In the 80's, I was stationed in Northern California and did a lot of skiing in the Sierra mountains. I had installed a set of Bosch fog lights that were more a gold color, but what I really liked was how detailed I could see the conditions of the road surface. I could even see the white fog line on the road throught a few inches of snow. When I got a new car that had oem fog lights, the detailed was far less and I also experience more strain on my eyes. Now, I have yellow LED fog lights, but I think those old Bosch fog lights were far superior in allowing to see in bad weather.
I've seen those before, but never put too much thought into them. I had some NAPA "Gold" (not really gold colored) big glass ones in a 88 Supra i had, noticed one was dim and tested with how much power was going though with an induction amp multi-meter. One was about 50 watts and the other was down to 32watts, rewired with heavier gauge wire and ended up at around 75 watts each headlight.. that's when i learned that they build in resistance into the circuits to get to 55 watts ;-P They lasted me about 6 years till i sold the car, same with the NAPA wipers they i conditioned and cleaned once a year with PB Blaster (old formula, new stuff is garbage).
Those old lights were designed for racing - as full strength replacements for your main bulbs. If you look at Sebring and other 24 hour races, you will see that many of the cars are running these type of yellow driving lights - much more yellow and brighter than modern "fog lights". And, yes, this was the original design of fog lights - as a second set of halogens at full strength that you could just turn on/switch to instead of the mains. (A/B, not both at once). When you ru both at once, you have to put the yellow pattern underneath the white one as it will be absorbed by the white light. Also, you need to run that setup in high beam mode as most of the low-beam area will be saturated by the yellow light's area. (ie - the high beams need to shine *above* the fogs, not into them), I miss my old Volvo - it also had those Bosch lights in the main grille and an A/B switch on the dash.
Part of it might be CRI. Basically cheap LED's with crappy color rendering and a cold tint are much more common than the more expensive, 95+ CRI LEDs, even still today.
Back, when I was studying electrical engineering, they were teaching us the benefits of the yellow and warmer white light at the road. The main benefit of the yellowish light is that it improves the ability to detect and decriminate the objects and also it is easier to the human eye. For me, it is much easier to detect your contour while you are measuring the yellow light in fog conditions rather than the cold white. Today, the main trend followed by the manufacturers is brighter and more cold white light, that may be looks "cool" but is not the best to use at the roads.
I bet a big part of it is also due to the bad CRI on the cold white (cheaper) LEDs. Basically they render color in low detail with a bluish tint and cause eye strain. They do have a slight advantage in overall light output lumens compared to high CRI LEDs though.
to me the biggest advantage of yellow fogs is when combined with white light from another fixture, the dual shadow of the two colors it casts on road obstacles and ruts, ect. lets you see details WAY better.
I wonder if Pegasus will pay for damages with burnt wires and sockets, that should not be allowed to be sold as 55w bulb. At least sell it as what it is so people know. Not a good to max out any electronic circuits if you want it to last some years.
I use the yellow "sun glasses" at night. Really helps with the glare from opposing LED lights by removing the blue spectrum. Also helps with fog and rain. Much cheaper than auxiliary lighting.
Wait, if this is the issue when one could just tint their windows yellow. But, interesting idea ‘coz I’ve been having trouble seeing in the dark now. Sometimes these new cars headlights can be blinding.
I've always had the best results with a very white headlight in combo with yellow foglights to get the best vision in all weather, this is a great channel, really appreciate all the in depth testing you do.
Indeed, '90s were the times when people lived simply and practically, no need for fancy useless stuff in their house, car or...life. P. S. Range from 3000 to 4200K is usually the best colour for night time.
The reason for the yellow light is due to it's longer wavelength, which allows to penetrate fog better. It didn't help the driver see, it helps drivers see other drivers.
On a 2nd gen GS300 headlight design was waaaay ahead of its time. The bulb setup is great for all conditions! The low beams on the outsude, high beams are in the middle, yet they are also the day time running lights in yellow, and stay on when the low beams are turned on. The fog lights are white bulb ( clear lense outside of Japan ) so it actually acts like low beams just at the bottom of the car and they are angled outward. So when the fog lights are turned on ( only functions with low beams ) the day time running yellow lights are actually designed as a beam between upper and low beams which all come to a focus of ONE BEAM for all conditions! GENIUS!!!
I found an aftermarket head lamp for my car that upgraded it to projector and went with a 35W HID 5000K color. Got the distance without binding oncoming traffic and the color isn’t a giveaway that it isn’t stock. My biggest shock was how much better projectors are in fog! They shoot under with much less scatter up in front of you. You really see the difference if someone is in a parallel lane and their standard lamps make it harder for you to see in fog lol!
I have installed same in my car, but that is LED. When in snow or rain it is getting reflected a lot.. cant see far due its high reflection. Is it the case for you to?
@hemabairavanvenkatraju5251, you have to understand how LEDs produce colors. LEDs combine red, green, and blue (RGB) light, and these colors refract differently in the presence of moisture. That is why LEDs perform well in ideal weather conditions but poorly in less-than-ideal weather.
