Inadvertent HIR high beam heat test

[IdahoDoug]

On the way home from a night training ride on the mountain bike, I ran over a cat in the 80. I love cats and turned around immediately to see if I could find it and let an owner know. While knocking on doors, I left the car sitting with the high beams on for about 10 minutes. Walking back to the truck I was bummed as that's a good way to trash reflectors with high output lamps. Happily, all was well and though I would never have done this test intentionally, I thought I'd pass along that the HIRs put out low enough heat that this isn't a problem.

DougM

 

[landtank]

Help me out here Doug. What's the danger of having the highs on for 10 minutes parked over say a hour long drive through Death Valley in 140 Deg heat with them on?

 

[CharlieS]

Just a guess, but maybe more air movement and cooling? Even 143 degreeds F is probably a lot cooler than a headlight burns, so although the ambient temperature feels hot to us, it is probably enough to do some cooling.

Like I said, just a guess.

As a side note the HIRs are a heck of a lot brighter than the stock bulbs. And a relay setup (I got a used slee harness from another board member) seemed to add brightness. It helps a lot where I drive.

Charlie

 

[scottm]

On many airplanes there's a time limit on certain lights on the ground, the lenses overheat without airflow. I'd think the reflector and socket wouldn't care about airflow, since they're in the back of the lamp.

 

[e9999]

and the more efficient bulbs probably help there too since less energy is turned into heat

 

[cary]

The nice thing about the HIR bulbs over hi-watt bulbs is they put out no more heat than stock. Their long life, high lumen output, and zero risk of damage are the reasons I am so big on them over hi-watt bulbs. In BMW's there is an additional issue that hi-watt bulbs fry the LKM (light switch) but relays cause the computer to tell you the bulbs are burned out because the current draw isn't right. HIR's drop in and provide the increased light with no issues.


BTW, speaking of only using lights while movilng. I use a Light and Motion Arc (HID) lamp for my bike (it is a Welch Allen HID unit) which warns that it will overheat if left to sit for long periods without airflow.


Cary

 

[scottm]

In BMW's there is an additional issue that hi-watt bulbs fry the LKM (light switch) but relays cause the computer to tell you the bulbs are burned out because the current draw isn't right.

Just bypass the light switch with two relays, still running the power throught the computer. That's a good idea even with stock bulbs, those light switches are flaky and hard to replace.

 

[Montana Cruiser]

If there was even a chance that HIR's would cause a meltdown of some sort after ten minutes on high (which I doubt they would) it would not be an addition I want on my truck. A significant drop in reliability isnt an upgrade IMHO.

** Tech - I have always been under the impression the HIR's are more effecient and produce less heat then a standard bulb, no?

 

[cary]

A significant drop in reliability isnt an upgrade IMHO.

** Tech - I have always been under the impression the HIR's are more effecient and produce less heat then a standard bulb, no?

It is funny how many people don't get that basic concept of reliability. I see it all the time in the Mountain Bike world. People become so fixated on weight, they forget that if the bike breaks in the middle of nowhere, they will be stuck pushing it.

As far as heat output, I agree it may be slightly lower than stock. If I recall correctly, any energy not converted to light in a lamp is converted to heat. Since the HIR outputs more light, it seems reasonable that it would have slightly less heat. I could be completely wrong, so don't hold me to it.

 

[mot]

Doug,

So did you flatten the cat or nick/bump it?

Did you find the owner(s)? If not what did you do with the cat? j/k

When I saw the thread title I wondered what kind of highly-unlikely-scenario test you were going to run, only to find out that it happened by accident.

You disappointed me! ;p

Mot

On the way home from a night training ride on the mountain bike, I ran over a cat in the 80. I love cats and turned around immediately to see if I could find it and let an owner know. While knocking on doors, I left the car sitting with the high beams on for about 10 minutes. Walking back to the truck I was bummed as that's a good way to trash reflectors with high output lamps. Happily, all was well and though I would never have done this test intentionally, I thought I'd pass along that the HIRs put out low enough heat that this isn't a problem.

DougM

 

[IdahoDoug]

Rick/guys,

Regarding the 140 degree heat question, I don't know without actual testing what the difference would be, but it's my experience with high output lamps that air movement helps them shed heat. Guess if it's hot enough out, there'd be a point where air movement would actually be counter productive. A year or more ago, I put an infrared heat gun to a new 350Z's headlights and it came to something like 170 degrees. These were stock Xenons. Just a data point.

I'm not worried about the HIR's heat output, so hope I didn't imply that. I can feel that the high beams are nowhwere near as hot as the 100w high beams and actually have one 80 with HIR highs and one with 100w high beams right now to compare. I think the HIRs are a completely reliable upgrade. They've already run far longer than my last set of Hella bulbs, and my last set of German NARVA bulbs.

I did find the owners, and used yet another impressive light to help them find the cat in their field. I had my NiteRider HID Storm mountain biking lamp all set up on my bike helmet from the night ride I was returning from, so when I got out of the truck I tossed my pack and helmet back on. The road was empty, so when I glimpsed the cat I did a full on swerve knowing I'd put the fresh factory shocks on 1000 miles ago but it wasn't enough. The RR tire ran over some part of him, but he made it out into a field. The whole thing had a surreal quality because there were actually 2 cats and they were playing and sprinting side by side at the instant they came out of the darkness. When I turned around, the uninjured cat was standing by its hurt comrade but when I came near to confirm an injury it faded back and the injured cat sat there looking back at me and panted, trying once to crawl away. Not a good sign. I told the owners to bring a towel to pick it up with as an injured animal will bite/scratch even its owner. When they bent down to pick it up, the cat suddenly leapt up and ran off toward the house. They were relieved, but I replied that they should find it and that it would undoubtedly be seriously injured. I felt the tire bump over it and smelled the urine while I was turning around. Poor thing was running on pure adreneline and likely didn't survive an hour. No way a 5300lb truck cornering hard is going to be putting less than 1800lbs of downforce on that outside tire when it ran over whatever parts of the cat. Bummer. My cats got some extra attention when I got home. Totally drained me, and I frankly wish the cat had been in the road dead with a flat head versus that undoubtedly painful end. Yeesh. Why'd I bring this up again? Let's talk about something fun to counter it. Had an incredible road ride today on what was billed as the toughest road climb in the county. Gorgeous - narrow paved forest road with a white water creek alongside for most of the 7 mile grind. Average heart rate for me was 174 for 39 minutes. Another positive is that my brother in law's 287,000 mile 80 suddenly started puking coolant out of both top and bottom of the radiator and I happen to have one I just yanked to replace mine a couple weeks ago. Quick call to Cdan and the hoses and thermostat arrived today so we can toss it in Sunday. I'm actually looking forward to it. No surprise on looking forward to it, but part of my interest is in seeing what this beast looks like. Incredibly, the radiator is ORIGINAL.

DougM