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LED lights are everywhere - literally. The old lights of the world have been largely replaced with LEDs, and for cars this is no different.
LED lights offer many benefits compared to the old ways of lighting, so of course there have been large markets sprung around this technology.
In fact, you’ve probably upgraded all of the bulbs in your home, garden, and workspace. So what’s the next? Your car headlights, of course!
In theory, LED lights are compatible with reflector headlights. However, if a vehicle currently uses halogens, it’s not a simple switchover. LEDs require additional electronics, heat dissipation devices, a driver, and potentially a purpose-built reflector bowl.
To be completely transparent, LEDs are a relatively new technology, so there’s still a lot left to learn.
Unlike halogen and HID lamps, LEDs are semiconductors that emit light when powered by an electrical current. Efficient and powerful, a tiny LED light can emit the same amount of brightness as a halogen bulb. Most manufacturers use multiple LEDs of varying brightness to create a signature look. LED lights are more efficient than the other two technologies, reducing wear on the alternator and requiring less fuel to operate. Many electric vehicles use LED lighting exclusively.
Lexus and Audi were among the first manufacturers to use LED lighting. The limited initial application was due to the higher cost of the technology. Today, LED lighting can be found in a much wider variety of vehicles, but is often available as an option. Automotive engineers appreciate the efficiency of the technology and designers often implement LED lights as a way to enhance design elements of the vehicle.
LED lights have a long life. Many units should still be working two decades after they roll off the showroom floor. Of course, that technology comes with a price: LED lights are often much more expensive than halogen or HID counterparts.
First things first, you need to know what kind of headlights your vehicle currently has. There are two possibilities, projectors or reflectors.
The difference between the two is surprisingly simple: a lens!
Think of reflectors as the OG vehicle headlights. They’ve been featured as standard since the invention of electric headlights in 1898.
Reflector headlights have two main components: a light source (bulb) and a reflector bowl.
As the name suggests, the reflector bowl is a hollow hemisphere shape. The inside is painted with reflective chrome paint and covered in precisely-located mirrors. The bulb sits right in the center of this device.
When the bulb is switched on, beams of light hit the mirrors and are reflected in front of the vehicle and onto the road.
Because of this, reflectors produce a wide beam that covers a large surface area. However, this means the light is less intense and less focused, so there is a more light waste.
On the other hand, projector headlights contain three components: a light source, a reflector bowl, and a lens. The bowl and the light source operate exactly the same as in reflector headlights.
However, before the light is projected out in front of the vehicle, it hits an ellipsoidal lens. This is used to bend, spread, and magnify the light.
In simple terms, the lens means that the light is more intense and more focused, so there is a less light waste.
You and I both know that halogens are a dated technology. So are LEDs a suitable alternative?
To put it simply, yes. LEDs can be used in reflector headlights BUT (and it’s a big but) if you’re upgrading the bulb, you also need to upgrade the reflector bowl. Failure to do so can blind or dazzle other drivers.
You see, no two reflectors are the same. Each reflector is meticulously crafted based on the precise specifications of the halogen bulb it intends to use. This ensures there’s a good throw and spread of light.
Replacing a halogen bulb with an LED, therefore, throws the reflector off balance. Even minute changes will alter where the light hits the reflector and gets projected out to. Essentially, the light will end up in places it was not intended too.
This is exacerbated by the fact that LEDs are a directional light source, whereas halogens are omnidirectional. Unlike halogens, an LED will not illuminate the reflector surface evenly. This has two consequences:
Firstly, by shining light only at the reflector’s sides, there’s likely to be blank, hollow, or hot spots in the light beam.
Secondly, by failing to illuminate the upper portion of the reflector, the headlight will have reduced distance projection. Instead, the light will scatter above the cut off point and blind other drivers.
Blinding other drivers is an obvious safety hazard, so it’s essential to replace both the light source and the reflector bowl if you’re thinking of upgrading to LEDs.
The alternative to that would be to get a specifically designed LEDs for your vehicle. These will be set up in a way that the light beam will be emitted according to the bowl shape.
I’ll forgive you for assuming that upgrading to LEDs is more hassle than it’s worth. But are HIDs any better?
High-intensity discharge (also known as HID or xenon) bulbs produce light by creating an electric arc between two tungsten electrodes.
Upon first glance, HIDs seem like a desirable alternative to halogens. They can produce twice as much light using much less energy.
However, HIDs suffer from the same problems as plug and play LEDs. Putting an HID bulb inside a reflector designed for halogens causes an immense amount of scatter. In this sense, it’s a level playing field between LEDs and HIDs.
Nevertheless, there’s one crucial discrepancy. HIDs and LEDs differ when it comes to their start-up times.
