Diodes or halogen for low beam. Xenon or LEDs

Today, car enthusiasts are offered a wide range of different lighting sources that allow them to improve the light characteristics of the car as a whole. However, due to huge selection Our compatriots sometimes find it difficult to decide what type lighting fixtures better to use. What xenon is better or halogen? You will find the answer to this question below.

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Incandescent lamp comparisons

To make a choice in the direction of good and more efficient light bulbs, you need to understand how car halogen lamps differ from xenon lamps. To begin with, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with basic information about these lighting sources.

Xenon

Xenon lamps are based on a special gas, which is ignited as a result of the activation of a module installed inside the product structure. The main technical characteristic of gas-discharge light bulbs is color temperature, since each type of temperature has its own color. For example, the higher the temperature, the more blue the light will have, and the brightness will correspondingly decrease. At low temperatures the light bulb will emit yellow, but the glow itself will be brighter.

Let's consider the main advantages of gas-discharge lighting sources compared to halogens:

1. Minimal heating of optical lenses. The headlight glass does not heat up as much, which means that dust and dirt from the optics are much easier to remove.
2. Improvement appearance vehicle. Many car enthusiasts use xenon as a tuning element.
3. Gas discharge sources consume much less energy - at least 40%.
4. Brighter illumination for more comfortable visibility.
5. Xenon also has a warmer emission spectrum of the lighting flux. Thanks to this characteristic, visibility road surface in the dark and when driving in bad weather it will be more improved (video author - Eric Davidich smotra channel).

As for the disadvantages, they are as follows:

1. Unlike halogen, xenon is more expensive.
2. If the halogen fails, you can replace one bulb, but if the same problem occurs with xenon, you will have to change both light sources. This is due to the fact that during operation, gas-discharge lamps change their glow temperature, so the difference in color between the new and old lamp can be significant.
3. Unlike halogen lamps, installing gas discharge sources involves additional installation ignition block.
4. When activating the optics, the driver may notice a slight delay. If you install xenon in fog lights or low beams, you must take into account that it will take some time to ignite the gas.
5. Possibility of blinding oncoming drivers. Such problems are usually associated either with errors when installing lenses. or using low-quality and cheap xenon. If you want to make tuning and surprise other car enthusiasts, then install high-quality xenon - cheap lamps will only cause inconvenience to other road users.

Halogen

Halogen lamps are one of the most common and simplest lighting sources. This product is a flask; the halogen light bulb is also filled with gas, and its device is protected by special glass. The power of such sources can reach 130 W.

Main advantages:

• affordable price;
• ease of installation - took it out and replaced it (the author of the video is the Car Program channel).

Among the disadvantages of halogen lamps it is worth highlighting:

1. Instability to vibrations, since the product contains an incandescent filament, as well as a tungsten spiral. As a result, the service life of halogen lamps may be reduced.
2. When these lighting sources operate, the glass of the optics heats up, and this, in turn, negatively affects the illumination of the road surface, since dust and dirt settled on the lamp quickly hardens.
3. Compared to xenon, the brightness of halogens will be lower.
4. It is also worth highlighting more low term services. If gas-discharge lighting sources allow you to work for about 3 thousand hours, then halogen lamps usually last no more than 400 hours.

And although halogens cannot boast the same technical characteristics, they are currently the most popular type of lighting sources among our compatriots.

Photo gallery “Car lamps”

Which lamps should you choose for your car?

So which lighting sources should you use - xenon or halogen? Judging by the main characteristics, xenon bulbs are more efficient, unlike halogen bulbs. But there are many nuances here, for example, our compatriots often use halogen lamps because of their affordable price, as well as ease of replacement and installation. Moreover, today you can find halogen lamps whose glow color will be whiter. And if one product fails, it can be easily replaced without touching the lamp in the second headlight.

If you want to install high-quality xenon, then in any case you will have to spend money. You can buy it in any store or online, but using such light bulbs is not advisable. Not only will you not be able to appreciate the quality of the glow of real xenon, but you will also cause inconvenience to other motorists. And this, in turn, can develop into conflict.

In general, if you decide to install autogas-discharge light bulbs on yours, then of course this is a more acceptable option if your budget allows, but you need to install only high-quality products. Before purchasing, analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of both types of lamps - this will allow you to make the right choice.

Price issue

The cost of a set of halogen lamps today ranges from 300 to 2 thousand rubles. As for xenon bulbs, one lamp will cost from 800 to 4 thousand rubles on average. And about 1-3 thousand rubles will have to be spent on purchasing an ignition unit.

