HID

High Intensity Discharge Lighting (HID) has been around since they first introduced them (for cars) in the BMW 7 Series in the 1990s. You can now get them in an HID Conversion Kit for vehicle headlights (cars, trucks and motorcycles) and for driving lights, spot lights and a complete work light unit with HID’s already built into them.

You can convert halogen lamps in driving lights and spot lights into HID by changing the bulbs with a HID Kit by identifying your bulb type and buying an HID Upgrade Kit for it. With it, you can experience the powerful illumination of having HID’s.

You can also replace bulbs and ballasts in HID’s and get them delivered fast in Australia, or call us for free advice.

HID spare parts come in a variety of wattages, voltages, and bulb types, so check out exactly what you need before purchasing, or send us an enquiry so we can help you match the right HID’s for your application.

The advancements in HID’s for vehicles have extended to creating quick start or fast start HID ballasts and bulbs and can-bus compatible HID ballasts. Fast start is usually used for high beams, and can-bus kits are used for vehicles with automatic lighting systems on low beams.

Cabling, Relays, Connectors and Different Electrical System Information

We provide various types of cabling and connectors for HID Lights, depending on the requirement. For example, H4 HIDs come with a relay harness in the kit for switching between high and low beams, H7 HIDs don’t need a relay harness in the kit as they plug straight into your existing H7 headlight connector.

For driving lights and spotlights, most get high-powered HIDs to get maximum light output. These HID kits are pretty powerful, and we recommend getting an auto electrician to fit them if you are converting halogen globes in spotlights and driving lights to HIDs.

HIDs are polarity sensitive, whereas halogens are non-polarity sensitive, this means the auto electrician will have to modify your existing relay harness in the case of earth-switched systems so that the polarity is correct.

NOTE: Not all vehicle systems are earth switched, most are actively switched, so we recommend getting an auto electrician to check.

CONVERSION KIT BULB UPGRADES

An HID Conversion Kit replaces your standard halogen bulbs with High Intensity Discharge Bulbs.

The HIDs are driven by HID Ballasts that convert your vehicle's 12v or 24v system into a high intensity discharge of 23,000 Volts.

HID Bulbs have a different wattage and a HID Colour Temperature from between 3000k to 30,000k, (have a look at the HID Bulb Colour Chart). The best colour temperature for HID Bulbs is between 4000k and 6500k, which is warm white to cool white.

You can interchange some bulbs and ballasts with higher wattage or lower wattage bulbs and ballasts, but it can reduce the life of the bulb or change the colour temperature of the HID Bulbs. The pressure cylinders’ in HID bulbs generally get bigger as the wattage goes up, so although you can run a 35w bulb off a 55w ballast, if you tried to run a 35w bulb off a 100w ballast, it would blow to pieces.

HID ballasts come in 35w, 55w, and 100w. I have seen suppliers selling 120w and 150w ballasts, but to date, they are fake and will be only 100w.

You can upgrade halogen driving lights and spot lights to HID if you know what bulb is in it. You can generally take the bulb out and look at the part number. For cars, trucks and motorcycles, have a look in your owner’s manual, call the dealer with your VIN or have a look at the Bulb Application Guide on the Narva site or OSRAM site to see if you can find a listing for your vehicle.

The general range of available HID Bulbs are H1, H3, H4 H/L, H7, H9, H11, H13 H/L, H15, H16, HB1 9004, HB2 9003 (H4 H/L), HB4 9006, HB5 9007 H/L, 9012, 5202, 880 and 881 series.

Sometimes, with Driving Lights, Motorcycle HID Kits and car and truck HID kits, you may want to lengthen the distance from the bulb to the ballast or from the output of the vehicle's OEM headlight connector to the input of the ballast. You can do this by using HID Bulb Extenders or HID Ballast Extenders, you can find different cables in our spare parts section.

The extenders are 1mtr long and give you extra play if you want to mount the ballast further away than usual. The normal cables on bulbs and ballasts are around 600mm. You can also buy a H4 H/L HID Relay Harness if you need to replace an old H4 relay harness in your existing H4 HID kit. You can find a lot of accessories like HID Headlight Bulb Adapters in our HID Spare Parts section of the store. One other thing you might want to look at is the section for the different Wiring Diagrams for HIDs.

They are generally fairly straightforward, but if you have purchased a kit without a wiring diagram, or you have inherited a hand-me-down kit or are doing repairs, this section can be very helpful for negative switching systems or just to get your head around how they work.