I switched to yellow headlights from Hella and I love it. Road signs are easier to see, it's easier to see on dark back roads, it's easier to see in snow, and I feel like it's over all better on my eyes
I've been running 3000k HID's in many of my cars. I've always tried to check the light pattern and the placement of the bulb to minimize the glare to the oncoming traffic and also tried to keep the height adjustment a bit lower when there is lot of traffic. Often the holders are a bit loose and may have surprisingly large amounts of wiggle room which can lead to dramatic irregularities in the light pattern. In some cases I've done some slight bending, or cutting if I used a bulb with a plastic base. Nothing has beat them in winter conditions and especially in heavy snowfall. Using high beams is not a problem at all, as the snow doesn't blind you and you can see through it, unlike with anything "normal". Also the road signs are lit up in a nice color that doesn't beat your eyes. The added benefit of running with yellow light is that you're eyesight keeps better adapted to the darkness. There is a big difference when in the dark you jump out of a car that has lights of normal white or anything bluish. With yellow, you can see a lot better instantly when you jump out to the darkness. I once took a taxi on a dark autumn night that had very nice lights. It was some Volvo model, I think from around 2006-2010. The color of the headlights was a very warm white. Yeah, I know it's illegal but I think many modern cars with their very "snappy" edge of darkness is often times truly blinding. In recent years my driving has been very limited so I haven't put the HID's on. Once I bought a pair of "3000k" H7 HID bulbs without the coating, but they turned out to be just a normal pair of 4300k's or so. So I placed a yellow filter on the low beam part of the headlight cover. It was actually way nicer than the 3000k bulbs because they didn't have that odd hint of green, especially at the very start when they warm up. So the hint of blue on the filter does screw up the color a bit and it's not a "clear yellow". I'm glad I once found a good set of "computer controlled" HID ballasts, that have worked very well. Of course you can't probably compare them to a proper OEM quality system but at least they have had a very even light output and are pretty fast to warm the bulb up. Some cheap ballasts (with badly regulated DC output) had catastrophically bad and constant jumping of the light arc. - I just ordered some random pair of passively cooled yellow led bulbs for my "new" car. A set of LED HB3's in 3000k from a brand called BMTxms. They should have 12 very small LED chips and are rated at 30W per bulb. But seeing the very small cooling fin on the back makes me doubt their actual output. They claim to have some sort of temperature control system... And some reviews do seem to say that they are at least brighter than a halogen. Which I think would be fine. I think I don't need the 3x output that the HID's usually market themselves at. I also ordered a pair of old school 3000k HID's in HB3. The car has projector low beams (H7) so I guess using HID's in them shouldn't be an issue. Though there is no automatic level control, but I'm pretty actively adjusting my lights anyway. I don't really like the idea of installing extra high beams or led bars on a car, as it's pretty damn pointless to have super bright high beams and some lousy old halogens when you turn the high beams off. And as there are way more blinding LED's on the oncoming traffic today, I feel like having just halogens is in many situations pretty frustrating. I once tried to drive with the 3000k HID's in the dark with a pair of pretty dark tinted sunglasses. It was a very interesting feeling. Of course there was way less light, but I felt like I could see more "even". It was like I had "brown" lights on my car :D A bit like having a nice pair of "hifi" earplugs, but for your eyes, if that makes ANY sense :D
Great video, very informative. I live in a snowy state and run Hella Xtreme Yellow bulbs in the fog lights on my Jeep, visibility is much better in snowy conditions with them vs the white halogens I previously ran.
i'd say "slightly better", not "way better". I think it is also better for fogless conditions for other drivers, because due to less scattering in the eye, yellow light should have less of a blinding effect.
White light is not brighter. 4300k to 5000k is the optimal daylight light for night driving without causing eye strain. 3000k to 4300k light is optimal for penetrating within foggy and rainy environments. - Anything above 5000k is just about your liking with how much blue light you want, but it takes adjusting to and is not pleasant for long night drives, but may keep you more alert.
@@purplehills56 Yeah, anything without the blue light is good. I don’t know why people opt for 6000k+ lights, but the blue light is nauseating to most drivers and it doesn’t reflect as well as light in the 4300k - 5000k range. Honestly yellow light would be preferred as it’s easier to focus on than blue light, but it’s whatever.
How is this channel now at 3 million. Your videos are extremely informative and i get a sense of true objectivity and strict scientific testing. You've earned my sub!
Short wavelength/high color temperature lighting is on of the worst things to happen to driving. The unmitigated brightness and glare blinds other drivers and eliminates any semblance of night vision, which is critical to safely driving in the dark.
In a perfect world, the market will be dominated by high quality 4000k to 5000k LED bulbs, followed by those that emulate OEM halogen warm white LED bulbs.
@@4G12 The world IS dominated by white LED headlights bro. We are no longer in 2016. Even cheap economy cars are starting to come with LED lights as standard. and 4000K to 6000k is the standard. The rest of the cars on the road are Halogen, with HID being essentially extinct these days.
The right brightness is key. People get stuck on color temp. Some people just don't care about anybody else and buy the brightest ones without any thought. Also, people aim their lights way too high. The worst are overpowered reflectors. The glare alone is blinding.
Warmer the light the better one actually sees. Cooler the light the more perceived brightness. Perceived brightness doesn't equal to seeing better. Its a similar scenerio to beam pattern vs lumens Ill take a wider beam thats perceived as dimmer over a narrow beam thats perceived as brighter
Excellent video Sergui and very informative for people who don't understand the workings of car headlights. I've been saying this for years on my forum, but people just didn't understand my point ( or didn't want to! ), some people still see it as the brighter/whiter bulbs they buy, the more they will see at night! France many years ago used yellow headlights for the exact reason you mention, you still see yellow fog lights over here ( I live in France ), there's also a very good reason why street lighting uses Sodium lights, as they emit a slightly yellowish tint to see better in bad weather conditions. Also, there's an excellent reason why 'shooting glasses' have yellow lenses ....................... you can see much better through yellow tints ; ) Hopefully now people will wise-up about HID and LED headlights, I've always hated that harsh bright white light coming toward me at night, not only does it hurt my eyes slightly ( causing me to look away ), but I can still see the lights in my eyes once the other car has passed! TURK
All explaination and the test were spot on.. Also additional explaination is.. with yellow light coverage, it increase contrast of the projected surface, so easier to human eyes to determine obstacle/hazard on the road surface as well as keeping safe driving in correct lane/road surface... Especially on the snow... The same explaination of using yellow tint sunglass lens while driving in snow/night fog
Hah, very interesting and well-done video! I’d always assumed that yellow fog lights were about light scattering, but never stopped to think that fog droplets are way too large for Rayleigh scattering. Nicely done!
