Does anyone know if the more Kelvins that the HID headlights have does that mean that they are brighter? Or does is not really matter how many Kelvins they have?

 

Kelvin rating is color temp. 5200K will be a bright white. Thats what im running. My friend has 6000K in his Bimmer and it looks purple. Mine are brighter than his.

 

Kelvin rating is essentially a color temp indicator.

The higher the Kelvin rating the more the contains a blue to purple hue.

In car lighting a 2-3Kelvin rating is yellowish

4k is a more whitish look with a bit of yellow

6K is getting blue

7-8k is getting purple

The high in Kelvin you get passed 4k or so you will actually loose visible light because our eyes are not desgined to utilize blue light to aid our vision. We utilize yellow/white light (natural sunlight color) for viewing thx to evolution.

Sooo, all of this bascially means for the brightest (to our eyes) lighting will be in the more whiteish spectrum (at equal wattge) and the more blue you go is basically more for the bling effect.

I do alot of research on lighting for my coral reef tank and although the kelvin ratings differ because of a lack of stardards, one thing remains constant. The lower kelvin bulbs put out more lux/PAR than the higher kelvin rating bulbs do.

 

Doh, I spent too long posting and you beat me too it. LOL

 

If you've ever white balanced with a video camera, you use the sunlight filter which is rated at about 5600k. I believe Mercedes, BMW, etc. all use 4200k?? Not sure, but around there is the whitest light.
The higher you go doesn't mean it's brighter, it's the different colors of the visible light spectrum.

 

I went for the 5200 for the color. I didnt think it was brighter, but I liked the color alot better than the purple on my friends BMW. Plus alot of people told me to stick with around 5200 and not go any higher like Chingon mentioned. Higher doesnt alway mean better.

 

So I guess the higher kelvins doesnt mean brighter light but just a more purple color so why is it that the Higher the Kelvins the more expensive the kits are?

 

Everything except the bulbs are the same when buying an HID kit, so I would imagine the higher Kelvin bulbs cost more, not sure, maybe they just want you to think it's "better" ?
Where are you looking? eBay? If so, I think there's your reason, so much scandalous crap on there.

 

hey 99, does your lights have a lil blue tint to them?

 

Oh yeah. When I stand out in front of my truck my lights look a blueish/white.