HID 35W/55W ballast switching?

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kennyj

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Has anyone ever tried wiring up multiple ballasts to a single bulb to vary output? What I'm thinking of is either a switch to toggle between a 35 and 55 watt ballast for low beams, and/or a relay to switch over to the 55W ballast when the high beams are turned on. I had 55W ballasts for a few years and I'm now feeling more comfortable with a 35W ballast, but I miss the ridiculous output in darker areas.
 

mattheww50

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I suspect there will be problems in switching the ballasts with the lamp operating. Obviously the power will be interrupted for a brief period, and as a result the arc inside the HID lamp will be extinguished, so the alternate ballast will have to be capable to handling a 'hot' start to relight the lamp. Switching ballasts before turning on the lamp should be OK however, as that will always be a 'cold' start.
 

-Virgil-

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Multiple ballasts such as you describe will not be a workable or safe solution. There are ballasts that are mode-switchable (35/55) but as far as I know none of them are automotive-certified. More than that, though, all of this "55w ballast" stuff is illegal and unsafe. Rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal or dangerous activity.
 

Sadden

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Are there any quality 55w ballasts for true offroad use. Was thinking of grabbing some empty hella units that take d2s bulbs and using some Osram NBUs that I have shelved and sourcing aftermarket ballasts
 

kennyj

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Multiple ballasts such as you describe will not be a workable or safe solution. There are ballasts that are mode-switchable (35/55) but as far as I know none of them are automotive-certified. More than that, though, all of this "55w ballast" stuff is illegal and unsafe. Rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal or dangerous activity.

That's actually why, when I ordered the new stuff, I went with all 35W hardware. This was more of a curiosity than anything. Putting aside legality and safety concerns, I wouldn't bother if only for the number of added failure points involved. It's an interesting idea to have the high beam switch also crank up the low-beam output, but it's just not worth the nonsense entailed (let alone the risk.)

Interesting note: at the moment, I have new ballasts and bulbs on one side and old stuff on the other, because my car is a pain to work on. My new HYLUX 35W ballasts significantly outperform the super-generic ballasts a local shop had installed, at least in the barely-used high beams. The alleged 55W ballast on the low beam is still putting out more (and warmer) light than the 35W ballast I just installed, but the gap is not *that* large. It's noticeable and I'm a spoiled and picky MFer, but still a far cry from the incans my wife's car is running. All that said, if I had been a little less lazy and did it myself the first time around with quality hardware, I wouldn't have bothered with the 55W "upgrade" in the first place.
 

kennyj

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Are there any quality 55w ballasts for true offroad use. Was thinking of grabbing some empty hella units that take d2s bulbs and using some Osram NBUs that I have shelved and sourcing aftermarket ballasts
What I can tell you is that there are sealed ballasts available that put out that kind of power... but they have shorter warranties, shift the bulbs to a lower color temperature, and risk damage to reflectors and sometimes even projectors (HIDs, strangely, radiate more waste heat into the surrounding assembly than halogens do.) Using them might also shorten the warranty on your bulbs, even assuming the bulbs you buy are rated for that kind of output. I got lucky with mine and had no issues other than shortened bulb life and never-quite-matching color temperatures, but some people have ended up replacing whole headlight assemblies.

Adding additional lights might be a better solution for you. Fortunately, plenty of robust solutions exist for that purpose. You can just wire up a switch and kill the extra lights when/if you end up back on the road.
 

KXA

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Kennyj, the best thing you can do for yourself and everybody else who comes in contact with you on the road is to reinstall what the factory intended. Please, stop this fascination with kiddie light mods and leave the fanboy forums alone (they're full of juvenile ideas anyway). You'll benefit in the long run.
 

kennyj

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"kiddie light mods"? "fanboy forums"? Alright, whatever you say.

...Why are you here?
 
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Magio

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Kennyj, the best thing you can do for yourself and everybody else who comes in contact with you on the road is to reinstall what the factory intended. Please, stop this fascination with kiddie light mods and leave the fanboy forums alone (they're full of juvenile ideas anyway). You'll benefit in the long run.
Haha I wouldn't be so hard on the guy but you are right.
"kiddie light mods"? "fanboy forums"? Alright, whatever you say.

...Why are you here?