HIDs have a brief warm-up period, meaning they take around 5 seconds to achieve full brightness. This is because a pulse of incredibly high voltage is required to initiate the electric arc. LEDs, whereas, achieve full brightness instantaneously.
In emergency scenarios, you may not have 5 seconds to spare. So this is a clear disadvantage of HID headlights. For this reason, LEDs are the best option for reflector headlights.
As we’ve mentioned, if you’re retrofitting LEDs into a reflector headlight, you also need to replace the reflector bowl.
You may find it easier to purchase an entire LED headlight. However, these may not be available for all vehicles, and even if they are, they’re likely to be expensive.
It’s worth remembering that LEDs require heat dissipation devices to ensure they do not get too hot. These often come in the form of a heat sink or fan.
Nevertheless, heat dissipation devices may result in fitment issues if there is not enough space in your vehicle’s headlight. So, ideally, your LED should be as small as possible.
Similarly, your vehicle may require extra electronics. LEDs operate at a much lower voltage than standard halogens, so you’re going to need an LED driver to step down the voltage.
Likewise, you’ll need to rewire your light monitoring circuitry. Otherwise, it will think there is a broken or faulty bulb.
The vast majority of vehicles on the road today illuminate the way with halogen headlights. The technology is similar to the traditional incandescent light bulb.
Both use a tungsten element encased in an “envelope.” A traditional light bulb uses a glass envelope, but halogen, because of its higher temperature and more compact design, uses quartz.
An electrical current is sent to the element surrounded by gases and it’s converted to light and heat. Halogen bulbs have an interesting “recycling” feature that increases their brightness and longevity.
The gases inside the quartz envelope combine with released tungsten vapor. When the temperature reaches a certain point, the gas combines with tungsten atoms and redeposits them on the filament.
This process increases filament life and allows the bulb to burn hotter and brighter. However, they do eventually burn out; average life ranges from 500-1,000 hours, depending on a number of factors.
They are also relatively fragile and less efficient than newer, competing technologies. Low cost, high availability, and ease of maintenance have made halogen headlights a compelling choice for manufacturers and consumers.
It’s easy to find new bulbs at the nearest auto parts store, and changing them only takes a few minutes in most cases.
Every light source emits light in a pattern. A candle, for example, produces a relatively spherical light source, lighting the area to the sides and above evenly.
If you put a mirror beside the candle, you bounce that light out evenly in all directions. If we now look at a flashlight, you can see that the light output pattern is more of a cone than a sphere.
Little to no light is radiated behind or directly above, below or to the sides of the flashlight. Understanding this is fundamental to understanding how headlights work.
The headlights in most North American vehicles are designed to focus light in what is called a DOT pattern. This pattern, most commonly visible with projector-style light assemblies, has a sharp and defined upper cut-off that prevents oncoming drivers from being blinded.
The pattern includes a step around the center of the output to put more light on the road on the right, so you can see farther without affecting oncoming traffic.
Despite your vehicle having the best headlights, driving through the fog is always a challenge. This is because normal driving lights reflect light off the fog, hindering your visibility.
Fortunately, there is a way to see through the fog, rain, dust, and drifting snow, thanks to fog lights. Due to their light color, beam shape, and location, these aftermarket lights are designed to offer a clear view of limited visibility conditions.
Halogen fog lights are a common sight. They emit yellow light and their biggest selling point is their affordability.
A lot of car owners find them user-friendly. The lights produce adequate light that does not cause a blinding effect, unlike brighter fog lamps.
However, in areas where heavy fog is common, halogen fog lights should not be the go-to solution. These lights also have a short lifespan and require constant replacement.
LED fog lights are a better option than halogen bulbs. They use light-emitting diodes to greatly boost visibility.
Some modern LED fog lights have a range of light colors that are useful in different kinds of weather. While they are pricier than halogen fog lights, they use less energy.
However, their biggest benefit is their durability. Well-maintained LED lights offer top performance for many years.
High-Intensity Discharge (HID) fog lights are bright and use Xenon gas. They have a longer lifespan and consume less energy than halogen bulbs.
These lights can withstand shocks and vibrations. They also distribute light more evenly and are a great option for heavy fog.
However, before installing HIDs in your car, it is wise to consider other road users who may be sensitive to intense light.
Reflector headlight technology has been in use for decades and is the type of headlight housing found in most cars and trucks, even new ones. Reflectors are cheaper to manufacture and take up less room compared to projectors, which explains why they are still very popular.
In reflectors, the headlight bulb is simply mounted in a bowl/cup-shaped housing fitted with chrome paint (reflector bowl), which reflects the light straight onto the road. The reflector bowl distributes the light in a wide-angle, illuminating the front of the vehicle.
The light produced by reflectors is less focused, illuminating a wider range compared to a projector but with less precision and intensity.
