![]() ![]() It is because they are typically below 1200K (Lower the better for visibility). But aesthetics seem to have taken over with people going for projectors even for the fog lamps!Īlso, this is the main reason why many new models still retain the halogen. Going by this, fog lamps should ideally be yellow-ish to cut through the fog. That is why we have Red as the universal colour for tail-lights and traffic signals. As we all know, the other end of the light spectrum penetrates through fog/mist etc. The catch here is the beam temperature measured in Kelvin. Hence at OEM level, apple to apple comparison between lighting technologies may not be fair. A Baleno's lights are designed for a city commuter but the Fortuner's LED ones are designed for occasional trail/off road driving which is why they are more powerful (no contest compared to Baleno.) Aftermarket lights can be brighter since if you have selected the model, you are expected to know what you are getting into while purchasing them. OEM lights are designed to have minimum glare and not be too bright. But they glare monsters blinding everyone even on low beam. I have noticed that my Baleno does not fare very well in the tough lighting conditions you have mentioned but my 10 year old swift with old HIDs would absolutely kill it. Headlights too bright are also not good since you eyes will adjust accordingly and hamper side and front far visibility. It should be noted that headlight designs and bulbs are not only about brightness. If we keep the looks and the lower power consumption aside, I haven't been convinced that the HID/LEDs are better. I have Philips Rally 100/90 bulbs in my car and they do a very good job in the city and highway. This could be a reason but I was hoping an OEM would always be able to design a good reflectors of its vehicles.ĭuring my night drives and highway trips, I always found the cars with good halogen lamps to light up the roads in the best possible way. A BHPian shared an article about the importance of reflector design for LED lamps. However, the same lights are not that great at night when I see one passing by me. Heck, even on a normal four lane road, the halogens work better than those HIDs (corroborated by the owners of 3 Baleno owners who have driven my car which has halogens).Īs an example of LEDs, I struggle to look at the headlights of the Dominar on a bright summer afternoon. But on a rainy day or with oncoming traffic on a single lane road, these lights just scatter and fade away. They look brilliant when you look at them head-on or when they lit up a dark alley. My experience with HID has been with Baleno (extensively, I have driven other cars with LED/HIDs but for short duration only). I have always thought along the same lines. A picture from the article that summarizes the car light technology. And what about number of lights? The Duster adventure addition came with 8 bulbs upfront! (Including high/low beams)Īutocar had an article on same and link can be found here. ![]() While 55/60W is legal output for Halogens, Is there something similar for HID’s/LED’s? I know they need much lesser power to generate similar output as halogens, but the intensities vary across cars. So here goes my query, what is the best recipe to make those fantastic lights that look good and also serve the purpose?Īnother related query I have is w.r.to output. ![]() To me, it appears - just a good bulb is insufficient to provide good illumination but a car needs well designed headlamps, reflectors etc. I have stock halogens in my Innova 2008 model and always found them to be more than adequate –be it in highway/city. While the LED’s/HID’s are bright enough to blind the oncoming traffic, they don’t seem to serve the purpose of providing satisfactory illumination. Despite the newer technologies one thing I hear is, "The lights are inadequate"! Examples are a plenty- The Fortuner(Full LED), Octavia(LED?), Scross(HID) to name a few. What has changed dramatically is availability of these technology even in the price bracket of 6lacs (READ: Ignis). Over past few years we have seen advent of newer technologies like HID’s, LED’s and Laser. For over 2-3 decades Halogens have been the main stream lighting technology that was offered in most of the cars. ![]()
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