Date:         Fri, 10 Nov 2000 21:31:39 -0800
Reply-To:     Zach Kaplan <zakaplan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Zach Kaplan <zakaplan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Xenon headlight bulbs... any opinions?
In-Reply-To:  <200011110125.RAA03518@penguin.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
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"K. Taylor" <res07cqd@GTE.NET> wrote:

> Anyone on the list have opinions about the new (to me, at least) Xenon
> headling bulbs, such as the many being auctioned on eBay?  They're the bulbs
> that you may have seen on other vehicles at night with the color of the
> light being almost a blue cast when compared with traditional headlights.
> (It's not a blue light, but appears to be blue tinted when compared with
> traditional headlights that have a slight yellowing cast to them.)  Here's a
> link to one of the vendors:
>
> <http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=491428465
> &r=0&t=0>
>
> My son mentioned that he had heard that the amount of light they put out
> might be illegal.
>
> Ken

The bulbs in that ad are bogus. The packaging uses the terms "HID" and
"plazma" (sic). A true High Intensity Discharge lamp uses a plasma arc tube.
A relatively high voltage is passed between an electrode at each end of the
tube to produce light. Several types of elements are used in the discharge
tube and xenon can be one of them. No filaments are used. These HID lights
put out 3-4 times as many lumens per watt as a typical halogen and last much
longer. They produce a bluish-white light and are often seen on Mercedes,
BMWs and other high end cars.

The bulbs in the ad cited above are simply incandescent filament bulbs of a
higher wattage than normal possibly filled with xenon gas to allow the
filament to run hotter without burning out prematurely and putting black
deposits on the inside of the bulb. Many of the compact incandescents with
quartz envelopes are filled with xenon. The bulbs appear to have blue
filters on them to make people think you have genuine expensive HID
headlights. This type of fake HID bulb is most often seen on "Rice Boy
Cars", the cosmetically suped up small Japanese cars. There are a lot of
Filipinos in my neighbourhood and many of them have these Honda Civic type
cars with all sorts of spoilers and ground effects added, low profile tyres,
lowered suspension and the fake HID headlights. Then there is the fellow at
the end of the street that has the real thing, an Audi TT with genuine HID
headlights. Their beams actually look whiter than the incandescents with
blue filters.

Zach