Headlights guide your way at night and help you see in bad weather. Driving thus can be unsafe with dim, faulty, or blown out car lights. It’s also illegal to drive with a fault headlight, and you can be ticketed for neglecting the problem.
In the case of headlights that are flickering due to faulty or burnt-out bulbs, they should be replaced. First, you will need to find out what type of bulb is in your headlights and, if you decide, if you want to keep the same kind or upgrade.
What are Car Headlights?
Car lighting has advanced significantly over the years. Just as the automobile has improved, so has the car lighting systems. Acetylene lamps were used in the early 1880s because of how easy it was to manage the air flame.
Now in the 21st century, vehicles travel much faster than in 1900, and our downgrade visibility systems are in need of enhancing.
There are plenty of choices available nowadays for headlights and drivers usually choose their headlights based on the added aesthetic to their vehicle.
Other than looking good, there is really not a solid case as to why someone would choose one system over the other. Let’s take a look at how these different styles of headlights operate and what each has distinct to their advantages and disadvantages.
Types of Car Headlights
This information will help you select the right headlight for your vehicle:
Types – Based on Headlight Assembly
#1. Reflector Headlights
These are classic automotive headlights that are either round or rectangular in shape that use a reflective surface behind the bulb to distribute light.
These lights produce a dispersed light pattern, acceptable for most driving conditions. Reflector headlights are easy to install, inexpensive, but glint at other vehicles.
#2. Projector Headlights
The newest to arrive on the headlight scene are projector headlights which change the beam pattern with lenses and cutoffs, resulting in brighter, concentrated light where you need it.
Projector headlights promote visibility while reducing glare to others. Projector headlights cost more than standard reflectors.
#3. H4 Conversions
Most vehicles are equipped with low beam H4 halogen headlights. You can replace the low beam projector or reflector assemblies with H4 conversions, allowing you to use a comparable high beam halogen bulb that will give low beam lighting performance like HID.
Types – Based on Bulb Types
#1. Halogen Headlights.
Halogen lights contain one and sometimes two filaments in one bulb. They can be used for bright or dim headlights. The bulb is not vacuum filled, but it is filled with gas at pressure.
The filaments are made of tungsten, and the glass envelope is pressurized with a mixture of an inert gas and a small amount of a halogen gas that reacts chemically, usually iodine or bromine.
This allows halogen lights to burn brighter and longer than incandescent lights without turning the inside of the bulb black.
Halogen bulbs are used in almost all modern headlights. Some replacement sealed beams for older automobiles that are made of glass have a halogen capsule for a sealed beam type filament.
If one of those older sealed beam units gets broken by a rock, the vacuum in the sealed beam lamp is lost, and the filaments quickly oxidize and burn out like the original way.
Typical lifespan: 450 to 1,000 hours
Price Range: $5 to $2,500
Advantages
- Halogen lights are inexpensive to produce.
- Replacement is typically uncomplicated in cars, though some may require work stripping parts from the engine compartment or splash shield.
Disadvantages
- A standard halogen headlight burns at about 3,000 Kelvin, which is somewhat yellow in color.
- Some manufacturers produce halogen headlight lights that burn at 3,400 to 4200 Kelvin, but even if they are used, they generally are not allowed on public roads.
#2. LED.
LED (light-emitting diode) headlights produce light in the form of photons, or particles of light, caused by electrons firing toward positive holes in a semiconductor which is called electroluminescence.
Currently, we also have dashboard lights and screen consoles, using the same electronics.
And now has been used in strong flashlights, appliance indication lights, and in an ever growing number of interior, exterior car lamps, tail lamps, and house lighting fixtures. In short, use of LED lights is widespread today.
Typical lifespan: 10,000 to 30,000 hours
Price Range: $45 to $3,500
Advantages
- LEDs are tiny semiconductors that are designed for tight spaces.
- It gives manufacturers a greater range when designing their other assembly parts, such as turn signal lights, and provides a better way to build sleeker and neater headlight designs.
- LEDs can provide light in every color of the rainbow.
- Does emit white, bright light that can see up to a mile ahead of you without blinding oncoming traffic.
- Normally they fall between 4,000 and 6,000 Kelvin on the color scale.
- They come with an instant on/off switch, and they are energy-efficient.
Disadvantages
- Generally, LED headlights tend to be more expensive than their Halogen counterparts.
- Their structure of assembly is slightly different, in that the lights heat sink needs to be integrated within the assembly in order to keep the base-emitter from over-heating.
#3. Xenon or HID Lights.
HID headlights and CFL lights have somewhat similar mechanics. Xenon headlights do not utilize filaments; they work by putting a high-voltage area between the two electrodes.
This type of auto headlight is given time to heat up, therefore, it takes them a while to reach their brightness.
They produce a bluish white light when they reach their brightness. The Xenon settings are used with another headlight for high beam purposes since they take a moment to warm up.
Typical lifespan: 2,000 to 10,000 hours
Price Range: $50 to $3,000
Advantages
- HID headlights usually emit bluish-white (4,000–6,000 Kelvin) light that has a longer illuminating distance.
Disadvantages
- HID headlights typically take a few seconds to reach full brightness.
- HID headlights can blind oncoming drivers due to the brightness of the beam.
- Other drivers may have a harder time seeing in the dark due to the reactiveness of the bluish-white glare.
- The brightness of the HID lights is so great that you may not be able to see past the headlights illuminating distance. This can make the challenges of parking, switch lanes, and crossing intersections difficult.
#4. Laser.
Currently, laser lighting is the most innovative headlight technology on the market. Consequently, they are the best in class and also concurrently the most expensive. With the help of lasers, laser lights ignite a gas. The gas burns exceptionally bright.
The principal advantage of laser lights is their headlight throw is far superior to any other headlight throw.
