HID disappointment

Just finished installing 35W 6000K HID's on my Low Beam. Kit has OSBOM Ballasts (guessing knock off of commercial OSRAM brand)
Was actually expecting a lot better results.
Previous 55W Halogen H3's seemed to be a LOT brighter. HID's have a lot crisper white light, but definitely less.
Yet to adjust the lights down a bit, but can't see it making a significant improvement.
Anybody else experienced this?

 

How Long

Have you run them for? I found with my YUM-CH brand HIDs that it took an hour or so of being lit for them to come up to full brightness. All good since then though.

HTH

Andrew

 

Don't hids become brighter over time?

 

I'd like to give a review on my HID's, but the ballasts were both shot. Should have expected that seeing they were from china!

 

Only around 10min operation time. It might say somewhere in the instructions about initial running time to increase intensity, but I stopped learning chinese 14 years ago.

Will have to wait till a longer drive is needed for final judgement. J-spec foglights are brighter atm.

 

I have HID's in the Zed (4300), wifeys turbo Pulsar (6000) and my Navara (6000) and they are simply outstanding in comparison to the old 55w halogens. This is particularly so in the wet where the HID's appear to light up the road more or less as well as the old halogens in the dry.
All China kits as well.
Curiously, id say the performance of the three sets is probably less so in the projector type lights of the Zed but still outstanding compared to halogens.

Remember tho, they are not gods gift to headlighting and altho much higher intensity, are still governed by the quality of the headlights and these leave quite a bit to be desired in Zeds.

L8r
E

 

I didn't mess around with the 35W and went straight to 55W HIDs. They took about a month before I suspected they were at their brightest, but were already a massive improvement over the stock halogens from the beginning.

 

maybe its the dodgy brand? Ive had no issues with mine.

 

I am very surprised at your results. My HIDs are just the greatest. I have done both the High and Low beams.

I use 4300K which is whiter than white, maybe the 6000Ks lose a bit of intensity as they could only be classified as "whiteish" IMHO. I know the 8000K and above are only good for driving through McDonalds on a Friday night.

 

I find the 6000's too blue'ish for my liking.
The 4300's are quite a good colour. Whiter than white without looking blue.
L8r
E

 

I've found the ballasts on Silver make the lights less bright than the ones in the convertible.

Only figured it out a couple of weeks ago when I changed one as the light kept turning off.
Suddenly the right side was much brighter.

(turned out it was the globe though)

 

Is a nice crisp white..... just lacking. Not expecting to land a commercial airliner with them, but expected them to be brighter than holding a torch out of the window. Definitely upgrading Hi-beams and fog lights to HID's for matching colour. Currently on order with Jaycar.

Will blend in with the rest of the Euro drivers and run around with Headlights on during the day for a bit to get the hours up on them to see if the brightness improve any. If not, I'll transfer them to Foggies.

Thanks for the feedback

 

I initially installed 6000k / 35w for my low beams and had the same result as yourself - I liked the colour but they just didn't light-up the road... So then I fitted 4300k and couldn't believe the difference - 4300k / 35w are brilliant (pardon the punn!). Went with 55w for high beams.

 

I have 6000k Hids. I can see street signs and reflectors miles up the road but the road it self is damm hard to see. I will be changing them for 4300k soon as the ones i have seen appear to be a better color. I don't drive my Z much so i could not give an opinion on if they get better with use.

 

55w 4300's ftw in low beams.

 

hahahah! Love the maccas joke!

Barry what brand HID's are you using?

 

I had 6000k's in Silver and they just looked grey and dull

Then I put in 4300's and they just looked dull

Then I changed the ballast on one side and that side came alive. Aha, dud ballasts

Now my new slimline ballasts I bought from China to replace the original dull one's are lost in the mail

Should get there in the end eventually !!

 

i had the OSBOM (!!!!) HIDS installed at least 3 years back .. 4,300k and i think 35w ...

absolutely tops and no issues ...

purchased from "ebuyproduct" who, it seems has disappeared from the Forum, as a seller ...

 

nice well HID's are on the list of things to add to what is sitting in the driveway