What can I gain from having HID in high beams in a traditional open reflector based system, compared to halogen?
Advantages: 1) Can use smaller reflector to achieve same or higher brightness compared to halogen. 2) Lower energy consumption. Physically heavy and amps sucking halogen based light clusters seen on rally cars has become a thing of the past. Disadvanteges: 1. HID bulbs do not achieve full brightness until the metallic salts in the HID capsule are completely vaporized, which could take up to a minute (or more) on some setups. This means they would not be much good for “flash to pass” signaling or extra light on demand. 2. Decreased bulb life if turning HIDs off and back on again. Continuous use in traffic passing situations would mean many hot re-strikes of HID arc, which shortens HID capsule life and requires MORE startup current than a cold capsule, thereby putting added wear & tear on your wiring and switching components. 3. Higher price. HID based systems costs more. None of the above is a problem with a OEM “bi-xenon” setup, since the high/low is accomplished thru a mechanical movi
