Have you ever driven at night and noticed the oncoming cars headlights are tinted blue and wonder why that is and how you could get it for your car? Maybe you just want to learn more about your options for different Headlights then you are in luck because, in this article, we will delve into the various pros and cons of the different light types available to a road user. Lights have come a long way since the original tungsten filament light was introduced and subsequently replaced by the Halogen lightbulb in the early ’60s. It remained the standard with little in the way of innovation until the early 90s when the HID headlamp was unveiled by BMW and then 13 years later the LED Headlight by Audi.
These days the most common headlamp to be found on cars is still the halogen headlight, but this is eventually going to become antiquated in favour of newer technologies such as HID, LED and as futuristic as it sounds LASER. Before we get into the details of each of the above there are a few things to become acquainted with if you intend on buying a replacement or upgrading your existing headlights.
Alignment: A lot of people may be unaware of this but your headlights are actually aimed specifically to suit countries that drive on the right side or the left side. Headlights for use in left lane traffic countries have low-beam headlamps that dip to the left, the light is distributed with a downward/lefthand bias to show the driver the road and signs ahead without blinding oncoming traffic and vice versa for countries that drive on the right side with most of their light directed downward/right hand. So you could not buy a Headlight in Ireland if you intend to drive in France unless you plan on having the car lights properly calibrated for the change in the road. However, some cars have headlights that can adjust themselves with the flick of a button that will set it to either RHD or LHD.
Auto Levelling/Load adjustment: Used very effectively in trucks load adjustment means that the headlights will adjust themselves and dip the beam downwards to not blind other road users if the car becomes higher or lower depending on the weight fluctuation or when the car accelerates or decelerates.
ECE & SAE: These are regulation stamps, ECE means the lamp can be used in European countries and most industrialised ones outside of the EU. SAE is the stamp used in the US. Major differences are based purely on allowable glare and light intensity, the US allows more Glare for example.
Lumens: This is the standard measurement of light output.