UV Danger From HID Lights?

[Gombessa]

UV radiation is also associated with cataract formation.

Personally I think HID lights on cars should be outlawed.

How come? Is it the health risk, or the color/brightness that bothers you? An HID on a car may already have a UV filter installed, and even if it didn't the focusing lens and headlight lens cover would seem to serve the same purpose (not to mention your front windshield). I'd be very interested to hear about any eye injuries caused by exposure to HID light from oncoming traffic or through a rear view mirror.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It is not so much short term injuries that may be the issue but rather long term injuries - such as an increased rate of cataracts. There may be nothing to hear for a decade or two until those types of injuries begon to show up at higher rates in the general population.

Besides on cars they are so bright that it is hard to see anything when you have HID equipped on coming traffic. It is an issue where they may be seeing better but everyone else can't hardly see at all.

------

The reduced night vision issue is interesting.. Just imagine it, a world filled with cataract afflicted cave divers that are also night blind - sort of like the blind cave dwelling animals you see in caves.

 

[Gombessa]

It is not so much short term injuries that may be the issue but rather long term injuries - such as an increased rate of cataracts. There may be nothing to hear for a decade or two until those types of injuries begon to show up at higher rates in the general population.

Well, if there really is a problem, I'm with you. But I haven't heard of any concerns over any issues either in the long or short term, so for now I'll happily join the HID crowd

Besides on cars they are so bright that it is hard to see anything when you have HID equipped on coming traffic. It is an issue where they may be seeing better but everyone else can't hardly see at all.

I think this actually has less to do with HIDs and more with 1) people driving hummers and other huge SUVs and 2) modders who install their own lights. Factory HIDs on cars today have well-engineered reflectors/lenses that are designed to project only onto the road and cut-off above a certain height - if you face a garage door and turn on the headlights on, you'll see that there is a horizontal cutoff just below hood level, with a rising slope and higher cutoff to the right - that's so you can cover more of the road on the right, but the glare point is set lower on the left in the direction from which oncoming traffic approaches (in the US). I've never had any problems with factory HIDs that I didn't have with halogens before (and an idiot driving around with his high-beams on or without appropriately adjusted lights is super-annoying whether it's a halogen or an HID).

------

The reduced night vision issue is interesting.. Just imagine it, a world filled with cataract afflicted cave divers that are also night blind - sort of like the blind cave dwelling animals you see in caves.

Ah, but would the other senses become that much stronger?

 

[Randy43068]

UV radiation is also associated with cataract formation.

Personally I think HID lights on cars should be outlawed.

I think the use of HID in new cars isn't allowed any longer. I didn't look it up, but when researching a DIY project to make an HID dive light I seem to recall something about that on an automotive headlight website.

 

[ArcticDiver]

The manufacturer's rep has come back with the folowing explanation. This explanation makes sense to me and generally conforms to what I think I know from talking with some pretty well qualified people.

"As for the HID, technically you can burn it out of the water. The light will not be damaged. But someone's eyes can be. HIDs designed for out of water use (in the bicycle industry for example) have a protective lens that shields the UV output. Sorta like putting sunglasses on the light. HIDs used in water do not have that lens because the water acts like a natural filter. So to maximize the output, dive mfrs do not add that lens. It would be like putting sunglasses on top of sunglasses, which is redundant."

In short: Do Not Shine the Light from an HID dive light into someone's eyes while on the surface. You may be doing something more than just irritating them.