Laser lights are predominantly found on expensive, high-end luxury vehicles, or as an option, but they are also considerably more expensive still. Laser lights can illuminate the road ahead at about a distance of 600 meters.
Typical lifespan: 50,000 hours
Average cost: $8,000 to 12,000.
Advantages
- Laser headlights are more effective than traditional LED lights.
- While laser headlights put out 1,000 times more light, they use 50% less energy than LEDs.
- Laser headlights are 10 times smaller than LED headlights, which gives manufacturers the ability to design a smaller assembly.
- They are quick to power on and off, are good flexibility, and have a good range of use.
Disadvantages
- Compared to LEDs, they can generate more light, but they also produce more heat.
- Laser headlights are only allowed to be used in high beams along with conventional halogen, led or HID.
- Though they have been manufactured for some BMW and Audi vehicles, their use in the U.S. has only recently been approved.
- These lights are very expensive and can cost thousands of dollars compared to other forms of lighting.
Types – Based on the Number of Bulbs
#1. Quad Headlamps
Each side of a quad headlamp has low and high beams that are powered by different bulbs and can therefore utilize every beam pattern to its fullest. Quad headlamps are more expensive and more complex, but the best light output is from quad headlamps.
#2. Non-Quad Headlamps
The vast majority of standard headlamps use a single common bulb for both a low and high beam. While a single common bulb is more affordable and simpler, both beams are coupled and cannot be optimized independently.
Best Headlight Type for Night Driving
All headlights illuminate the road ahead, but how well they do it and for how long depends on the type of bulb. To summarize and put it simply, what I may recommend for a headlight bulb type for night driving can arguably be more on the subjective side for the user.
For example, suppose you drive at night and prefer to use warm, yellowish lights. Halogen bulbs for cars are for you and are just as reliable as other bulbs while being the least costly of the three mentioned. Just know you may not get the same longevity as LED or HID bulb types.
If you prefer brighter lights with a reach on the cooler side of the color temperature scale, LED headlight bulbs are a good option. LED headlight bulbs tend to be more costly to purchase versus halogen bulbs, however, you get what you pay for in terms of durability and energy savings.
If you do not want to take any chances, you may want to consider xenon headlights to light up the surrounding area if driving at night. Arguably, xenon headlights are the brightest bulb type available on the market today providing greater illumination versus halogen or LED headlights.
Kinds of Headlight Colors
Car headlights come in various color. While yellow and white headlamps are the most frequently seen, there are also lights available in cooler colors, like blue.
Yellow Light
Yellow light allows for blue tones to be filtered out and is therefore a gentler light than white. When compared to white light, yellow light is also a better cutting through rain, fog and snow. Yellow light can be hard to see when the conditions are clear.
The use of yellow headlights has declined, but you still see them on fog lights.
White Light
White light imitates sunlight and gives drivers a better view of what is on the road. The advantage of white headlights is that is clear light, which is brighter and better at lighting low-light areas. In some countries it is illegal to use any headlight that is not white.
If you are looking for white headlights, you should check the color temperature, the brightest and whitest ratings are usually 4,000 for halogen bulbs and 5,000 or 6,000 for LED and xenon bulbs.
Blue Light
Some cars may look like they have blue headlight bulbs, but they usually do not. They usually have bright headlights with a slight blue tint, those “blue headlights” are usually LEDs or HIDs and use xenon gas.
If you are considering colored headlights, make sure you are aware of what colors are legal in your area.
FAQ. About Headlights
Here are the answers to the most common questions about these automotive light bulbs.
How Many Bulbs Does a Headlight Have?
There is no possible way to know exactly how many bulbs there are, but you can usually count they have either two or three.
In some headlights, you have one for each function, whether it’s a dipped or main beam headlight that includes a sidelight and/or an indicator light. In other headlights, you may have multi-functional bulbs, such a low-beam bulb that is also a high-beam bulb.
You may see the bulbs through the headlight if you shine a flashlight into the headlight assembly. In some cases, you won’t see them even if it’s night.
What is the kelvin scale and how does it work with car lights?
For car lights, the reason for a Kelvin rating is to measure color temperature. The higher you get on the Kelvin scale, the whiter the light becomes. The lower you get, the warmer or more yellow light becomes.
Typically, the Kelvin scalability car headlights kind of starts at about 2,500 and goes to about 4,600, but the rule of thumb is that and that’s a long way up there in laser range, because you can get as high as 10,000, which is the intensity of bright sunshine under a blue sky or the irradiance of blue sky.
The lower part of the disappoint is nice and comfortable glow that does the job well. If you like a bright white light with a little more range, maybe you want to move to a headlight that’s higher on the scale.
Keep all of this in mind when you’re simply looking for headlights for your car.
What are the brightest headlights for a car?
White HID headlights with a 6,000 Kelvin rating are among the brightest headlights you can get for a car.
What type of headlight bulbs do I need?
It depends. If you don’t mind the headlights that came on your vehicle, you may want to go with the same type of bulbs. If you want to upgrade them however, here are some things to look for.
- Specs: Shop for replacement headlight bulbs that are the same size as your stock parts. This will ensure that it’ll fit into your headlight housing.
- Color Temperature: Choose between bulbs with lower (3,000 to 4,000 Kelvin) or higher (5,000 to 6,000) color temperatures.
- Brightness: To make the brightest option, you want the brightest bulbs, but take into account that they’ll probably use more of your power.
- Lifespan: LEDs last the longest but that doesn’t mean other bulbs will last short. If you stay with reliable headlight brands, you’d be getting worthy replacements.
Consideration of these factors should probably be taken into account if you are shopping for other car lights.
How often should you replace headlights?
You should replace headlights once they start to dim, usually (depends on bulb type) after 2,000 to 3,000 hours of use.