cephraim

Hi,

Replaced my highbeam bulbs in my '00 with the appropriate Xenon 5000K replacement bulb (forgot which one it was). They look great when I use my highbeams - bright white.

However, when they are used as DRLs, they are back to the dull yellow color.

Are others experiencing this as well?
Are these bulbs run at lower wattages when in DRL mode?
Has anyone found a Xenon that still looks white in DRL mode?

Thanks,
Eph

trtiron

The lights run at lower voltage. The ones I got from ebay look white.

cephraim

Which ones did you get and how much were they?

wwest

Xenons, actual ones anyway, will not operate "yellow". The ballast either strikes the arc or not, and if the arc is struck it will be bright white.

Welding rod type of arc, except contained inside a glass encapsulation surrounded with regenerative gases.

CK1_RX3

I think you're talking about HID "lookalike" bulbs, right? Correct me if you're talking about true HID Xenon bulbs...
In the case of the first situation, do the bulbs you bought have a blue coating on the outside? What brand did you get? If they have a blue coating on the outside like Razo's or APC bulbs, then they SHOULD appear white even when you run your DRL's... Adding blue color to a yellow light color (resulting from the fact that the DRL's run at lower wattage) yields white... Just like adding a "bluing" agent to laundry detergent gets the yellow out of your white t-shirts. However, if you got an HID "lookalike" such as the Phillips Silverstars, that one does NOT have a blue coating on the outside and will still appear yellow when run at lower voltage.
Now, if you have TRUE HID Xenon bulbs (i.e. NOT lookalike replacements), then I've wasted my breath (or keystrokes in this case) as I have no idea what advice to give you there.
Either way, GOOD LUCK!
ck

squarehat

I don't think true HID systems are designed to be run at partial power, because of the way the current from the ballast is required to produced the discharge arc . (In most vehicles, DRLs simply run high beams at 35% power, I believe). Also, because of the warm-up time of HIDs, they're not good for use in high beams that need to be turned on rapidly. That is why cars with bi-xenon systems (MB SL500, BMW M3, Saab 9-5), have an additional halogen high beam bulb for flash-to-pass.

cephraim

They're "Farenheit" Xenon filled bulbs with blue tips.

I got them from http://got-xenon.com/


They are tinted blue, but they still appear yellow as DRLs.

Are you saying this shouldn't be?

What brand of "look-a-likes" have people tried that stay white as DRLs?

Thanks,
Eph

CK1_RX3

Hmmm... I know that ObiDon swapped his high beam/DRL's out for some 100 watt blue 9005 bulbs with *I think* good results in getting a more white color... not positive. Also not sure what brand he used...

Some "Xenon HID Lookalikes" have a deeper blue color than others - the APC bulbs are VERY blue and so are the RAZO's... I'm not just talking about a blue tip on the bulb like you said yours are - all of the glass is actually deep blue colored. Look here for a perfect example

http://www.optauto.com/webstore/prod...k=yes&dept=352

I'm not saying that your DRL's couldn't still look a bit yellow because of running at the lower wattage, but at the very least the blue glass over a yellow light should whiten it up a bit...