HID lights question

Originally posted by Kompressor:
They're fake. Xenon light requires special hardware, such as a ballast and coil because it requires a couple kV to start.

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Exactly! Those cheap little blue bulbs you see in auto stores are not HID's. They may contain Xenon in the bulb chamber, but they are still filament based. Not even close to the real thing. This borderlines on deceptive advertising in my opinion.

Did you ever notice how the same wattage "blue bulb" appears brighter than a similar halogen? That's simply because the human eye has a hard time filtering blue light so it causes more glare thus appearing brighter. They actually reduce your ability to see at night... real helpful!

Originally posted by s0yb0mb:
no this is incorrect. Halogen bulbs have halogen gas and a tungsten filament. No xenon gas in a halogen bulb. Some xenon lamps have filaments too, but they are called "xenon" bulbs. HID have no filament, and you are correct there.[/QB]

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Halogen Bulbs
The halogen cycle, What are halogen bulbs?
A halogen bulb is an ordinary incandescent bulb, with a few modifications. The fill gas includes traces of a halogen, often but not necessarily iodine. The purpose of this halogen is to return evaporated tungsten to the filament.
As tungsten evaporates from the filament, it usually condenses on the inner surface of the bulb. The halogen is chemically reactive, and combines with this tungsten deposit on the glass to produce tungsten halides, which evaporate fairly easily. When the tungsten halide reaches the filament, the intense heat of the filament causes the halide to break down, releasing tungsten back to the filament.
This process, known as the halogen cycle, extends the life of the filament somewhat. Problems with uneven filament evaporation and uneven deposition of tungsten onto the filament by the halogen cycle do occur, which limits the ability of the halogen cycle to prolong the life of the bulb. However, the halogen cycle keeps the inner surface of the bulb clean. This lets halogen bulbs stay close to full brightness as they age.
In order for the halogen cycle to work, the bulb surface must be very hot, generally over 250 degrees Celsius (482 degrees Fahrenheit). The halogen may not adequately vaporize or fail to adequately react with condensed tungsten if the bulb is too cool. This means that the bulb must be small and made of either quartz or a high-strength, heat-resistant grade of glass known as "hard glass".
Since the bulb is small and usually fairly strong, the bulb can be filled with gas to a higher pressure than usual. This slows down the evaporation of the filament. In addition, the small size of the bulb sometimes makes it economical to use premium fill gases such as krypton or xenon instead of the cheaper argon. The higher pressure and better fill gases can extend the life of the bulb and/or permit a higher filament temperature that results in higher efficiency. Any use of premium fill gases also results in less heat being conducted from the filament by the fill gas, meaning more energy leaves the filament by radiation, meaning a slight improvement in efficiency.

Lifetime and efficiency of halogen bulbs
A halogen bulb is often 10 to 20 percent more efficient than an ordinary incandescent bulb of similar voltage, wattage, and life expectancy. Halogen bulbs may also have two to three times as long a lifetime as ordinary bulbs, sometimes also with an improvement in efficiency of up to 10 percent. How much the lifetime and efficiency are improved depends largely on whether a premium fill gas (usually krypton, sometimes xenon) or argon is used.

Quoted from The Great Internet Light Bulb Book, Part I
Incandescent including halogen light bulbs
Copyright (C) 1996 Donald L. Klipstein (Jr) ([email protected])
http://www.misty.com/people/don/bulb1.html

Just to keep us all honest. Argon, Krypton, and Xenon are all halogen gasses.

Ok, you got me
Here's something your internet search dind't uncover: Halogen bulbs were originally developed as industrial drying elements, and not as light sources.

Ok, you got me
Here's something your internet search dind't uncover: Halogen bulbs were originally developed as industrial drying elements, and not as light sources.

Originally posted by s0yb0mb:
Ok, you got me

Here's something your internet search dind't uncover: Halogen bulbs were originally developed as industrial drying elements, and not as light sources.

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I was lucky the internet search sorta backed up my original guess