Using HIDs for high beams

[Scott_Tucker]

I do most of my 'fun' driving at nights in the mountains where I live. It is rural so I worry about deer and other critters running in the road. Although my highbeams are decent, I would like them as bright as possible. I want to keep the lowbeams stock as I don't want to be that annoying guy with the ultra bright lowbeams. I have heard that HIDs are not good for highbeam applications where they will be repeatedly switched on and off. Then again, one of the HID distributors told be the new digital ballasts can handle it. I've also heard replacement high performance halogens don't last very long. Can anybody give me an informed opinion on this?

Car is a 2012 Honda Civic Si with 9005 highs that double as DRLs. I do not mind pulling the DRL fuse because I drive with my headlights on anyway.

 

[tomcat27]

High performance Halogens do last a fraction of the lifetime of standard halogens. This is spelled out in some detail on the website and packaging of some of the major suppliers.

I have no experience with HID retrofit kits

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Yes, this is the only reason I would consider HIDs for the high beams.

 

[chevrofreak]

As long as your low beams stay on with the high beams, go for it. I upgraded the headlights in my Crown Vic with brighter bulbs and super heavy gauge wiring and relays. The high beams are 4300k 35w HID and the combo lights up the road like you wouldn't believe.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Yes, the low beams stay on with the highs. I'm not sure why this would matter though, can you please elaborate?

 

[Scotty1981]

Your lowbeams won't be ultra bright as long as you retrofit the housings which can cost anywhere from 800 to 1600 bucks, the reason so many people have the ultra bright low beams is because they just buy the HID bulbs and slap them into the stock housing which isn't built to direct the light properly thus making the low beams look like the high beams are on to oncoming traffic. If you retrofit HID projectors into your housings you'll be fine and they will direct the light properly without putting it too high and into the eyes of oncoming traffic.

I found www.customlightz.com while browsing www.8thcivic.com and exchanged some emails with them. You can get some great advice by emailing [email protected] and they will be able to provide you with a quote.

When I priced some high-end HIDs and retrofit it came to 1685.00 for both high and low beams for my 2007 EX Civic

 

[dparm]

You don't want HIDs in the high beams because they are being switched on and off too much. HID capsules do not last very long when they are quickly turned off and on; it has nothing to do with the ballasts. You'll burn through capsules incredibly fast at about $50 EACH.

Go for the Night Breaker bulbs or whatever that can actually put more light onto the road in a LEGAL and reliable way.

 

[bmwjohn]

the reason I was told that low beams are off when hi beams are on is to focus your eyes in the distance. A bright foreground will attract your eyes to the near front of the vehicle, and if you need your high beams on you should be looking farther down the road.

 

[leeharvey418]

Isn't there a retrofit kit that uses a shutter on the reflector to switch the cutoff pattern between high- and low-beam? That's what the OE lights on my Mazda do, and it works very well.

 

[sciphi]

Get yourself some HIR 9011 and 9012 bulbs and call it good. I'm assuming your Civic has 9006 low beams. Those bulbs are roughly double the output of the stockers with the same lifespan. And, they're still halogen so no worries about Officer Friendly pulling you over for an illegal HID retrofit.

 

[Corvette Owner]

The other reason for not wanting HIDs as high beams is that they take a few seconds to "warm up" and come to full brightness. If your low beams turn off when your high beams come on, then you might have a few seconds of relatively darkness, not a good thing when driving down the road !

That is why it is better if your low beams stay on when converting high beams to HIDs.

I do agree with using high power halogen bulbs for your high beams.

There are other HIDs (bi-xenon) that use one bulb for low and high beams and a mechanical shutter, which moves to allow more light. These can be very expensive.

 

[Smokescreen]

The delay until full brightness is a legitimate concern, especially in term of night lighting where seconds can equate to a few hundred meters.

An HIR1 high beam bulb actually has a longer lifespan than a stock 9005 bulb. This is an older document but still relevant: http://hirheadlights.com/stats.htm

I was faced with this choice a year or so ago, there are a lot of wildlife around where I live too. I made the choice to go HIR and have never looked back. For $50 the HIR bulbs are far brighter than the stock halogens and fit the requirement, I didn't want to go any brighter for safety's sake (being DOT compliant and ECE type approved is important for a reason). Here is a reputable place to get them: http://store.candlepower.com/9011.html

 

[Scott_Tucker]

The delay does concern me, more of a nuisance than anything as my low beams stay on with the highs. As far a delay goes, if I had the HID high beams on for five minutes and then had to switch them off for ten seconds to allow a car to pass, how long would the delay be until they came back to full brighness? I would suspect that because they are warm it might take less time.

What are HIR's and how are they technically different than normal halogens? By those links it looks like you need to modify the new bulbs.

I am not concerned with the highbeams being legal. The times I use them there are very few people on the road. I am also very quick to turn them off as are most people in this area. The police don't seem to care and would only ticket me if I was constantly driving around with my highbeams on. No harm, no foul. The cops around here seem to operate on common sense, not on how many tickets they can give out. Plus, switching back to stock seems to be a simple matter of installing the stock bulbs and plugging in the connectors.

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Smokescreen]

Modification of HIR bulbs takes less than 5 seconds each. A pair of side snips or nail clippers, done.

A search on google will give you the entire evolution of the HIR bulb.

There is a reason why there are not any dedicated HID high beams on production cars.

The bi-xenon HID set up was the only way to have both in a single enclosure assembly and it addresses all the issues.

 

[bmwjohn]

the metal shutter hid set ups are not expensive currently, just a few dollars difference. Also, on many cars pulling on your headlight "flasher stick" will activate both high and low beams. I don't know if this might keep your low beams on while your high beams warmed up if they are seperate bulbs.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

I did a little research on those HIR bulbs and they look promising. How is their lifespan?

 

[Smokescreen]

http://hirheadlights.com/stats.htm ...300hours (vs 225hrs for a standard 9005)...the newer generations could be longer.

 

[sciphi]

The low beams have a 1500 hour lifespan or something crazy long like that. They're long-lived, bright as anything, and work with your existing headlights to put more light out where it needs to go.

 

[Dupree]

yep, I have the hir on my cx9, the low beams are factory HID, so you know it takes a serious high beam to shine out much past the already fantastic hid's. The hir fill that niche perfect, get them you'll never look back.......

 

[Jeff_in_VABch]

Originally Posted By: dparm
You don't want HIDs in the high beams because they are being switched on and off too much. HID capsules do not last very long when they are quickly turned off and on; it has nothing to do with the ballasts. You'll burn through capsules incredibly fast at about $50 EACH.


This information is incorrect.

HID bulbs dont care how often they are turned on and off. I have never seen a bulb go bad in the last 5 years or so. They do go to blue as they age.

Older inexpensive, cheap Chinese ballasts used to have problems with a hot restrike, but that was long ago. Any modern ballast and bulb can be flipped on and off over and over with no issues whatsoever. If there was any issue with this very important safety item (headlights), no OEM would use them.