It seems that, finally, the fashion for the "collective farm" xenon that eats out the eyes has passed, but today LED artillery, which has not yet been banned, is entering the battle. A logical question arises: are the standard head optics bulbs really so bad that you need to look for an alternative, or are there other options?
Kulibins in Russia will not be transferred, no matter what GOSTs and TUs admonish them, no matter what fines they frighten for interfering with the design of a car. And the reason here is not at all in the itch of invention. Most of the standards of civilization end behind the bypass roads of major cities.
The hype around LED or LED bulbs has been fueled by Chinese lighting manufacturers, who have thrown a huge number of product options for headlights onto the market in recent years. Whether it is of high quality or not is another matter, but the buyer, as they say, caught fire.
Game without rules
Indeed, modern LEDs can last up to forty years, they are insensitive to temperature changes, and most importantly, to vibrations and shocks. Yes, and the light output, at first glance, is considerable - up to 30-60 lm / W or more versus 10-17 lm / W for an incandescent lamp, and it grows, with the development of technology, from year to year.
It would seem that buy and put such light bulbs, besides, the cunning Chinese released them in all known types of socles, which we recently wrote about. There are a lot of designs: with one or more LEDs, with a small focusing lens or without it ... Sellers promise fantastic light, but, alas, they lie on a blue eye.
But what about UNECE Rules No. 112, on the basis of which national standards for automotive lighting were created, in particular GOST R 41.112-2005? Indeed, they clearly state that the headlights marked C - low, R - high, CR - dual-mode (low and high) light, and they are designed either to work with incandescent lamps, or in the case of markings HC, HR and HCR are suitable, respectively, only for halogen incandescent lamps. For HID gas dischargers, or xenon lamps, their headlamp standards are UNECE Regulation No. 98 or GOST R 41.98–99. All of them are available on the official website of the Economic Commission for Europe.
For LED headlights (not to be confused with today's standardized daytime running lights!) Uniform rules are still under development, i.e. GOST only shines for them, which gives rise to a huge number of experiments by car owners.
Focus with focus
Alas, the experimental way to achieve the result is not always the best and shortest, and trying to achieve the perfection of Volkswagen, Opel or Audi, which has LED headlights worth several thousand euros per unit in the A8 or R8 models, is guaranteed to fail. Getting to the level of Peugeot or Kia is also unlikely to succeed - and everything is not easy there.
It's not just about the very "bird" that each of us saw on the focusing stand - the main parameter for the correct setting of the headlights. Something similar can be obtained with LEDs, and the light spot will be tolerable in shape.
It would seem that the temperature of the LED is correct (4500-5000 K), and the brightness is colossal (up to 3000 lm) with a power consumption of 20-30 W, but still the headlights will either shine mediocre or blind. And the point here is not only the brightness of the light source, but also its geometric characteristics. Much of what we see in the headlights depends on the shape, size and orientation of the tungsten filament.
Let's say a string strictly 4.1 mm long is required for a lamp with an H7 base and not only. Moreover, the distance from the support pad of the base to the lower edge of the spiral should be exactly 25 mm! Under them, a system of dispersion and focusing of the headlights of the vast majority of cars has been developed: either a projector - with a traditional design of reflectors and diffusers, or, in common parlance, lensed - a projector. But not under the luminous squares, rectangles and ovals of LEDs.
For LED headlight designs, special projector focusing schemes are still used, fundamentally familiar from both halogen and xenon headlights. On cars of the premium segment, matrix configurations of beam formation and control began to be used, requiring the most complex calculations and expensive auxiliary electronics.
Even the simplest LED lamps require a pulsed, stabilized power supply and a cooling system - the basis for the correct, long and uninterrupted operation of the device. Not to mention the mentioned focusing structures that cannot be done on the knee.
Yes, there are companies that have mastered the production of complete LED headlights. For example, in the German Herth + Buss line there is a version for our Niva. True, the kit will cost as much as 44 thousand rubles! Again German Hella, American J.W. Speaker and other companies have launched projector focusing LED modules that are mounted in certain types of headlights. But all this has nothing to do with mass production yet.
