http://wikicars.org/en/Bi-xenon_Headlamps

 

its bi-xeon bulb so it lights out of same housing/case. your problem/perception may have to do with auto-highbeam feature. if there are "bright" lights coming into your light sensor, it will turn-off/prevent high beam from coming on but "flashing" feature still works. For example, you are inside your home garage with garage lights on and facing the wall. Another; mall parking lot with bright street lights, or vehicles near your RX with headlights on. its sensative enough to prevent highbeam from working even in streets with street lights. Test it in places where there are absolutely no lights and your highbeam should work beautifully.

 

you are correct if you are referring to hi-lo xeon kit online for $50. our RX have bi-xeon meaning there are two conductor inside just like halogen bulb that has two filament. bi-xeon mean both low and hi is xeon.

 

CWD
You sir are correct .

That's about the best explanation I've seen yet.

 

When I was a stagehand (close to 50 years ago!) I liked to work the spotlight from the rear of the auditorium. I would open the side of the light and insert two long carbon rods end to end with about an inch gap between them. I would then look through a sight glass similar to a welder's and turn a wheel that would move the rods closer. At some point an arc would develope and an intense light would project out of the light. I would back off on the wheel trying to find the minimum arc that would keep the light lit. The technology has moved ahead, but that is the principle that bi-xenons work under. (I'll bet they even have a tiny elf in there cranking that wheel )

 

Actually it wasn't a job. I was in 9th grade and I was asked to do it in school. It was not only fun, but it got me out of a lot of classes! I think they asked me because they knew I was into "techie" types of things since I was a ham radio operator. It was a lot of fun.

 

Interesting.

 

Dont these two contradict each other? Like the IS, the RX (and ES) only use xenon bulbs for low beam and a halogen bulb for the highbeam. the DRL is the halogen bulb in low output. Thus, they really are not true bi-xenon.

 

as cwd posted
"most of the bi-xenon on the market now don’t have a high and low power beam. When in low beam mode, it is just a shutter blocking out the high beam."

The RX has the shutter and an HID bulb used for both high and low beam.No halogen bulb high beam.

 

And to add to what you posted, when the headlights are on (with the HID option), the DRL's turn off and only the HID Xenon's and maybe the fogs are burning.

And agreement to what another poster said re: flashing the bulbs is not good for their life expectancy. I don't. In fact, I may start turning my switch to completely off when shutting down in the garage. Otherwise they turn on every time for a few seconds until I'm backed out into the daylight. With care to avoid 'short' burn times they may last forever .

 

,Jim!

 

Hope that they last forever! A problem developed with the BiXenons on my Audi and they had to replace both. The total cost was over $1000!! They offerred me something called "dealer participation" that brought it down to $500. I just got a letter from Audi that is now covering them under warranty so I should be getting a check.

The bottom line is that you want to take care of those things. They are not cheap to replace!!

 

I've got a feeling not much on these cars 'IS' cheap. Yep, thoughtful care in the operation is the way to go. And I'll probably want to keep it past the 5 year bumper to bumper too.

 

4/50 bumper to bumper.

 

double post