Halogen Vs HID Vs LED Headlights, Which Headlight Is Better?

Recently we heard a lot about halogen vs HID, halogen vs LED, HID vs LED headlights, which one is better? Since the first car was made, manufacturers have been looking for ways to improve their products in every way possible. Perhaps no component on a car has more significance than its headlights. After all, lights are important to safety on the road. They make sure that you can see the road ahead, even at night, or during low-light situations. And they also make sure that other road users see your car.

• RELATED QUESTION

Why don't automobile manufacturers make use of LED for headlights?

You will notice several important differences in light produced by LEDs, xenon and halogen headlights. LEDs have the coolest color temperature at around 6,000 Kelvin, which makes them appear whiter than daylight. Xenon headlights come in at around 4,500 K, while halogens round out the list at a yellowish 3,200 K. nnnWhen it comes to reflection, LEDs offer better light return from road signs, while xenon lamps better illuminate the sides of the road. In part, this is because xenon lamps typically produce more light, measured in lumens, than LEDs.Both LEDs and xenon provide a large pattern of light on the road, whereas halogens offer a small pool of yellow light directly in front of the vehicle. If you are buying a new car, expect LED headlights to be the premium option, and make sure your auto repair shop is equipped to handle LED headlight replacements and repairs.If you are looking for intense light and do not mind the glare, xenon may be the best choice. LEDs, meanwhile, offer great light, low power and long life, but often come with a bigger price tag. Halogen headlightsnHalogen lights are the most popular lights on the market and are found in most consumer cars. These bulbs are similar to familiar incandescent lights and use heated tungsten filaments to produce light. ProsnThe main benefits of halogen bulbs include low replacement costs and longevity. ConsnHalogen headlights produce a significant amount of heat, and even small deposits of skin moisture on the bulb during replacement can affect their performance. Xenon headlightsnXenon lights, also known as high-intensity discharge (HID) lights, produce a brighter light than halogen bulbs and with far less heat. The blue-white light emitted by xenon bulbs is so bright, it has been known to "blind" other drivers. nProsnThese headlights require a large amount of power at the outset to produce their first burst of light, but once fully operational, they require much less energy to maintain constant brightness.nXenon bulbs have a long lifespan and emit little heat.ConsnThey cost more than halogen bulbs.nLED headlightsnLEDs are the most recent innovation in headlight technology. Instead of gas and filaments, LEDs rely on small diodes that produce light when electric current excites their electrons.nProsnThey need an low amount of power to work but do produce a significant amount of heat on the diode. The small size of LEDs means they can be formed into almost any shape, and their light is naturally directional rather than diffuse, making them an excellent choice for headlights. nConsnRequires cooling system to prevent led diodes from burning out.nSo,conclusion here is:nLed headlights are not cheap.Maintenance cost are higher and requires skill. Extra equipment required to help keep lights cool to prevent burnout.Thats why LED lamps are not preferred in mid range vehicles.Expensive cars might get Led headlamps.Why do not automobile manufacturers make use of LED for headlights?.

What are some of the dangers with using LED headlights on a vehicle?

some of the dangers:Dazzling oncoming drivers because the LED is too bright / too white / dazzlingPutting LED in a headlamp that is designed for halogen bulbs (H1 / H4 / H7) will throw a different pattern of light onto the road. If the car was designed with a halogen headlight the patterns in the headlight lens and reflector will optimise the pattern so as not just to blind other oncoming traffic but also give you the driver the best possible beam in terms of brightness/width/height to drive with (be it low beam or high beam)If you use headlamps or bulbs that were not designed for the vehicle when you bought the vehicle by the OEM (factory fitted) then when you take your car for a road worthiness test (NCT in Ireland / MOT in the UK .. I dont know what it is called in other parts of the world) - when they test your headlights it will fail if the LED bulbs are too bright , they will fail if they are too dim, they will fail if they are too high up or down low, they will fail if the beam pattern is not as it should be...What are some of the dangers with using LED headlights on a vehicle?.

can i add audi´s new LED headlights to an older model?

2002 Audi A4 Headlights

Do LED car headlights pose any health issue as it generates electromagnetic radiation? I sometimes hear radio interference when the LED headlights are switched on. Does this pose a health problem for the passengers inside the car?

Nope, zero risk. Often LED lights are pulsed with high current for short brief periods of time at a higher frequency than the persistence of our eyes, which is maybe 120 times per second. But at that low rate a strobe effect would be detectable at night when looking from side to side, so LED flashlights and other LED illumination sources are pulsed at a relatively high frequency of maybe 3,000 or 4,000 Hz, meaning 4 KHz, or 4,000 pulses per second. Who knows, some LEDs could well be pulsed slightly above audio frequencies which is above 20 KHz. In any event, it's a minor concern because all those frequencies are significantly lower than radio, television and cell phone frequencies. There is a little concern about those high frequencies but I have never heard of any concern about low frequencies at audio and below. I'm ignoring for a moment the super low frequency 60 Hz concerns from people who live near high voltage power lines. That's a different story. Another important fact that makes LEDs a non-issue for cars is this. Typically a car is made of steal or aluminum and it acts as a Faraday Shield, so basically impossible for any radiation to reach passengers in the car. The headlights are lower than the hood and any radiation can't find a line of sight path into the cabin through the windshield. Exotic cars with carbon bodies won't block radiation but the frame and other metals would block a lot of any radiation that might be present. And there's almost radiation no to begin with. Faraday cage - WikipediaIf you ranked risks in terms of seriousness and probability there's a long list that might go approximately in this order: Global Warming, flu, cancer, disease, sickness, murder, struck by lightning, Earth hit by another dinosaur size meteor, and then maybe a million other obscure possibilities... I'm still not sure EMI radiation from LEDs of any kind would even be on the list in millionth place. Do LED car headlights pose any health issue as it generates electromagnetic radiation? I sometimes hear radio interference when the LED headlights are switched on. Does this pose a health problem for the passengers inside the car?

