What are Xenons or HID Headlights?

Answer 1

Being a HID specialist let me direct you in the right path. First off xenon is a gas usually mixed with other gases and put into a aftermarket halogen bulb running at 55W. It's used in aftermarket lights such as Silverstar and any automotive store lights such as APC. Do to halogen bulbs burning off a filament the Xenon gas can not get to the top output temperature in order to produce any type of significant difference in lighting. Any halogen bulbs you see in cars that have a blue or slighter white tint are only made from the bulb itself, usually quartz. The xenon in the bulb does not produce this light. In order to get this true color you must upgrade or buy a car with a HID system (High Intensity Discharge).

The HID runs off Xenon also but does not use a filament like in halogen lights. High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps produce light by striking an electrical arc across tungsten electrodes housed inside a specially designed inner glass tube. In order for this process to happen the HID system's come with a ballast, like you see on florescant bulbs. This ballast allows the HID bulb to ignite at 12V of electricity then increase to 23,000V and then to the final color you see at 83,000V. The outcome is a light source with 3 times the lumens (light output) than standard halogen bulbs while only using 35W compard to 55W. HID systems run between 150.00 to 400.00 dollars but also have 3 times the life expectancy of halogen costing between 5.00 to 80.00 dollars in such as PIAA lighting.

Eventually the HID systems will be in all cars coming from the factories. HID's run between 4,300K (diamond white) to 12,000K (purplish-blue) while halogen's run truely in upwards of 4000-5000K regardless of what the knock off packages say. To sum it up and give you an idea, xenon halogen's are what your see on the kids imports and the HID systems are on many luxury automobile makers such as BMW and Mercedes. Hope I was of some help. Feel free to contact me by e-mail for any other info. ([e-mail])

Answer 2

Xenon bulbs use Xenon gas inside the capsule which changes color when the bulb element gets hot enough to incandesce. The change in color causes higher contrast when reflected back to the driver, making objects in the roadway a bit easier for most people to see.
HID or (H)igh (I)ntensity (D)ischarge lights use a carbon-arc system that causes much more intense light. These are high dollar and require additional wiring and components to operate. But they do provide very good light and reflection after they have warmed up.

Good Luck and Merry Christmas

Answer 3

xenons are bulbs filled with xenon gas for high temps and brighter lighting app 3000 deg k
hid is high intensity discharge,these lights are different,they use a transformer to increase voltage and different gases to burn even hotter app 7500 deg k
sun light is about 7000 deg k