hey all,

where are some good places to buy HID bulbs, aside from ebay? ive been using a 150W cfl for a mini projector and it doesnt have the hudspah that a smaller HID would
-Dane

Posted at 7:30 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by dane

Check out Worm’s Way

Posted at 8:30 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by Mark Southerland

I’ve got great respect for those good enough to create their own circuits for something like this, but my own hacking tastes run toward re-use. Given that, wouldn’t a great source for projects like a mountain bike HID light be an auto salvage yard? There have to be ballasts out there which could be removed and re-used from junked autos fairly cheaply, and wouldn’t these be ideal in terms of being tightly packaged and highly durable?

Posted at 8:39 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by Andrew Pollack

@ Mark Southerland,

whats / where is worms way?
-Dane

Posted at 8:42 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by dane

@Andrew Pollack,

I don’t know about your area. But where I live, there are just a bunch of old junkers around that wouldn’t have a HID light package.

The only way you would get lucky is if you found a street racers smashed in vehicle, and then most likely the front end would be so damaged, the ballasts would most likely be toast.

Posted at 10:49 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by fire

#3:

Yes, there are… And you can expect to pay a lot for them. They’re in high demand as replacement parts for cars that have been in accidents. Since factory replacements can run thousands of dollars, auto recyclers can price them very high.

Posted at 11:22 am on Jun 10th, 2008 by ivan256

Note: HID headlights on street vehicles are illegal in every state. No exceptions.

And half of the “blue” headlights you see are just that, blue-tinted headlights.

Posted at 12:31 pm on Jun 10th, 2008 by klintor

@5: You also have to be careful because most automotive HID ballasts are designed to shut down permanently when they detect an accident impact. This is to prevent the high voltage from posing a hazard to rescue workers.

@6: Some vehicles come with factory HIDs. Those are legal. Most aftermarket retrofit kits don’t have a proper beam pattern and are illegal, though. And blue-tinted lights are illegal in every state.
See:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html

Posted at 12:35 pm on Jun 10th, 2008 by Orv

possibly the best idea here would be to use a little trick I picked up from 4HV.org which is to obtain 10 or so CCFL driver boards intended for case modding, and add external diodes and resistive grounding to stabilise the outputs. This might just work as the output power of these when paralleled is considerable and they drop to near 50V on load without damage to drive a tube, see youtube.com “high voltage sparkler” :)

I did look into Charlieplexing a bunch of smaller transformers from a broken flat screen monitor (rewind primaries as a single inline primary and then drive with a half bridge of MOSFETs) and will report back on this when I have time. Thanks!

Posted at 2:51 pm on Jun 10th, 2008 by andre

any cheap sources for hid bulbs?

Posted at 4:03 pm on Jun 10th, 2008 by dane

Just FYI, HID’s are NOT illegal, there are several HID retrofit kits awaiting DOT approval. They are legal for off-road use, ONLY, as are most of the fake blue bulbs you see on the market.

Having driven all over the country with my retrofit kits installed, and talking to start patrol officers in several states, no one is ever going to actually issue a ticket to someone with a HID retrofit, provided the beams are focused properly. There are numerous kits that are in awaiting DOT approval. Many new kits use bulbs that are the exact same dimensions as the OEM bulb they replace, and have the light elements in exactly the same position relative to the reflectors in the OEM housings.

In my 2006 Jeep Liberty, the beams actually provide LESS glare to oncoming drivers than the Sylyania 9007LL bulbs they replaced.

Posted at 4:51 pm on Jun 10th, 2008 by HID Seller

So you are saying that the stock HID headlights on my Acura are illegal? or are they only illegal when not focused properly?

I have never been pulled or ticketed (Florida) and this is the first I have heard they are illegal in ALL states.

Do you have background info like a link to state laws or news coverage instead of giving a blanket statement like that?

Posted at 10:01 am on Jun 11th, 2008 by gt

NEMA has standards sheets for current/voltage delivery to different HID lamp types available for free download. I considered designing a SS ballast a while back but gave it up for greener pastures.

Posted at 1:42 pm on Jun 11th, 2008 by shbazjinkens