KennyJ a lot of the products you are talking about are low quality products. Most of the aftermarkt 55watt HID ballast are very poor quality. The 55watt rating is often the input rating rather than output as it should be, they tend to have low efficiencies( might be misspelled), and often times the output wattage is lower than an OEM ballast that is rated at a legal 35watts. On *some* other forums there are breakdowns of the aformentioned Hylux ballast and the quality of the components used is seriously lacking when compared to an OEM ballast. I dont know what car you have but your best bet really is to install the OEM ballast back in there and go for some quality bulbs like the Osram Nightbreakers, or the 4000 lumen Koitos if you can find them.

Thats not to say there are no good quality 55watt ballast around. There are some OEM quality 55watt ballast readily available that are certified for aviation use IIRC, but Im not going to link to those either as its not legal to run these in your vehicle even though they are good quality. Maybe off-road is okay, but this thread is about on-road lighting so I'm not linking to anything that is illegal to use on the road.
 
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kennyj

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I had 55W ballasts. I'm removing them and replacing them with 35W ballasts. I should have been more clear in the OP. This was just an idea I was curious about for the hell of it. I'm now using HYLUX ballasts and CNLight bulbs.

EDIT: I'm curious, were those Hylux ballasts that were disassembled purchased from reputable dealers? I've seen a lot of breakdowns of stuff that comes from China, but was purchased from Ali or somesuch and is very likely a generic competitor.

EDIT2: Do you have a link? I looked high and low (or so I thought) but saw good things said about Hylux. Granted, there's always some chatter about any given product being crap, but people don't go on the internet to complain when everything is working properly.

The Hylux ballasts do seem a LOT better than the generics I had previously.
 
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Magio

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I had 55W ballasts. I'm removing them and replacing them with 35W ballasts. I should have been more clear in the OP. This was just an idea I was curious about for the hell of it. I'm now using HYLUX ballasts and CNLight bulbs.

EDIT: I'm curious, were those Hylux ballasts that were disassembled purchased from reputable dealers? I've seen a lot of breakdowns of stuff that comes from China, but was purchased from Ali or somesuch and is very likely a generic competitor.

EDIT2: Do you have a link? I looked high and low (or so I thought) but saw good things said about Hylux. Granted, there's always some chatter about any given product being crap, but people don't go on the internet to complain when everything is working properly.

The Hylux ballasts do seem a LOT better than the generics I had previously.

Yes they were genuine and no I can't link to it. Again none of the Chinese ballast or bulbs compare to the OEMs in quality and that's been proven time and time again on here and on other socalled fan boy forums. If they meet spec(which I'm not sure they do) I'm not sure if they are illegal,just like not all aftermarket halogens are illegal, but they do not perform anywhere near as well as the OEMs. That would be something for Virgil to answer as he seems quite well versed in the law
 

kennyj

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And here I thought it had been confirmed that Hylux is the OE manufacturer for Philips, but then, this is the internet. On the other hand, I cannot seem to find a teardown of Hylux ballasts anywhere. If you happen to remember where you saw that, I'd really like a heads-up.
 

Magio

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And here I thought it had been confirmed that Hylux is the OE manufacturer for Philips, but then, this is the internet. On the other hand, I cannot seem to find a teardown of Hylux ballasts anywhere. If you happen to remember where you saw that, I'd really like a heads-up.

Yeah your information is way off. Philips does not even make xenon ballast so no way Hylux could be the manufacturer.
 

kennyj

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They don't? [Illegitimate link to stolen intellectual property and unsafe headlamp toys removed by moderator]
 
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Alaric Darconville

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I had 55W ballasts. I'm removing them and replacing them with 35W ballasts. I should have been more clear in the OP. This was just an idea I was curious about for the hell of it. I'm now using HYLUX ballasts and CNLight bulbs.
Then you already have removed them, or you still have 55W ballasts, and you still wish to use nonlegitimate equipment in the same car you use on public roads.
 

-Virgil-

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I had I'm now using HYLUX ballasts and CNLight bulbs.

That's kind of an issue. When you install legitimate bulbs and ballasts, your ability to see safely and well at night will be much improved.

Philips doesn't make ballasts?

Not the ones you linked to! Remember, just because a brand name is on a product, doesn't mean it's there honestly or legitimately. See this page and especially this link.
 
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