Can i change my WE Boxer 24w HID Filament to a lower K one ?

[Secur1]

Hi ppl

I've been wondering if i can swap the 6000K Metal Halide filament on my Boxer with a lower K one.
I don't know much on the subject, but from what i've been reading a 4200K bulb would provide me with a more natural white tint and even more output.
Please correct me if i am wrong.

Now if the Color Temperature is not related to current input/voltage then i don't think there should be any problem with such a swap.

On the other hand if it is that easy, why don't i see more ppl here with high K lights doing it ?
So i guess i am missing something.

Thanks in advance

John

 

[FlashlightN00b]

John, I'm new to flashlights, but not HID's and that was one of my first questions. Seems like alot of them are in them are manufactured in the higher blue range. I'm not sure if this is because of price or what.

Here's a picture I came across in my recent HID search. I wish there was more granularity, but these will have to do.

 

[data_lore]

I actually like the blue tint to my boxer 24W, it's blue when you view the beam but illuminated objects seem to be more real to me. BTW, I run my television on a "cold" temperature, It's a matter of preference imo.

Here are some beams:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=175577 post 21.

I much prefer the way the boathouse and surrounds are illuminated by the Boxer 24W, but it's very difficult to illustrate how the colour temperature looks like in real life, because all digital cameras will interpret the input from the lens differently (And, indeed, our own eyes). In the real world, the light from the Boxer is much whiter, in my opinion, than the car headlights and even the P3D!

 

[Secur1]

Thanks for your answers and for being very graphical about them too

This is a very difficult question for me as the boxer is my first and only HID, as well as the fact that i have not seen in person any other HID bulb in operation...
So i am simply going by what ppl in here usually post.
Personaly i do find the 6000K bulb on my boxer a bit too cold in color rendition, then again it might just be the strong purple tint at start up that effects my judgement.

All in all my question narrows down to three factors

1) Will a 4200K bulb work on my boxer ?
2) Will ti give me a more natural color rendition (closer to yellow sun light) ?
3) Will it up my lumens output ?

@FlashlightN00b thanks a lot for the picture reel. If i am not mistaken the light used there was a maxabeam ? Or at least it looks like one to me.
I looked at the pics in both my monitors (i got a 19" LCD set for surfing, reading etc and one 19" CRT Iiyama for watching movies tv etc) and the 6000K bulb seems to be the most power full while the 4200K seems to give out better color rendition....
So it seems you can't have the best of both worlds unless you are willing to fork out for a Polarion or something in that price range...

I am still confused about the sort of comments I've been reading from other CPFr's concerning 4200 bulbs and higher lumens output....

 

[Patriot]

Personaly i do find the 6000K bulb on my boxer a bit too cold in color rendition, then again it might just be the strong purple tint at start up that effects my judgement.

All in all my question narrows down to three factors

1) Will a 4200K bulb work on my boxer ?
2) Will ti give me a more natural color rendition (closer to yellow sun light) ?
3) Will it up my lumens output ?

Most people do find the 6000K and higher temperature bulbs very unnatural compared to bulbs in the 4200 range. Some people claim that they like higher temperatures better but all in all it provides less color information to our eyes which were designed for sun-light. I once tried to find a lower color temp bulb for my Boxer 24 but was unsuccessful. Yes, it will give you a more natural color rendition if you can find something in the 4000K range. No, it will not "up" your lumen output. The ballast only works for a bulb of the designed wattage. Changing bulbs will only change the color of the light, not the output. Any difference in lumen output would be very small and could go either up or down depending on the bulb and it's probably nothing that the eye could detect. Sometimes our brains are fooled into thinking that we see more or less light when the color changes even though the lumen output hasn't.

 

[Secur1]

Thanks for the input Patriot.

I guess the 6000K bulb only looked brighter because of the blinding light in comparison to the more natural looking 4200K one.

Anyway since you have already tried to find one and failed, i guess my quest is over

Thanks guys.

 

[Patriot]

Thanks for the input Patriot.

I guess the 6000K bulb only looked brighter because of the blinding light in comparison to the more natural looking 4200K one.

Anyway since you have already tried to find one and failed, i guess my quest is over

Thanks guys.

Oh, sorry Secure1....I didn't know that you were referring the lumen level in the pictures above. Yes you're correct, in the upper picture a Xe-50W HID is being used and the adjustable focus is focused more tightly with the 4200K bulb. The next two pics have a wider focus setting which appears to throw more light even though they're really not. Then the final Xe-50W shot is the "10,000k" focused tightly again. Then in the very last picture is the 35W X990 which only produces about 3200 lumens compared to the Xe-50W 5800 lumens. So yeah, they're hard to compare (lumen wise) partially because of different focus settings, different bulbs, a different light in the final picture, which also happens to have adjustable focus. The closest comparison of lumen output in those particular photos would be the first four pictures, with the knowledge that #1 and #4 are focused more tightly. Those pics of course were more about color and less about output. Also, I'm pretty sure that HID color temperatures can't reach 10,000K. I'm not even sure if they can reach 8000K but one of the HID 'bulb pro guys' might be able to enlighten us more about that. My guess it that those are manufacturer's specs which are sometimes pretty silly.