Don't really care about lights, but the dedication and professional of your video shows. Hope your viewers appreciate the effort it takes to produce such a detailed and quality product.
My only thoughts on the Pegasus bulb's odd shape could be one of 2 things. 1: The glass needed to be kept farther away from the filament due to the higher wattage to avoid cracking 2: Could be operating similar to HIR bulbs where it reflects the IR component of the light back onto the filament
But... the huge power load... you might as well get actual HID replacements. Not a "refit kit" but an actual set of projectors. Otherwise your replacements will just end up blinding others as Halogen lenses with HID bulbs is always a disaster.
Great informational video! I believe that yellow lighting is better in adverse weather due to the contrast that it creates on the surface of obstacles not really on the amount of light it can reach.
This is why old street lamps (in the UK at least) used to have a yellow sodium hue. They didn’t match the light output of white lights and made colour identification more difficult but they increased contrast which made it easier to see other road users. Now most street lights are white LED which increases brightness and colour definition but reduces contrast. LED street lights also reflect more off wet surfaces, meaning they create a lot more light pollution, making stargazing more difficult.
I would really like to see if the motorcycle halogen products from Phillips, Osram and the other competitors are actually more reliable than the "regular" versions
7:24 Yellow light has a shorter *LONGER* wavelength than blue light Lumina galbenă are o olungime de undă mai mică *MARE* decât lumina albastră. _________ An excellent, very thorough video! Much appreciated! Un video excelent, foarte minuțios! Îmi place foarte mult!
Similar to how the atmosphere scatters the blue light from incoming sunlight, which leaves the amber tone in direct light. These bulbs should operate in a similar way. With yellow amber light penetrating fog much easier than blue light.
It will be interesting to compare them on wet road as well. My Renault Capture with LED headlights is terrible during nights when the road is wet. It is almost like you don't have headlights on.
Yeah .same as my car. During good weather at night, my headlight is shining like a champion. When it raining or after rain, my headlights shine like a dick.
I'm scratching my head. Watching the quality of this video, not only in visuals but explanation factor merits a presenter has easily reached the 1 million sub mark. I look down and he ONLY has 28k+ subs!?!?!?!? What is wrong with this picture???? Clearly Sergiu, you deserve millions of Subs!!!
Great to see continuous improvement on your channel. Also like how your methods are very well thought of. Hope to see more content from you in. The future. 👌
Superb videos Sergiu, superb channel! Accurate, scientific, facts-based and very thorough in the tests. Thank you for creating and sharing this content. :)
nagyon jó munka Gábor! Biztosan mérnök vagy, de így is remek türelmed van. Bár csak tudnám a kocsjaim szerelgetni ilyen barátokkal akik ekkora tudással bírnak
There is a reason why rally drivers have been using yellow lights in fog, snow and rain for years. You really get a good aspect as to why they use them when the video feed is switched to the drivers point of view inside the car. Because of that view point and what I got to see, I switched to yellow colored lights not long after I got my drivers license and had my own vehicle. I haven't used any other type of bulb for my fog lights ever since.
wonderful testing... ur great EFFORT IS INTERESTING... I feel ur effort when i saw ur vlog... that is why i watch until u finish, its hard to do that.... thanks to u... recommended for all, this is for future refference...
Thank you for the comparison, you put a lot of effort into this, and it's appreciated! We get lots of fog, rain and snow here so I'm going with some Alla Lighting 5200lm AL-R, 3000K Amber Yellow, hope they last.
Hello, that's a good test! I used Osram fog breaker bulbs for foggy confition, but they were too yellow to have a good output. The best products i found was the Narva Contrast + (100W), good in all condition, and really perfect in foggy ones. Now, with "new generation cars", i use Xenon 3000K in fog projectors and 4500K in low beam. (I'm leaving close yto a river, and i have a lot of fog)
Yellow led light(especially in fog) is so much better and is so much more visible than white light. The new LED white lights tend to be blinding and are safety hazards for oncoming drivers. Yellow LEDs are less intense to the eyes, which are preferred. So I'm not sure why some people prefer aesthetics over safety. I mean I guess they prefer to be beautiful and die. But what's the point of trying to be beautiful if they can't show the beauty to anyone when life's cut short? 😂
I drove with PIAA Plasma Ion bulbs for a few years and preferred them over anything else, so much easier on the eyes and way better performance in rain/fog with the shorter wave length at 2500k.
On my Jeep JK that I owned, i switched to LED headlamps and noticed straight away that they were far brighter than the factory Hella halogen's it replaced... HOWEVER, even in perfect conditions everything blended in especially wildlife and I wouldn't see a kangaroo until I was right on top of him where as the Halogens it was far easier to spot things further away. Went back to the OEM Halogens within a few weeks.
I recently put 6000K LED lights on my car. I love the look and the beam Is exactly the same as with the stock lights. I am planning on replacing the Fog Lights with Yellow LED light bulbs. Should be perfectly fine during the rain. On my second car I had LED bulbs for many years and was able to see the road better then drivers with stock headlights, they would swerve because they couldn't see the lane lines but I was able to see with my LEDs.
I worked with some truck drivers in Alaska back in the 90's, they tried about every color light available for driving in snow storms, they all said that Blue light actually penetrates inclement weather the best, but forward shinning blue lights are illegal except for emergency vehicles, but they still used them in remote areas.
