Can somebody explain what is the deal with Xenon lights?

[jagec]

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: deadlyapp
xenon has more of a blue tint to it, as far as brightness, there isn't a huge difference. Sylvania silverstars are the best non-HID light out there IMO.

It's more of a ricey thing.

There's a huge difference in light output from Halogen vs Xenon HID from my experience.

Xenon is a halogen...think you mean HID vs. non-HID.

To be honest I'm not totally sold on them. My bike has non-HID headlights with an EXCELLENT beam pattern and plenty of brightness, and when I rode in a new RDX with HIDs I didn't think the overall visibility was any better than on my bike.

 

[ayabe]

HID's excel in some areas and halogens excel in others. There isn't a definitive answer as to which is better, they both have strengths and weaknesses.

 

[BlackTigers]

I know nothing about headlights, all I know is if you're going to put them on your SUV and not calibrate them correctly while tailgating me, I will have strong urges to stop the car and beat you with a baseball bat.

 

[TheSlamma]

Originally posted by: ironwing
It's a dick size thing.

:thumbsup:

I wish people understood headlights are more for being seen then seeing with. Brights are what you need if you live in areas with no/poor street lights.

 

[sotxin]

My son put a pair of aftermarket "blue" bulbs in his 2000 Volvo. After about a year one burned out; when I replaced them with Sylvania Silverstars I noticed the blue xeons had cooked and blistered some of the reflective coating inside the headlamp.
I never enjoyed driving with them at night. They don't light up the asphalt in front of you as much as a more whiteish bulb.
The Sylvania Silverstars are much better in my opinion.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: isekii

Originally posted by: deadlyapp
xenon has more of a blue tint to it, as far as brightness, there isn't a huge difference. Sylvania silverstars are the best non-HID light out there IMO.

It's more of a ricey thing.

There's a huge difference in light output from Halogen vs Xenon HID from my experience.

Xenon is a halogen...think you mean HID vs. non-HID.

To be honest I'm not totally sold on them. My bike has non-HID headlights with an EXCELLENT beam pattern and plenty of brightness, and when I rode in a new RDX with HIDs I didn't think the overall visibility was any better than on my bike.

try looking at the periodic table. xenon is a noble gas.

chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine and astatine are halogens

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
The Xenon lights on my old Audi were awesome, and they worked almost as well as the high beams work on most cars. It's too bad that they cost $1,400 EACH to replace them when I got into an accident

That is precisely the reason I hate those lights. Oncoming cars blind the shit out of me if they have those blue bulbs. They are just plain too bright. It wouldn't be so bad if people had their lights aligned correctly, but 95% of the people who have them don't.

The blubs on the Audi are auto leveling, so they I doubt that they blinded a lot of people. It's one the the reasons they're so damn expensive, though.... each headlight assembly had it's own onboard computer :roll:

 

[Throckmorton]

They are brighter because they emit more lumens per watt than halogens. The regulations only limit the amount of watts, so they take advantage of a loophole to be brighter.

 

[T2urtle]

HID stock are great, look at the TSX, new TL projectors or the S2000 ones as well. They look great, don't blind people. Give great output over normal halogens.

Aftermarket HID's do blind people. But same thing with large SUV's. I'm more blinded with larger SUV then aftermarket HID's


I personally have after market HID's, i aimed the beam a little lower and on top of that my car is lowered. I've driven pass cops and friends none really complained about my blinding/glaring at them. I have eyelids on the lower part of my headlight to mask some of the glare. Overall its about 1.5 times brighter on the road then normal halogens.

 

[Erock]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
The Xenon lights on my old Audi were awesome, and they worked almost as well as the high beams work on most cars. It's too bad that they cost $1,400 EACH to replace them when I got into an accident

That is precisely the reason I hate those lights. Oncoming cars blind the shit out of me if they have those blue bulbs. They are just plain too bright. It wouldn't be so bad if people had their lights aligned correctly, but 95% of the people who have them don't.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
I could not agree with you more! Its not that the bulb, its that people don't bother adjusting them so even though their headlights are lighting up the tree tops, doesn't matter as long as they have xenon's. Who cares about the actual purpose of headlights.