Before tinkering with headlights, it is useful to refer to a school physics textbook for the 7th grade. Read about illumination, light intensity, reflectance of various surfaces. You can finally get acquainted with the Internet resource, which presents some patented headlight designs.
Light at the end of the tunnel?
So, there is no chance for us to get excellent headlights at a reasonable cost? If we talk about LED near and far, then today it is so. Until a unified design of headlights for LED lamps appears, this pleasure will be either insanely expensive or ineffective.
But there is still a way out, even with the notorious halogens. A well-made, serviceable and adjusted headlight, even with a 55-watt light bulb, will provide safe lighting in most cases. Naturally, if the glass of the headlight is not covered with dirt, the reflector has not peeled off, and the voltage in the car network is at least 12 V.
If, under all the conditions met, you are not satisfied with the work of standard headlights, you can try to supply analogues from alternative manufacturers, if any. True, if you like tuning headlights with a modified filling, get ready for the fact that they will most likely be Chinese or Taiwanese. For owners of VAZ products - domestic.
Approximate cost of headlights for popular car models in Russia, rub./pc.
| car brand | Original | Depo (Taiwan) | Hella (Germany) | Direct parts (China) | Magneti Marelli (Italy) | Alkar (Spain) |
| Hyundai Solaris | 8340 | - | - | 4800 | - | - |
| Renault Duster | 5209 | 2994 | - | - | - | 4059 |
| Renault Logan | 4441 | 1955 | - | - | - | 2409 |
| VW Polo sedan | 9841 | 5037 | 10 775 | - | 7952 | - |
| Lada Granta | 4900 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Skoda Octavia | 9190 | - | - | - | 10 012 | - |
| chevrolet cruze | 16 390 | 4194 | - | - | - | 9336 |
| Nissan Qashqai | 10 924 | 7480 | 9190 | - | - | - |
| Kia cee'd | 29 430 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Nissan Almera | 13 120 | 5810 | - | - | - | - |
The Hyundai Motor CIS company announced the expansion of the Hyundai Creta trim levels in the Russian market. The compact crossover version with a 1.6-liter engine, 6-speed manual or automatic transmission can now be equipped with an all-wheel drive system. Previously, only cars with a 2.0-liter engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission were equipped with it.
The company hopes that thanks to this adjustment, the share of all-wheel drive configurations of the model will exceed 50%.
Hyundai Creta with all-wheel drive, 1.6-liter engine and manual transmission in the Active package will cost 964 900 rubles. Creta 4x4 with 1.6L engine and automatic transmission in Comfort Plus package is affordable 1,134,900 rubles.
In addition, the top-end Comfort package has been updated, from today it is called Comfort Plus and costs 20,000 rubles more. However, it is difficult to call it an increase in price, because not only its name has changed, but also its content, which now includes projection-type headlights with static turn signal lamps when turning the steering wheel, front fog lamps and LED daytime running lights. Previously, this equipment was part of the Style package, and now it has been included in the "body" of the top version. For the mid-range Active, these features are now available in the new Light package for an extra charge.
Standard equipment on all Creta versions includes: 16-inch steel wheels, a full-size spare wheel, an audio system with USB connectors, AUX, driver and passenger airbags, ABS + EBD, a stabilization system with hill start and downhill assistance , steering wheel height adjustment, driver's seat height adjustment, Bluetooth, power windows for the front and rear doors, radio control buttons on the steering wheel, as well as the ERA-GLONASS emergency call system.
- , we became aware of this thanks to the Brazilian edition of Car and Driver. The budget truck should be put into production in mid-2018.
- Hyundai's stand at the Moscow Motor Show was completely dominated.
- Its closest competitor Kaptur in the top-end configuration will cost 15 thousand rubles cheaper, but it has a 4-speed automatic, and not a 6-speed, like the Creta. True, its equipment is a little richer.