Fast Start HID Ballasts are one of the latest technologies. A fast start ballast draws more current on start-up, which allows the bulbs to reach full brightness within a few seconds. The advantages of fast start ballasts are when you switch from high beam to low beam and then from low beam back up to high beam, with fast ballasts, you don't get a long delay to full brightness, which is more beneficial when driving on roads in dark country areas and you need to get the lights super bright, super-fast. Keep in mind that this is still not instant. If you need instant to full brightness, you might want to consider getting one of our high-powered LED conversion kits instead. You can find these in our store under LED headlight bulbs.

Fast Start HID Bulbs are another advancement in HID technology. The fast-start bulb aids in getting the bulb to full brightness and is especially good when coupled with fast-start ballasts.

Can-Bus HID Ballasts are used in vehicles that have a lighting system that comes on automatically. The vehicle's computer controls when to turn the lights on or off and in some cases on high-end vehicles, senses when you go through a dark tunnel and switches the lights on automatically.

Can-Bus means "Controller Area Network", and in the context of how they work in vehicles, the simple explanation is that they mimic the resistance, (and waveform), found in the filament of a halogen bulb, which the computer can read and, therefore, can switch the lights on or off automatically. 

So, if you convert bulbs from halogen to HID and your lights come on automatically, you will neean to get a kit with Can-Bus Ballasts. You can also get CaH4Bus Decoders or Can-Bus Error Cancelers that will do the same job if you have bought an HID Kit and find that your system is can-bus controlled.

Other systems that benefit from can-bus ballasts or decoders are some vehicles where that need a "load" to function correctly such as older vehicles.

HID DRIVING LIGHTS

The HID Driving Lights and Spot Light sizes are 4", 7" and 9". You can get a choice of different styles, how bright you want them, the type of beam pattern you need and whether you want them for 12v vehicles or 24v vehicles.

The advantage of HID over LED is that the Spot Light beams will give you much more distance than you would with LED. The high-intensity discharge is much more intense and penetrating than LED. On the downside, HID lights have more moving parts, which wear out quicker than LED but are also much cheaper to replace.

NOTE: The advancement of our LED products have come a long way, so if 55w in HID isn’t enough, you might want to consider switching to using LED.

You can get Wiring Diagrams for Driving Lights and Spot Lights by clicking on the link if you need to get information on the best way to wire them up.

HID Spot Lights and Driving Lights are generally wired up with a separate switch and can also be triggered off your high beam headlight connector. If you need extra Rocker Switches or Toggle Switches, you can have a look at the different products we supply in our online store.

The different beam types are called spot beam or pencil beam, wide beam, euro beam or flood beam. The pencil beam or spot beam is generally around 5 degrees and the bigger the face of the reflector (for example, 9" as opposed to 4") means that you will get a larger wash of light the further out the beam goes.

A Euro beam is the latest version of a wide beam, flood beam or spread beam. In the old days, a flood beam was dictated by a corrugated glass lens, these days, a euro beam has superseded this technology to give you a beam that goes further in distance than the old flood beam style but still gives you width across each side of the road.

In terms of brightness, you can get 35w, 55w and 100w. Most guys these days get 100w as they get a lot more light out the front of the vehicle, but if you’re on a budget, the 35w or 55w are still a good option.

To put it into perspective, use this guide on the different power ratings comparison.

35w HID is equal in brightness to a 150w halogen but uses 50% less power than your standard 55w halogen bulbs.

55w HID is equal in brightness to a 225w halogen but uses the same amount of power as your standard 55w halogen bulbs.

100w HID is equal in brightness to a 450w halogen but uses the same amount of power as your standard 100w halogen bulbs.

HID WORK LIGHTS

One of the first types of lighting to get an upgrade to HID was work lights. In the mining, agricultural and marine industries, getting more light was a must for better working conditions.

Some of the key aspects we have noticed over the years that these industries were looking for are more light, good beam pattern coverage and even scattering, the colour temperature of the bulbs in different working conditions, durability and weather protection.

The HID Work Lights Pro Vision Lighting supply has these key elements, which we have tried and tested over the years to make sure you get the most suitable products at the right prices.

All of our work lights have IP65-IP68 Ingress ratings for dust and waterproofing. Our Work Lamps that are used in high dust areas in the mining and farming industries are manufactured to ensure that they will not fail due to corrosion from water or from breaking down due to dust and dirt contamination.

