H.I.D's turning headlight housing chrome white!?

[KingSpence]

So I have been running 6000k HID's in my Land Cruiser for the past 10 months, I was originally using ARB IPF H4 headlight housings, but about two months back I noticed the chrome inside was starting to turn white. That sounded fair to me, the casings had to be close to ten years old. I installed a set of new Peterbilt diamond clear H4 casings, and everything worked great. I'm driving around town tonight beside a newer Chevy Duramax with HID's, we both have the same colored cars about ten car lengths ahead of each other, and I think to myself, "Why do my HID's suck so much?"

After work a buddy dropped by Panago, he has the same brand HID's in his Jeep and we parked equal distance from a wall, his lights have got to be at least double the brightness. WTF! When I took a look at my headlight housing, the whole top half where the low beam reflects from on the chrome in the casing is white as white. These casings are two months old, buddy has been running his Hella housings for the past two years and they show no signs of whiting.

Whats the deal with my HID's? Do HID bulbs run hotter? I always understood they ran cooler. What could be causing them to turn my casings white? The light output is horrible, but I'm leading to belive that it's because my casings are white and not reflective chrome anymore.

 

[lonelydriver]

maybe something is burning? causing the smoke/fumes to fog up the reflectors? and you're right most hid's are 35watt so they do run cooler...

 

[KingSpence]

Here are a few pictures. The passenger side is much whiter than the driver side too, on both casings. I replaced the passenger side IPF with a new casing. the driver side isn't too white yet, but it seems to send a blotch scatter of light above the cutoff line, I'll grab a picture in the dark. The IPF casings have a metal back and glass lens, the Peterbilt's have a glass lens and plastic backing.

This is the Peterbilt casing I pulled, when I touched the chrome with my finger it came off as a powder. Even the glass around the top has some whiting on it.

Here is the worst IPF casing I replaced, its tough to see the whiting because of the cutoff lines.

 

[klinetime574]

Are you running a 55W kit?

I have 35W 6K's and I can feel heat outside of the headlight. But my housings are not doing what yours are doing.

Try a better brand, Hella, Roundeyes, etc

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Those IPF's aren't a cheapo light. I'm also very curious why yours are doing that, since I'm just about to pull the trigger on some HID headlights as well.

TK

 

[mmw68]

interesting. Iam running HID's in my FJ62 for over a year, and I have not had these issues. The housing is a off brand from e-bay.

yesterday I had to replace one of the bulbs after almost a year.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/365195-hid-install-fj62-daylight-night.html

 

[klinetime574]

Those IPF's aren't a cheapo light. I'm also very curious why yours are doing that, since I'm just about to pull the trigger on some HID headlights as well.

TK

I was referencing the peterbuilt housings not the IPF's, I guess I didn't think out that statement very well.

It is kinda weird that would happen, I have Autopal ebay housings, and I have no whitening of the housing.

Maybe it has to do with his climate?

 

[kling-on]

Hella H4 housings over a year ana I run em day and night no white out here strange

 

[KingSpence]

I ran the IPF's with the HID's for the whole summer and up until December, on and off road, but they never got any water in them. I've been running the Pete's since then, it's winter here so the temp has been between -5 and -35 degrees Celsius.

Someone suggested that this could be caused from the HID's emitting too much UV rays, can anyone verify that statement if it's true or not?

 

[Benjaman]

So I have been running 6000k HID's in my Land Cruiser for the past 10 months, I was originally using ARB IPF H4 headlight housings, but about two months back I noticed the chrome inside was starting to turn white. That sounded fair to me, the casings had to be close to ten years old. I installed a set of new Peterbilt diamond clear H4 casings, and everything worked great. I'm driving around town tonight beside a newer Chevy Duramax with HID's, we both have the same colored cars about ten car lengths ahead of each other, and I think to myself, "Why do my HID's suck so much?"

