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Halogen light bulbs have become a popular option ever since their creation in the 1960s. These H11 bulbs were a favorite choice because they were cheap to manufacture and could last more than 1,000 hours. This was an increase over older technology but has since been outdone by LED and HID technologies. Halogens also have to be handled carefully because they are fragile.
These types of H11 light bulbs are known for being the brightest. HID bulbs became popular due to their improvement over the original halogens. These lights use rare metal and gases to last more than 2,000 hours. The energy consumption is much lower than halogens, and they create a much brighter light. The problem with the brightness of these lights is that they are more likely to produce glare and aren't good at penetrating fog.
LED H11 bulbs grew in popularity thanks to automobile designers. These lights are noticeably thinner than the others, and can easily be shaped into many forms. While they aren't as bright as HID bulbs, they are less likely to cause glare and perform better in foggy conditions. LEDs are also much longer lasting while using even less energy. They are, however, the most expensive to produce.
Lumens is the measurement of how bright a light bulb is. One LED headlight bulb can reach over 3,000 lumens; however, some luminosity is lost due to energy production. Scattered light beams may have a higher "brightness" but aren't necessarily the best for driving. Different types of LED chips or installing extra projectors can give you a more focused light beam to better illuminate the road.
Kelvin is used to measuring the color and light produced by light bulbs. The different temperatures give off different hues. Headlights that look yellowish are typically in the range of 2,000 and 4,000 Kelvin. The bluish colored headlights are much warmer, with more than 6,500 Kelvins, and traditional white lights land in the middle.
The overall performance of your headlights will depend on how they handle road conditions. The ballast is a part connected to the LED light that protects it from voltage variation and heat and optimizes power efficiency. Bulbs need to be shockproof due to the inevitable bumps in the road, and poorly damped lights may cut out. Finally, lights have IP ratings to measure the level of waterproofing.
The vast majority of vehicles leave dealership lots these days with one of three headlight bulbs: halogen, HID, or LED. Halogen bulbs are the oldest of the three and are still very common. They’re extremely affordable and typically have a life of around 800 hours on average. When compared to HID or LED bulbs however, halogen bulbs are the worst performing of the three. They also require more energy than LED bulbs and are more prone to heat. At the end of the day however, halogen bulbs offer enough lighting for safe driving, but upgrading to LEDs will make a noticeable difference to your driving experience.
LED headlight bulbs are becoming more commonly used by luxury automakers such as Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. You’ve also likely heard of LED bulbs for home use, which deliver equal or better lighting with lower power consumption and longer life. LED headlight bulbs are similar, offering better performance and longevity at a greater cost. Fortunately they’ve become so popular and common these days that they don’t cost significantly more than halogen bulbs.
Some will argue that LED headlight bulbs aren’t as bright as HIDs, but they are definitely brighter than halogen bulbs. They also don’t produce as much glare as HID headlights, and they don’t need a small period of time to charge up. Just as important, LED bulbs don’t use a filament that burns out or breaks, which allows them to last much longer than halogen bulbs.
The short answer to this question is yes. The aftermarket and the products in this list are designed to be retrofit kits for vehicles with halogen headlights. What’s important to know however is that some LED headlight kits may not be legal in your state. So make sure to check local state laws before upgrading to LED headlights.
There is actually no definitive answer to this question, but we recommend replacing both your headlight bulbs at the same time, even if only one goes out. That’s because swapping out just one headlight bulb could result in a difference in brightness between the two. Also, depending on your vehicle, changing out your headlight bulbs could be a cumbersome task—you’re better off doing it once and saving yourself time down the road.
If you’re trying to be frugal or more practical—if it’s not broken, why fix it—then make sure you keep a spare bulb handy for when the other one does eventually burn out.
A: H11 headlights are a type of single beam bulbs that are often used in modern vehicles. They are interchangeable with H8 and H9 housing units; some cars may have these as the stock option, while others may need to be converted.