How is xenon different from halogen? And why haven’t LEDs consigned incandescent lamps and gas-discharge optics to the dustbin of history? And what do Philips lamps and toothpaste have in common? ? You will find the answer to these and other questions in our material.

How they appeared car lights? The first cars used primitive lanterns with wax candles or kerosene burners inside, borrowed from horse-drawn carriages. Naturally, such “smokehouses” did not properly illuminate the road, and therefore the engineers had to find more primitive lamps effective replacement, which turned out to be acetylene lighting: for a long time, a pair of barrels became a constant companion for motorists, one with calcium carbide, the second with plain water. Before night trip The “driver” (as the drivers were called then) installed the barrels on the car, turned on the water supply with a faucet, and the latter, falling on the carbide, contributed to the production of acetylene, a gas that, when burned, produces a fairly powerful luminous flux. True, after a few hours the barrels had to be recharged, and the headlight, consisting of a mirror reflector and a lens, had to be cleaned of soot...

These illustrations show cars with acetylene head lighting, which is issued not only big headlights, but also carbide barrels mounted on the running boards. And since acetylene turned out to be too powerful a light source, capable of piercing the darkness for a hundred meters, as a “ side lights» cars from the beginning of the century used dim kerosene burners

But why couldn't they use incandescent lamps, which even predate the automobile itself? In 1899, the French company Bassee & Michel tried to unite car headlight and an incandescent lamp, but the design turned out to be unsuccessful - lamps with carbon filaments quickly became unusable on uneven roads, and high consumption energy required bulky batteries, since generators were not installed on cars back then. And only the widespread appearance of generators, as well as the beginning of the production of a new type of light bulbs with tungsten filaments, “translated” automobile transport on electric lighting. But the “electric light” turned out to be... too bright! In order not to blind oncoming drivers, we had to come up with additional shutters and curtains, reduce the brightness of the light bulbs, then a two-filament lamp appeared (with separate threads for the low beam and high beam). In 1955, asymmetric lighting was finally introduced - when the headlight on the passenger side shines further than the driver's side.

Notice how the shape of the head optics determined the design of cars (for clarity, let’s take different generations Mercedes E-class). For a long time the headlights remained exclusively round, on cars of the 1960s it was possible to introduce square optics, the heyday of which became popular in the 1980s, and modern headlights with a “free reflector” completely freed the hands of designers

Currently, headlights use three light sources: halogen and gas-discharge lamps, as well as LEDs. It’s too early to talk about lasers and other exotic things - until production cars newfangled developments will not arrive soon. Moreover, engineers are not going to abandon the “non-lensed” headlight, where you can install even xenon, even halogen, or LEDs. Design of this device brought to perfection: the light from the lamp hits a metal reflector, and then passes through a diffuser - an outer glass consisting of many lenses. Moreover, when he appeared new plastic, which does not shrink when parts are molded, engineers created a reflector with a “free surface”, which consists of many segments (each directs the flow of light to a specific point). This made it possible to replace heavy glass with lightweight plastic and eliminate the need for a diffuser.

This is how a “non-lensed” headlight is designed (for a headlight with a “free” reflector and a traditional design, there is no difference): the low beam filament is located above and in front of the focal point, and the cap inside the lamp “cuts” the flow of light to illuminate only the upper surface of the reflector (Fig. on the left), but the main beam filament and the focal point coincide and the entire surface of the reflector is used (fig. on the right)

A “lensed” headlight (which is correctly called projector-type lighting technology) is designed in a different way: the light from the lamp hits a reflector, and then is directed to a special screen and a collecting lens, which form a beam of light. And although now “lenses” can be seen on many machines, since they are known for their compactness and precise organization luminous flux, lighting engineers initially had to solve the problem of overheating and get rid of... too sharp a cut-off line - it turned out that the human eye gets tired of the clear boundary between light and shadow too quickly. On halogen lamps the problem was solved with diffraction rings (in other words, marks on the lens), and on xenon lamps - by installing an automatic corrector, the presence of which in Russia and Europe is mandatory for gas-discharge lighting technology.

Diagram of “lensed” optics: on the left is a headlight from the late 80s, on the right is a modern headlight with a free reflector, the presence of which is indicated by a smaller screen. This screen, located at the second focus, corrects the light flux and forms a cut-off line, and then the rays are focused again by the lens. Most cars today are equipped with “lenses”, and “non-lensed” headlights have become the prerogative inexpensive cars, like "Kalina" or "Logan"

Here, in fact, we got to the most important thing. What is the fundamental difference between xenon, halogen and diodes? A halogen lamp consists of a sealed glass flask, inside of which electrodes and a tungsten filament are placed, and a gas mixture is pumped in, which is necessary to “catch” evaporating tungsten and regenerate the filament (which is why the “halogen” is more compact and durable than a conventional light bulb). Gas-discharge optics (more often called “xenon”) does not have an incandescent filament: inside such a lamp it is not a hot filament that glows, but an electric arc that occurs between the electrodes, which is why the luminous flux of a xenon lamp is much greater, 3200 versus 1500 lm of a “halogen” lamp! That is why European experts have decided that such headlights require automatic leveling and washer. And they limited the color temperature of the lamp.

