Quote:
Originally Posted by TIGGER
Well, Mr Engineer... It's a well know fact that HID, florescent, etc lights require LESS current. That's why all the tree huggers want us to change to them! I mean he has a 35 watt system which means that it uses 35 watts right? What size bulb did he take out? Hmmm...55 watts, right? So which uses MORE power? I will ALWAYS admit that most of you here have more education than me BUT I have way more hands on experience than most on this site, so nyah!!! Besides, some of the old systems were using inferior ballasts which caused lots of problems including battery issues... Quite frankly, even if HID ballasts drew DOUBLE the current of stock bulbs, I don't see how having it on for 5 seconds before you start your bike... Not to mention that almost all motorcycle electrical systems cut power to the headlights during startup. Lastly, do you also believe that if you start your bike with the light set to "high" you'll ruin your battery?  Shit back in the day we all used to run 100 watt bulbs in our bikes... |
Do you know what starting amps is? An HID takes considerably more amperage to fire the ballast than pretty much any other light bulb on the market takes to warm up. Which is why I said it takes a lot to fire the ballast in my original post..... You are actually firing the ballast twice when your lights turn on and you start the bike after it fires as Kerry said it also wears on the bulbs life span from the on/off/on cycling of the bulb and ballast...
watch the ammeter on start up of a ballast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCqjSLUIkjk