The Automobile Lighting - Everything You Would Want To Know About Lights.

[SK01]

"National Crime Record Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India-2014 report stated that poor visibility, animals coming on the roads and parking of vehicles on road shoulders killed hundreds of people in AP and Telangana in 2014-15. Apart from traffic and road infrastructure, poor visibility cause fatal accidents – 154 died in Telangana in 2014-15." Lighting is one of the most underrated parts of a vehicle. (source: Deccan Chronicle)

 

For whatsoever reason, I see no automobile journalist, channel or reviewer talk about lights & tires. I don't know if their knowledge is limited to talking what others talk or  they assume lights & tires are one useless part of a car. 

Whatever they may think, I feel lights & tires are one highly underrated parts of a car. Well, as the topic suggests, here we will only discuss about lights leaving the latter for a new topic and people can post their queries in the comments section.  

 

Imagine you driving on a highway in the dark with just the set of 55W halogen stock lights which are almost useless (most of the manufacturers except MS), passing over a speed breaker at the same speed ruining your wheel alignment because your lights failed to light up the road. Imagine you driving on a highway  and suddenly turning  towards your left cutting a speeding truck after seeing a poorly placed road block at the last second because again your 55W stock lights failed to alert you before hand on the oncoming danger. Lights are highly useful and the most essential parts of a vehicle. 

 

The above mentioned two situations are the real incidents that happened during my night drives and I'm pretty much sure many of you have encountered the same and always thought of upgrading your lights and ended up with a even more bad setup or the same spending few thousand rupees.  

 

There is so much to learn about lighting. I made my  mind to learn about lighting and to better understand and make an apt decision on what suites my requirements before spending money. 

 

There are many topics that I was confused with. People talk about types of lights, their color, uses and types of beams and uses. I know 99% of the readers are also in the dilemma on what to take and what suites the best. So without wasting time, lets dive in. 

 

Types of Lights:

 

1. Halogen Lights:

A halogen bulb is similar to an electric bulb found in any household. But while your regular bulb has a filament (small wire) that heats up and emits light, the halogen lamp uses halogen gas to increase brightness. These bulbs aren’t very efficient, as most of the energy is wasted in heat instead of light. Halogen bulbs used in automobiles typically emit a yellowish light and despite the technology being over 50 years old, it is widely used. In terms of brightness, halogen lamps have a throw of about 100 meters. These lights consume the highest energy of all the other lights available. 

 

 

Pros:

• Cheap. A set of H4 100W halogens from Philips costs around 300-350 Rs. The H3 100W halogens from Roots in my Hella costed me around 80 Rs per blub. 
• Good visibility in any given weather condition because of the yellow tint. 
• Not as irritating as LEDs to the eyes.

Cons:

• Dated, almost 5 decades old technology.
• Most of the energy is wasted in heat instead of light.
• High energy consumption, low range throw. 

 

2. Xenon Lights:

Also known to as HID (high-intensity discharge), xenon lamps are similar to the common tube lights. There is no filament that gets heated up, instead, xenon gas is electrically                charged. This produces a bluish-white light that is close in color to natural light. these are more expensive than halogen but they generally last longer and are more efficient. As            seen with tube lights, these lamps too have a small delay before lighting up and take some time to come to full brightness, which is why the high and passing beams generally                get an additional halogen bulb. Thus, a car will have two bulbs in each lamp unit making it a total of four.

 

Pros:

• Consumes lesser energy when compared to Halogens and give a longer throw. 
• Produces bluish-white light which is better in terms of visibility compared to Halogens. 

Cons:

• Takes time, at least 10 secs to heat-up and brighten fully. 
• Strictly for dry weather conditions. Not at all useful for rainy or foggy conditions. 

          

3. Bi-Xenon Lights:

 

The term Bi-Xenon headlight is often confusing as ‘bi’ suggest two. But a bi-xenon uses just one xenon lamp for the high beam, which is then either moved or shaded each time a low beam is to be provided. Thus, a Bi-Xenon lamp is sometimes cheaper and also takes up less space in the lamp unit.

 

Pros:

• Cheaper yet provides the same amount of brightness and throw as the Xenon lights. 
• Occupies lesser space in the unit making the entire unit considerably smaller. 

Cons:

• Since it uses a single bulb for both hi and low beam, there is often a delay while using passing lights. 
• Takes time, at least 10 secs to heat-up and brighten fully. 
• Strictly for dry weather conditions. Not at all useful for rainy or foggy conditions. 

 

4. LED Lights:

In general, an LED or light emitting diode discharges light from the movement of electrons and as such, is a simple and highly efficient system. The advantage of LED lights is that they light up instantly, are extremely efficient and last far longer than other light sources. Thus, they are frequently used in tail-lights and daytime running lights. However, with technology advancing, the problem of lower light intensity is being overcome to the point where LEDs are finding application in headlights. The additional benefit here is that LEDs can emit light that's far closer in color to daylight. Of course, some manufacturers use LEDs for just low beams, while some have full (low and high beam) LED lights. 

 

Pros:

• Light color almost equal to day light gives one of the best night visibility. 
• Brightness the area well. 
• Consumes very less energy compared to Halogens or Xenons. 

Cons:

•  Howe ver bright the lighting may be, doesn't give a longer throw.
• White lights are useless during rainy and foggy conditions. Makes the driving experience extremely horrible. 
• Expensive affair. 

 

5. Projector Lens:

Do not confuse these with projector lens lights; these do not necessarily indicate xenon bulbs. A projector is a simple lens which is used to focus the light source on to the road. It is quite similar to a movie projector you might have in your office or home. As you may have guessed, a projector lens can be used with any light source: halogen, xenon or an LED lamp.

 

Pros:

• Proper cutoff. 
• Accurate and wide throw.

 

There are 2 more lights such as the laser lights and digital LED lights which are very new to the industry and are extremely expensive. These are still in the testing stage and are only used in luxury cars. It will take some time for these to enter into the mass market, so for now, lets not talk about these.  

 

Please refer the below image for better understanding. 

 

Colors of Lights

 

Clear or Yellow:

Clear or yellow light refers the light that is emitted from a halogen bulb. color temperature range between 3000 - 4000. 

 

Pros:

• Better visibility if not the best in any weather condition.
• Useful as a passing light in the mornings.

Cons:

• Not as bright as white lights.

 

White Lights: 

The lights that emit a blueish-white or a total white tint, similar to the day light having the temperature range above 4500. 

 

Pros:

• Visibility far better than the clear or yellow lights. 
• Best for night highway drives.

Cons:

• Not at all suitable for rainy and foggy drives.  
• Not suitable as a passing light in the morning.  

 

Amber or Turmeric Yellow:

The lights with color temperature less than 3000

 

Pros:

• Best suited for rainy and foggy conditions. 
• Visible to people who are at a far away distance. 

Cons:

• Not all suitable as a daily driving lights. 
• Throw is the shortest of all the available lights. 

 

Please refer the below image for color temperature guide. 

 

Types of Beams

 

1. Spot Beam (Long Range): Spot or Long Range lights are able to penetrate deep into the night. Long Range Lights produce a tighter, more focused circular beam of light (pencil beam) to see way out ahead even at higher speeds. These lights create an extremely bright, hot center beam pattern. Spot beam lights are typically used for Off Highway, Commercial, Agricultural and Racing applications.

 

 

2. Driving and Spread Beam: Driving lights are designed to supplement your high beam headlights. Driving Lights produce a rectangular shaped beam pattern that can reach further and wider than your headlights.  Driving lights are very useful to create visibility near the sides of roadways and out in front of the vehicle. They are great for all around trail riding as well.

Spread beam lights are similar to Driving but tend to be brighter, wider and possibly taller. Spread beam lights are great lights for multi-purpose off-road use.

 

 

3. Fog Beam: Fog lights are intended to be mounted below the headlights and project a beam pattern which is very wide horizontally and narrow vertically usually called a cut-off. This pattern lights up a pathway close to the ground but does not light the airborne particles in the line of sight while driving - this increases the visibility in harder to see conditions. KC Fog beams are very useful in Dust, Fog, Rain and Snow. They also work well as Cornering lights in clear conditions and are optically designed to increase visibility in tandem with your primary headlights.

 

 

4. Flood Beam: Flood beams create a large wide pattern of light that floods an area with an extremely tall vertical and wide horizontal light pattern. These lights are typically used as work lights and back-up lights to see a broader area at shorter distances.

 

 

PS: some of the inputs taken from 

https://support.kchilites.com/ & https://www.autocarindia.com/

PC: Google & https://support.kchilites.com/

 

[SK01]

My Set-Up

1. Headlights - 55W 5000K Bi-Xenon Projectors. 
2. Fog Lights - 7000 Lumens 5000K LEDs.
3. Auxiliary Lights - 100W Hella Comet 500 Spot Beams with clear lens. 

The Result

Effortless highway drives even at speeds such as 140kmph. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by SK01

[Gowtham]

Excellent article, very informative.

I prefer HID + Projector setup.

it is the best combo for our conditions.

 

Recently, I have driven Seltos with led setup. Lightning is very poor during highway runs.

According to owners projector setup is better than LED

 

But the future is completely LED.

That is a the superior tech, Tesla that I drive has excellent LED setup. No issues on high speed runs.

[shiva]

15 hours ago, SK01 said:

• Headlights - 55W 5000K Bi-Xenon Projectors. 
• Fog Lights - 7000 Lumens 5000K LEDs.
• Auxiliary Lights - 100W Hella Comet 500 Spot Beams with clear lens. 

 

Can you share the rough estimation for overall setup?

[mit1682]

Hi @SK01 very detailed and useful information. I am a new driver and always fear of night drive (it is still there). Stock lights on Baleno are very week. Hence never drove during night time. Recently changed to Philips extrim Visio plus (again halogen) but not much improvement. I heard changing light to higher wattage will be risky to cars and void warranty. High beam lights also create problem of blindness to other drivers. Still looking for safe solution.

[SK01]

Just now, shiva

15 hours ago, SK01 said:

• Headlights - 55W 5000K Bi-Xenon Projectors. 
• Fog Lights - 7000 Lumens 5000K LEDs.
• Auxiliary Lights - 100W Hella Comet 500 Spot Beams with clear lens. 

 

Can you share the rough estimation for overall setup?

HIDs - 13500 Inc installation
LEDs Fog - 7k
Hella - 3600 + 2500 installation.

[sagar]

Superb @SK01.. Brilliant article. You never fail to surprise us with such informative articles as you always do. 
 

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

I heard changing light to higher wattage will be risky to cars and void warranty.

 
Definitely @mit1682 Once any of the stock setup is disturbed, the warranty expires. You can definitely try it out atleast after 3 years from your date of purchase if in case you are really interested.

 

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

High beam lights also create problem of blindness to other drivers. Still looking for safe solution

There are pros and cons to us without any doubt. This surely blinds the cars driving in the opposite direction but as responsible drivers, we should be sensible enough to understand when to use it and when not to.. A few cars in Skoda and also the very popularly seen Innova Crysta or Fortuner are coming up with such stock set up now which totally blinds the oncoming traffic in city limits. 

[ProBiker]

Very informative.

With our pathetic roads & lack of proper markings along with poorly lit roads such mods become life savers.

Hope manufacturers understand our requirement to survive on the road & upgrade our vehicle lighting to minimum standards.

To avoid warranty issues you can try plug & play wiring harness with cutout & 130/100 or 100/90 halogen bulbs.
They can be removed in 5 min & fitting will take 10 min.

Disclaimer : Any modifications to the vehicle even in th interest of safety is illegal as per our existing Motor vehicle act.

[SK01]

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

I heard changing light to higher wattage will be risky to cars and void warranty.

Life's too short to worry about warranties mate. 

 

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

High beam lights also create problem of blindness to other drivers.

you will never have a safe journey if you keep on thinking this way. Moreover HBs are used on highways. Light will not go to the opposite lane. In case you feel the opp traffic is getting blinded, there is always a switch to change to LB. 

Don't listen to people who talk all noble but does nothing noble. 

 

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

Still looking for safe solution.

My suggestion,

1. 90/100 or 100/130 Halogens in HLs with proper relay. 
2. iPH Bi-Xenon Projector fog lights. 
3. Halogen spot beams.  

The result will be a difference between day and night. 

Avoid all whites. have a combination of whites and yellows and different beam patterns. 

3 hours ago, mit1682 said:

I am a new driver and always fear of night drive

You will never be a good driver if you keep on fearing. Just go out, be safe, drive in a controllable speed. I learnt driving in 2012 when i was in 10th class. Used to be afraid of speeds like 30-40kmph also. Now driving 160-170kmph without any fear(not glorifying or encouraging highspeed). Everything comes by experience but only if you start. 

 

Good luck!

 

  

Edited September 26, 2020 by SK01

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/25/2020 at 5:38 PM, SK01 said:

• Headlights - 55W 5000K Bi-Xenon Projectors. 
• Fog Lights - 7000 Lumens 5000K LEDs.
• Auxiliary Lights - 100W Hella Comet 500 Spot Beams with clear lens. 

This is a fantastic topic @SK01 Couple of questions I have are

 

1) Are all the lights turned on from your setup in the video while driving?

2) how fair is the visibility of the same setup when we do not have those little trees as median and when the HD's of oncoming traffic keep hitting you at your eyes? Can you share one such video as well with no median blockers?

3) I am waiting for a full upgrade of my Tia very soon, Headlights / Tyres and little wrap too so taking my time to understand each of this aspect in detail.

 

[SK01]

On 9/25/2020 at 6:28 PM, Gowtham said:

Excellent article, very informative.

 

Thanks @Gowtham

 

On 9/25/2020 at 6:28 PM, Gowtham said:

I prefer HID + Projector setup.

it is the best combo for our conditions

That becomes all whites Gowtham. 

 

They are definitely good as long as the weather condition is dry. But once when it turns bad, the visibility becomes totally bad and zero (my personal experience)

 

As far as my experience goes after using different type of lights on my Ford and City, I prefer a mix white and yellow, and different beam patterns. My idles setup goes this way,

• Powerful halogens in the HLs. if dual barrel HLs then, Powerful halogens in HBs and HID projectors in LBs. 
• Projector fog lamps. Bi-Xenons. iPH preferred because of low price and good lighting. 
• Hella spot beams or any other spot beams lights. 

This is a combination of powerful yellow, white lights and different beam patterns. Will be very much useful during wet weather conditions and variety of terrains. 

Spot beams are very much useful to spot potholes. 

 

And the reason I don't prefer all HIDs are,

1. It takes time time to heatup. In case of single barrel HLs (my Ford) (Bi-Xenon) its useless to use dippers.
2. Also in Bi-Xenon setup, it is a step process. That means HBs and LBs are not instant while using dippers. It takes few  secs time to switch to LB from HB and turn off.
3. The color of HIDs are not useful to be used as dippers in the day.

On 9/25/2020 at 6:28 PM, Gowtham said:

Recently, I have driven Seltos with led setup. Lightning is very poor during highway runs. 

 LEDs I always find varied opinions on different cars. 

I find LEDs in my Honda City to be decent than stock 55W halogens during highway runs and the same LEDs in Ford fog lamps to be average. They just complement my Bi-Xenon projectors but are definitely not standalone lights.  

 

Even now  I cant say my setup is the perfect. It always hampers my visibility during rains. Spot beams are halogens but still being spot beams they don't provide wide visibility and the spots in heavy rains are not visible. 

 

Will upgrade to powerful fogs later and driving lights

Will either take 

iPH Bi-Xenon Projectors if I have powerful halogens as a driving beam. 

or 

Hella Rallye 500FF / 700FF if I continue with HIDs in HLs. 

or

Hella Comet 550 fog lamps. Will compare with projector fogs if powerful halogen driving beams criteria is met. 

 

All weather and highspeed visibility is the priority.  

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by SK01

[SK01]

On 9/26/2020 at 12:17 PM, sagar said:

Brilliant article.

Thanks @sagar.  You should be waiting for my next post. 

[SK01]

On 9/26/2020 at 12:43 PM, ProBiker said:

Very informative.

Thanks Prabhakar!

 

On 9/26/2020 at 12:43 PM, ProBiker said:

With our pathetic roads & lack of proper markings along with poorly lit roads such mods become life savers.

Sometimes its a difference between horrible accidents and a safe journey. In my case its very much true. 

 

On 9/26/2020 at 12:43 PM, ProBiker said:

Hope manufacturers understand our requirement to survive on the road & upgrade our vehicle lighting to minimum standards.

That will never happen. At least till the buyers change their mindsets from mileage, looks, features, fancy gizmos, touch screen etc... 

Manufacturers will keep on concentrating on giving useless stuff instead of essentials. 

[SK01]

19 hours ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

This is a fantastic topic @SK01

Thanks bro @Sridhar Tandra!

19 hours ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

1) Are all the lights turned on from your setup in the video while driving?

Yes.

1. Bi-Xenon 55W projector headlights - ON
2. LED fog lights - ON 
3. Hella Comet 500 100W halogen spot beams - ON

19 hours ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

2) how fair is the visibility of the same setup when we do not have those little trees as median and when the HD's of oncoming traffic keep hitting you at your eyes?

In scenario you mentioned, my setup doesn't do justice. 

Again, Hellas are spot beams. We cannot expect them to perform in the same way a driving lights perform. 

My HID projectors in the HLs need an alignment check. Hopefully, post alignment work they can perform  well in the above mentioned situation. 

LEDs in fog are strictly not a standalone lights. They just compliment the HLs by brightening and lighting the nearby areas a bit. 

 

Actually the ideal setup is

• A powerful driving beams. Preferably halogens. 
• A powerful fogs. Preferably HID projectors. 
• A powerful spot beams.  

 

With the above mentioned setup, your problem can be solved. 

3 hours ago, SK01 said:

iPH Bi-Xenon Projectors if I have powerful halogens as a driving beam. 

or 

Hella Rallye 500FF / 700FF if I continue with HIDs in HLs. 

or

Hella Comet 550 fog lamps. Will compare with projector fogs if powerful halogen driving beams criteria is met. 

 

All weather and highspeed visibility is the priority. 

The very reason for making the changes in my setup to the above mentioned is all time and all weather visibility.  

But again, I should see the power consumption of the above setup and feasibility since halogens and Hellas consume a lot of energy. 

 

@ProBiker need your suggestion here. 

[Sridhar Tandra]

3 hours ago, SK01 said:

LEDs in fog

My initial plan is to get the latest Projector LED setup for Fog's in both my Tiago and Nexon, checking on few options currently

[SK01]

26 minutes ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

Projector LED setup for Fog's in both my Tiago and Nexon

Wouldn't recommend LED projectors. 

Also do not spend a fortune on lights. There are few lights that perform as good as reputed brands. Reputed brands just offer warranty and charge for the warranty and brand value. 

 

Check with Mr. Amit from Blaze India (9871 490 280) regarding iPH projector fog lights and give my reference as SK from Hyderabad Ford Freestyle owner. Many good reviews of iPH HID fog projectors. 

 

 

[karthik]

I would suggest you to leave the headlamp stock and work on Fog lamp(Projector setup). This way you will have reliability and backup

[Sridhar Tandra]

19 hours ago, SK01 said:

iPH projector fog lights

Coincidentally, I am also in touch with Amit (A different one though) about the same iPH projector fog lights  he suggested that the LED projectors are new and better than the previous HID projector fog lights! This is costing me around 6k for the full kit

[Sridhar Tandra]

12 hours ago, karthik said:

leave the headlamp stock and work on Fog lamp(Projector setup)

Yes, that's the plan @karthik

[Gowtham]

10 hours ago, Sridhar Tandra said:

This is costing me around 6k for the full kit

6k is a decent deal. What about installation?
I think for Tiago you can get JTP headlamps?

[ProBiker]

Please check the color Temperature of hids before you install.
3000-3500k is ideal for all weather visibility. As temperature goes up your visibility suffers & blinds the oncoming traffic also.

[uday]

48 minutes ago, ProBiker said:

3000-3500k is ideal for all weather visibility

 

I have experienced it recently. Seltos LED's are very poor during rainy season. My decade old Swift has better lightning. But I have seen good lighting in luxury cars which are white in colour and has better visibility. 

[ProBiker]

The colour temperature matters.
4000-4500k is what the luxury cars usually have.
Most of them also have additional lights under the 3500k mark. This will help them get the required visibility in all scenarios.

[Sridhar Tandra]

On 9/30/2020 at 9:52 PM, Gowtham said:

Tiago you can get JTP headlamps?

Tata folks are saying there is wiring issues of I touch the headlamps setup. Also personally I do not want to distrub the headlamp setup.

[ProBiker]

Just now, Sridhar Tandra

On 9/30/2020 at 9:52 PM, Gowtham said:

Tiago you can get JTP headlamps?

Tata folks are saying there is wiring issues of I touch the headlamps setup. Also personally I do not want to distrub the headlamp setup.

You can definitely touch them, fiddle around with them & modify to any extent without cutting any wires & ' THE SET UP HAS TO BE TOTALLY REVERSIBLE' if required.

[karthik]

Stock headlamps gives peace of mind. I have seen many people using projectors in fog setup. It is a low investment and even If anything goes wrong on them middle of highway. One should be fine.

[ProBiker]

Just now, karthik

Stock headlamps gives peace of mind. I have seen many people using projectors in fog setup. It is a low investment and even If anything goes wrong on them middle of highway. One should be fine.

Fog lamps have a specific task to do.
They are designed to focus in such a way that the road is lit in foggy & rainy conditions.
Projector & HID lamps change the way light is focused on the road.
To top it the color temperature is critical for better visibility in foggy conditions.
3000-3500k is ideal.
Yellow & normal halogens fall into this category.
If you notice truckers in north & hilly areas have yellow auxiliary lights installed on their bumpers.

[Gowtham]

10 hours ago, ProBiker said:

Fog lamps have a specific task to do.

 

Agree on it, white lights + fog is a bad combo. 
But around Hyderabad, it should be fine. 
If one is staying in hilly regions, it should be a major concern. 

Most of the luxury cars like BMW etc, now have led fog lamp which is white in colour. 

[ProBiker]

Color is a relative term here.
The color temperature is the most important aspect.
White is again warm white, white & cool white.
Please check the temperature.
If it's under 4000k it's good.
Under 3500k is very good.
3000k or under is the best for fog & rain.