For xenon to work, one lamp is not enough. You also need an ignition module, which from the “on-board” 12 volts will give a short pulse of 25 kilovolts alternating current. To make a “bi-xenon”, you need four such modules, or the use of cunning systems: on “lensed” optics you can turn on the “high-range” one by removing the screen using a solenoid, but on “non-lensed” optics you have to move the lamp

But if “xenon” and “halogen” are lamps, then the LED is a semiconductor device that produces light when current passes. The semiconductor operates faster than a traditional light bulb, consumes less energy, has a virtually unlimited service life and is minimal in size. But for now, diodes are assigned only minor tasks (brake lights, side lights and daytime running lights are made using LED technology running lights), although quite recently engineers and designers predicted a great future for semiconductors. Everyone hoped that a tiny light source would provide freedom of layout and eliminate bulky headlights. However, using the example of the Audi R8 and Nissan Leaf it is clearly visible - the existing diode optics are no different in size from gas-discharge optics.

While scientists are struggling to create laser and fiber optics, the light sources remain halogens, xenon and LEDs. In Fig. And a two-filament halogen lamp H4 is shown, giving low and high beam, in Fig. B - single-filament lamp H7 (of which two are needed to create near and far), and in Fig. C and D schematically show a xenon gas-discharge lamp and an LED, respectively.

So why haven’t LEDs replaced xenon and primitive halogens? It turned out that semiconductor optics has many disadvantages. So far even best leds They are not able to catch up with xenon in terms of light output and remain at the level of good halogens, which requires the mandatory use of a reflector. Also LED headlights require a separate cooling system (engineers even tried to cool the headlights with antifreeze) and are extremely expensive: one headlight costs approximately 1,300 euros... Naturally, engineers are developing this direction, but the mass transition of automotive lighting to LEDs is far away, so the near future remains with “xenon » optics, which are becoming more compact and more advanced, catching up with diode ones in terms of energy consumption.

In the Philips laboratory we clearly saw how modern headlights shine. In Fig. And the luminous flux from a standard halogen lamp, in Fig. B you can see how Philips X-treme Vision lamps shine, giving a 100% increase in luminous flux, in Fig. The “road” is illuminated by gas-discharge xenon lamps, and Fig. G is the light of newfangled LED headlights Nissan electric car Leaf

But it’s too early to write off “halogens” to the dustbin of history! According to Philips engineers, a modern halogen lamp can shine at the level of a gas discharge lamp. To achieve this, it is necessary to replace the refractory glass of the flask with quartz, secondly, subject the glass to optical polishing, thirdly, apply a palladium cap to the flask... And, finally, use a new mixture of gases, which includes xenon, to increase the temperature of the filament and get closer to the spectrum of solar luminescence. The result is an expensive, but unique light bulb: its luminous flux is 100% more powerful than a regular one halogen lamp, and the service life is twice as long. Moreover, in a laboratory setup we clearly saw that the Philips X-treme Vision halogen actually catches up with xenon in terms of aperture.

In addition to the lecture on automotive lighting, at the Philips plant we also saw a real production facility where lamps are produced. And this is inhumane! In the sense that human presence during the production of “halogen” and “xenon” is minimized - modern robots are working all around, ensuring virtually one hundred percent absence of defects. But, in addition to virtually complete automation, something else was surprising: why do we need a composite base and an additional production operation to align the filament with the base? Turns out, this process is key, otherwise the finished light bulb will shine “wrongly” - blinding oncoming drivers or, on the contrary, highlighting the sky. Therefore, the relative position of the “thread” and the “base” is checked by a computer, and some of the products are inspected by people.

“Xenon” is produced in a similar “inhuman” way: the robot picks up a glass tube, inserts the bottom electrode, and then such a whirlwind begins that you just have time to follow! The tube was filled with a salt composition and the top electrode was inserted, xenon cooled to −190ºC was pumped in and the bulb was sealed, a metal skirt was put on and the excess glass was trimmed, the burner was checked - is it ready? No, in order for gas-discharge lamps to shine equally, they need to be annealed - turned on and waited for several hours until the color temperature reaches the desired value. Now it's ready! All that remains is to find out what the connection is between Philips lamps and toothpaste. It's simple: defective glass tubes for flasks are not thrown into a landfill, but are ground into abrasive powder. Which is then used to make whitening pastes for dental offices.

