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Monday, July 6, 2009

Choices in Headlight Bulbs: Halogen or Xenon?

By Ethan Melandri

Headlights are used as soon as the sky begins to go a dull colour and as the sky grows darker the light emitted grows more pronounced helping us see. However, this light is narrow and often short range. Many motorists do not realise they can increase their sight with the use of xenon bulbs over halogen lights. In fact these bulbs offer up to 90% more light than halogen. They also do not need modifications for fitting them in your vehicle.

A Short History on Headlight Bulbs

In order to understand the technology of xenon headlight bulbs it may be necessary to learn a little history about light bulbs. The first headlight bulb was developed as an incandescent light. Car manufacturers creating light bulbs made them a halogen bulb called the H1 in the 1960s.

The halogen gas was placed inside an airtight glass construction, allowing the light to burn brighter. While the construction was being changed to the gas the manufacturers decided to enhance the filament. The filament in a light bulb is a wire coil made of metal, which sits in the middle of the glass structure. It presents a specific place to increase the beam which in turn makes the light work at a farther distance than the original 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 Bulbs are direct Replacements for Halogen headlight Bulbs

Because all of the improvements in the latest xenon bulbs occur in the glass bulb section they look virtually identical to their halogen equivalents. Therefore all you need to do in order to upgrade them is simply take out your old dull yellow halogen headlight bulbs and install the new upgrade xenon bulbs in their place.

Xenon bulbs fit exactly the same bulb holders and connectors as their halogen counterparts and do not require a higher voltage or change in wattage, so you can fit them safe in the knowledge that you do not need to modify your car or cut any wires, and they are completely road legal in the UK and throughout Europe.

Fitting xenon bulbs will improve both how far and how much of the road ahead you can see, making night driving safer and less stressful as you can see potential hazards earlier and react to them quicker. So as you can see, when it comes to comparing halogen headlight bulbs with modern xenon bulbs there really is no comparison. - 21393

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