 

[AMCRambler]

The only difference between HID and standard halogen headlights is the color temp of the light. There is a maximum candlepower for car headlights set by Federal Law so those of you saying HID's are better because they are brighter, you're just plain wrong(Linky). That's not to say that there are HID's that are brighter than halogens just because manufacturers may not use the max candlepower bulbs or whatever.
That said, the biggest reason for HID's is the cool factor. 11-12000k headlamps emit a bluer light than halogen headlamps are capable of and blue/purple looks cool and different. I've heard some people say it's more like daylight as opposed to the yellower from halogen but daylight is actually around 5500k so daylight is yelower than a halogen headlamp. I don't think you can even make the argument that a bluer light provides a better contrast between between light and shadow because blue light is toward the darker end of the light spectrum.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
There is a maximum candlepower for car headlights set by Federal Law so those of you saying HID's are better because they are brighter, you're just plain wrong(Linky). That's not to say that there are HID's that are brighter than halogens just because manufacturers may not use the max candlepower bulbs or whatever.

Lumen specs for various bulbs.

HID output in Lumens: 2,800 to 3,200 lumens.

Halogen output in Lumens: 700 to 2,100 lumens (typically ~1,000 lumens low-beam and ~1,700 lumens high-beam).

Note that "candela" is a measure of lumens over a specified area, not of total light output. Without noting the area at which the measurements are made, the link you list doesn't give really much information. Also, the law only limits candela at certain, specific points. It is possible to "dispose of" excess lumens by designing a reflector such that the superfluous light is scattered into an un-regulated area (for low-beams, as there is no overall max listed that I could find when searching FMVSS 108, high-beams have a maximum intensity of 75,000 candela, but again, that's intensity over a given area).

The site you linked is a gross over-simplification.

ZV

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
The Xenon lights on my old Audi were awesome, and they worked almost as well as the high beams work on most cars. It's too bad that they cost $1,400 EACH to replace them when I got into an accident

That is precisely the reason I hate those lights. Oncoming cars blind the shit out of me if they have those blue bulbs. They are just plain too bright. It wouldn't be so bad if people had their lights aligned correctly, but 95% of the people who have them don't.

The blubs on the Audi are auto leveling, so they I doubt that they blinded a lot of people. It's one the the reasons they're so damn expensive, though.... each headlight assembly had it's own onboard computer :roll:

*cough*

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

try looking at the periodic table. xenon is a noble gas.

chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine and astatine are halogens

I must have gotten my wires crossed...

/kills self

 

[Insane3D]

Anyone think that maybe even OEM HID's in SUV's blind you because, oh, I don't know, those vehicles, and by extension, their headlights are much higher than on a passenger car?

Nah, let's just keep generalizing...

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
The only difference between HID and standard halogen headlights is the color temp of the light. There is a maximum candlepower for car headlights set by Federal Law so those of you saying HID's are better because they are brighter, you're just plain wrong(Linky). That's not to say that there are HID's that are brighter than halogens just because manufacturers may not use the max candlepower bulbs or whatever.
That said, the biggest reason for HID's is the cool factor. 11-12000k headlamps emit a bluer light than halogen headlamps are capable of and blue/purple looks cool and different. I've heard some people say it's more like daylight as opposed to the yellower from halogen but daylight is actually around 5500k so daylight is yelower than a halogen headlamp. I don't think you can even make the argument that a bluer light provides a better contrast between between light and shadow because blue light is toward the darker end of the light spectrum.

Zenmervolt explained the mistake in candlepower below, but there are some other issues as well.

Besides color temp, halogen and HID also differ in color rendition. The lowest temperature HID lights (the 4300k used in most OEM units and many aftermarket as well) has roughly an 80-85 CRI. Higher temperature units drop that rendition down to the ~70 CRI range, and the very high (10-12k range) drop it even lower. Halogens in the 3000k range give you closer to an 85-90 CRI.

Also, daylight is in theory 6500k, with specific red, blue, and green points (called D65). Because of the strange red/green/blue points in automotive specific lighting (and also florescent lighting), 5000-5500k is sometimes mistakenly considered daylight.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I love my factory HIDs. Suck it, HID haters.