Why are my hids so weak?
 

Hey everyone, I right now am running 10000k JW Motorsports hids and to be honest I can barely tell the difference. I bought 6000k bulbs about 3 months ago and they were great, they lit up everything on the road. But I decided that I wanted a more blue "hue" to it so I ordered 8000k bulbs last week, after installing them I realized they they were identical to my 6000k bulbs I even double checked them to make sure that I hadn't gotten them mixed up, I didn't :shakes head: so fast forward 24 hours and I installed 10000k bulbs which are in my car now and at least now I can tell that they have some blue in them.

Do I need a ballast kit? A couple of my buddies are running 8000k bulbs in their cars and it's ridiculous how much of a difference there is from mine. Unless my eyes are just playing a trick on me or that I'm just colored blind but I think that there is supposed to be a little more to these lights. Anyways advice is appreciated and I think I might just sell my old bulbs now and try to make the ones that I have now functional.

Thanks :tiphat:

Are you using the stock HID ballasts? I'm not sure what they are able to handle when it comes to Kelvins, but I don't recall that being an issue. Are the HID bulbs from a reputable brand? Your buddies could be running 55w ballasts as opposed to the standard 35w ballasts that are in most cars OEM or in aftermarket kits. Remember that anything above 4300K will have a lower light output.

These bulbs are from JW Motorsports, a forum sponsor and they are pretty cheap bulbs so that's what I'm hoping is the issue, that I am just getting what I paid for and if that is the case I'll do some upgrades. I get how the light outputs work but it's just odd that even though I have changed these bulbs 3 times now, there is still no significant difference between them. But I know that other forum members here have gone with these same bulbs and I'm wondering if they did anything to them to make them stronger.

And yes I am using the stock ballast in my car

Something to read that will answer your question

What are HID Lights

:inoutroflpuke:

let me list out everything thats wrong with this quite simply. please dont take it personally. i am only trying to answer your original question

1. Kelvin does NOT mean brightness. optimal "lumens" occur at around 4300k.
2. 6000k temperature lights will decrease brightness minimally, ballpark/out of my *** % would be decrease lumens by 10%
3. 10000k temperature lights will effectively kill your lumen output by (again ballpark/out of my *** %) 40%
4. Stock bulbs are PHILIPS, 4300k. These will be the absolute brightest bulbs you can get
5. JW motorsports probably sold you cheapshit chinese HID bulbs for 20-40 dollars. with HID's, you get what you pay for
6. the blue-est, brightest bulbs you can buy are these - Philips 66240 CBI. they are rated at 5000k and will probably last you the life of your car.
7. the reason your friend's bulbs probably look brighter are because they're putting HID's in non HID projectors. reflectors and halogen projectors focus hotspots in front of your car. HID projectors project a wide, evenly distributed, and farther reaching light

... They're WEAK or not BLUE enough


For a 10k rated bulb, you're in the ballpark of blue, and BTW, illegal for CA, not sure if you care...

If you're saying they're WEAK, like not enough light output, you get less output the "bluer" your lights get

I have all the information in my head I just don't know how to properly type it out. I get that the more "blue" you get the light output gets worse. I know that going from stock to 10k is going to make the out put "weaker" meaning that my light beam isn't going to reach as far. I was just wondering if I was the only person with this set up (meaning that I wasn't seeing any differences between the bulbs and wondering if it was because of my set up)

Thanks for the advice though. I'll probably upgrade the hid but try to stay in the 10000k range so that I don't get myself into too much trouble. And I guess I was saying that they weren't as blue as I thought they would be. The light output isn't too bad for me I just wanted a more blue light which is why I have gone form 6-8-10k bulbs

But again. Thanks for the advice and I'll try to sort all of this out this weekend

Looks pretty fuckin blue to me... I wouldn't be comfortable driving around if those were the only lights that were on the road (meaning no street lights)

:iagree::roflpuke2: Couldnt have put it better brother. I looked at the pics before reading any posts and thought to myself "holy crap that is blue"

I admit that they finally look blue, but at the same time I think that the photo gives them more credit than they deserve. But we'll see what happens

If you come to LA give me a holler, lol I'll give you the DL

Ha alright if I ever get up there I'll try. In the mean time I'll try to get some better photos with my real camera and see if I can clear all this up

10k bulbs most of the time mean terrible light output. That's just how it is.

If you want more light output, you need to move way down.

Okay I'll say it again, I understand the light output "scale". My question isn't pertaining to the output but the color. It's not as blue as others I've been seeing.

Comparing your photos to others on google, it doesn't seem too far off. Maybe you need 12ks.