Xenon Headlights

0 Comments | Rating: 0 | |

If you've ever been driving down the road and seen very bright bluish headlights it's possible that you've driven past someone using xenon headlights. These headlights are created in a slightly different manner than a normal incandescent headlight. Because of xenon light technology, xenon headlights tend to be much brighter, last longer, and create a bluefish glow, which makes them very identifiable.

A high-intensity-discharge light (HID), xenon lights are named for the inert gas used bridge the gap between two electrodes. These types of headlights do not use filaments as normal incandescent headlights. HID headlights operate at a much higher voltage than normal headlights. HID headlights use 15,000 volts to bridge the gap and after that only use 80 volts to keep running.

These types of headlights also create light in the ultraviolet range which makes reflective highway signs glow brighter than when they are hit with standard lights. This makes driving at night much safer not only for the driver but for other drivers as well. An HID headlight also displays crisp lines to where the light shows and does not show.

Some blue lights seen on some cars are, in reality, merely incandescent bulbs with the outside of the headlight colored with a blue tint. This makes them appear to be HID lights. Proper HID lights are often pointed more to the ground than a typical headlight because of the bright glow and how they can distract other drivers.

Many luxury care which feature xenon lights are designed with different settings to allow drivers to lower and raise the height of beams. This is especially useful when traveling between densely populated areas and area of greater darkness. This feature does come standard on some new cars and greatly increases the safety of driving at night.

These types of headlights can be fitted to cars which currently use standard incandescent headlights. Some additional equipment is needed to make this change, in particular a transformer called a ballast. While it is currently not common to find older cars with this type of refit, it will become more and more common to see new cars shipped with xenon headlights.

Currently xenon bulbs are much more expensive than standard incandescent bulbs; however, as they become more and more common on new cars, the prices of these lights are sure to drop. Regardless of the cost, if you want to be able to see everything in front of you at night, you will want xenon headlights.