Another aspect of the work lights we provide is that they need to be able to absorb or handle shock and vibration. Our Shock Proof Work Lights are generally tested for shock and vibration resistance to a minimum of 20Grms 24-2000Hz for mining and farming machines so that they will have a long life and so that you get your money’s worth before they have to be replaced.

The bulb colour temperatures for the HID lights are generally best used at between 4000k warm white to 6500k cool white. A lot of farmers and machinery operators go for the warmer white in high-dust areas, but it generally depends on the user's eyes.

Technically speaking, scientists tell us the best light for seeing the contrast of objects is around midday sunlight, which is around 5770k, so technically, anything around 6000k is the best light for us to see at night.

Regarding the different beam types for work lights. Most clients buy either the flood beam or the spot beam. Depending on the type of light you buy will determine what the beam pattern is.

For example; a rectangular light will give you more width than a square light. We find that farmers prefer the rectangular beamed lights for when lighting up larger areas. But in terms of getting more distance, you will always be better off getting a rectangular beam with a smooth reflector and a clear lens. Most of the flood beam lights have corrugated lenses for getting more spread out of the lights, but it does inhibit how much distance you will get out of them.

When using work lights for smaller areas, a simple square work light is ideal. They give a good concentration of light and also give you that flood effect to light up a broader area.

Most of the lights are made up of a durable Nylon housing, and the lenses are generally Polycarbonate or hardened glass. The mounting brackets are generally stainless steel and are built tough so as not to fall apart after the first week of use.

You can check out our charts or call us for advice if you need more information.

FAQs

WHAT IS HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE (HID) LIGHTING?

High Intensity Discharge (HID) lighting is an advanced lighting technology that replaces the filament in traditional halogen bulbs with an arc pressure cylinder with xenon gas. The HID system uses xenon gas and a ballast that ignites and sustains the electrical arc. This process produces an intense light that is significantly brighter than conventional halogen ones. Unlike traditional systems, HIDs emit light through an electric arc, resulting in improved brightness, efficiency and longevity.

WHY CHOOSE HID LIGHTS OVER OTHER TYPES OF LIGHTING?

HID lights offer a unique combination of brightness and efficiency. While LED lights are energy-efficient and durable, HIDs provide a higher luminous intensity, making them ideal for applications where increased visibility is crucial. HID lights are particularly favoured for automotive applications, offering a powerful and penetrating beam that enhances on-road and off-road visibility.

CAN I UPGRADE MY EXISTING HALOGEN LIGHTS TO HID LIGHTS?

Yes, upgrading your halogen lights to HID is a straightforward process. The conversion involves replacing the existing halogen bulbs with HIDs and installing an HID ballast. Pro Vision Lighting's HID conversion kits are designed for easy installation, allowing you to enjoy the benefits of HID lighting without complex modifications to your vehicle.

ARE HID LIGHTS SUITABLE FOR BOTH ON-ROAD AND OFF-ROAD DRIVING?

HIDs, including our high-quality HID Globes, are suitable for both on-road and off-road driving. The intense and focused beam produced by HID lights in the right application enhances visibility in various driving conditions, providing a clear view of the road or terrain ahead. HIDs are still the best bang for the buck and are great for spotlights and driving light upgrades. If you want to tackle rugged off-road trails, HID lights ensure a safer and more enjoyable driving experience.

HOW DO I IDENTIFY THE CORRECT HID BULB SIZE FOR MY VEHICLE?

Identifying the correct HID bulb size for your vehicle is crucial for a successful upgrade. To determine the right size, consult your vehicle's owner's manual, contact the dealer with your VIN number or visit the Bulb Application Guide on our website. Pro Vision Lighting offers a range of HIDs, including popular sizes like H1, H3, H4 H/L, H7, H9, H11, HB3 (9005), HB4, H13 H/L and more, ensuring compatibility with various makes and models.

CAN I REPLACE HID BULBS INDIVIDUALLY, OR DO I NEED TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE KIT?

Our HIDs are designed for easy replacement, allowing you to replace individual bulbs without the need to replace the entire kit. If a bulb needs replacement due to damage or wear, simply swap it out with new HIDs to maintain optimal lighting performance. This flexibility ensures a cost-effective and convenient solution for maintaining your HID lighting system.