LED headlamp bulbs

[clivehorridge]

HID = High Intensity Discharge lamps. Known in the general electrical industry as Metal Halide lamps. Basically a contained electrical arc which gives off a huge amount of heat. These take a second or two to ‘strike’ or start an arc. Not so good for dim/dip to Main beam. Not easy to mimic a fillament lamp.
LED = Light Emitting Diode, instant lighting, lots of light out put for very little heat and good beam pattern as the LED ‘chips’ can be made into various shapes.

A little off subject here but I’m always confused by literature stating HIDs give off huge amounts of heat.

I’ve had mine fitted for nigh on 3 years now, and I can’t say they generate any heat at all.

The halogens used to project heat with the beam, you could feel the heat when you put your hand in front of the lense.

With HIDs, there’s no heat whatsoever (on mine) the lamps even get snow and slush build up on them and I have to stop every 5km or so to wipe off the inch of build up on the lense when its snowing heavily.

It’s their biggest draw-back IMO, that they project no heat. They dont even get hot at the back of the unit like LEDs do, theres no heat dissipating braids just a small alloy heat-sink.

Still confused... but the beam is BRILLIANT even after all this time

 

[StarCruiser]

The arc is within a gas tube often within a vacuum tube. The 1000w, foot long ones I fit for the local tennis club get pretty warm but don’t give too much heat forwards. I guess the vehicle ones are the same.

Interesting the vehicle ones don’t get so hot.

 

[Towpack]

AFAIK, filament bulbs produce far more Infra Red than HID’s for one thing, plus, when lit, the gas inside a HID is under quite high pressure which means the plasma arc can burn at a lower temp than would otherwise be possible. The upshot is less radiated heat. A plasma arc formed at atmospheric pressure is much hotter than a glowing filament.

 

[StarCruiser]

A plasma arc formed at atmospheric pressure is much hotter than a glowing filament.

On the money with the infra red. Hadn’t thought that way. An electric arc is reckoned to be 3x as hot as the surface of the sun!

 

[chapel gate]

many years ago HIDS were the all singing all dancing of mountain bike lights. I had a very expensive HID lumicycle lamp. the battery was the shape of a water bottle so fitted in the bottle cage!
it was very bright. it also gave off a lot of heat and the CNC'd lamp housing had fins at the rear as a heat sink. I remember the bulbs were £80 to replace. the amount of on/off cycles pretty much determined its life span.
they have been completely replaced by LEDs now..

 

[Towpack]

Digressing slightly, LED’s produce all the heat at the base of the emitter and very little forward radiated heat, hence the cooling fins/fans on the back.

 

[GuyB]

if the mot criteria is achieved surely it doesn't matter whats in there?

I hate to be a party pooper, but yes it does matter. The tester should be looking for any bright or 'white' light appearing in a zone above the horizontal plane and to the offside.

The outer edge of a beam from a filament bulb is relatively dim (yellow), and so with the beams directed down and to the nearside, no dazzling. Whack in a much brighter bulb and even though the beam is still directed correctly, that peripheral beam is now much brighter too - and risks dazzling oncoming drivers (not to mention a fine if you're in France!). Hence all the newer headlamp systems use either projectors or mechanical gizmos to create a hard edge to the beam, shielding oncoming traffic from the white light.

You can certainly push the boundaries when it comes to brightness, and I maintain your MOT tester, and the type of day they're having is probably the most important factor!

 

[StarCruiser]

The Phillips have a metal shield, similar to that on a standard fillament lamp.

 

[frank rabbets]

I can confirm an electric arc at atmospheric pressure is at least 3 times hotter than the surface of the sun. I fooled with a 440,000 volt national grid cable once which arced to the ground about 3 feet away. It welded my nylon jumper, burnt my shoes and trousers off and cratered the road. I am the only person who has blacked out the black country. Wombourne 1976.

 

[StarCruiser]

I can confirm an electric arc at atmospheric pressure is at least 3 times hotter than the surface of the sun. I fooled with a 440,000 volt national grid cable once which arced to the ground about 3 feet away. It welded my nylon jumper, burnt my shoes and trousers off and cratered the road. I am the only person who has blacked out the black country. Wombourne 1976.

You’re also very lucky to be alive Frank. That stuff takes no prisoners!

 

[clivehorridge]

I hate to be a party pooper, but yes it does matter. The tester should be looking for any bright or 'white' light appearing in a zone above the horizontal plane and to the offside.