Really impressed by your testing. I believe it has more to do with how the light is aimed or projected out not to reflect back at you than anything. Try driving with high beams in the fog vs driving with only the low beams. Quite a difference.
@@gatorage850 I watched the video and saw the difference. One thing I hate with the high power led lights is the backwash from highway sign. Sometimes just blinding.
Makes sense the cooler the light the more it penetrates at distance. the last thing you want in fig is to turn it into a huge light box by intensely illuminating it. thus a light that has less penetration is more likely to only light up what you can actually see just in front of you rather than turning the wall of fog into a huge blinding light by penetrating deep into it.
I had tested some turn lights with an luxometer and all give me 1500lux no matter what distance (always testing it near) or technology of bulb i am testing. I think luxometer don read yellowed light as good as white light source. Could you make a test of this?
7:25 "yellow has a shorter wavelength than blue light" - this is backwards. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than yellow light and is easier to Raleigh scatter. The thought however is the longer wavelength of yellow light can reduce glare in fog and dust bc of the longer wavelength being harder to scatter (Raleigh). But when particles become larger than just the air, such as fog or dust, light scattering will still occur. This is bc even the longer wavelengths will now interact with the bigger particles.
In Korea, my Matiz had such yellowed lenses that I put in 100w bulbs - because of where I worked, there was very little municipal lighting and those 100w bulbs worked very well in lighting up the rural mountain roads. When I moved into the city, I forgot to change them back to 55w and I got my yearly inspection in the mail. They passed on the 100w lights! The housings were so yellowed out by the sun that they were not letting half the lighting output. I eventually changed the housings ($20 for a pair) and left in one 100w in one side and 55w in the other - the difference was immense. I went back to 55w after that on both sides.
Effect is real, do its worth it. In fog the problem is not that you do not put enough light on target, but your own light blinds you, reducing contrast. So few % in 3 meters can lead to much more over longer distances and if you consider contrast (ratio between light that's on obstacle vs light backscattered to you).
I think that to be realistic, you should measure the light coming into the cabin behind the steering wheel because your main concern is what the driver sees and not the light measurement on the road but the light measured from eyes. perspective of the driver is inside the cabin and not on the road. you are not looking from outside your car but from inside the car behind the steering wheel
Overall seems like a good testing method, although light intensity does not always equal visibility. Yellow light might be better for general visibility in fog due to the wavelengths and the way the human eye detects yellow versus white/blue light (as you mentioned). I understand the human eye is most reactive to the green spectrum of light and "night vision" is lessened at higher wavelengths (carotene in the eyes is diminished), which means yellower light could be better for driving at night in bad weather as your eyes would retain more ability for contrast). For urban driving (like in a city with street lights), the brightest whitest light is likely the better option, if aimed at the ground and not directly into other drivers eyes. The angle of the light also is a factor, hence why some vehicles have 'fog lights' in the bumpers low to the ground.
This is not how any of this works. Yellow "cuts" through the fog, being more visible to others, but a yellow light, just like the sodium lights used for street lighting are worse for humans when it comes to how we see things, as we prefer having a more natural/higher CRI light. This helps us distinguish between stuff better, cause the color rendering is better.
In the 80's, I was stationed in Northern California and did a lot of skiing in the Sierra mountains. I had installed a set of Bosch fog lights that were more a gold color, but what I really liked was how detailed I could see the conditions of the road surface. I could even see the white fog line on the road throught a few inches of snow. When I got a new car that had oem fog lights, the detailed was far less and I also experience more strain on my eyes. Now, I have yellow LED fog lights, but I think those old Bosch fog lights were far superior in allowing to see in bad weather.
I've seen those before, but never put too much thought into them. I had some NAPA "Gold" (not really gold colored) big glass ones in a 88 Supra i had, noticed one was dim and tested with how much power was going though with an induction amp multi-meter. One was about 50 watts and the other was down to 32watts, rewired with heavier gauge wire and ended up at around 75 watts each headlight.. that's when i learned that they build in resistance into the circuits to get to 55 watts ;-P They lasted me about 6 years till i sold the car, same with the NAPA wipers they i conditioned and cleaned once a year with PB Blaster (old formula, new stuff is garbage).
Those old lights were designed for racing - as full strength replacements for your main bulbs. If you look at Sebring and other 24 hour races, you will see that many of the cars are running these type of yellow driving lights - much more yellow and brighter than modern "fog lights". And, yes, this was the original design of fog lights - as a second set of halogens at full strength that you could just turn on/switch to instead of the mains. (A/B, not both at once). When you ru both at once, you have to put the yellow pattern underneath the white one as it will be absorbed by the white light. Also, you need to run that setup in high beam mode as most of the low-beam area will be saturated by the yellow light's area. (ie - the high beams need to shine *above* the fogs, not into them), I miss my old Volvo - it also had those Bosch lights in the main grille and an A/B switch on the dash.
Same but mine had yellow lens that could clip on and take off. I tested them and the yellow was clearly better.
Actually it should be Amber. However, have any of you used Thermal Cameras on your vehicles?
Part of it might be CRI. Basically cheap LED's with crappy color rendering and a cold tint are much more common than the more expensive, 95+ CRI LEDs, even still today.
Back, when I was studying electrical engineering, they were teaching us the benefits of the yellow and warmer white light at the road. The main benefit of the yellowish light is that it improves the ability to detect and decriminate the objects and also it is easier to the human eye. For me, it is much easier to detect your contour while you are measuring the yellow light in fog conditions rather than the cold white.
Today, the main trend followed by the manufacturers is brighter and more cold white light, that may be looks "cool" but is not the best to use at the roads.
