Written by Kelvin

Are you planning to upgrade your car lighting system from halogen to HID, or high intensity discharger? If so , you are on the right move, as HID is getting more and more popular now, many new car models are all equipped with HID lighting from the factory, because HID lights bring a better light intensity with a lower power consumptions. Here are some things you should know before purchasing a HID conversion kits for your car.

Four Common HID Kits

1 . Single Beam Kit, comes with 2 pairs of HID bulbs, 2 ballasts.

(if your vehicle uses 2 pairs of bulbs, 1 for low beam and the other for high beam, you can take this single beam hid kit for your low beams.) Common Bulb sizes are H1, H3, H4-1, H7, 9004-1, 9005, 9006, 9007-1 and so on.

2. High/Low Beam - Hi/Lo Kit, comes with 2 pairs of HID bulbs (one HID and one halogen on each HID bulb to perform the high and low beam function, Halogen for high beam and HID for low beam.) and 2 ballasts. Common bulb sizes are H4-2, 9004-2, 9007-2.

3. Telescope Kit: Single HID can switch between high beam and low beam, with 2 ballasts and installation clamps. Common bulb sizes are H4-3, 9004-3, 9007-3.

4. Bi-xenon Kit: 2 HID bulbs on each bulb, which works for high and low beam, with 4 ballasts and installation clamps. Common bulb sizes are H4-4, 9004-4, 9007-4.

Most of the HID Conversion Kits on the market are 35W/12V, you need 24V for a truck. Some hid kits are using 55W, so buyer has to read the specifications carefully.

Color Temperature:

HID Color temperature refers to the degrees (K) , which simply the measures of the color for the lighting output, like golden yellow, white, crystal white, blue …

Degree (k) refers only to the color, while lumen refers to the lighting intensity. So the higher the color temperature (degrees K) doesn’t mean a higher light intensity (lumen). Here is the summary for the common color temperature on the market --

3000K (Golden Yellow) , 4300K (Bright White), 5000K (white), 6000K (Crystal White),8000K (Crystal Blue), 10000K (Aqua Blue), 12000K (Purple-Blue).

5000K or 6000K are the most popular color temperature, and if you are planning to buy the hid kits with 10000K or over, please be careful about the legal issue in your country. Most of the 12000K or 14000K (purple) are using off road only.

Warranty:

You can get the HID Kits on EBay or other auction sites at a cheap price, but warranty issues would always be a big problem. So buy it from a reliable shop or online store would be the best choice because you will have a better follow up for the warranty issues.