Projectors are a newer type of headlight housing technology that is becoming increasingly popular, especially for higher-end luxury vehicles. The design is very slick and visually appealing.
Projector headlights are similar to reflectors in that they both have a bulb that shines in a reflector bowl except that projectors pass the light through a lens before hitting the front of the vehicle. Reflector headlights do not have a lens.
The lens, known as a condenser lens, is used to focus the light. By using a lens, a given bulb will shine brighter and will exhibit less waste.
Bulb color temperature, or more accurately, correlated color temperature describes the spectrum of energy released by a light bulb and is rated in kelvins. In the simplest of terms, color temperature is related to the physical temperature of the light source, and correlated color temperature is an equivalent spectral description for HID and LED bulbs.
Let’s consider a standard incandescent light bulb as an example. When a small amount of voltage is applied, the filament will glow with a dull red appearance. When supplied with its full rated voltage, the filament temperature increases and the energy output is whiter.
The same happens as you heat a metal like steel. It glows red, then orange, yellow and white as you increase its physical temperature.
To give you an idea of how color temperature numbers work, a match flame has a color temp of approximately 1700 K, a standard residential incandescent lamp is around 2400 K, cool white fluorescent lamps are around 5000 K, and vertical daylight (when the sun is directly above you) is around 5700 K.
Calculating color temperature gets complicated quickly and in most cases, the labels on the packaging of the bulbs you choose are rough estimates that give you an idea of whether the bulbs are on the yellow (3500 K), white (6000 K) or blue (9000 K) ends of the spectrum.
Our eyes react very differently to different light colors. Blue to purple light has shorter wavelengths than orange and yellow light and can cause eye fatigue.
If you wear glasses, you may have seen “computer user” coatings with a brownish tint. This brown tint reduces how much blue light is passed and can ease eye strain.
Most factory-installed lighting systems use bulbs with a color temperature in the 5000 to 5500 K range. This temperature strikes an excellent balance between light output and appearance.
The bulbs look much whiter than any clear halogen design.
As a note, certain jurisdictions have very specific laws about headlight colors. Be sure to find out what is legal in your area before choosing something that varies too far from pure white.
Lumens can be categorized as the light output of a bulb or lamp. Think of it as a fancy way of saying how bright a light bulb is.
Lumens is the measure of the brightness or the amount of light emitted by a bulb or light source. If you are looking to purchase a new set of bulbs for the headlights for your vehicle, you should observe the light output, or lumens rating, of your headlamps.
In most cases, stock halogen bulbs emit around 700 Lumens in low beam, and emit around 1,200 lumens when in high beam. This is of course dependent upon what kind of halogen bulb it is. For example, certain halogen bulbs are designed for high-beam only purposes, such as those on vehicles with quad-headlight configurations will be far brighter at around 1,600 to 1,700 lumens depending on the brand and model.
Halogen lumens are usually going to be the lowest in terms of output in comparison to LEDs and HIDs. However, they are typically very affordable, last for a decent amount of time, and are usually bright enough for the average driver and driving conditions.
There’s a good reason that HID headlamps, or Xenon headlights, are extremely popular amongst car enthusiasts. Aside from the fact HID systems consume less power, Xenon bulbs are also many times brighter than a halogen bulb. In fact, the average HID or Xenon bulb is rated around 3000 Lumens, which is about three times brighter than the average halogen.
Most HID kits are rated at around 80 Lumens per watt. So for example, if you have a 30-watt HID kit, this will equate to roughly 2,400 lumens. HID kits that are rated at 40-watts will be rated at 3,200 lumens. There are bulbs for 50-watt systems that rate at 5,000 Lumens, which make them some of the brightest you can purchase.
When trying to answer the question of how many lumens an LED headlight can produce, it can be a little complicated. On average, 2,000 – 4,000 Lumens is common range for many headlights.
However, the output of an LED headlight kit is dependent upon many factors. One of the primary factors is the number or LEDs contained in each bulb.
While they are very effective and efficient, you have to be careful when buying aftermarket LED headlights. If you see bulbs that are rated at absurd amounts, like 10,000 and above, you shouldn’t necessarily take it at face value.
The brightness of LED headlights will also depend on the wattage of the bulbs. For example, a 1-watt diode is capable of emitting around 130 Lumens.
If the bulb is fitted with 16 diodes, this means each bulb is rated at 16-watts and around 2,080 Lumens.
Many drivers are upgrading to LED headlights these days, and there are numerous conversion kits available. Halogen lights are the traditional lights used in cars, and halogen housing is tailor-made for these lights.
But if you want to upgrade to LED headlights, you may want to change the housing to one which is more compatible with LED. Either way, enjoy modifying the lights in your car, and always drive safe.
