What is the life of a Xenon Bulb? Mine are working just fine but changed some settings to have on the running lamps in the day which uses the headlamps. I think that's how it's gonna be. I can't just have on the orange and trim lights, I have to have on the Xenons. So I'm wondering if I should just turn it off in interest of bulb life. I guess had I got "auto lights" it wouldn't be a problem? Kind of a dumb thing on the mini, not having a good auto light/lighting standard. I guess the bulbs are like 100$ so I'd rather save their life as long as i can.

 

3000 hours is roughly the lifespan. More and more cars are using the xenon as the "daytime running light." If you have them on for one hour every day, they'll last you 8 years. If you have them on for 2 hours every day, they'll last you 4 years, and so forth.

 

do you know the cost of replacements? is 100 for a pair about right or lower? i did a look around ebay and saw "xenon" bulbs as low as 30$ but i'm not sure if those are just like silverstars or if they're really xenon bulbs?

 

Replacements are expensive through the dealerships. I've seen them as much as $200 per bulb! Look on eBay for genuine Philips or Osram D1S bulbs. You don't want to buy the cheap ones, make sure you stay with the high quality bulbs. They'll last better, they're the correct colour temperature for most lumens (light output) and will have a less of a failure rate than cheap D1S bulbs. You can get them for about 120/pair on eBay. Just make sure you don't get fooled by "OEM BULB 12000K" because 12000K is not OEM! You will be looking for 4300K normally. A 4300K bulb over it's life will settle to about 5000K. (From a yellowish/white to more just white).

 

if the bulbs go on you during the 3yr maintainence period, they should be covered by the dealership...

if you don't use the day time running lights, you can turn on your parking and trim lights separately. Put the stalk to the parking setting and you can turn on your fog lights. That's how I drive most of the time during dusk/dawn.

 

most will likely get between the 4-8 years like Justin said. With that, the price of the bulbs isnt all that crazy, so its just up to your personal taste


On a side note.... Why are the R53s Xenons a lot more blue?! Closer to 6K?..vs our "closer to 4300"?

I kind of like thiers better (i know less good white light...oh well lol)

 

R53's have been on the road longer. Both bulbs in R53 and R56s are same colour temperature. The bulbs progress from 4300k to 5000k over time (usually), meaning your lights will get "whiter" over time. However, when it comes to the "blue" that is caused by the cutoff, you have a bixenon lamp as opposed to a just a low bean xenon projector. The cutoffs will be different. You can read into "colour modding" if you want more of a blue line on the cutoff, but you will lose output and foreground if it is not done correctly.

 

ohh i see..thanks

 

Whiter over time? The higher the kelvin the bluer the light all bulbs will change color within a short period of time. The problem with having them run as a DRL is that if you start the bulb up more than 3 times an hour it will decrease the life span so if you are starting the car up a lot through out the day you will have a shorter life span.

A lot of information can be found here:

http://faqlight.carpassion.info/hl-hid-bulbs.htm

 

Read again what I wrote. I said they shift from 4300K to 5000K. That means they go from yellow/white to pure white. 6000K and above is when they start to get more blue.

 

sounds like color modding can be a lot of work. looks like youd have to take it all apart?

yeah...jacking this thread lol