A: LED lights are optimal for any weather. They don't emit heat, which helps them adapt to any climate, and they're designed to work great in rain and fog. HIDs are the best for nighttime driving, although poor weather conditions can reduce their visibility significantly.
A: Your bulbs shouldn’t turn yellow. If they do, there is a problem with the ballast and the amount of heat.
A: HID lights are known to cause a glare, which irritates oncoming traffic. LED lights are less likely to do this, especially if angled properly.
Low cost, simple to replace, and basically universal, halogen bulbs have been used in vehicles for decades. Even today, they are the most common type of headlights you’ll find on vehicles even if they don’t offer the best performance. On average, halogen headlight bulbs will last around 800 hours, but the good news is replacing them is very affordable and easy to do.
Essentially, halogen headlights are often used because of their low cost, but they’re also easy to replace and are mostly universal. Compared to HIDs and LEDs however, halogen headlights are prone to more heat and use up more energy when compared to LEDs. For the most part, halogen headlights offer enough lighting for safe driving on highways and back roads, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t room for improvement.
Even today, halogen bulbs are the most universal headlight bulb used throughout the world and is still the most common headlight found in the U.S. But that is slowly changing, with more automakers using HIDs and LEDs as a selling point, especially since IIHS now has a headlight evaluation as part of its safety tests.
HID headlights began appearing on vehicles in the early 1990s and is widely considered the first real threat to the dominance of halogen headlights. They are also called “xenon” headlights, for the gas that is used in the startup process. The first vehicle application of HID headlights appeared on the 1991 BMW 7 Series, the German automaker’s flagship sedan. As a result, HIDs were considered high-end until more and more manufacturers began using the technology and it became more affordable.
Without going into too much detail, HIDs are capable of generating more than twice the amount of lumens compared to a traditional halogen bulb. They emit a brighter light with greater efficiency and have a longer lifespan than a halogen bulb. The light it projects also has broader coverage, while using less power. But as you can imagine, HIDs are more expensive than halogen headlights, and they’re typically the lights that project a strong glare that could annoy oncoming traffic.
The first time you drive a vehicle with HIDs, you’ll likely notice the difference right away. Not only do they provide great illumination compared to halogen headlights, they’re considered the “whitest” of all the headlights, so its lighting is closer to natural daylight. It may not seem like it would make a difference, but driving at night with HIDs could result in less eye fatigue than halogen headlights.
Lastly, there are LED headlights, which are now used by various automakers including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and more. If you’ve had to replace a household lightbulb in recent years, there’s a good chance you’ve come across LED bulbs. Since the lighting technology has become more popular in other applications besides automotive, it has also become more affordable for automotive use.
While they’re not as bright as HIDs, LED headlights are brighter and last longer than halogen bulbs. They’re also smaller and easier to fit inside headlight housings, which has allowed certain automakers to get really creative with their headlight designs. Another benefit of LEDs is that they don’t produce as much of a glare as HIDs, so they don’t have as strong of an impact towards oncoming traffic. Unlike HIDs, LEDs also are “instant on,” meaning they act like halogen bulbs and don’t need a small period of time to charge up. Finally, LEDs don’t have a filament that burns out or breaks, so they tend to last much longer than conventional halogen bulbs.
If you’re shopping for a new car, you’ll likely see LED headlights being offered as an option (or even standard) more frequently than HIDs. To the average driver, the difference between HIDs and LEDs may not even be noticeable, but at the end of the day, it comes down to your driving conditions.
You can! If your car came from the factory with halogen headlights and you’re in need of something brighter with more coverage, the aftermarket offers both HID and LED retrofit kits for most applications. There is one important thing to note, however, as most of the kits being offered aren’t street legal. You will want to check with your local state laws before installing an HID or LED kit.
In addition, there are replacement halogen headlight bulbs available that emit a whiter, brighter light that would be a simple swap from your factory bulb. Oftentimes that’s a more cost-efficient method to slightly improve your lighting without having to install an aftermarket HID or LED kit.
