Are these the same? I thought HID's were the white lights u see on higher end model cars while XENONs were just the bulbs you buy to make your regular halogen lights look more white like HIDs.

I've seen someone on here refer to their Z lights as XENON and it confused me cuz Nissan calls them HID lights.

 

HID = High Intensty Discharge.

HID technology is not only used in automotive applications, but various others. The noble gas used by HID lamps varies, but in automotive applications xenon gas is the one being used.

There are halogen bulbs that ALSO have a slight mixture of xenon has, very very low content of this gas. They claim these bulbs give off more light because the xenon gas allows the filament to burn cooler so they can bump up the light output without sacrificing the lifespan of the bulb. Hence, the reason you see Halogen bulbs marketed with the words "XENON" on them.

There are a lot of no-name manufacturers releasing blue-coated halogen bulbs and selling them as xenon, this is false advertisement. Most of these companies dont even advertise them in english, its no wonder they end up on the shelves with the only english word being XENON.. to fool consumers into buying them, thinking they are getting the real deal.

Thats the scoop. Buyer beware.

 

nicely said man.

 

ditto

 

agreed but which one is more powerful hid or xenon? Is bi-xenon any good?

 

In the automotive world, HID = XENON.. its much simpler to see it that way.

If I recall correctly, BI-XENON is a term used by manufacturers like Hella who create headlamps that use ONE HID bulb to emit high AND low beam lighting patterns. This is usually done with a servo and moveable shield, it shifts the lighting pattern.

Personally, I would ONLY trust bi-xenon setup if it came from a reputable manufacturer such as Hella, Philips, Sylvania. If its retrofit and being advertised as bi-xenon, I wouldnt touch that rubbish with a 10 foot pole. With HID, OEM is the only way to go.. they have the R&D and testing devices to create PROPER lighting patterns.

- Mike

 

Just to make this clear because some people don't seem to be able to pick it up from the previous excellent definition:

Xenon IS HID. HID is a category under which many different types of lightbulbs exist. Xenon is one of those types.