Eric

Hi all,

Any idea what the replacement cost of the HIDs bulbs are on the 2002's? Currently on my 2k SE I drive with the headlights/fogs on all the time since the car automatically turns the lights off when I get out.

I was wondering if I did the same thing with my 2002 SE if I would have a problem with the bulbs, i.e.: would they burn out before the end of the lease.

I guess I could drive around with the lights on "Auto" but then people wouldn't see my cool HIDs

KP117

Replacement HID bulbs are about $200 a pair, they are so expensive because they contain "gas" not wire filaments found in regular bulb so in essence they cannot burn out so don't even worry about. They bulbs will probably still work when the car is in a junkyard in 15 years.

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

HID burners can last a really, really long time given that you don't abuse them.... ie. turn them on/off rapidly

02MaximaSE

They usually last about 3,000 hours straight. We test HID bulbs and sell them also, and Have some burning in for test purposes and have logged very very long hours, almost outlasting 10 filament bulbs.

dont turn them on and off rapidly or else you'll get red eye , then a black out.

ever see lincoln mark 8's? with HID? the older osram 1st generation bulbs? almost 60% of those lincoln's I see have either red eye or have a bulb busted, I dont know if its the crappy quality of the bulbs or that lincoln owners usually run lights on everytime they drive.

Alain

What do you mean by on and off rapidly??? It's not clear for me what is the best strategy with HID's.

I always keep the lights switch on 'auto'(unless in heavy snow or rain during daytime). Now, when I get in or out of my garage in daytime, the lights will go on for a short period of time until I exit the garage (about 5 seconds) or shut down the engine (45 second delay). Is this considered rapid on/off??

Also, I noticed that when I come home at night and go get my mail, the HID's will stay lit (for the prescribed 45 seconds) and when I restart the engine (lights still on) it looks as if they're shut down and back on (very briefly but still..). Is this also a cause of concern for the life of the HIDs.

Under these circumstances, how many years should I expect my HIDs to last (2K2/SE)

Maxmann

I have another question since we're on HID's. Is there a reason the high beam bulbs are like normal bulbs and not of the HID look? Can you replace those "normal" bulbs with HID type hi-beams? Just wondering. Maybe I don't see other cars with HID's and their brights on, but I have not noticed other HID sets with a similar configuration. srm

MyownNismo

iTrader: (13)

So what are you guys saying? Leave it on auto and not turn it from auto to parking to on and just leave them on auto so when I start my car at night they are on but during the day there off. Now I know how I wrote this it sounds stupid but go with it. One question say when I have it on auto at night and a turn on the car the lights come on then I start the car and they sort of dim does that count as rapidly on/off.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

Yes, there are 9005 HID conversion kits available. The reason why you don't want HID hi-beams is that they take time to warm up, which doesn't work if you try and flash somebody.



Dave B. said the stock bulbs are around $125-150 each.

MaximaTrojan

someone prolly already asked this, but can the 2K2 head lamps fit in a 2K? i was renting a 2K2 SE when my car was in the shop and also noticed that the fogs are halogens. looks kinda wierd.

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Um you right many people have asked this and performed the "transformation" also. The whole Headlamp assemply has to be transfered from a 2k2 to a 2k-2k1. Not just the bulbs and the ballast. No point in doing just the bulbs and the ballast, might as well buy an aftermarket HID kit for $350.

PS, the pair of 2k2 assemblies complete with bulbs and ballasts I believe are running around 750-800 a pair.

Dixit

Maximum Velocity

iTrader: (3)

Yes they would fit, and fogs would need to be changed to PIAA Xtreme Whites to match.

Creature

The owners manual says to avoid letting the HIDs come on for very short periods of time. Doing so will reduce the life of the bulb and/or balast. The sensor is much more sensitive on the 2K2 than our 2K was, and there is no delay like there was on the 2K. So when I drive through our parking garage here at work or into my garage at home, even during the day, the lights will come on. Since I don't want to be replacing expensive HID bulbs or balasts anytime soon (or for the life of the car, for that matter) I have gotten in the habit of leaving the lights on the off position, and when I get in to drive at night then I just switch it to auto and when I get back home and park the car for the night I switch them back to off.

FWIW, Courtesy Nissan has the 2K2 HID's listed on their website for $1295 for the pair! Hard to believe since the equally-fancy looking 2K2 Altima HIDs are "only" a $499 option.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

I leave mine in the running light position and switch on headlights as needed. If you forget before turning the car off, you can go from Headlights to running lights without Smart Entrance kicking them back on. I really try to avoid the HID's being on when the car is being started. There is definately a flicker/voltage drop during startup.. that could be really hard on them.

Eric

I also have been turning them on/off manually for the same reasons. When I had them on Auto, they would turn on when I pulled into my garage, even thought its a bright sunny day out.

Likewise, starting the car in the garage caused the HIDs to turn on, only to turn off as soon as I backed out.

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

I found it on the ECU, but I've lost my notes.

Someone with a FSM/ESM can tell you which wire needs to be cut. I'll do it someday, but I never seem to find time when I'm in the "mood" for hacking.

Creature

Ummm, why would you do this rather than just turning the switch off?

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

When the outside light level is low enough and you want switch to running lamps or on, you must pass AUTO which will "flash" the HIDs.

Apparently you don't turn to running lamps only or ON position, so you won't need to disable the AUTO sensor.

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

ICE,

about this situation, since I know me and you been through this back and forth, up and down with the ESM. I also noticed that if you turn the headlight switch from the off position to the Full ON position really really fast, you dont get a flicker, you are going so fast that is "sort" of works.

Just not as easy to go really fast and stop at the running lights position.

Dixit

IceY2K1

iTrader: (3)

Dixit

I don't disagree. However, I suspect that there is a voltage spike that reaches the balasts, it just doesn't have enough time to charge to the ignition voltage level and thus ignite the burners. Is this worth worrying about, I doubt it.

Personally, I hate the AUTO feature due to it's dumb location. I would not mind having AUTO if it was the LAST position instead of the second. Then I could chose ANY lighting mode I want. Most of the time I don't even think about AUTO mode, so I'm too slow to jump over AUTO position.

Alain

I never thought of that but you're right: you have to go through AUTO when turning on lights manually. So I guess the best is to leave it on AUTO and forget about it (5 seconds burn is probably better than 100ms).

Oh well, I guess I'll stop worrying about this... When it burns out it burns out (it's only money...).

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Just thought about something. What if we put a delay timer on the auto. Like when it switched on it, and it gets the voltage from the daylight sensor, it still has to wait say another "2-5secs" before it actually fires the relay.

That what work perfect, and I think it would be fairly simple.

Dixit

Creature

Oh, good point -- you're right, I wasn't thinking of it that way. I keep my lights in the OFF position during the day and switch them to just AUTO at night (and back to off when I park it for the night).

bigbadboss101

Yeah, same here. I don't use the running light (auxillary) mode. In Canada we have daytime safely light, which is on all the time when in the OFF mode. When it is somewhat dark I turn it to AUTO. If the sensor do not kick off the lights, then I go to the ON mode.