Along with the xenon gas, these bulbs also contain vaporized metals like metal halides and mercury. The passage of electric current through the arc melts the vapors of the metals and converts them into plasma.
Hence, HID headlights also have another name although, a less common one — Plasma headlights. It is the plasma that glows in a shade of white-blue that produces the brilliant light that these headlights are so famous for.
A reflector is present within the headlight assembly that bounces the light onto the road. The light that is produced by HID headlights is extremely intense. It offers versatility, and you can adjust the focus as per your need. You can focus the beam of light into a narrow beam that extends far out in front of the car, or you can set it to a broad beam that fills the area that lies directly ahead. As far as the performance is concerned, HID lights remain unbeaten. However, they do come with a set of some nasty side effects, including an increased risk of accidents.
The bright, white light and longer lifespan have made LED bulbs quite popular to be used in car headlights. The potential of LEDs as car headlights is massive. LED bulbs are highly efficient, compact, and can turn on and off instantly, which gives them an edge over HID headlights. The tiny semiconductors of LED light bulbs can produce a wide array of focuses and light levels at an exceptional speed within nanoseconds.
They convert electricity into light via the diodes that are present inside the headlights. The process by which LED lights convert electricity into the light is called electroluminescence. The process is highly energy efficient as compared to the process that is employed in halogen headlights. Little or no heat is produced, and this improves the lifespan of these bulbs incredibly!
For example, the high and low beam settings of LED light are only available in high-end and hybrid vehicles. The resistance inside the bulb is quite high, as a result of which, the emitter chip base gets very hot. The LED light needs a sink where it can release the heat. Otherwise, the diode would melt. This makes the system complicated and expensive. If you think laser headlights involve two piercing lasers that can melt the eyes of an oncoming driver, you can relax because laser headlights are anything but blinding.
Laser headlights are the new hot thing in the automotive industry. They can produce light that is a thousand times brighter than LED lights without requiring as much power as LED lights need. But there are several downsides. First, these lights take several seconds to strike a spark, warm up and come to full brightness. And the fact that they do put out huge quantities of highly focused blue-white light makes them more than a little irritating to other drivers.
Including the red taillights of vehicles ahead. So, while anything directly in your headlight beams will be bright as day, everything else will wind up pitch black. Using a set of xenons is like looking down a very long, black tube where you can see everything ahead of you perfectly — but only the things directly ahead of you.
That could become a serious problem while checking mirrors, blind spots and oncoming intersections, and while navigating parking lots. If all you care about is seeing everything there is to see as far away as you can see it, xenons will deliver. But that perfection does come with a few nasty side effects for you and everyone else on the road. LED lights, as many know, work on a scientific principle called "magic. Nobody knows why. Actually, LEDs work by shooting electrons against positively charged holes in a semiconductor.
An electron falling into a hole in a lower energy state releases energy in the form of a photon, which emits from the semiconductor in a process known as "electroluminescence. So the things are everywhere already, and they have massive potential for car lighting.
LEDs are compact, extremely energy efficient, and can turn on and off almost instantly. Just as you might watch a video on your LED-screen computer, manufacturers can use these tiny semiconducters to produce a vast array of patterns, light levels and focuses at nanosecond speed. While LEDs themselves run very cool and thus last practically forever , these headlights as a whole do have heating issues. Because of the high resistance inside the light itself, the base of the emitter chip gets very hot.
This means the LED requires some kind of heat sink to keep the diode from melting, and usually a cooling can of some sort. That adds complexity and cost to an already fairly pricey proposition, and adds more heat to an engine bay where heat dissipation is at a premium.
But despite the cooling issues and not-insignificant buy-in cost, LEDs offer some really impressive potential as lighting solutions. The fact that LEDs can be turned on and off so quickly makes them not only ideal for those ancilliary applications, it gives them some potential in terms of active headlights. High-Intensity Discharge headlight bulbs - sometimes called ARC or Xenon lights - function a little differently than halogen bulbs. Rather than a filament, they contain electrodes within a sealed bulb or housing between which electricity is passed.
The bulb contains xenon gas and vaporized metals that help disburse the light produced by the passing of electricity between the electrodes. HID lights are the next step up from halogen bulbs and are much brighter, much safer, more efficient, and more expensive. They are still not as commonly used as halogen bulbs, and many vehicle manufacturers are passing them over in favor of LED bulbs since they do not last as long and are not quite as efficient as LEDs.
Still, they are much better alternatives to halogen bulbs and are most commonly used with projector headlight housings. Typical HID headlights are rated between and lumens and come in various color temperatures ranging from about K to around K. This is what makes them safer at night and during the day as well as what gives them a cooler, blueish color compared to halogens. LED bulbs or light-emitting diode bulbs, are quickly replacing halogen bulbs and HID bulbs — to some extent — because of their efficiency, lifespan, brightness, and design advantages over other types of bulbs.
They function by passing electricity through a diode, or a semiconductor, that produces photons, a process called electroluminescence. As a result of their use of electricity and design, they are even more efficient than HID bulbs, which are already much more efficient than halogen bulbs. They are also very compact which allows them to be utilized for greater stylistic effects or in places that normal bulbs cannot be used.
They are typically advertised to last for up to 50, hours. Typical LED headlights fall close to the same parameters under which HID headlights fall without the shorter and less efficient disadvantages HID bulbs bring to the table.
View all deals. Halogen bulbs. Typical life expectancy: hours Xenon or high-intensity discharge HID bulbs. Typical life expectancy: 10, hours LED bulbs. Typical life expectancy: 30, hours Next: Why are more people being dazzled by car headlights? Owning and running your car. News and advice. First drive.
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