Initial HID power draw/spike

[essjay]

I'm led to believe that on startup, HID lights draw more than their rating. E.G. A 35w HID light and ballast will draw more than the 2.9A during startup.

Does anyone know by how much they tend to go over their rate?

Basically I'm looking at some cable that's rated for 5.5A and I'm wondering would it be ok for a 35w HID. Also on the same piece of cable is a line rated for 8.75A which I was hoping to power a 55w HID from.

This is the cable from Maplin:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/7-core-trailer-cable-70

But looking at the below video I have my doubts. Now it was posted 5 years ago so I'm wondering has anything changed since then. I'm guessing it's a 35w HID light he's powering as the draw plateaus at around 3A.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NCqjSLUIkjk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ducatiparts.110mb]

The cable is rated for continuous current. Your HIDS will draw a current spike for less than a second, so no need to take the spike into acount when sizing the cable.