After work a buddy dropped by Panago, he has the same brand HID's in his Jeep and we parked equal distance from a wall, his lights have got to be at least double the brightness. WTF! When I took a look at my headlight housing, the whole top half where the low beam reflects from on the chrome in the casing is white as white. These casings are two months old, buddy has been running his Hella housings for the past two years and they show no signs of whiting.

Whats the deal with my HID's? Do HID bulbs run hotter? I always understood they ran cooler. What could be causing them to turn my casings white? The light output is horrible, but I'm leading to belive that it's because my casings are white and not reflective chrome anymore.

Crappy bulbs from China will out gas, causing a white film.

I've used these on a few rides over the last few years, never any issues.


Results for 35W HID Bulbs

 

[Mark W]

Did you use any sealant of any sort to keep water from getting in around the bulbs? If so, the evaporative components of the sealant may have attacked the thin coatings on the reflectors.


Mark...

 

[CliffClaven]

This may be way left field, but could your reflective coating being corroding? Maybe there is a wiring rubbing somewhere? The white powder looks like the stuff (a salt) that develops on a battery terminal? All you really need for that to happen is metal and an electrolyte (H2O)...the electrical current just helps speed up the process by supplying energy.

Like I said it's way left field but not entirely impossible.

As for your lights not performing like the Chevy pick up you were next too, this could be simple. You don't have projector headlights. If the pick up had factory HID's it would have had projectors. The light is being directed differently in a projector than with a regular housing. Think of a projector as a way to focus light. Another factor could be that his lights are 55W and yours are 35W.

Someone mentioned "cheap Chinese" bulbs. Just because it was made in China doesn't mean it's garbage. I've purchased $40 HID kits and $150 HID kits. The $40 kit on my BMW outperforms my previous kit that was three times as much. With that being said, factory HID systems tend to perform the best.

When I purchase an HID kit for my FJ60 I will also use relays from the battery so that I don't damage the wiring harness and I'll get 7" round projector headlight housings.

Take my advice or leave it, but I'd been using aftermarket HID kits for many years and I've been down this road before (never with a Toyota).

 

[shancerlelby]

I've heard some odd things about hids from time to time so take them with a grain of salt. One that comes to mind is the uv light thing and how it breaks down plastic lenses faster than their halogen counterparts, i've heard that quite afew times. See if you can talk to any truckers that run hids and what housings they preffer. I see them alot now on all the log trucks and highway trucks around here. I know for sure that 99% of guys swear by glass housings and clear protection overtop. Not sure about the housings themselves tho.

 

[CliffClaven]

Here is a bit of info I found on the UV output of different HID bulbs and ballasts at different wattages.

HID bulbs, UV measureing test

UV light has been known to degrade plastics over time; however I don't think it's UV light emitted from an HID bulb that is causing this outcome. One of the most easily degraded placstics (from UV) is epoxy. Epoxy has almost no tolerance to UV. Polyester and Urethane are a lot better than Epoxies at putting up with UV. Polycarbonate materials run the gambit though. There are many different grades of poly carbonate and some are garbage. Plastics that use recycled products are usually the worst.

I'm not sure how much UV your headlight is getting from the sun, but it has got to be loads more than you're seeing with your headlight usage and the link above says the same thing. My plastic headlights on the BMW have been fine after using HID's for many years.

I don't know anything about plastic though, I only spent two full years studying plastic in college.

 

[VTCDN]

Another Deep Read !!

I wonder if it has to do with temp and moisture also.
Wet coast of North America , & i live in a rain forest.
Seems my new lenses are internally fogging up.

VT

 

[KingSpence]

It's odd because I swiped the inside of the casing to see if the chrome would come off, and it was perfectly shiny underneath. I took some hot water and thoroughly rinsed the inside of the casing and almost all the white disappeared, I used my finger on a soft cloth and was able to get the rest of the deposits off. The inside of my casings smelled "salty" as well. Could my bulbs maybe be leaking?

 

[sl33py]

Could it be condensation and due to your salty environment the salt condenses into this white powdery substance?

the heat from the lamp dries the air leaving behind the salt? Maybe try sealing up the back of the bulb housing to see if it helps?

just a shot in the dark... GL!