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  #21  
Old 09-18-2019, 10:03 PM
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HID (Xenon) should start out dim-ish then get brighter after a few seconds, as the arc temp builds etc. and the salts melt...

From Wikipedia...

Factors of wear come mostly from on/off cycles versus the total on time. The highest wear occurs when the HID burner is ignited while still hot and before the metallic salts have recrystallized.

At the end of life, many types of high-intensity discharge lamps exhibit a phenomenon known as cycling. These lamps can be started at a relatively low voltage. As they heat up during operation, however, the internal gas pressure within the arc tube rises and a higher voltage is required to maintain the arc discharge. As a lamp gets older, the voltage necessary to maintain the arc eventually rises to exceed the voltage provided by the electrical ballast. As the lamp heats to this point, the arc fails and the lamp goes out. Eventually, with the arc extinguished, the lamp cools down again, the gas pressure in the arc tube is reduced, and the ballast can once again cause the arc to strike. The effect of this is that the lamp glows for a while and then goes out, repeatedly. More sophisticated ballast designs detect cycling and give up attempting to start the lamp after a few cycles. If power is removed and reapplied, the ballast will make a new series of startup attempts.

Another phenomenon associated with HID lamp wear and aging is discoloration of the emitted light beam ("fading"). Commonly, a shift towards blue and/or violet can be observed. This shift is slight at first and is more generally a sign of the lamps being "broken in" whilst still being in good overall working order, but towards the end of its life, the HID lamp is often perceived as only producing blue and violet light. Based on Planck's law, this is a direct result of the increased voltage and higher temperature necessary to maintain the arc.
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  #22  
Old 09-18-2019, 10:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X5only View Post
Do I have fakes or what??

On the sealed box containing the xenon bulbs, there should be a unique code or scannable QR code (i don't recall which), that you can type in on Osram's website to check whether they are original or fakes.
The fact that Osram has gone through the trouble of providing that service tells a bit about how big a problem the fake 'Osram' xenon bulbs really is.
But seeing that you got yours from Powerbulbs.com, (just as i did myself) i would be very surprised if they were fake.


Both my ballasts are the originals from 2004.
My drivers side headlight and ignitor are also from 2004, whereas my pass. side headlight and ignitor was replaced in 2015 after a encounter with a suicidal deer.

Only visible difference between them is that the edges of the light pattern from the 2004 headlight is a bit smudged, due to all the small nicks and scrathes in the plastic.
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  #23  
Old 09-19-2019, 12:12 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freestyler View Post
On the sealed box containing the xenon bulbs, there should be a unique code or scannable QR code (i don't recall which), that you can type in on Osram's website to check whether they are original or fakes.
The fact that Osram has gone through the trouble of providing that service tells a bit about how big a problem the fake 'Osram' xenon bulbs really is.
But seeing that you got yours from Powerbulbs.com, (just as i did myself) i would be very surprised if they were fake.


Both my ballasts are the originals from 2004.
My drivers side headlight and ignitor are also from 2004, whereas my pass. side headlight and ignitor was replaced in 2015 after a encounter with a suicidal deer.

Only visible difference between them is that the edges of the light pattern from the 2004 headlight is a bit smudged, due to all the small nicks and scrathes in the plastic.
I just confirmed that the unique code on security label on the box is legit. Now I will need to uninstall the bulbs to verify the unique lamp data on lamp base to verify those are also legit Didn't know about www.osram.com/trust otherwise would have done it before install. My bad . But even if legit, I'm not happy with them.
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  #24  
Old 09-22-2019, 11:42 PM
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So confirmed that the Night breakers I have are genuine. However, I went ahead and threw them out replacing them with
Weisslicht's XenoFlo HID bulbs and installed their LED Halo bulbs. Oh my, oh my, what a difference! Pure white light versus the Night breakers yellowish white light. And the angel eyes are super bright to match. The halo lights are not overwhelmed by the headlights. The headlights illumination on the road is great and I wonder what all the hype is with the Night Breakers. I suspect they don't work well with all projectors, at least not mine which are factory adaptive xenon headlights. I'm very happy with the Weisslicht setup. Next up is to wire my new angel eyes as DRLs, now that they're nicely bright .

Now my Night breakers are for sale. Any one interested just PM with a reasonable offer.
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Last edited by X5only; 09-23-2019 at 12:39 AM.
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  #25  
Old 10-05-2019, 11:49 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X5only View Post
So confirmed that the Night breakers I have are genuine. However, I went ahead and threw them out...

I was going to recommend to you that you are free to experiment on my X5 with your night breakers with a side-by-side comparison...as I live in Bellevue as well.


What bulb number is the halo bulbs you ordered from Weisslicht? I was just about to order the Osrams and saw your thread, and am now reconsidering my whole light setup for this fall.


I like the headlights you selected, but for high beams I'll use the GM H1 bulbs as they are 2500 lumens @ 55w.
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Last edited by X5M-ISH; 10-05-2019 at 12:36 PM.
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  #26  
Old 10-05-2019, 03:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by X5M-ISH View Post
I was going to recommend to you that you are free to experiment on my X5 with your night breakers with a side-by-side comparison...as I live in Bellevue as well.


What bulb number is the halo bulbs you ordered from Weisslicht? I was just about to order the Osrams and saw your thread, and am now reconsidering my whole light setup for this fall.


I like the headlights you selected, but for high beams I'll use the GM H1 bulbs as they are 2500 lumens @ 55w.
https://weisslicht.com/products/weis...22512117973073

The halo LED bulbs are pricy at $169 but worth it. They cost more than the HID bulbs They are bright (white light) but not awfully bright. They look balanced and appealing as the above pics show, especially when the main beam is on too.
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Last edited by X5only; 10-05-2019 at 04:32 PM.
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  #27  
Old 10-07-2019, 03:48 PM
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What are you using for your high beams and fog lights? Did you need the additional accessories for lighting errors?
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  #28  
Old 10-07-2019, 09:00 PM
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No errors and no intermittent flash of the halos when engine is off. Fog lights bulb OEM, high beams for LCI X5 adaptive HID headlights uses the xenon bulb - there's a flap that opens when you turn on high beams giving you ultra high beams.
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  #29  
Old 10-07-2019, 09:08 PM
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My Weisslicht LED halos flashed only a couple of times when key was first turned on. I only noticed it when I was parked in front of a large window and I could see the reflection. I coded out the cold check procedure and problem solved.
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