Choosing Xenon or Halogen: The Differences of Headlamp Bulbs
Driving late at night, especially on dark unlit roads can often make your headlight bulbs feel as powerful as a candle in a jam jar. Unfortunately very few drivers realise that they can easily replace their existing halogen headlight bulbs with the very latest upgrade xenon bulbs. These high performance bulbs emit up to 90 percent more light than halogen, are completely road legal and can be fitted without the need for any modifications.
Headlight Bulbs – A Very Brief History!
Before going into how xenon lights will enhance your visibility, the history of headlight bulbs should be discussed. Headlights began as incandescent lights, which were very simple. Then in the 1960s manufacturers of car lights created the halogen bulb, which they named the H1.
The creation of the bulb requires an airtight glass which is filled with a halogen mixture. Halogen burned brighter than their predecessors. To improve the lights further, the car manufacturers modified the filament. The filament is the metal wire coil in the centre of the light bulb. The filament allowed a higher beam intensity, which made more light. This light could extend further from the car than incandescent light bulbs.
Over the years car manufacturers working with light bulbs have tried to increase the light output even more. They also wanted to have a bulb that would last longer. With this idea in mind these manufacturers decided to use xenon gas instead of halogen pressurising it. Xenon gas has a higher intensity when it burns, which makes a clearer white. Halogen bulbs are a dull yellow when comparing the two different bulbs.
The headlight bulb manufacturers also worked on improving the metal filament coil and thanks to precision design, construction and materials, xenon bulbs can project a beam of light from your headlights up to 35 metres further down the road than ordinary halogen headlight bulbs.
Xenon Replace Halogen Bulbs
Xenon light bulbs, due to the resources used, are identical in appearance to the halogen bulbs. For this very reason, halogen can be replaced with xenon by a simple upgrade. You simply remove the old bulb and install the new xenon lights in the same holder.
Xenon light bulbs will fit in the bulb holders and use the same connectors as halogen. They do not require a higher voltage or wattage modification. You can replace the halogen safely because you do not have to cut wires or change the car. The best part is that xenon is legal in the UK and Europe.
By using xenon light bulbs you are able to increase the distance and what you can view while driving at night. It makes travelling on the roads secure and less apprehensive because you can spot potential dangers quicker and react with more fluidity. As you can tell, when it comes to a comparison of the two bulbs there really is no question that xenon is better.