Most car enthusiasts who frequently use their car think about what types of headlights illuminate the road best.

It is impossible to say unequivocally which headlights are the best, because today there are a huge variety of different light sources that are installed both in simple headlights, and in anti-fog.

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Xenon or LEDs: which is better and more reliable?

Main characteristics

Modern innovative lighting has reached cars. Nowadays, it is increasingly rare to find a vehicle with halogen light sources. An alternative to such sources is xenon and LED light.

Xenon and halogen lamps have been used for a long time, but LEDs have appeared on automotive market recently. But what kind of lighting should you choose?

In order to answer this question, you need to consider the characteristics of xenon and LEDs.

Xenon

Xenon bulbs are light sources that operate by “igniting” a special gas in an electric arc.

The role of a special gas is often monatomic gas, which does not smell of anything and is transparent - xenon. For this reason, the lamps were nicknamed "xenon".

Xenon Features:

1. Xenon creates an extremely bright electric arc, which is why the light bulb glows so differently from other light sources.
2. Xenon bulbs have the shape of a closed bulb. It is filled only with gas. The flask also contains 2 electrodes, between which an arc of electricity appears. In order for it to occur, it is necessary to obtain a huge voltage of 25,000 volts. For this purpose, so-called “ignition blocks” are used. These bulbs illuminate the road two and sometimes four times better than halogen ones.
   

   For example, a standard halogen lamp produces a light flux of 1450 Lm, and xenon lamps produce up to 6000 Lm. The difference is more than noticeable. For this reason, xenon is so widespread.

3. Despite the impressive illumination, a xenon bulb consumes much less than a halogen bulb. Only 35 W.
4. The most common are xenon with color temperatures of 4300, 5000 and 6000 Kelvin. Some car enthusiasts believe that the higher the color temperature number, the brighter the headlights will shine, but this is a misconception. Color temperature determines the hue of a color.
   

   In warm weather at night, xenon with 6000 Kelvin will perfectly illuminate the road, but the same bulbs will emit a blue glow during snowfall. In winter, it is best to use 4300 Kelvin.

5. The light of a specific spectrum has its own length, so it gives different illumination depending on weather conditions.
6. The main feature is the slow heating of the gas in the light bulb.

Xenon lamps can be easily distinguished from halogen lamps by their snow-white light and blue backlight tone. Often, motorists install xenon bulbs only for low beam, and use LEDs or halogen for high beam.

This is not without reason, because motorists often complain that they are blinded by xenon headlights.

LEDs

LED lamps are the latest invention, which are quickly loved for their efficiency and reliability.

LED Features:

1. The basis of LED light bulbs is the LED - a semiconductor that changes electricity, converting it into lighting.
2. The LED has a “plus” and a “minus”. If it is connected incorrectly, it will not work.
3. This semiconductor is a crystalline unit, which is placed on a non-conducting platform and a housing with elements.
4. The LED does not have any filaments, which means it cannot break from driving on rough roads or strong vibration. But on the other hand, if the crystal is used incorrectly, it will rapidly deteriorate and quickly fail.
5. Currently, third generation LEDs have already been created. This means that LED lighting is evolving rapidly. After all, each generation increases durability, resistance to various weather conditions and lighting quality.

For example, first generation LEDs couldn't even compare to halogen lighting. Their light flux was limited to 550-650 Lm. But for products latest generation even 4500 Lm is not the limit.

Advantages and disadvantages

The table shows the main differences between the three light sources:

Work well in fog lights. They illuminate the road well into the distance when used in rainy and foggy weather. This is the safest lighting compared to other light sources.

Xenon, like LED, is not afraid bad roads and various impacts, which cannot be said about halogen lamps.

Xenon does not heat up like halogen. Less than 10% of xenon's energy is converted into heat, while with halogen sources, about 40% of the energy is converted into heating heat.

But, unfortunately, xenon is not without its drawbacks. These include:

• Not all xenon can be placed in car headlights. For example, in the territory Russian Federation It is permissible to use only the xenon that was installed at the factory by the manufacturer;
  

  It is worth noting that upon detection Chinese xenon, the traffic police inspector can safely issue you a hefty fine, or even deprive you of your license for a period of 6 to 12 months.

