HID auto lamp

[hizzo3]

Ok didnt know where this one should go, but here it is. I am in the process of converting my bike over to HID lighting. I plan to use a acura TL projector. I would like an adjustable ballast from 15watts-50watts. but i cant seem to find one. anyone have insight on this.
The reason i dont like the 35 watts no adjustable is this. in foul weather, 35 watts is too much light from a single source (too much refration causing low levels of night blindness), so 15 should be plenty, plus, driving around during the day with highs, even 35 watts is bad. 15 watts should correct this mostly. I also like the ablilty to boost up to 50 watts due to the fact that i do some riding on dark roads. Driving lights are ok, but not much side spill. would rather have a brighter headlight and flip it to high. I plan to have it wired that when the light is switched to 'off' it will be in high mode at 15 watts. when on in low beam, it will be 15 watts in. when on in high beam, it will be 50watt mode. Alss i need is the ballast.

I've already addressed the issue of hid start up draw on my bike by converting my battery from a 14 amp/hr 190 CCA to a mild 30 amp/hr batt with 350CCA......someones car need a jump?

[LED61]

I don't think it is possible to do what you ask. Ballasts are very complex and provide specific high voltage for startup and stable voltage for the lamp. Further, a 35 watt D2 bulb cannot be underdriven at 15 watts. You can overdrive a 35 watt D2 bulb up to 50W with an auerswald ballast, and you can also switch it down to 35 watts. Plus, how do you plan to house the ballast weatherproof ? It is possble but do keep it in mind. It has to be very close to the capsule. Is the Accura TL projector designed for HID or halogen ?

[hizzo3]

Originally Posted by LED61

I don't think it is possible to do what you ask. Ballasts are very complex and provide specific high voltage for startup and stable voltage for the lamp. Further, a 35 watt D2 bulb cannot be underdriven at 15 watts. You can overdrive a 35 watt D2 bulb up to 50W with an auerswald ballast, and you can also switch it down to 35 watts. Plus, how do you plan to house the ballast weatherproof ? It is possble but do keep it in mind. It has to be very close to the capsule. Is the Accura TL projector designed for HID or halogen ?

I read on HIDplanet.com that a member had modded out his denso ballast to do this. something about the green resistor in there....then the whole thing was deleted as he was afraid people would run 50w all the time.. he was able to get a draw or 17-18 watts to the ballast minimum with the bulb lit stable. and he was able to overdrive the bulb with the ballast pulling in @70 watts. that is how the 15-50w numbers were figured. a 35watt ballast pulls in about 42 watts. The acura TL projector is a stanley designed bixenon (solenoid controls the cut off plate) HID projector. I guess the auerswald would do, just not fond the full 35 watts for a driving light in daytime, or in bad weather....but i need the extra light, at a good electrical cost. Maybe someone else has modded a ballast on here and can clue me in.

and for waterproofing, not an issue i can either seal the ballast, or if its small enough place it under the tank on my cruser style bike. plent of airflow still reach there

[LED61]

You might be able to pull it off with some genius work involved, but I can tell you your HID capsule will not tolerate it for long. The 42 watts converts down to 35 to the capsule after everything. And yes you can also overdrive the 35 watt bulb all the way to 70w but this would cut down the life of the bulb severely.
Why don't you run a standard setup with the overdrive and try to buy a heavily used bulb in ebay ? Something with 1,000 hours use should not be hard to find and lumens will have dropped down from 3,200 from new down to about 2500. Or, you can get yourself the "cool blue" philips ultinon bulb outputing 2,600 lumens instead of 3200. That'll dim things down considerably.

Also, you might want to direct your attention to this forum

http://faqlight.carpassion.info/forum/

There are more knowledgeable people there when it comes down to this.

[hizzo3]

well talking to someone on hidplanet, i got some help. he said that most the time, the poor lighting conditions with hid conversions in foul weather comes from a lack of a fog light. so i decided to use a 35/50w ballast, and i am going to see about using a fog lamp. I will attempt to mod it though with 5-6 crees, with reflectors leading into a fog optic. should give me a great spread, and will prolly drive them around the 1000ma mark since ample cooling will be present. that should boost around 1000 lms form that source. i will also prolly try and find the lowest color i can whats that near yellow uniton out there?