The life of the average halogen headlight is about 4 to 6 years. It depends how much night driving you do and how many hours the headlights are used (day or night). HID headlight bulbs do not have filaments so they are much longer lived (10 years or more) while LED headlights have no filament or glass bulb and will last tens of thousands of hours, which is usually the life of the vehicle.
The filament inside an incandescent bulb or halogen bulb is the weak link. It operates at extremely high temperature, and is brittle. Over time, the filament will thin and eventually break. Excessive vibration (like driving on extremely rough roads) may also cause the filament to fail prematurely. Rocks kicked up by traffic can also break out a headlight if it penetrates the outer cover and hits the bulb inside. Electrical faults in the headlight wiring, connectors, relays or lighting control module may also prevent a headlight from working.
Yes, but the amount of dimming is only about 10 percent over the bulb's life. Tungsten particles that evaporate from the hot filament will gradually form a dull gray or blacking coating on the inside of the bulb over time, which reduces light transmission through the glass and light output.
Standard halogen bulbs in most auto parts stores retail for around $12 to $17 each (less if you buy a two pack). High performance halogen bulbs that produce more light can cost $15 to $23 each (less if you buy a two pack). HID bulbs are much more expensive costing from $100 to $150 each! A sealed beam headlight for an older vehicle may cost $15 to $25 depending on the application.
Yes. Both headlights have the same number of hours of use, so if one headlight has burned out the other headlight is probably near the end of its life too.
Halogen bulbs and HID bulbs are usually inserted into the back of the headlight housing from inside the engine compartment. Many bulbs are a twist-lock design. You twist the bulb connector counterclockwise to unlock the bulb from its housing, then pull out the connector and change the bulb.
Some bulbs are held in the back of the headlight housing by metal clips, which must be carefully removed to change the bulb.
On some vehicles, access to the back of the headlight housing may be restricted or blocked by other components that are in the way, which mean you may have to remove some covers, trim or the headlight housing itself to change the bulb.
When installing a new bulb, DO NOT touch the glass with our bare fingers because the oils on your skin can contaminate the glass and cause it to crack when the bulb gets hot. Handle the bulb by the plastic base only.
It depends what you want. If you do a lot of night driving and are tired or replacing bulbs more frequently than usual, buy a pair of long life bulbs that provide 2X to 3X the lifespan of a standard bulb.
If you want better nighttime visibility, there are bulbs that offer a brighter, whiter light output. However, the trade-off for more life is often shorter bulb life. Refer to the packaging on the product to see what the manufacturer says bulb life and light output.
Fog lights are yellow tinted lights that cut though fog and haze better than white lights during rainy, damp weather. Yellow light actually produces less reflection and glare than white or bluish light when there is a lot of moisture in the air.
Daytime headlights are headlights that remain on when ever the vehicle is driven, day or night. To extend bulb life, daytime headlights may be run at 50 percent of normal brightness. The purpose of daytime headlights is safety by making your vehicle more visible to other drivers and pedestrians.
LED headlights, taillights and trim lights are solid state light emitting diodes. They have no filament and no glass bulb. The surface of the LED glows brightly to produce visible light when the LED is on. Various coatings are used to modify the color of the light. LED lights consume much less power than incandescent or halogen headlights, and they will usually last the life of the vehicle.
It depends where you make the temperature measurement. The temperature of the tungsten filament inside a halogen headlight is around 4600 degrees, while the surface of the bulb itself may be 160 degrees F or higher. It's certainly hot enough to burn your fingers! By comparison, the front surface temperature of a LED headlight may only be half as much at 70 to 80 degrees F. But the backside of the LED where the electronics and heat sink are located may be as hot as 100 to 200 degrees F.
