HID current draw

[rodskogj]

Seeing all these light threads it reminded me of my own HID observations. I have a pair of the Baja Designs Fuego's mounted to the crash bars of a 1200GSA. When I installed them I blew the 7.5 Amp fuse for the standard BMW fog lights. OK. Just a little high current draw on start-up I thought and put some 15 Amp fuses in place. Last weekend I actually measured the current draw with the lights on. Stable at 8.5Amps! If my math is right, that's ~120Watts! (14 Volt x 8.5 Amps) for each light. With 35watt HID's in there I thought it would be more like 3-4 Amps.

Two Questions arise out of this:
1. Why the high current? I would hardly call them 35Watt HIDs, its more like 120Watt HIDs. What do halogen 35Watt bulbs draw (may be a stupid question since it should be 35W, but just wondering)?
2. Will the standard BMW fog light wiring handle this or am I asking for trouble? The wires look pretty thin...

 

[snoopy]

The big ballasts take 7 amp at start-up, the new smaller type take 4 amp.

They set down to nominal amps after about 5 seconds (3amp).

I don't understand what your configuration is; list the standard and HID lights you are running.

 

[turbine_2]

1. Sounds high to me. I have two, each having its own fuse but I have a 10A fuse for each as I've found, like you, lower value ones can blow on start up. I did identify this as a result of a poor earth though, so I'd take a look at that if I were you.

2. If it was originally fused for 7.5A I would not risk running a 15A fuse on it. It will probably be okay but you're risking your wiring and an electrical fire if there is a problem.

 

[shugie]

According to their website, they do both halogen and HID versions of their lights, might they have sent you the halogen version by mistake - presumably you would notice the lack of ballast if they use external ballasts?

How hot do they get? Halogen lamps run a lot hotter than HID units.