[Zadjali]

Hello guys,

Today my brother picked up his new E90 320i :rocks:

I have noticed that the high beam is xenon but when you pull it for temporary the xenon is not working, but halogen lights only!

I think it will be cool if the xenon high beam was working for temporary pulling! At least it will be like flashes!

Why you think BMW done that!?


(Pictures coming soon!)

[Josh49]

The xenons take a moment to ignite/light up. For fast flashes, it is faster to use the halogen, and then if you turn on the high beams, the bi-xenon goes on.

Also, if you are flashing someone to let them turn, etc, the halogens will get their attention without blinding them, while flashing someone with xenons, might not be the best idea...

[Zadjali]

However, that will be cool! Many cars have that feature!

[GregL]

Originally Posted by Josh49

The xenons take a moment to ignite/light up. For fast flashes, it is faster to use the halogen, and then if you turn on the high beams, the bi-xenon goes on.

I thought that the fixed high beam toggle used the same bulb, but just adjusted a reflector to allow it to project higher.

[Josh49]

Could be I guess. I thought there were two bulbs though? If what you are saying is true, why the "bi-xenon" term? Maybe someone could page Fleet over here..

[Josh49]

Hmm. Off of the LandRover website (did a google search):

Bi-xenon headlamps use a single xenon lamp to produce both the high beam and the low beam. The full light output is used to produce the high beam, while the low beam is formed by moving a shutter between the bulb and the lens, thus blocking off a portion of the light.

Whether or not the e90 does the same thing, that I don't know. I was under the impression "bi-xenon" meant there was two bulbs in there. If it is full power for high and blocked power for low, the term bi-xenon is really false advertising, no?

[KL2DC]

Josh...the bi-xenon term refers to low and high xenon beams capabilities. Early xenons/HID equipped cars only had xenons/HID for low beams but had to rely on halogen source for high-beams. Our cars have shutters/apertures to 'toggle' between low and high beam mode. This info is from the almighty E90Fleet.

[Josh49]

Originally Posted by KL2DC

Early xenons/HID equipped cars only had xenons/HID for low beams but had to rely on halogen source for high-beams.

Yep. That's why I thought bi-xenon referred to two bulbs. Pretty lame IMO. Should be called "HellaBright Xenon with Shutter".

[asdfaa]

yah news to me too, damn marketing people!

[KL2DC]

Originally Posted by Josh49

Yep. That's why I thought bi-xenon referred to two bulbs. Pretty lame IMO. Should be called "HellaBright Xenon with Shutter".

Actually sounds cooler than bi-xenons

[spydrz]

Maybe it flashes the halogens when the headlights are off (thus the xenons would still need to warm up)? Or am I misunderstanding this?

[Russellnyc]

e92 uses xenon shutter for flashers too, and they light up instantaneously. It's actually kind of weird looking when you pull the stalk, like a camera flash that doesn't go out.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by spydrz

Maybe it flashes the halogens when the headlights are off (thus the xenons would still need to warm up)? Or am I misunderstanding this?

It flashes the halogens when you pull back (towards you) on the stalk, it opens the xenon shutter when you click the stalk forward (away from you) to keep the highbeams on. I think this only applies to the E90/91 though, to my knowledge E92's always use the shutter method.

Edit: Ah I didn't read Russelnyc's post, there you go.

[adl320]

My former Saab 9-3 had Xenons for the flashers too. Instant light up. I'd often get people that think my Xenons were high beams and give me a long highbeam flash. That's when I'd say "so you think those were bright...FLASH! now THOSE are my highbeams!

[Smoltz]

Flashing Xenon lights causes unnecessary wear (I'm not quite sure if it's in the bulb, ballast or igniter). This is the reason why the BMW uses the Halogen lamps for flashing.

As others have mentioned, the E90 is equipped with Bixenons which means they use a shutter. If I'm not mistaken bi-xenons is trademarked, the other popular name for xenons with shutters is another trademarked name (Xenons+). There are very few cars with dual projectors, never mind dual xenon projectors. It's cost prohibitive and with proper lens/shutter design it would provide very little , if any performance advantage.

-Adam

[meruyailir]

Here's a picture of the xenon internals, from E90Fleet.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...t=16218&page=2

[Norsk]

Originally Posted by Zadjali

Hello guys,

Today my brother picked up his new E90 320i :rocks:

I have noticed that the high beam is xenon but when you pull it for temporary the xenon is not working, but halogen lights only!

I think it will be cool if the xenon high beam was working for temporary pulling! At least it will be like flashes!

Why you think BMW done that!?


(Pictures coming soon!)

Simple solution 4 U,

You want to Flash someone with the Xenon High beam, Push the Lever Forward & pull it back to cancel

I like it just the way it is & I like having the two options.

• Smart and cool people= Pull Lever - Regular High Beam Flash
• Idiots that won't get out of the fast lane= Push Lever - Get them like a friggin dear caught in the headlights

[rolling18]

Originally Posted by Zadjali

However, that will be cool! Many cars have that feature!

my 350Z bi-xennons have Flash- to -pass like that.. no helogen at all!
if you do it fast its like taking a picture/ photo radar flash hehe

[Zadjali]

Originally Posted by Russellnyc

e92 uses xenon shutter for flashers too, and they light up instantaneously. It's actually kind of weird looking when you pull the stalk, like a camera flash that doesn't go out.

That's cool!

Originally Posted by adl320

My former Saab 9-3 had Xenons for the flashers too. Instant light up. I'd often get people that think my Xenons were high beams and give me a long highbeam flash. That's when I'd say "so you think those were bright...FLASH! now THOSE are my highbeams!

Originally Posted by Norsk

Simple solution 4 U,

You want to Flash someone with the Xenon High beam, Push the Lever Forward & pull it back to cancel

I did that few times but its will not be like camera flash! In addition, it’s not simple like flashing!

Originally Posted by rolling18

my 350Z bi-xennons have Flash- to -pass like that.. no helogen at all!
if you do it fast its like taking a picture/ photo radar flash hehe

That's why I like it! :rocks:

[Jaws]

Again, the reason that BMW uses the halogens for "flash-to-pass" it that flashing the HIDs puts excessive strain on the bulb which will lead to premature failure.

Edit: Also puts strain on the ballast. Here's a quote from someone at Hella:

"...The longer the better, but I would say around 5 or 10 seconds. The
problem there is that even if you space the time out to one minute, the
ballast only has so many cycles before it will fail. Try to minimize the
on-off-on situation as much as possible. You probably won't have any
problems short-term, but it will DEFINITELY shorten the life-span..."

[rolling18]

ive read that in a few places, but even my HID flashlight recommends continous on times.

but most people wont keep the car long enough to have those problems..

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by Zadjali

Hello guys,

Today my brother picked up his new E90 320i :rocks:

I have noticed that the high beam is xenon but when you pull it for temporary the xenon is not working, but halogen lights only!

I think it will be cool if the xenon high beam was working for temporary pulling! At least it will be like flashes!

Why you think BMW done that!?


(Pictures coming soon!)

Bulb life of the xenon decreases.