I bet a big part of it is also due to the bad CRI on the cold white (cheaper) LEDs. Basically they render color in low detail with a bluish tint and cause eye strain. They do have a slight advantage in overall light output lumens compared to high CRI LEDs though.
to me the biggest advantage of yellow fogs is when combined with white light from another fixture, the dual shadow of the two colors it casts on road obstacles and ruts, ect. lets you see details WAY better.
That's my conclusion also. It works really well together.
8:35 With the car on fire it will be more visible to other drivers than ever! Good thinking Pegasus!
In ancient time, the dragon already used this concept.
I wonder if Pegasus will pay for damages with burnt wires and sockets, that should not be allowed to be sold as 55w bulb. At least sell it as what it is so people know. Not a good to max out any electronic circuits if you want it to last some years.
I use the yellow "sun glasses" at night. Really helps with the glare from opposing LED lights by removing the blue spectrum. Also helps with fog and rain. Much cheaper than auxiliary lighting.
Wait, if this is the issue when one could just tint their windows yellow. But, interesting idea ‘coz I’ve been having trouble seeing in the dark now. Sometimes these new cars headlights can be blinding.
That's bullshit you're talking about
I've always had the best results with a very white headlight in combo with yellow foglights to get the best vision in all weather, this is a great channel, really appreciate all the in depth testing you do.
Ești genial, întotdeauna o placere sa vizionezi videoclipurile tale.
Yellow lamps, I directly start to think about French cars from the 70'ths and 80'ths..
Indeed, '90s were the times when people lived simply and practically, no need for fancy useless stuff in their house, car or...life.
P. S. Range from 3000 to 4200K is usually the best colour for night time.
The reason for the yellow light is due to it's longer wavelength, which allows to penetrate fog better.
It didn't help the driver see, it helps drivers see other drivers.
Since 1992, white light can used on french car. I use osram H7 fogbreaker on a focus ST170, osram H4 fogbreaker on my peugeot 309.
What's "ths" ?
Yellow headlights are still allowed in France
On a 2nd gen GS300 headlight design was waaaay ahead of its time. The bulb setup is great for all conditions! The low beams on the outsude, high beams are in the middle, yet they are also the day time running lights in yellow, and stay on when the low beams are turned on. The fog lights are white bulb ( clear lense outside of Japan ) so it actually acts like low beams just at the bottom of the car and they are angled outward. So when the fog lights are turned on ( only functions with low beams ) the day time running yellow lights are actually designed as a beam between upper and low beams which all come to a focus of ONE BEAM for all conditions! GENIUS!!!
I found an aftermarket head lamp for my car that upgraded it to projector and went with a 35W HID 5000K color. Got the distance without binding oncoming traffic and the color isn’t a giveaway that it isn’t stock. My biggest shock was how much better projectors are in fog! They shoot under with much less scatter up in front of you. You really see the difference if someone is in a parallel lane and their standard lamps make it harder for you to see in fog lol!
Yeah retrofit with a good projector is the way to go. Get that sharp cutoff and it shoots so far.
I have installed same in my car, but that is LED. When in snow or rain it is getting reflected a lot.. cant see far due its high reflection. Is it the case for you to?
@hemabairavanvenkatraju5251, you have to understand how LEDs produce colors. LEDs combine red, green, and blue (RGB) light, and these colors refract differently in the presence of moisture. That is why LEDs perform well in ideal weather conditions but poorly in less-than-ideal weather.
I switched to yellow headlights from Hella and I love it. Road signs are easier to see, it's easier to see on dark back roads, it's easier to see in snow, and I feel like it's over all better on my eyes
Have you noticed that when you park the car in the dark, you can also see better in the dark?
I've been running 3000k HID's in many of my cars. I've always tried to check the light pattern and the placement of the bulb to minimize the glare to the oncoming traffic and also tried to keep the height adjustment a bit lower when there is lot of traffic. Often the holders are a bit loose and may have surprisingly large amounts of wiggle room which can lead to dramatic irregularities in the light pattern. In some cases I've done some slight bending, or cutting if I used a bulb with a plastic base.
Nothing has beat them in winter conditions and especially in heavy snowfall. Using high beams is not a problem at all, as the snow doesn't blind you and you can see through it, unlike with anything "normal". Also the road signs are lit up in a nice color that doesn't beat your eyes. The added benefit of running with yellow light is that you're eyesight keeps better adapted to the darkness. There is a big difference when in the dark you jump out of a car that has lights of normal white or anything bluish. With yellow, you can see a lot better instantly when you jump out to the darkness.
I once took a taxi on a dark autumn night that had very nice lights. It was some Volvo model, I think from around 2006-2010. The color of the headlights was a very warm white.
Yeah, I know it's illegal but I think many modern cars with their very "snappy" edge of darkness is often times truly blinding. In recent years my driving has been very limited so I haven't put the HID's on. Once I bought a pair of "3000k" H7 HID bulbs without the coating, but they turned out to be just a normal pair of 4300k's or so. So I placed a yellow filter on the low beam part of the headlight cover. It was actually way nicer than the 3000k bulbs because they didn't have that odd hint of green, especially at the very start when they warm up. So the hint of blue on the filter does screw up the color a bit and it's not a "clear yellow".
I'm glad I once found a good set of "computer controlled" HID ballasts, that have worked very well. Of course you can't probably compare them to a proper OEM quality system but at least they have had a very even light output and are pretty fast to warm the bulb up. Some cheap ballasts (with badly regulated DC output) had catastrophically bad and constant jumping of the light arc.
