/products you're asking about or recommending ("HID kits") are illegal and unsafe. "HID kits" in halogen-bulb headlamps or fog/auxiliary lamps (any kit, any lamp, any vehicle no matter whether it's a car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) are severely dangerous in several different ways, which is why they are illegal. Read this page for full explanation. Please note that Rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal or dangerous activity, so you will need to stop now. Thank you.

 

[gf0012-aust]

I worked on a development project for military vehicles a few years back where we tested cryo cooling on ballast bodies. similar to the cryo cooling modules used on FLIR. Those lights are designed to work in a range of demanding environments, so special niche.

for the ave driver the above is certainly not needed, but the tech has been looked at and is in use in niche vehciles.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

"HID kits" are illegal in ECE signatory states, in the U.S. and Canada (probably in Mexico, too), and under the ADR.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Any rough ideas from experince?

How long can typical 55w 12v or even 100w HID kits run for before getting too hot under the bonnet?

My observations on a 55watter left at just 22degrees C in my shed is after 40mins constant operation its approching warm enough to cause sweaty hand holding it.

Do drivers with these in there vehicles just run them for hours while driving? I know these are considered illegal on roads, but im more consencered with 4wd offroad use. 4wding can go for hours.


Should I stay away from the ccheaper kits & just go with brands like lightforce?

From a long range driving and Australian perspective (eg across the Hay, the Nullabor and the Stuart) which is where it isn't a legal issue....

I used to run Lightforce 240's and 170's for 4-6 hrs straight - and as you would know, no cars for miles/k, and when you see them you can literally see them coming at close to curve of the earth distances,,,,

They never overheated - and the beam shape and type made them one of the best long range driving/offroadlights I've used in 35 years for absolute reach and depth

I did a few cross country runs across the Nullabor a few years back with 75W HIDs and never had them overheat. Again 4-6 hrs runs and basically on all the time as no traffic. In the 6 hrs they were on they might have been flicked off for oncoming traffic maybe (at best) 10% of the time

as prev indicated, I know of and have seen a few Long Range (interstate) drivers (trucks) who have added 90mm cooling fans but they do appear to be unnecessary

For non Australians benefit (and I guess some other countries) HID kits per se are not illegal here - the caveat is that HID installations into main driving lights are though (or any main light modification is illegal and a discretionary ticket from any police officer or vehicle inspector wishing to enforce the ADR's for original vehicle specs)

 

[yellow]

OK, then lets not talk about those illegal kits and focus the question of the op to "original" HID, already installed in the cars at purchase ...

will they overheat?
When car is not running, say in a jam, or ... ?
Mine did not yet but I also am not into traffic jams for hours
engine auto-off might worsen the situation. (?) (engine and thus any cooling gets off, but lights do still be on, at least with my car)

 

[Redhat703]

I don't have any problem with my factory installed HID in my wife's car.

 

[SemiMan]

HID kits

your installation produces more glare and is illegal in most places and for good reasons. This is not the same as doing something for off-road, you are on the road and need to "get along" with your fellow drivers. HID kits in halogen projectors are not remotely the same thing as factory HID projectors which have different optical patterns. I guarantee that your HID kit is producing not compliant lighting levels, too much up light causing glare for the people ahead of you, and likely too much foreground like impacting dark adaption and impacting your ability to see at a distance. To that, potentially some spurs causing other glare issues for other drivers.


To the original poster, nothing designed properly for an automotive environment is going to overheat so sticking with actual brand name ballasts (and not clones with their name put on it) will not have issues. There is no guarantee with anything cheaply made.

In terms of your original post "I know these are considered illegal on roads, but im more consencered with 4wd offroad use." ... They are not "considered" illegal for use on roads, they are illegal almost everywhere. You have to realize that things like "considered" and "more concerned" can imply that you are considering on-road usage ... which as you know is the primary use of illegal HID kits. Wouldn't writing "I realize these things ARE illegal to use on the road, but I am exclusively interested in off-road use" be more indicative of a non-illegal intent? Keep in mind, you are dealing with automotive lighting professional in this forum.

So back to your HIDS. IF you use them EXCLUSIVELY for off-road use AND you have them covered with an opaque cover when on the road, then in most places you will be legal similar to other off-road only lights that again MUST be covered when on the road. That would be no different from big LED light bars or anything else not intended for on-road use. The intention not to use them is not enough, they must be covered. That would be the legal requirement in most areas.

You do have to be careful with HID conversions for off-roading depending on what you are doing. It completely changes the optical pattern and often results in very high levels of foreground light. That is great when you are going slow, but when you are going fast, that high foreground light, especially in pupil constricting high levels of blue often in HID conversions, can significantly impact your distance vision but unfortunately it is not something you are going to be conscious of.


Semiman

 

[gf0012-aust]

In terms of your original post "I know these are considered illegal on roads, but im more consencered with 4wd offroad use." ... They are not "considered" illegal for use on roads, they are illegal almost everywhere. You have to realize that things like "considered" and "more concerned" can imply that you are considering on-road usage ... which as you know is the primary use of illegal HID kits. Wouldn't writing "I realize these things ARE illegal to use on the road, but I am exclusively interested in off-road use" be more indicative of a non-illegal intent? Keep in mind, you are dealing with automotive lighting professional in this forum.

Its important to maintain context and country here - esp as this is an international forum, which I believe causes a few of the problems when some make empirical statements

eg there is no requirement to have driving/offroad lights covered in australia.

the only ones I'm aware of are aust offroad competition rules which stipulate that roof mounted lights must be able to be rolled down and locked in place so as to be non functioning in various stages.

but, the overarching australian design rules which cover federal vehicle engineering compliance don't. AFAIK none of the individual state rules step outside of this either. (and I've lived and worked in all Aust Fed state and territorial jurisdictions)

it would make it easier if people could identify where they lived in their tags/profile display - maybe that would cut down a few of the disconnections in here about whats legal and whats not as it will be country specific.

as an example, blue filtered lights appear to be illegal in the US, whereas in Australia the Honda Odyssey came from the factory with (very) blue headlight assemblies. Light filters appear to be illegal in the US but aren't in Aust, NZ and some of the precincts in Japan - and with new cars can be OEM supplied.

 

[-Virgil-]

as an example, blue filtered lights appear to be illegal in the US, whereas in Australia the Honda Odyssey came from the factory with (very) blue headlight assemblies. Light filters appear to be illegal in the US but aren't in Aust, NZ and some of the precincts in Japan - and with new cars can be OEM supplied.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "light filters", but many new models from various makers have blue styling elements in their headlamps, even in the USA, that make the lenses and other parts of the optic appear (very) blue, but are not actually in the optical path the light takes on its way from the bulb to the road. A few models do have blue-tinted optical elements, but none of them are a deep enough blue to push the light color or intensity outside the legal bounds. There are only two specifications for what "white light" from car lamps means in use in the whole world, and they are both identical. More generally, Australian and New Zealand regs for headlamps are the same as the European regs, and Japan has adopted the European regs as well.

Nothing wrong with your idea for locality-specific information in posts, but also not really necessary; this board's rule 11 prohibits advocating illegal or unsafe vehicle lighting modifications. Some laws in some places are silent about some unsafe lighting modifications, but they're still unsafe and they still fall under rule 11. Discretion of what constitutes an unsafe vehicle lighting modification, for the purposes of this board, lies with the administrators and moderators.