Types of car’s headlights
Car’s headlights are one of the most essential parts of the car. It is an absolute essential when driving in the dark, especially at night! Not only do they help to light the road ahead, they also serve the purpose of warning oncoming traffic about your presence!
As automobiles have advanced, so has car lighting! Headlight technology has come a long way from Carbide lamps used in the early days of cars to laser lights of the modern era. Here are some of the common types of car’s headlights that are being used by most cars on the road today!
1. Halogen
Halogen headlights, the most commonly used type of headlights found in most cars today, are an improvement of incandescent lights (sealed beam lights). Incandescent lights are still used for classic cars. A halogen bulb works by sending electricity through the tungsten filament placed in a glass capsule filled with halogen gas, of which once supplied with electric current, begins to heat and glow. Halogen bulbs emit yellow lights. The light throw is just around 100 metres.
2. Xenon, HID, Arc
Xenon or high-intensity discharge (HID) lights, on the other hand, do not use a metal filament to create light. These lights create a high voltage arc between two electrodes. The HID bulb that is filled with xenon gas produces a bright white/bluish light. These headlights create far less heat in comparison to halogen headlights. However, in order for the lights to come to full brightness, they need time to warm up but they can eventually be very bright! They have light throws of around 200 to 250 metres.
3. LED
Light-emitting diodes or LEDs or light emitting diodes are popular in newer cars. They work by flowing electricity through light-emitting diodes. The advantage is that they don’t need any warm-up time and there is almost no heat emitted. On top of that, they are the most energy-efficient and produce bright light. They are easy to retrofit to any headlamp and light up instantly! Their light throw ranges up to 300 metres!
4. Matrix
Matrix lights, known as pixel lighting, use many different individual LEDs to make a headlight, and all of them are independently controlled. A camera is mounted behind the inside rear view mirror, which can detect the headlight and taillight of cars. What is cool about these car headlights is that it can automatically turn off the individual LED when the system detects an incoming car to prevent other drivers from being dazzled or blinded by car headlights!
5. Lasers
Laser lights are the most advanced type of headlight technology to date but they are also the most expensive ones! Laser lights energize a gas with the help of lasers. These headlights are extremely bright and their throw of the headlight is significantly better than any other type of car headlights as they can go up to 600 meters of the road ahead!
As it stands, the first 3 are the most popular lights on the market, considering the price and utility of car headlights. Just like any other technology, as time passes, the technology will evolve more, and the more advanced car headlights available in the market today will be much cheaper and more accessible to more people!