- According to the results of February, the model is in the top five most popular cars on the Russian market. A total of 4,055 units were sold, and Renault Kaptur took only 17th place, with 1,838 such cars purchased in February.
Car showrooms of the company "AutoGermes" offer you a large selection of new cars at prices affordable to everyone! Here is a wide range of KIA, Suzuki, LADA, Lifan, UAZ, Hyundai and other brands. Customers with any budget can buy passenger cars from us. We provide individual conditions and favorable prices, which you can check by phone or on the website.
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In the dealer center "AutoGermes" you can easily find both an inexpensive car and business class models. The site has a simple and convenient search form. After spending a couple of minutes filling it out, you will quickly select the best option.
Specify the brand, price, engine size, select other parameters - and you will see only those cars that meet your requirements. If you do not want to limit yourself in your choice, you can sort the offers by:
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There are plenty of misconceptions when it comes to headlights. Considering that headlights are one of the most important features of cars, many people think that there is no misinformation about the headlights. After all, it seemed that the car front optics had a simple and understandable design. However, in the automotive industry, there are many types of headlight designs that cause confusion. In this article, I want to clear up all the misconceptions and explain the design of various headlights at the present time.
And so I divided the article into three parts:
- Housing and design of the headlights
- Lamps
- Other relevant information / Miscellaneous
SECTION 1: Body and construction of headlights
The headlight housing is that part of the optics, inside which the lighting lamp is installed. As you know, there are many different lighting lamps in the modern car market, ranging from conventional halogen to laser technology. The design of the headlight housing also depends on which lighting lamp is in the front optics.
Reflector
Headlights with reflectors installed in the front optics housing are by far the most common in the automotive industry. Although at the moment there is a tendency to replace headlights with reflectors with lensed optics. I'm not going to bore you with the science of how a car headlight works. In short, inside the headlight next to the reflector, as a rule, a lighting lamp is installed. The light that the headlight emits is reflected from the chrome paint that is applied to the reflector. As a result, the light of the lamp, reflected from the chrome surface, goes out onto the road.
As a rule, a halogen car lamp also has a small area of chrome or a protective coating made of another material (usually located on the front end of the lamp) that prevents direct rays of light from entering the eyes of oncoming drivers. As a result, the lamp does not emit light directly onto the road, but hits the reflector, which, scattering the rays of light, sends them onto the road.
Recently it seemed that this type of lamp would soon disappear from the automotive industry. Especially after they showed up. But in the end, today, halogen bulbs for cars are still the most common in the automotive world.
Lens
Headlights with lenses inside are currently gradually taking away the popularity of optics with reflectors. Recall that for the first time lined headlights appeared on expensive luxury cars. But then, as the cost of technology became cheaper, front lensed optics began to appear on ordinary, inexpensive vehicles.
What is a linzovannaya front optics? As a rule, this type of headlights uses lenses instead of reflectors (a special optical bulb that does not reflect the emitted light from the lamps onto the road, but, in fact, transmits lighting onto the road with the help of a projection).
At the moment, there are a huge number of different types of lenses and designs of linted headlights.
But the meaning of the work of lensed optics is the same. What is a headlight lens and how does it work?
The fact is that tinted headlights form a beam of light to illuminate the road in a completely different way, unlike optics with reflectors.
For example, there is also a chrome-plated reflector inside the lens that reflects the light from the lamp. But unlike a conventional reflector, the structure of a lensed reflector is designed in such a way that it does not direct light onto the road, but collects it in a special place inside the headlight - on a special metal plate. This plate, in fact, collects the light into a single beam and redirects it to the lens, which in turn projects a directed beam of light onto the road.
Typically, a lensed headlamp provides excellent light output with a sharp cut line and focused light.
SECTION 2: Lamps
As we have said, the most important thing in any headlight is the light source. The most common light sources in car headlights are halogen incandescent bulbs.
