Against all the good advice I get from this forum, (and anticipating the "I told you so" responses,) I installed an aftermarket HID lighting kit. I did the whole three-banger: Highs, Lows and Fogs.

Although the light output is fantastic, I'm more than a bit concerned about the delay in the bulbs' coming up to full brightness - a fact I learned after the installation.

When the lights are turned on, there is a delay of about two seconds for the bulbs to produce enough light to see the road, and about 8 seconds to reach full brightness. While this is fine in my driveway, in a parking lot, or at dusk, the danger comes during switching from lows to highs and back once on the roadway.

Suppose I'm driving along with my lows and fogs on. When I flip to high beams, the 2 second delay gives me a dead spot where it seems as if I turned my lights OFF until they get brighter. Later, when an oncoming car approaches and I flip back - you got it - nothing for the first 2 seconds.

If that were not bad enough, the time when one is most likely to dim their lights is around curves.

This problem goes away once the bulbs have "warmed up" for lack of a better term. In other words, they become just like ordinary headlights: instant switchover, with full brightness. But if either high or low beams are off for about a minute or so, they've "cooled" enough to recreate the problem.

Ironically, I bought the lights for safety reasons - the C5 headlights are horrible. And of course a simple solution is, "Don't use your high beams."

Anyway again, I didn't learn of this until after they were installed, so please try to keep comments constructive. That said, I think I'll don my fire-resistant clothing now.
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I had the same problem until I changed to projectors and better ballasts. Here's a link to HID forums ,parts, etc. http://www.theretrofitsource.com/resources.php

 

The 8 second to full brightness is normal.

The high beam thing is also normal since the lows go off with the high beams on the C5. You can install a harness which keeps your lows on with highs to help out.

Radioflyer offers them http://shop.radioflyerinnovations.co...arness-003.htm

 

For your problem, there are a few threads which display how to wire your lights so your high-beams won't kill your lows/fogs. That way, when you turn your highs off and on, thats all you are doing. (technically there are laws out there about having more than 4 forward facing lights on simultaneously, but how many people leave there highs on with oncoming traffic?) Anyway, heres the best thread. It may take some wire hunting to find the right ones with your set up, but their uses are the same.

Thanks Toque!!

(edit: or you could just buy Radioflyer's harness above... Posted while I was typing)

Side note, turning HIDs on and off while they are hot can shorten the bulb's life. You may consider leaving your high beams as halogens since they tend to have very quick on/off cycles.

HID wiki <--see "End of Life"

Either way, enjoy the midnight sun!

 

I'm curious why my ACA HID lows have a delay, while my HID fogs (same bulbs/temp) do not when all four bulbs use the same type of ballasts. Is it due to the harness connections required for the HID lows connected to the fuse box?

I noticed this immediately after I installed my HID kits in 2010. No biggie in terms of the delay, just something I have always been curious about. I like to know why things happen or don't happen.

 

The delay to full brightness an any HID headlights are normal. Some come to full brightness faster than others but all have a delay. We have HID's on our X5 that are factory headlights and they also have a delay, but do come to full brightness faster than the ones I installed on my C5. Thats just the nature of those lights and something you just have to get used to.

 

I think the ultimate combo is RadioFlyers bi-xenon ACA conversion + H4 harness. You get HID goodness for both lows and highs (No delay when switching from lows to highs). Plus, with the h4 harness, you can have the additional light output of halogens when your highs are on.

 

did my conversion yesterday. getting used to the way they function. before switching to only highs i pull back the arm to give them a few seconds to warm up...then push the arm forward to light the way. not quite aimed 100% yet but i will tweek them a little more tonight.

ps. where is the best place to splice in the resister for the open/close thingy. what color is the wire you spliced? turning them off and closing is not working the way i want them to work....switched OFF and then high beams switch forward to TRICK the system is gunna get old

 

I've always heard using hids on the highs is a bad idea anyways

 

That sounds like a good idea - as I recall, the lows stay on while the arm is pulled back, don't they?

I also heard it takes several hours of (accumulative) running before the HIDs reach their full potential. Can anyone shed some light on that theory?
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Every HID set-up will have a slight delay as they warm-up. The factory set-up on my DD is no different than my Corvette...both are just a few seconds to usable light. Never been an issue for me.

Regarding the high beams, the HI-4 harness is a good solution, but I chose to build a bi-xenon setup that uses the same projector to do both low & high beams:

low:



high:

 

I guess you won't need to worry about vampire strikes.

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Not at all. But in Michigan, we call them Deer strikes.

 

I fixed my pics on that thread...

Toque

 

I can't agree more....

 

 

This is why a lot of high/low bean HID retrofit kits have either a regular halogen bulb for high beam, or use a moving reflector screen, which can either be built into the bulb, or built into the projector. That way no bulb turns on/off when you flip on your high beams, just the internal reflection of the lense changes to direct light upward.

I have an HID headlight on my motorcycle which does this. Its a cheap one, so the solenoid is a little slow, but its a similar effect to flashing your high beams.

 

Is there a concern regarding the heat from all four bulb heating the plastic, or the power harness's ability to handle the current?
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I'm not very familiar with all of the kits, but i was given a low beam kit from a local store with the wiring harness.

To my surprise the stock wiring is bypassed except one connection to the left/pass headlight connection which I am guessing allows the lights to come on/off with the switch and the up/down to work.

Install was simple, very good ballasts included, and they are awesome. Very little delay in warm up.

 

While a Projector HID setup is the best option for performance, your immediate problem could be solved by my Hi-4 harness. This device plugs into your under hood fuse box and keeps the low beams on when you switch to high beams.

http://www.shop.radioflyerinnovation...arness-003.htm

The heat produced from HID bulbs is focused in the arc capsule and dissipates quickly unlike the radiant heat from the burning filament in a halogen bulb. Since the factory reflectors do just a bang-up crap job of focusing light, the energy is never as focused as much as it is inside the bulb so heat will never be a problem for the lenses.

I should also note that If you decide to upgrade to the ACA Bi-xenon headlights I offer, I can offer you a discount of the purchase price of the Hi-4 harness if you already have this (it's part of the ACA Bi-x Kit)

I will be running a GP on these next week with a Christmas discount price:

http://www.shop.radioflyerinnovation...lights-015.htm