Is it normal for LED headlights to be in a straight line light pattern from left to about half of the passenger side and then goes up about 45 degrees? I have been trying hard to make the light pattern in a straight line, but it's not working.

That's normal. The flat top is so the headlights don't shine directly at oncoming traffic- there's a slight downward angle to this cutoff. The angled kickup towards the edge of the road is intended to illuminate roadsigns and other things by the side of the road. The 'break point' where the flat top ends should be aimed directly ahead or slightly towards the roadside- never into traffic. The pattern will be reversed for countries driving on the other side of the road. British drivers taking their cars abroad have to fit deflectors to adapt the headlight beam.Is it normal for LED headlights to be in a straight line light pattern from left to about half of the passenger side and then goes up about 45 degrees? I have been trying hard to make the light pattern in a straight line, but it's not working.

Isn't Toyota Innova and Fortuner overprized as they lack features like sunroof, digital mid, LED headlights, and other things?

Toyota makes the most reliable car. They leave out the stuff that causes future problems. They design the parts in their cars to be reliable and last longer too.So, if you just want a boring car that always starts and gets you to where you want to go with the fewest problems, buy a Toyota car. Toyota Corolla is a great example of a car that lasts for 200K miles or more and is very reliable too.Internet search "utube Here's why the Toyota Corolla is the best selling car of all time".Always have a auto mechanic from a different business check out the car before you buy it. Other Toyota cars are very good too. Do research because even Toyota makes a few bad models once in a while.Some of the newer Toyota cars are having early parts failure now. Water pump failure, fuel pump failure, brake master cylinder failure and cracked engine block. Avoid the CVT transmission in the nonhybrid Toyota Corolla.In the long run, a Toyota car should cost you less because of fewer break downs. Think total cost over time.I am not an expert in the stock market. But I have gained this knowledge from other well known people who do understand when to buy and sell stocks. Isn't Toyota Innova and Fortuner overprized as they lack features like sunroof, digital mid, LED headlights, and other things?

Do you think super-ultra-bright LED headlights make roads safer or less safe than "old-school" style headlights? Why or why not?

Overall, no - because they're not used properly. With LED lights, HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights, etc., if you retrofit those to a housing which originally had incandescent bulbs in it, you're emitting several times more useable light than what they were meant for. It can still work, but having the headlights properly adjusted is imperative.Of course, the alternative is projector headlights, which does more to harness it, but also reduces the field of light.The other thing I don't like about LED headlights is the color temperature - LEDs tend to be white, which gives the most useable light, but yellow is really much better for fog. Naturally, being able to better see the road ahead of you is a good thing. Doing it to the detriment of other drivers isn't.Do you think super-ultra-bright LED headlights make roads safer or less safe than "old-school" style headlights? Why or why not?.

When would US ban LED headlights on cars? They are just too bright.

LED's are a boon to drivers as they don't grow dimmer with age as incandescent or even HID (High Intensity Discharge that creates a blueish light). By and large, I don't find them to be overly bright except for a few car makers who haven't quite figured out how to keep the light scatter down.This extra scattering of the light will eventually be tamed as the technology advances. I would say that most of this "blinding light" you see is because of drivers who haven't quite figured out how to switch from "HIGH" beam to "LOW".Also thrown into the mix are kids who buy LED conversion kits for their cars because they look so "cool" but don't have the common sense of having them aimed professionally.When would US ban LED headlights on cars? They are just too bright.

What is the difference between Hid and Led headlights?

HID (High Intensity Discharge) are normally much brighter than standard halogen lights (the luminosity is greater providing much higher foot candles). They work by heating xenon gas (an inert gas) within a small chamber. This is why they are so bright. But they require a special ballast in order to convert the 12V DC current to a much higher level to ignite the gas. This is also why they are so expensive. Normal halogen lights work by heating a filiment within the bulb and reflecting the light forward. LED (Light Emitting Diodes) are basically diodes that become heated and glow. Unfortunately they are not very bright. However they glow white or bluish-white which looks pretty cool and they last a very long time using only a small amount of energy. As far as headlights are concerned, you will never find an LED headlight with the LED being the main light. LED headlights will always have a HID or halogen main bulb. The LED will usually be a ring around the projector lens (known as HALO lenses) or will have a line of LED lights below the main lights (look at the new AUDI). Basically HID is a very bright headlight and LED is a headlight accessory (makes it look fancy). Hope this helps. BTW - I own a professional headlight restoration company so I deal with headlights every day.

Do LED headlights in cars use PWM or just a constant voltage to operate?

Most of the time, no. 99% of all light functions use constant DC supply. The main exception is if there is a lamp that is simultaneously used as a daytime running light and position light, and when PO function turns on, it uses the same current as DRL, but with PWM applied on top. Even then, the PWM is usually supplied as an external signal that drives the transistors in series with the LED. PWM will also sometimes (but rarely) be used to reduce thermal load at high ambient temperatures.Do LED headlights in cars use PWM or just a constant voltage to operate?

Do you like the newer LED headlights or the regular headlights more?

I hate the new ones. They pierce through my retinas right into my soul. The old ones are way better and I do not feel like a deer caught in the headlights