I know this sounds like it might be a dumb question, but I noticed that the HID headlights all seem to put out a blue light. Is there a reason for that that I am missing? I would think you would want a white light...

 

Yer likely seeing the refraction from the cutoff and lens periphery (think prism)

Most HID projectors have this color flicker attribute. It desireable.

4300K is yellow/white
5000K is pure white
6000K is rice blue

IF it's a PnP kt, anything goes as the QA is non-existent. Color temp accuracy is NIL. Folks even getshipped 2 bulbs with different colors

MGD

 

It depends on the kelvin value. Most of the HIDs that you are seeing then are probably above 5000k, which has been proven to actually give less valuable light than the 4300k range. Here is a reference:



I think I'm going to go with 15000k next

 

Nawwwww .. I hear'd 30,000K is the closest to cosmic radiation. That would be... well.... COSMIC . Like, Totally, eh?


MGD

 

Sold! 30,000k it is then

 

Yeah - nothin' like having gamma ray emitters fer headlights. Wouldn't need to worry aboot anyone in front of you - there won't be fer long.

And if you flashed an idiot coming towards you running PnP's , *poof*. No more glare


MGD

/threadjack

 

^ this.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...414&styleid=16
Go to post numba 9. It shows you what he is talking about

 

Technically, in pure numbers, white is the most common. OEM HID systems are required to be 4300K, nothing else. Combined with the 1% of ricers who run 6,000K or higher, white is still predominant. But there are others running blue, purple, etc. You are correct in that white is better. In fact, yellow is the best color for piercing black (think yellow versus white on a black chalkboard- yellow is easier for the eye to distinguish due to wavelength of the visible UV spectrum). But then again, like what others have said, when you put a light through a lens, it scatters it into different colors. This "flicker" occurs at the cutoff shield. Above the cutoff, most lights appear blue, but if you happen to be below the cutoff, you will see (for a very short while) a white color.

 

I think the biggest reason why you see a lot of blue headlights is (ok guys are you ready for this? This will be where you'll say oh yeah!) the bulbs color shifted.
Every bulb will color shift overtime. PNP bulbs will color shift more and a lot faster then OEM brand name bulbs.
So a 6000K PNP bulbs in headlights in 2 years or so will look 8000K and left longer 10000K.
A OEM BMW bulb in a projector will be 4300K at start. After 4-6 years, they will start to look white in the 5000K mark. After 6-8 years they will turn 6000k. and if still not changed you will see the BMW with around 8000K after 10 years or so. As the bulbs color shift the lumens also drop and you do not want that!

 

You will actually find some OEM that left over time turn pink.