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I just ordered some random pair of passively cooled yellow led bulbs for my "new" car. A set of LED HB3's in 3000k from a brand called BMTxms. They should have 12 very small LED chips and are rated at 30W per bulb. But seeing the very small cooling fin on the back makes me doubt their actual output. They claim to have some sort of temperature control system... And some reviews do seem to say that they are at least brighter than a halogen. Which I think would be fine. I think I don't need the 3x output that the HID's usually market themselves at.
I also ordered a pair of old school 3000k HID's in HB3. The car has projector low beams (H7) so I guess using HID's in them shouldn't be an issue. Though there is no automatic level control, but I'm pretty actively adjusting my lights anyway. I don't really like the idea of installing extra high beams or led bars on a car, as it's pretty damn pointless to have super bright high beams and some lousy old halogens when you turn the high beams off. And as there are way more blinding LED's on the oncoming traffic today, I feel like having just halogens is in many situations pretty frustrating.
I once tried to drive with the 3000k HID's in the dark with a pair of pretty dark tinted sunglasses. It was a very interesting feeling. Of course there was way less light, but I felt like I could see more "even". It was like I had "brown" lights on my car :D A bit like having a nice pair of "hifi" earplugs, but for your eyes, if that makes ANY sense :D
This channel is the reason I send my friends here to listen and learn.
Thank you Sergiu for your work and tests.
Great video, very informative. I live in a snowy state and run Hella Xtreme Yellow bulbs in the fog lights on my Jeep, visibility is much better in snowy conditions with them vs the white halogens I previously ran.
So basically the white light is brighter but the yellow light is not as bright but way better for bad weather conditions.
i'd say "slightly better", not "way better". I think it is also better for fogless conditions for other drivers, because due to less scattering in the eye, yellow light should have less of a blinding effect.
White light is not brighter. 4300k to 5000k is the optimal daylight light for night driving without causing eye strain. 3000k to 4300k light is optimal for penetrating within foggy and rainy environments.
- Anything above 5000k is just about your liking with how much blue light you want, but it takes adjusting to and is not pleasant for long night drives, but may keep you more alert.
@@TheNuclearBolton well from my experience white light is definitely brighter especially if the wattage is high
@@purplehills56 Yeah, anything without the blue light is good. I don’t know why people opt for 6000k+ lights, but the blue light is nauseating to most drivers and it doesn’t reflect as well as light in the 4300k - 5000k range. Honestly yellow light would be preferred as it’s easier to focus on than blue light, but it’s whatever.
@@TheNuclearBolton the reason they like it is cause the color just looks cool thats why 6k and 8k is more popular I used to have it as well.
I have learnt a lot from your channel Sergiu, and your tests are genuine. You have earned my sub.
we share same thoughts about this channel, plus notification 🔔
How is this channel now at 3 million. Your videos are extremely informative and i get a sense of true objectivity and strict scientific testing. You've earned my sub!
Short wavelength/high color temperature lighting is on of the worst things to happen to driving. The unmitigated brightness and glare blinds other drivers and eliminates any semblance of night vision, which is critical to safely driving in the dark.
In a perfect world, the market will be dominated by high quality 4000k to 5000k LED bulbs, followed by those that emulate OEM halogen warm white LED bulbs.
@@4G12 The world IS dominated by white LED headlights bro. We are no longer in 2016. Even cheap economy cars are starting to come with LED lights as standard. and 4000K to 6000k is the standard.
The rest of the cars on the road are Halogen, with HID being essentially extinct these days.
The right brightness is key. People get stuck on color temp. Some people just don't care about anybody else and buy the brightest ones without any thought. Also, people aim their lights way too high. The worst are overpowered reflectors. The glare alone is blinding.
Warmer the light the better one actually sees.
Cooler the light the more perceived brightness.
Perceived brightness doesn't equal to seeing better.
Its a similar scenerio to beam pattern vs lumens
Ill take a wider beam thats perceived as dimmer over a narrow beam thats perceived as brighter
@@PghMtbRides uhhh the human eye sees blue and green better in the night, than it does yellow, we see yellows better during the day.
Wow, that's a very informative comparison.
Excellent video Sergui and very informative for people who don't understand the workings of car headlights. I've been saying this for years on my forum, but people just didn't understand my point ( or didn't want to! ), some people still see it as the brighter/whiter bulbs they buy, the more they will see at night!
France many years ago used yellow headlights for the exact reason you mention, you still see yellow fog lights over here ( I live in France ), there's also a very good reason why street lighting uses Sodium lights, as they emit a slightly yellowish tint to see better in bad weather conditions.
Also, there's an excellent reason why 'shooting glasses' have yellow lenses ....................... you can see much better through yellow tints ; )
Hopefully now people will wise-up about HID and LED headlights, I've always hated that harsh bright white light coming toward me at night, not only does it hurt my eyes slightly ( causing me to look away ), but I can still see the lights in my eyes once the other car has passed!
TURK
All explaination and the test were spot on..
Also additional explaination is.. with yellow light coverage, it increase contrast of the projected surface, so easier to human eyes to determine obstacle/hazard on the road surface as well as keeping safe driving in correct lane/road surface...
Especially on the snow...
The same explaination of using yellow tint sunglass lens while driving in snow/night fog
Brother your knowledge is exhaustive and comic timing is fantabulous.
Hah, very interesting and well-done video! I’d always assumed that yellow fog lights were about light scattering, but never stopped to think that fog droplets are way too large for Rayleigh scattering. Nicely done!
Don't really care about lights, but the dedication and professional of your video shows. Hope your viewers appreciate the effort it takes to produce such a detailed and quality product.
My only thoughts on the Pegasus bulb's odd shape could be one of 2 things.
