A two-question query?.
1. I thought Bi-Xenons headlights were intended to ?last the life of the car? or so I read in What Car? A few years back. I have recently seen 2 year-old cars of all makes with one bulb failed. Obviously not true?.
2. My wife?s car has Bi-Xenons fitted..they work OK but there is a warning label under the bonnet stating that they must only be changed by a dealer, plus there is a warning 'Warning: Risk of Death! 25,000 Volts DC? label as well. Nasty. But how easy/difficult are they to change??
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You have been warned (by those stickers). They run at very high voltages. Wold you open the back of your TV set if it went wrong to have a look round? Exercise the same degree of care with "true" xenons! If you don't know what you are doing, leave it to the garage (another one of those DIY tasks taken away from us by so-called progress).
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Ivor,
You are absolutely right. But I would turn off the TV first and allow the CRT charge to leak to ground for 20 mins before unplugging it and taking off the back cover. So how does the dealer do it?
I suspect that they can disarm the lighting units/power supplies with noting more than a turn on a screw driver..and charge you £150 for the priviledge!
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I suspect most are the ballasts 'tripping out' due to ingression of moisture, especially now they're being fitted on cheaper cars, with possibly lower quality lamp housings! I have heard that some ballasts are rendered scrap after 7 such trip outs for 'safety' reasons. Even switching on with no bulb present 7 times can cause this I read on a Philips Automotive Lighting forum.
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I heard recently that there was an AA man had his finger blown off by one of these.
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It's very high voltage, but not high current, it wouldn't 'blow someone's finger off' or do any other significant tissue damage - any more than a tazer, cattle fence or HT lead would, however, if someone had heart problems or a pacemaker, and the charge earthed through their heart, it *may* kill them.
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No wtrue. Although the V is Hi and relatively low current it is capable of dumpint 50 watts into you hand and that is going to blow some flesh off and you are going to bang your head off the bonnet during your your rapid exit. Regards Peter
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You haven't blown your fingers off have you Peter?
:-)
--
"Ah...beer - my only weakness - my achilles heel if you will"
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The high voltage is used for starting the lamps only, they run at about 90V.
However each lamp/control unit can simply be disabled by unplugging the 12V supply from it. It cannot possibly do you any harm then!
You can then remove the bulb yourself.
On my Omega I experienced a few instances of one lamp not striking first time during the winter. In each case, turning off and on again was successful. It has not happened for a couple of months now - something to do with cold and damp?
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Thanks Geoff!
I suspected the same. So what does the Xenon bulb acutally look like? Is it the same shape as an ordinary halogen bulb, or bigger?
Having read the owners manual for my wife's car it says that the rear centre brake, Xenon and door mirror indicator bulbs should only be changed by the dealer. There's nothing like designing-in the need for the dealer to turn a profit at the owner's expense!!
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