HID & Weather
10-21-2008, 02:00 PM
#1
Staging Lane
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HID & Weather I'm looking into HIDs and have done some reading on them and came across concerns when it is raining. Has anyone had a problem with HIDs in the rain?
10-21-2008, 02:12 PM
#4
I have learned that warm white light or lower Kelvin is better than higher ones during wet weather.
I've driven my car in the rain w/ HIDs although its still reflects white light on the road it isn't as prominent as the yellow halogen stock lights my camaro had before. It gets worse with higher Kelvin.
I've driven my car in the rain w/ HIDs although its still reflects white light on the road it isn't as prominent as the yellow halogen stock lights my camaro had before. It gets worse with higher Kelvin.
10-21-2008, 02:27 PM
#5
Actually there is some truth to this. Since HID is such an intense focused light (even more so with proper projector housings), the rain water drops act like a prism and disperse the light beam so you have less usefull light on the road. Also due to this, the rain can introduce additional glare on you (the driver) and on comming traffic, though with proper projectors the cutoff will limit the glare to headlight level and below.
With that said though, most of us usually drive a little slower in the rain at night, so not having the extra sight distance that HID offers durring normal conditions probably isn't as big of a deal.
I definately notice a decrease in light with my HID TSX projector retrofit (4300k bulbs) in bad weather, but again not driving like a nut in bad conditions will help keep everyone safe.
Hope that helps a little
With that said though, most of us usually drive a little slower in the rain at night, so not having the extra sight distance that HID offers durring normal conditions probably isn't as big of a deal.
I definately notice a decrease in light with my HID TSX projector retrofit (4300k bulbs) in bad weather, but again not driving like a nut in bad conditions will help keep everyone safe.
Hope that helps a little
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10-21-2008, 02:51 PM
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Lights are usually worse in the rain anyway unless they are literally yellow 3000k-3800k or so. As has been stated, the lower the Kelvin the better you're going to be in the rain/fog.
10-22-2008, 01:06 PM
#10
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the bluer the hids, the more the blue light will disperse in the rain droplets equaling less overall light to see. The lower the kelvin/the whiter the light, the more overall light output you'll have. Hope this helps.