In some cases, you will have to purchase new optics. But since LEDs have a very long service life, even today the use of LED road lighting is economically justified.
Lasers (future)
At the moment, a number of automotive companies have already begun to introduce a new generation of optics on some expensive models, which is equipped with innovative lasers as light sources.
True, so far laser optics in the automotive industry is still a rarity due to the high cost of manufacturing such optics.
So how does laser optics work? In fact, LED headlights are also used in laser headlights, which, under the influence of a laser, produce a more uniform and brighter glow. So, the luminous flux of conventional LEDs is 100 lumens, while, as in laser optics, LEDs give out 170 lumens.
The main advantage of laser headlights is their power consumption. So compared to LED automotive optics, laser headlights with LEDs consume half the energy.
Another advantage of laser headlights is the size of the diodes used. For example, a laser LED that is one hundred times smaller than a conventional LED produces the same level of light. As a result, this allows car manufacturers to reduce the size of headlights without compromising the quality of road lighting.
Unfortunately, laser light sources in the automotive industry are very, very expensive these days. So in the near future laser optics will not be widely used. But in the future, most likely, laser headlights will gradually replace all traditional sources of car lighting.
SECTION 3: Other important information / Miscellaneous
Now that we've covered all the different types of front light technology, it's time to talk about some of the issues that arise. So for example, let's find out if xenon lamps can be used in halogen headlights and vice versa?
As a rule, to use xenon lamps, the front optics must be equipped with a lens that projects light onto the road. Also, xenon optics is required, as a rule, it is equipped with a headlight corrector.
Mostly these days, automatic headlight leveling is used, which changes the angle of the lens in order to protect oncoming drivers from the bright daylight of xenon headlights. The angle changes depending on the number of passengers inside. Including all xenon headlights, they must be equipped with an optics washer, since the xenon light source is not effective with dirty headlights.
With regards to halogen lamps, unlike xenon lamps, they can be installed in lensed optics. But what about LEDs? Since LED lamps, as a rule, have a directional light source, it is not safe to install them in a headlight with conventional reflectors, since in this case the efficiency of illuminating the road will be low. Therefore, most automakers equip LED optics with lenses that project the light from the LEDs onto the road. More on this below:
Is it possible to install xenon lamps in conventional headlights with reflectors?
In principle, it is possible, but nothing good will come of it. Firstly, according to Russian legislation, the use of xenon lamps in headlights with reflectors is strictly prohibited, since this creates a danger for oncoming drivers on the road who can be blinded by the bright light source of xenon lamps scattered by headlight reflectors.
As a result, by installing xenon lamps in headlights with reflectors, you will get only an external beautiful glow. But the illumination of the road will be much worse than with halogen lamps, since xenon light sources require lensed optics. In addition, the xenon lamps installed in the reflector are disgustingly illuminating the road in rainy weather.
In particular, we want to note that xenon lamps will burn out the chrome coating of your reflectors in a short time. As a result, even if you later install halogen lamps again, your headlights will no longer shine as efficiently as before.
What is the responsibility for installing xenon lamps in headlights with reflectors?
As we have already said, the installation of xenon light sources in car headlights equipped with reflectors for halogen lamps is prohibited.
So, in accordance with Part 3 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, driving a vehicle on the front of which there are light devices with red lights or red retroreflective devices, as well as lighting devices, the color of the lights and the mode of operation of which do not comply with the requirements of the Basic Provisions for the Admission of Vehicles for Operation and obligations of officials to ensure road safety entails the deprivation of a driver's license for a period of 6 months to 1 year with confiscation of xenon equipment and lamps.
That is, in other words, if you illegally install xenon lamps in your car in headlights that are not designed for this type of light source, then you will not be fined, but immediately deprived of a driver's license, and after the expiration of the deprivation period, you will have to retake the theoretical exam.
Is it possible to install LED lamps in a xenon headlight lens?
