So for the headlight angel eyes in the BMW I'm running eBay HIDs. Last spring one burnt out so I decided to replace everything and just bought a new kit in 5000k to get white light.
I get them and they're green. Like a blueish green but they say 5000k on them. Needless to say, not what I wanted. So I order just a pair of 5000k bulbs off eBay, assuming that mine were from a bad batch. Better but the guy sends me 6000k and insists that they're identical. Well, I've sold thousands of kits through W Body Store. I know they're not but still, they're blue-er than I'd expect even for 6000k.
So I've been twiddling my thumbs instead of ordering a new pair and then today a ballast goes out. So I replace it with one of my W Body Store 35w ballasts. Bam. That angel eye is now white. It's so much whiter than the other one that the other one now obviously looks blue. Every time I pull up to a car I have a blue and white reflection looking back at me. It's really obvious.
So I get home and for shits and grins I swap out the other ballast to see if maybe the reason my lights were blue was because of the ballasts. So I swap it, turn on the lights and now the other one is white too. So it was a ballast problem.
So what happened? I haven't kept up on HIDs all that much and we've always sold the 35w setups at W Body Store but I know that 55w setups came out a few years back. But the lights are brighter (and whiter) with my 35w ballasts from our kits. The ballasts that came with them are unlabeled but they can't be less than 35w right?
Here's the other thing, I thought HIDs either worked or they didn't. As in, if they ignited then they were working at full capacity and if they didn't ignite then they weren't working at all. I.E. there's no "partially working" HID unless you're dealing with a bulb that's at the end of it's life cycle and changing color.
I almost wonder of quality control on the eBay kit I originally put in was so wretched that the ballasts weren't even 35w.
I get them and they're green. Like a blueish green but they say 5000k on them. Needless to say, not what I wanted. So I order just a pair of 5000k bulbs off eBay, assuming that mine were from a bad batch. Better but the guy sends me 6000k and insists that they're identical. Well, I've sold thousands of kits through W Body Store. I know they're not but still, they're blue-er than I'd expect even for 6000k.
So I've been twiddling my thumbs instead of ordering a new pair and then today a ballast goes out. So I replace it with one of my W Body Store 35w ballasts. Bam. That angel eye is now white. It's so much whiter than the other one that the other one now obviously looks blue. Every time I pull up to a car I have a blue and white reflection looking back at me. It's really obvious.
So I get home and for shits and grins I swap out the other ballast to see if maybe the reason my lights were blue was because of the ballasts. So I swap it, turn on the lights and now the other one is white too. So it was a ballast problem.
So what happened? I haven't kept up on HIDs all that much and we've always sold the 35w setups at W Body Store but I know that 55w setups came out a few years back. But the lights are brighter (and whiter) with my 35w ballasts from our kits. The ballasts that came with them are unlabeled but they can't be less than 35w right?
Here's the other thing, I thought HIDs either worked or they didn't. As in, if they ignited then they were working at full capacity and if they didn't ignite then they weren't working at all. I.E. there's no "partially working" HID unless you're dealing with a bulb that's at the end of it's life cycle and changing color.
I almost wonder of quality control on the eBay kit I originally put in was so wretched that the ballasts weren't even 35w.
all these aftermarket HID kits come from the same chinese factory. 
