lexlikenother

I've been meaning to post this question for the last couple of days, but I keep forgetting. On my '92 SC300, the lowbeams turn on and off when my alarm is triggered. When I was thinking about getting HID's for my car, I thought of this. I know that the HID's require alot of energy to get started, enter..... the ballast. Now doesn't this pull from the alternator, and the battery?? I know it would probably be better if you turned the lights on, while the car was on. But if the car is off, and your alarm goes off (even if you accidentally set it off yourself) would this mess up your balast, and your bulbs??

LexRX

That's a good question. I also wonder if it is harmful to the lighthing system itself. The OEM alarm system on Lexus vehicles flashes the low-beam lights as well. Our LS has OEM HID's so the HID's would be flashing. I wouldn't think Lexus would do this if it were more harmful than a halogen setup but i don't really know.

lexlikenother

The only thing I could think of is that OEM flash the orange turn signals, or the high beams. I don't know anyone with OEM HID, so I really can ask and see for myself. And if it might mess up a plug-n-play HID kit, I guess you could rewire it (your alarm) to one of these lights??

LexRX

Our LS has OEM HID's and the low-beams do flash. Actuall, ALL the lights are flashing with the alarm going off: low, high, and flashers.

lexlikenother

Are the HID's as bright as they normally are? I wonder if they have something set up in the OEM HID that prevents it from messing up your car, something which I'm sure a plug-n-play won't have.

LexRX

They will be as bright as they would be when you first turn them on. Meaning not full white at first. Same if you want to bright-light (flash) someone. The HID's won't be fully charged so it won't be white. One they have been on and fully charged then you can turn them off and flash them they'll look fully charged. You know what I mean?

It's hard to explain - but I think you understand HID's enough to know what I mean. Now, about a plug-n-play unit - I'm don't know if an OEM unit has some sort of different wiring that is set up for the voltage of HID's compared to halogens - for that initial charge up. I'm sure the wiring that connects to the battery for aftermarket Phillips HID's would help with that.

Either way, HID bulbs are HID bulbs (aftermarket or OEM) so if it doesn't affect the bulb enough for the OEM alarm to not make them flash then the bulb will be fine. The only other thing to worry about would be the energy it is using up. If that's the case you'll find out if your battery gets weak. Not a huge deal since it will happen only over a long period of time. I'd rather replace the batter than a set of HID's. Maybe it'd be time for an optima deep cycle

lex400sc

Alarm flashing your lights won't do anything so long as you're using a battery relay. It will drain your battery obviously, but no more so than running your stereo with the engine off. When the ignitor is first triggered on a cold start-up, it'll send around 25kv to the bulb in order to vaporize the liquids and salts inside, but once ignition commences, the ballast regulates the supply voltage to a constantly flutuating low voltage.

2Lexus430s

my GS400 flashes the low beems, and they don't apear to be at full strength. I don't think you will have a problem