• complex installation. To equip a vehicle with xenon lighting, you will have to install rather complex equipment;
• To turn on a light bulb you need a lot of voltage. Here you cannot do without an “ignition unit”;
• uneconomical expense. When this type of lighting occurs huge pressure to the car generator. Consequently, fuel consumption increases. Although the flow rate changes slightly, this is still a negative point;
• expensive equipment;
• it is necessary to accurately determine the degree of headlight tilt due to the high brightness of the light sources;
• the complexity of connecting low and high beam in one headlight.

The list of disadvantages of xenon lamps is comparable to their advantages.

As for LEDs, this moment they are leaders in the sales market thanks to such advantages as:

• low energy consumption;
• fuel efficiency, again due to low consumption;
• the specialized driver needed to mount the LED can be easily placed in the rubber cover of the headlight;
• quite bright and powerful stream of light (talking about the latest generation LEDs);
• any specifications of LED lighting are allowed in the Russian Federation, which cannot be said about xenon;
• it is possible to create headlight illumination in any color;
• LEDs shine well, but do not dazzle. LEDs shine intensely enough for rainy and foggy weather;
• the ability to choose any shape and size of the LED;
• The cost of an LED is the same as that of xenon.

The disadvantages of LED lighting include:

• surges due to overvoltage are possible;
• drivers do not work very long;
• The brightness is not as strong as xenon.

Reliability of use

The main advantage of LED headlights over halogen ones is not that they save energy: the benefit is cheap. The main advantage is that the spectrum of such lamps is closer to daylight, which is why we see objects illuminated by them in natural colors. The driver's eyes are less strained, fatigue comes later, and this has a positive effect on safety. And since there can be not one, not two, but several dozen light sources, it appears more possibilities form a light beam of optimal shape: we illuminate everything that is needed without blinding oncoming people.

But this is in theory, which so far only works in cases with . For example, smart matrix LED headlights can dim part of the light flux so as not to dazzle other drivers, and are capable of high beam at a distance of up to half a kilometer.

Budget lighting technology is much simpler, its capabilities are much more modest, therefore specifications inexpensive LED headlights are, to put it mildly, far from ideal. We have repeatedly received cars with budget LED headlights(For example, Nissan Tiida and X-Trail, Mazda 6, Lexus LX, Toyota Land Cruiser 200), and they always lost to the same cars, but equipped with traditional halogens. There is a lot of show-off, but little sense.

But LED lighting technology is gradually improving. And it is about to become able to compete in terms of light characteristics with halogens even on inexpensive cars.

Kaptur and Kaptur

First compact crossover with LED lighting technology. In the top version, it is equipped with LED headlights with Pure Vision technology and dynamic turn indicators. The same Kaptur with conventional halogen headlights will cost 60 thousand rubles less.

We take two Captures - one with halogens, the other with a cold LED “look” - and run them according to our “light” method.

The cars take turns taking their starting position in front of the area marked with cones. The distance between the cones in length and width is 10 meters. A kind of chessboard. In low and high beam modes, we measure the illumination at each pole with a lux meter and obtain light distribution diagrams that clearly show which headlights shine better.

Shine everywhere

I’m on a Capture with halogens, and I can’t give these headlights more than a B minus for their performance. Instrumental measurements of illumination confirmed my assessment. With the low beam on, the light meter showed zero at 80 meters - far from an outstanding result. In high beam mode, the last value other than zero was recorded at 170 meters.

And with the “LED” Capture it’s like you’re seeing the light! The difference in the measurement results is one and a half times. At 120 meters, the light meter still recorded low illumination (0.6 lux) in low beam mode. Moreover, the light beam turned out to be not only longer, but also wider, which again benefits the driver. In high beam mode, the advantage is more modest, but it is there: the device caught the last rays at a distance of 200 meters.

We then drove both cars along our standard road test route common use. With LED headlights, driving is easier and safer. They hit further than halogen lamps, and their light boundary is more blurred: there is no “closed curtain” effect - a clear separation between light and dark. In addition, in the white spectrum it is easier for the eyes to perceive the surrounding environment.

What about repairs? If you “catch” a stone, you will give it for new headlight 35–40 thousand rubles (prices official dealers). For this money you can buy five halogen headlights.

Something is possible. Halogen lights periodically burn out, and the resource of the LED block that forms the low beam beam is about 4000 hours - enough for ten years. During this time, you will pay for halogen lights and their replacement (many entrust this operation to servicemen) from 5,000 to 7,000 rubles.

Should I take it or not?

In the case of Captur - yes. His led light Better than halogen in all respects. As a result - more safe driving V dark time. Kaptur has proven that the above theory now holds true for low-cost cars.

Finally, a hint to marketers: it would be more correct to offer such headlights as an option, rather than create an “exclusive” package for them.