1: The glass needed to be kept farther away from the filament due to the higher wattage to avoid cracking
2: Could be operating similar to HIR bulbs where it reflects the IR component of the light back onto the filament
But... the huge power load... you might as well get actual HID replacements. Not a "refit kit" but an actual set of projectors. Otherwise your replacements will just end up blinding others as Halogen lenses with HID bulbs is always a disaster.
Great informational video! I believe that yellow lighting is better in adverse weather due to the contrast that it creates on the surface of obstacles not really on the amount of light it can reach.
This is why old street lamps (in the UK at least) used to have a yellow sodium hue. They didn’t match the light output of white lights and made colour identification more difficult but they increased contrast which made it easier to see other road users. Now most street lights are white LED which increases brightness and colour definition but reduces contrast. LED street lights also reflect more off wet surfaces, meaning they create a lot more light pollution, making stargazing more difficult.
This video is amazing. I can't even process the amount information given by this guy! Hats off sir!
Not gonna lie didn't think I'd get much from this video. I'm so glad you proved me wrong. Learned allot
Keep up the good work!! Perhaps the most excellent tests out there!
I would really like to see if the motorcycle halogen products from Phillips, Osram and the other competitors are actually more reliable than the "regular" versions
Yes they are
man... amazing experiment! with consistent results, thank you for sharing this information
7:24 Yellow light has a shorter *LONGER* wavelength than blue light
Lumina galbenă are o olungime de undă mai mică *MARE* decât lumina albastră.
_________
An excellent, very thorough video! Much appreciated!
Un video excelent, foarte minuțios! Îmi place foarte mult!
Ti-am spus ca esti foarte tare! Keep up the good work! BIG THUMBS UP FOR YOU AND YOUR CHANNEL!
Similar to how the atmosphere scatters the blue light from incoming sunlight, which leaves the amber tone in direct light. These bulbs should operate in a similar way. With yellow amber light penetrating fog much easier than blue light.
@7:24 Isn't it Yellow light wavelength is longer than the blue one ??
I find I can see better with a slightly yellow light over the blue/white lights at anytime
Our eyes are used to see in yellow light... Tht might be a reason as well
It will be interesting to compare them on wet road as well. My Renault Capture with LED headlights is terrible during nights when the road is wet. It is almost like you don't have headlights on.
Yeah
.same as my car. During good weather at night, my headlight is shining like a champion. When it raining or after rain, my headlights shine like a dick.
Sergiu, You are bloody awesome! I love your accent, my European friend!
I'm scratching my head. Watching the quality of this video, not only in visuals but explanation factor merits a presenter has easily reached the 1 million sub mark. I look down and he ONLY has 28k+ subs!?!?!?!? What is wrong with this picture???? Clearly Sergiu, you deserve millions of Subs!!!
Great to see continuous improvement on your channel. Also like how your methods are very well thought of. Hope to see more content from you in. The future. 👌
Superb videos Sergiu, superb channel! Accurate, scientific, facts-based and very thorough in the tests.
Thank you for creating and sharing this content. :)
Very detailed information 👍
Thank you for very clear and comprehensive tests.
Amazing video. Greetings from Argentina!
Thank you for recognizing the effect of the auto camera settings and using manual control.
Thank you kindly. Interesting, informative, I appreciate your effort and look forward to seeing your next test.
Placing the lamps close to the ground is also a good idea;)
Daniel Stern has a good site explaining the yellow/amber lamp.
Nice hardworking, thanks brother from India
You speak excellent English. Thank you for making this excellent video for our instruction. You are a good person.
Awesome video as always, cheers from Italy!
nagyon jó munka Gábor! Biztosan mérnök vagy, de így is remek türelmed van. Bár csak tudnám a kocsjaim szerelgetni ilyen barátokkal akik ekkora tudással bírnak
There is a reason why rally drivers have been using yellow lights in fog, snow and rain for years. You really get a good aspect as to why they use them when the video feed is switched to the drivers point of view inside the car. Because of that view point and what I got to see, I switched to yellow colored lights not long after I got my drivers license and had my own vehicle. I haven't used any other type of bulb for my fog lights ever since.
Great video. The best I have seen (24 videos before yours)
wonderful testing... ur great EFFORT IS INTERESTING... I feel ur effort when i saw ur vlog... that is why i watch until u finish, its hard to do that.... thanks to u... recommended for all, this is for future refference...
Thank you for the comparison, you put a lot of effort into this, and it's appreciated! We get lots of fog, rain and snow here so I'm going with some Alla Lighting 5200lm AL-R, 3000K Amber Yellow, hope they last.
Sergiu, very informative video. Thank You!
This is one smart dude, great content 👍
I have seen a lot of melted reflectors from "55W" bulbs.
Hello, that's a good test!
I used Osram fog breaker bulbs for foggy confition, but they were too yellow to have a good output.
The best products i found was the Narva Contrast + (100W), good in all condition, and really perfect in foggy ones.
Now, with "new generation cars", i use Xenon 3000K in fog projectors and 4500K in low beam.
(I'm leaving close yto a river, and i have a lot of fog)
Yellow led light(especially in fog) is so much better and is so much more visible than white light. The new LED white lights tend to be blinding and are safety hazards for oncoming drivers. Yellow LEDs are less intense to the eyes, which are preferred. So I'm not sure why some people prefer aesthetics over safety. I mean I guess they prefer to be beautiful and die. But what's the point of trying to be beautiful if they can't show the beauty to anyone when life's cut short? 😂
Warm light is always better. Cold light in foggy weather makes "blue wall" which shortens the light distance.
Great work bro...
Fan from India 🇮🇳
Great job. Super video. Thanks!
Fantastic video, very comprehensive… thanks Please keep it up!!!
Interesting channel! You are like project farm, but a little more tech oriented. I dig it.