Theoretically possible. But you will have to buy and install either the Chinese version, which is unlikely to please you with the quality of road lighting and durability, or you have to disassemble the headlight and install another block lens. In the latter version, the lighting quality will indeed be better and possibly even more efficient than xenon light sources. But then again, if you buy high-quality LED lamps and a block lens for them, which costs a lot of money.
With regards to legislation, at the moment there is no direct ban on the use of LED dipped and high beam lamps in conventional headlights. Also, there are no unified standards and GOSTs yet that would prescribe the rules for the installation and use of LED sources of low and far lighting on vehicles.
At the moment, rules and standards are only being developed. So in the near future, most likely, everything will happen just like xenon lamps. Remember what happened on Russian roads 10 years ago, when every second car was equipped with non-factory xenon. Today is the same picture.
Every day there are more and more cars on the road with non-factory LED dipped and high beam lamps, when, like most owners of cars equipped with headlights with conventional reflectors, they no longer use xenon light sources for fear of losing their rights (although many have already realized that “collective farm” xenon really reduces safety on the road).
So using LED lamps in reflectors or lenses for xenon is just as dangerous as "collective farm" xenon, since the LED lamp will not effectively illuminate the road in a reflector or lens designed for a xenon lamp.
Remember that LEDs also need a special spotlight (a block lens with special equipment that collects light from an LED lamp into a beam and directs it into a glass lens).
What is Bi-Xenon?
The term Bi-Xenon means that the vehicle is equipped with a single xenon bulb that does the job of both the low beam and the high beam. The same cars that are not equipped with Bi-Xenon headlights are usually equipped with either halogen lamps or combined light sources (low beam: xenon lamps, high beam: conventional halogen incandescent lamp).
Two types of Bi-xenon headlights are common in the automotive industry.
The first type uses a special shutter in the lens, located outside the bulb of the xenon lamp. As a result, when the high beam is turned on, the shutter directs the light source into the reflector, which then sends light into the lens in the high beam glow spectrum.
In the second type of Bi-xenon headlights, a special Bi-xenon lamp is used, which, for example, when the high beam is turned on, independently shifts the bulb of the lamp glow relative to the reflector built into the lens. As a result, light is projected onto the road in the near-light spectrum.
Which headlights are better: Halogen, Xenon or LED?
There is a lot of controversy about this at the moment. As they say, how many people, so many opinions. However, today it is already known for sure that halogen lamps do not stand up to any competition compared to xenon and LED artificial light sources.
Recently, in the automotive industry, it is increasingly being used during operation, we will consider in this article.
In general, the effectiveness of any headlights, taking into account modern legislation, lies in the optimal combination of focused bright light and compliance with the cut-off line, which is adopted according to European standards. In other words, the driver must see the road as best as possible, but at the same time not blind other road users in the oncoming lane. Russia adopted the European system, which involves strict control over the blinding power of light, back in Soviet times. Accordingly, we are allowed to operate only those vehicles that are equipped with the appropriate headlights.
Most headlights on Russian roads have long been parabolic. However, today most foreign cars have lint projection headlights. What is this gives to the motorist?
Firstly, lensed projector headlights can significantly improve the quality of lighting without the use of xenon lamps, which, as you know, greatly dazzle the oncoming driver.
Secondly, the projection headlight is installed in a whole complex of modules: high beam, low beam, fog lamp, turn signal and dimensions. This gives an aesthetic appearance to the car.
Thirdly, such a headlight belongs to projector optics, that is, the lens collects light into a single beam. It turns out that the roadway is better and wider illuminated, while the illumination is uniform and creates a clear cut-off line.
Projection headlights with ellipsoid reflectors have gained great popularity among motorists. Among their undeniable advantages:
- increased visibility and visibility;
- improved efficiency: good light output and at the same time economical;
- decorative function;
- improving road safety.
In the salon Saransk-Avtosteklo you can find any projection headlights. What is this, you already know, you just need to choose the right model for your car. Repair and polishing of such headlights will be qualitatively performed in our service.
