H.I.D bumped - extinguish
- Thread starter CbusRog
- Start date
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adamlau
Flashlight Enthusiast
Interesting. Just gave my Mini-HID a hard smack upside the head thirty seconds into warming up. If I had smacked someone with the same amount a force, I might have ended up with a cracked tooth and a bloody lip. The lamp went off, but turned on again after twenty seconds (I was a bit worried after the second ignition attempt after ten seconds :duh2
:shrug: . Repeated with the same results. Must somehow disrupt current flow. Did the same with the PH50, only this time the lamp stayed hot. Repeated with the same results.
:shrug: . Repeated with the same results. Must somehow disrupt current flow. Did the same with the PH50, only this time the lamp stayed hot. Repeated with the same results.
I have found this as well... a person in my bike race team had 2 hids go out @ the same time on the same bump... (one on the head & one on the handlebar) but only after they were hot & had been running for some time...
one of the reasons I switched over to LEDs...
ktronik
one of the reasons I switched over to LEDs...
ktronik
karlthev
Flashlight Enthusiast
Momentary break in the circuit-loss of contact with the power source and resultant light and need to wait to restrike--I would say....
Karl
Karl
scott.cr
Flashlight Enthusiast
HIDs are sensitive to shock, looks like about everyone here has learned that thru experience! I don't know the mechanism behind the light going out, but it's probably not electrical, it probably has something to do with the HID capsule itself.
(My story is: An older one of my cars with HIDs. The headlights would quit if I hit a usual L.A. pothole.)
(My story is: An older one of my cars with HIDs. The headlights would quit if I hit a usual L.A. pothole.)
BVH
Flashaholic
Maybe Dan will chime in here with an answer?
When I started this thread, I was in shock that my $400+ flashlight exhibited this behavior. Now that I've slept on it, I recall hearing a tale years ago that a mercury-vapor streetlight can be shut down by smacking the pole with a ball bat. I've never tried it, and just chalked it up as urban legend. Mmm...
climberkid
Flashlight Enthusiast
are you saying you want to do an experiment? 
karlthev
Flashlight Enthusiast
My response is related to the fact that if there is a slight press on the tailswitch on my Eznite, that "press" disconnects the path of energy from the battery pack and the light goes out. The way to get it back on again is to click the switch (turning the switch off) wait 10-15 seconds and click the switch again. I wonder if the jarring of your light does the same thing--breaks the circuit for a moment.
Karl
Karl
XeRay
Flashlight Enthusiast
I cannot speak for the lower power HID's or others ballasts. If power is not interupted (fault) and the ballast is fast to respond to impedance changes this should not occur. In a car if this happens with quality OEM HID, there is a bad connection somewhere, either pos or ground.
Our lights are on Baja racing vehicles and 50 cal machine guns and this does not happen. With some poorer designed ballasts if you shake the bulb it will flicker, this is because the ballast has a slower power response to the impedance fluctuations within the arc. The G forces are causing the arc to temporarily move out of its "optimal" position.
Boeing did some testing on our systems for shock, over 1600 G's. They reported a slight dimming only and instant return to normal after the shock.
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WDG
Enlightened
I'm unsure about mercury lights, but when I was in college, I had a 'friend' :naughty: who would kick the campus lights and make them go out. But those were incandescent, so in that case it was just breaking the hot filament.
:thinking: I never thought about the arc having inertia, but I guess it makes sense. Interesting.
Amazing!
Mugrunty
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 163
I was about to say the same thing about being in college. People would kick the orange light posts and they would go out for a few minutes. These ones were not incandescent though. These were those strange orange glowing lights that take a while to warm up. Mercury vapor lights?? I don't know, but i do remember them going out.
Sodium vapor.
BVH
Flashaholic
Low pressure sodium - very orange color
High pressure sodium - orangish-salmon color
High pressure sodium - orangish-salmon color
Morepower!
Enlightened
In Australia you can turn off a street light by hitting it hard enough, they have a shock sensor in them to turn the power off in the event of a car accident, removing the risk of fire due to an electric spark or even electricution.