I drove with PIAA Plasma Ion bulbs for a few years and preferred them over anything else, so much easier on the eyes and way better performance in rain/fog with the shorter wave length at 2500k.
I'm using that changing color LED. Thanks for the test. :)
Good video, Sergiu. Thanks for your experiment sharing 👍🏻
Very good work...lot of research work is done
Felicitări dragul mami ! Sunt mândră de tine !Te iubesc mult !
All your tests are accurate and great.
Keep up the great work. I love your channel.
Brother.. hats off to your efforts.
Good job my friend, realy like your videos
Thank you for the time and thought you put into this.
Very interesting and appreciative.
I really like your endurance testing rigs. Homemade! 👌🏻
On my Jeep JK that I owned, i switched to LED headlamps and noticed straight away that they were far brighter than the factory Hella halogen's it replaced...
HOWEVER, even in perfect conditions everything blended in especially wildlife and I wouldn't see a kangaroo until I was right on top of him where as the Halogens it was far easier to spot things further away.
Went back to the OEM Halogens within a few weeks.
Very good tests, best i seen.
Nice, just found this and it is very informative. Subscribed and liked straight away, well done.
Bine facut si informativ ! Mia placut si am invatat ceva nou despre un subiect de care eram interesat, numai bine !
I recently put 6000K LED lights on my car. I love the look and the beam Is exactly the same as with the stock lights. I am planning on replacing the Fog Lights with Yellow LED light bulbs. Should be perfectly fine during the rain. On my second car I had LED bulbs for many years and was able to see the road better then drivers with stock headlights, they would swerve because they couldn't see the lane lines but I was able to see with my LEDs.
They swerved because your LED lights blinded everyone.
I worked with some truck drivers in Alaska back in the 90's, they tried about every color light available for driving in snow storms, they all said that Blue light actually penetrates inclement weather the best, but forward shinning blue lights are illegal except for emergency vehicles, but they still used them in remote areas.
Really impressed by your testing. I believe it has more to do with how the light is aimed or projected out not to reflect back at you than anything. Try driving with high beams in the fog vs driving with only the low beams. Quite a difference.
that has an effect but color plays just as much roll... ruclips.net/video/XQheqka2veE/видео.html
@@gatorage850 I watched the video and saw the difference. One thing I hate with the high power led lights is the backwash from highway sign. Sometimes just blinding.
Interesting 😀 Nice new graphics as well 👍
Cold White Leds for standards combined with Blueish HID fog lights.. the combo helped me alot of times
Makes sense the cooler the light the more it penetrates at distance. the last thing you want in fig is to turn it into a huge light box by intensely illuminating it. thus a light that has less penetration is more likely to only light up what you can actually see just in front of you rather than turning the wall of fog into a huge blinding light by penetrating deep into it.
Great study..Keep making such informative videos. Thanks for your efforts.
Awesome Video, Very Informative!
Nice work bro. Well done
Camera in manual settings means this guy is doing it right 👌
I had tested some turn lights with an luxometer and all give me 1500lux no matter what distance (always testing it near) or technology of bulb i am testing. I think luxometer don read yellowed light as good as white light source. Could you make a test of this?
7:25 "yellow has a shorter wavelength than blue light" - this is backwards. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than yellow light and is easier to Raleigh scatter. The thought however is the longer wavelength of yellow light can reduce glare in fog and dust bc of the longer wavelength being harder to scatter (Raleigh). But when particles become larger than just the air, such as fog or dust, light scattering will still occur. This is bc even the longer wavelengths will now interact with the bigger particles.
In Korea, my Matiz had such yellowed lenses that I put in 100w bulbs - because of where I worked, there was very little municipal lighting and those 100w bulbs worked very well in lighting up the rural mountain roads. When I moved into the city, I forgot to change them back to 55w and I got my yearly inspection in the mail.
They passed on the 100w lights! The housings were so yellowed out by the sun that they were not letting half the lighting output. I eventually changed the housings ($20 for a pair) and left in one 100w in one side and 55w in the other - the difference was immense. I went back to 55w after that on both sides.
Great content, clear english!! Thank you.
Effect is real, do its worth it. In fog the problem is not that you do not put enough light on target, but your own light blinds you, reducing contrast. So few % in 3 meters can lead to much more over longer distances and if you consider contrast (ratio between light that's on obstacle vs light backscattered to you).
I think that to be realistic, you should measure the light coming into the cabin behind the steering wheel because your main concern is what the driver sees and not the light measurement on the road but the light measured from eyes. perspective of the driver is inside the cabin and not on the road. you are not looking from outside your car but from inside the car behind the steering wheel
Overall seems like a good testing method, although light intensity does not always equal visibility. Yellow light might be better for general visibility in fog due to the wavelengths and the way the human eye detects yellow versus white/blue light (as you mentioned). I understand the human eye is most reactive to the green spectrum of light and "night vision" is lessened at higher wavelengths (carotene in the eyes is diminished), which means yellower light could be better for driving at night in bad weather as your eyes would retain more ability for contrast). For urban driving (like in a city with street lights), the brightest whitest light is likely the better option, if aimed at the ground and not directly into other drivers eyes. The angle of the light also is a factor, hence why some vehicles have 'fog lights' in the bumpers low to the ground.
This is not how any of this works. Yellow "cuts" through the fog, being more visible to others, but a yellow light, just like the sodium lights used for street lighting are worse for humans when it comes to how we see things, as we prefer having a more natural/higher CRI light. This helps us distinguish between stuff better, cause the color rendering is better.
Why the osram fog breaker or hella yellow lights not considered??
That is a really interesting video, thanks for taking the trouble.
Bravo bravo bravo,spor in tot ce faci.