# UV output of automotive HID lamps?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 30, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003 "2008-11-30T02:45:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003/1 "2008-11-30T02:45:28Z")
I bought an HID conversion kit for my car but the light is too bright and goes all over the place and dazzles oncoming motorists. So I removed it from the car and put back the old halogen lamps.
Since I had no other use for the HID lamps, I fitted one of them on my bedside lamp. I posted some pics on an automotive forum and they told me that putting an HID lamp on a home appliance is a bad idea because of the high UV output.
What is the UV output of a HID lamp and how is it compared with that of an incandescent bulb? Note that my bedside lamp was originally fitted with a 60W incandescent bulb and the rating of the HID one is 35W.
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### Author:  [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003/2 "2008-11-30T02:48:21Z")
These are the pics from when I was testing the apparatus.
[http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3852/img9176sq4.jpg](http://img368.imageshack.us/img368/3852/img9176sq4.jpg)
[http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/8484/img9177qo7.jpg](http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/8484/img9177qo7.jpg)
[http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8389/img9178yo1.jpg](http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8389/img9178yo1.jpg)
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### Author:  [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003/3 "2008-11-30T06:24:18Z")
Xenon lamps do generally put off a lot of UV light, enough that you should probably fit the light with a UV shield if you’re using it as indoor lighting. If you want to make sure, you can test the UV output of the light by putting something that fluoresces under ultraviolet near it. Things I can think of off the top of my head that fluoresce are U.S. banknotes ($5 and up) and semen (seriously).
I’ve also heard of xenon lamps creating ozone, because of the UV emission. All in all, I would think the risks associated with using xenon lamps in indoor lighting to not be worth the benefits (you can get a 60 W equivalent CFL that uses only 13 W).
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uv-output-of-automotive-hid-lamps/475003/4 "2008-11-30T20:21:09Z")
After reading [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon_arc_lamp), I think you’ve stumbled upon a Rather Bad Idea. Not a terrible or horrible idea, but definitely Bad. Cool project, but not really a good bedside lamp without significant design alterations. Would have made a bitchin’ torchiere, though.