The outer edge of a beam from a filament bulb is relatively dim (yellow), and so with the beams directed down and to the nearside, no dazzling. Whack in a much brighter bulb and even though the beam is still directed correctly, that peripheral beam is now much brighter too - and risks dazzling oncoming drivers (not to mention a fine if you're in France!). Hence all the newer headlamp systems use either projectors or mechanical gizmos to create a hard edge to the beam, shielding oncoming traffic from the white light.

You can certainly push the boundaries when it comes to brightness, and I maintain your MOT tester, and the type of day they're having is probably the most important factor!

There was only one reason I moved away from OEM head-lighting on my HZJ80, and that was because I couldn’t see anything in the dark.

OK, I can accept that may be a loom upgrade or some other tampering with the OEM set-up may have improved things, but my target was all-out war on the yellow, dim and dismal beams that were plaguing me. I also had a (growing) “bullet-hole” (it was a stone, but bullet sounds more romantic) in one of the lenses so I bit the bullet and after trying HIDs in the standard units (wild scatter and dangerous beam patterns and direction) went for after-market projectors and HIDs to suit.

The transformation was close on unbelievable. Tight crisp beams, no scatter, no danger to others, bright white (color tone unknown but I like it) and above all, I can see in the dark.

Least of my concerns was the ITP (MOT equivalent here) but they have given me some grief since. Anyway, I’ve “found a way” to deal with them so to speak, but at least I can see clearly now (even in the rain) if anyone had started to sing along to that last line...

 

[Towpack]

I can confirm an electric arc at atmospheric pressure is at least 3 times hotter than the surface of the sun. I fooled with a 440,000 volt national grid cable once which arced to the ground about 3 feet away. It welded my nylon jumper, burnt my shoes and trousers off and cratered the road. I am the only person who has blacked out the black country. Wombourne 1976.

That confirms it Frank. You must be an alien!

 

[Beau]

Clive, +1 on your comments with the HID's.

I've had my 50w kit fitted for over 10 years now and it's still amazes me how well it projects on the road and the cut off. Plus the fact it's lasted this long in the first place and seen one frontal impact years ago in England. I thought it was the lenses that were crap and was looking into adding projector lenses and upgrading to the clear lens style headlights, but after running HID's I've just left them.

The only vehicle we have among the family that beats it (only on Low beam) is our 08 bmw 3 series with its projector bi-xenon lighting.

 

[nick_the_fish]

OK got myself so Philips Ultinon Extremes. Went to change them, found 3 bulbs in the headlight. 1 side light, 1 dipped and one full. Doh. Presumable the 80 has a combined dipped main? Prob should'd checked before open the packet and started playing with them.

Going to put them into the full then get some less expensive LEDs for the dipped.

So, if your in a 100 series check your headlights before buying a combined bulb. Lesson learnt.

 

[grantw]

Presumable the 80 has a combined dipped main? Prob should'd checked before open the packet and started playing with them.

Yes - you presumed right. I think it's a H4 dipped and main and a H1 high beam.

 

[nick_the_fish]

OMG it goes from bad to worse. Also turns out my dipped are HB4 (not H4) and full are HB3.

Sent them back, slapped myself a few times, now looking for the correct type.

 

[thelal]

I put in LED bulbs in mine (FZJ with UK headlights via Karl) and not impressed with them. Ones that were recommended (approx 100)
Don't give right pattern and were not easy to fit

 

[grantw]

I put in LED bulbs in mine (FZJ with UK headlights via Karl) and not impressed with them. Ones that were recommended (approx 100)
Don't give right pattern and were not easy to fit

which LED lights?

 

[TALAMAN]

Excuse me butting back in, not in the current vein of this thread right now, but in post No 74 I posted pics of the output from my (then) new Philips LED's. Star Cruiser followed my post by suggesting I got my headlamps checked at an MOT station. Well, finally, early this week I did, and boy were they set low!! We brought the levels up to just below the optimum height. The idea was I would drive around at night for a couple of nights to see how I get on - if nobody flashed me, the tester suggested I went back and he would inch them up to the max permissible level. Well what a fantastic improvement. Not been flashed once and I can see a good bit more on dip and main beam is like running with a set of spots! I will try and take a couple of photo's at the same spot if anybody would like to see the change. Not going to bother the MOT guy as I am very happy as they are.

 

[StarCruiser]

Note how reflective signs and cones etc are really picked out by them way into the distance.