Headlight HID lamp comparison.

Miffy

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With our cones being more receptive to blue, would this mean that 6000k which is the very edge of white before blue tint would be better for night vision than a stock 4300k ?
 
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With our cones being more receptive to blue, would this mean that 6000k which is the very edge of white before blue tint would be better for night vision than a stock 4300k ?

You are correct in what you say, but what you say doesn't reflect (see what I did there?!!) the situation fully.

In a night-time driving scenario, whilst our eyes receive blue light more favourably, it does not help our lamps because blue light is more easily scattered than lower temperature light. Therefore less will reflect back at us due to said scatter.

Out if interest, this is why the sky appears blue to the eye - light is scattered by the particles in our atmosphere, and blue is more easily deflected - hence the sky appears blue.

In the same way, foglight lamps work best at the yellow end of the spectrum because they are not so easily scattered by the water vapour droplets in the fog. If you used 6000K lamps in your foglights, you would be driving completely blinded by a whiteout!

Does that make any sense?
 
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Mmmm lost me now :-(

Just let me know what bulbs are best

Lol! My recommendation would be 5000Ks. OEM 4300s are a safe bet, and as previously stated give the best lighting in most conditions.

Any higher than 5000K and you are not going to see the light. Well, not much, anyway.
 

Miffy

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You are correct in what you say, but what you say doesn't reflect (see what I did there?!!) the situation fully.

In a night-time driving scenario, whilst our eyes receive blue light more favourably, it does not help our lamps because blue light is more easily scattered than lower temperature light. Therefore less will reflect back at us due to said scatter.

Out if interest, this is why the sky appears blue to the eye - light is scattered by the particles in our atmosphere, and blue is more easily deflected - hence the sky appears blue.

In the same way, foglight lamps work best at the yellow end of the spectrum because they are not so easily scattered by the water vapour droplets in the fog. If you used 6000K lamps in your foglights, you would be driving completely blinded by a whiteout!

Does that make any sense?

Yes, makes sense to me, I did O Level Photography (back in the day) so do have a good grasp of how light works
 

whitenemesis

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Ok, is the sky blue because the blue wavelength is more easily scattered or is it blue because "light" (made up of all wavelengths) when scattered resolves to blue?

Also I always understood the human eye didn't see blue so well because it has become desensitised to that wavelength (because of the predominance of blue light from the sky). In photography the chemicals are formulated to be less sensitive to blue, to give the same colour balance in photographs as we see naturally.
 

Miffy

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Ok, is the sky blue because the blue wavelength is more easily scattered or is it blue because "light" (made up of all wavelengths) when scattered resolves to blue?

Also I always understood the human eye didn't see blue so well because it has become desensitised to that wavelength (because of the predominance of blue light from the sky). In photography the chemicals are formulated to be less sensitive to blue, to give the same colour balance in photographs as we see naturally.

Blue light is refracted to a greater extent so we perceive the sky as being Blue (I say perceive as we do not actually see colours, we see the different wave lengths of light and calculate the colour in our brain)
 
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tode

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Blue light is refracted to a greater extent so we perceive the sky as being Blue

The sky is blue (hopefully :rolleyes: ) because the blue light is scattered by the gas molecules of the atmosphere. It has nothing to do with refraction.

For the same reason, the Sun (again, hopefully) appears yellow, because the blue light has been scattered from the direct sunlight. :D
 

whitenemesis

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Blue light is refracted to a greater extent so we perceive the sky as being Blue (I say perceive as we do not actually see colours, we see the different wave lengths of light and calculate the colour in our brain)

Don't go there...

One of my favourite subjects. Do you see colour the same as I do? We both call it the same name 'cos that's what we've been told it is BUT do I see blue as blue or as green???
 
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Shorter wavelengths are more easily deflected than longer ones. The blue end of the spectrum is the shorter end.

I have seen some Ebay sellers advertising 12000K lamps. They must be completely sh*t! I am tempted to buy a pair just to see how bad they are. Although I could get exactly the same effect if I simply stuffed my projectors full of blue/purple Quality Street wrappers.
 
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Just to conclude on this story, a quick report on night driving following the fitting of 5000K lamps.

The motorway signs light up possibly even better than with the 6000s, and there is a much better illumination of the road ahead too. No other passing cars' beams 'outshone' the patch mine were lighting.

At one point, a car in front flashed his rear foglamp, and I feared he was flashing me because I was dazzling him. But no one else did, so I'll put that one down to him knocking the switch by accident I think.

So in summary - result! 5000s are the way forward.
 

Frontstep

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Well my top tip as we all get ourselves a pair of 5K's to replace our ageing bulbs is,
put the plasters on your hands before you take the bulbs out.
Happy Christmas.
 

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well worthy of reading this, always thought my factory HID's were not all that great, probably because they are over 8 years old.....!!!!!!

Best i get some new ones ordered up.

anyone recommend WHERE to get these? Ebay was the obvious choice, but thre can be some right load of rubbish off there, and who knows the 5000k ones will be 5000k when they are from some shed in china!
 
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I'm pleased people have found this thread useful. :)

For the record, I bought my lamps from here. And they're cheap - £10 for the pair at the time. Anyone who spends dealer prices for a headlight lamp must be completely hat stand!
 

Still Learning

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I'm pleased people have found this thread useful. :)

For the record, I bought my lamps from here. And they're cheap - £10 for the pair at the time. Anyone who spends dealer prices for a headlight lamp must be completely hat stand!

Arse! I bought mine for £55 :Oops:

Is the hype about 'chinese' bulbs being no good unjustified?

Actually I think you have answered that. Double arse! :Oops:
 

Spannaz

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would be interesting to see how these cheaper ones compare to say an Osram or Philips made unit.! Wonder if it really is worth paying the extra, or are the cheaper ones making unfounded claims of output and colour range?
 
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I think you are right to be wary.

I deal with a Chinese component manufacturer in my own business, and I went to a LOT of trouble to make sure all the claims could be substantiated. I would not take their word for it without checking myself. And as you rightly assume, there is a lot of complete junk out there.

So the same philosophy can (and should) be brought to the world of automotive lamps.

For my part, I thought £10 a pair was worth a punt regardless! In my comparison test, my original worn 4300s are OEM Philips.

Another point worth considering is that even the biggest lamp manufacturers (naming no names) are not exempt from making exaggerated claims on their lamp's performance, so why only single out the cheapo ones for suspicion?

A bit like MB and their mpg claims... :Oops:
 
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television

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I bought an inductance meter from China for £9 as against about £300 from anywhere in the UK, it is accurate on the 10 known coils that I tested it on
 

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