Yes, there are aftermarket conversion kits that allow you to replace ordinary halogen headlight bulbs with LED bulbs. The main advantage is that the new LED lights should last the life of your vehicle, eliminating the need to replace the bulbs every few years. Custom LED lights can also provide different colored lighting (whiter/brighter) for better night visibility. LED replacement lights are also available for halogen taillights and stoplights, too.
Light output can be measured in "lumens" or "candlepower". Both units of measure are measured differently, but both express the intensity or brightness of the light at a specified distance from the source. The higher the lumen or candlepower rating, the brighter the light source. The brightness has nothing to do with the color of the light itself, only its intensity.
Visible light covers a wide spectrum of wavelengths. The "color" or "shade" of the light produced by the headlights is measured in degrees Kelvin. Lights may vary from 3000 K (yellow) to off-white (4300 K) to pure white (5000 K) to bluish-white (6000 K). Most standard halogen headlights are around 4300 K. Natural daylight is around 5800 K.
Government rules limit maximum light output for low beams for highway driving to reduce glare for oncoming drivers. For street driven vehicles, DOT rules limit maximum light output for low beams to 700 lumens, and high beams to 1200 to 1300 lumens. Headlamps marked DOT are street legal in all 50 states. Headlamps that are not DOT compliant because of higher than allowed brightness are NOT legal for highway use. Super bright off-road lights may be so bright that they could temporarily blind oncoming drivers, so do NOT use them unless you are the only vehicle on the road.
Most headlights are some type of adjustment mechanism so the light pattern produced by the headlights can be aimed at the road ahead to provide the best visibility without blinding oncoming drivers. Each headlight typically has two adjustment screws, one for raising and lowering the headlight, and a second screw for adjusting the beam pattern left or right. You want both headlight aimed straight ahead with the beam pattern cutting off level with the hood of your vehicle. Avoid aiming the lights too high or too low. Also, you do not want the beam pattern spreading too far too the left in oncoming traffic.
Yes. Recent testing by government and independent testing facilities has revealed that many vehicles have headlights that deliver less than optimal performance. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, more than half of SUVs recently tested have "marginal" or "poor" headlights. The optical properties of the reflectors and lens inside the headlight housing determine how the light is projected from the headlight. If the headlight is not well-designed, it may not project most of its light where it does the most good. Better headlight systems will provide broad, even illumination of the road ahead with both low and high beams.
These are headlight systems that shift the beam pattern right or left slightly so the driver can see further when turning or driving around a curve. An adaptive headlight system monitors vehicle speed, the driver's steering inputs and a "yaw" sensor to determine when the vehicle is turning or driving on a curved road. Small electric motors in the headlight assembly then move a reflector or the bulb itself so the beam pattern will follow the curvature of the road for better visibility. Some systems can also sense when a vehicle is traveling up or down a hill, and redirect the beam pattern up or down to improve visibility.
There are even more factors to consider, when it comes to choosing the right LED headlights. You may want 6000K white bulbs, or you may want fog light bulbs.
Alternatively, you may want OEM parts, or you may be okay with reproductions or knockoffs. Bright white bulbs generally give a better result while driving, but even then you'll still want to make sure the fitment is correct.
Cree is one manufacturer that makes many different types of LED headlights, which can easily replace your stock halogens. Whether you are driving a Toyota or a Honda, LED headlights will certainly be an upgrade to your existing lights.
If you have halogen lights now, all you likely need is an LED headlight conversion kit. You may also want LED fog light bulbs, which are made by companies like Sylvania.
You may also need a CANbus system, and will likely want to also upgrade your daytime running lights. Xenon white lights are one popular choice, and fanless (as well as high power) lights are also popular.
You will want to also make sure the details are right, if you are installing the lights yourself. This means getting the polarity correct, as well as making sure the resistors are in the proper position.
Light bars will make your drive easier, and there are many comb options. Cars as diverse as the Silverado, Wrangler, Honda Accord (and many others) - can all benefit from LED headlights.
