"remember, the best time to use very bright lights is when you're in a lifted truck in the city/suburbs where there are a ton of incoming traffic. This way, the light can hit multiple cars and blind people causing them to lose their sight and/or crash." - car manufacturers.
the worst is those "squatted" trucks, the ones who lower the rear end while leaving the front jacked ? you blow right past the limitations of adjustment when you do this, so no matter what, your blinding oncoming traffic along with low flying aircraft... these people are the epitome of narcissistic morons in my opinion.
@@H982_FKL What? You don't know what you are talking about. They very rarely if ever broke. They would burn out but not break. I think you are probably younger and just think because its glass they break easily and that is not the case at all. When I grew up, every car had sealed glass headlights. It was not until the 90s that the Halogen bulbs took over. They did take over fast because of styling because the glass sealed lights basically came in two shapes, round and rectangle. With Halogen, you could get very creative with the shape and contour of the plastic headlight assembly.
The real problem with LED is the high blue light content. This blue light is not much of a problem in normal conditions...It's a huge problem in wet conditions. The blue light scatters easily off water particles or even dirt/salt on the windshield. This creates a glare. GLARE IS REAL but very difficult to measure. There are highway driving videos that show LED streetlighting and HPS side by side done in the rain. You'll see under HPS, the orange light cuts right thru the rain and wet surface to provide decent visibility...The Blue LED light scatters, and everything appears very dark because too much stray light is entering the eye. The LED lighting gives a false confidence of visibility when glare produces significant gaps in visibility. Additionally, old people are far more affected by blue light glare than young people. The cornea yellows with age and blue light scatters passing thru the yellow lens, making everything in the field of view appear darker as a result. That's why old people HATE cars that use white headlights and young people don't really understand why. The young people generally think those old people just don't like the new white color or are exaggerating the glare. I'm a lighting engineer...I could go into the details of Rayleigh scattering, veiling luminance, and disability glare from cold white light - the effects on visibility especially for the elderly, and especially during inclement conditions (rain, fog or snow)...But the bottom line is that all street lighting and headlights should be warm white 3000K CCT max, though I'd push for warmer 2700K.
Not just old people, 19 here with slight astigmatism,.. newer leds make it almost impossible to see, no not retrofits on older cars, im talking about 2023 -2024 vehicles,.. hate them leds...
Hey Dan, I myself am really into lighting and have plans to become a lighting engineer. I'm wondering what kind of careers there are in this particular field? Do you work for DOTs as a lighting install planner or do you work more closely with the fixtures / diode assemblies? I'm 16, and thinking of going into either materials or lighting engineering. Thanks, Max.
Sure hope those phosphor filters beforehand don't degrade over time and make that a reality. Also wondering with it being a laser is it scanning the beam out over time or is it spread by some kind of lens
@@luketorpedo It does say and show in the video that it's being spread by a lens. Not sure why they're using a LASER to start with, maybe it produces more uniform light to help lessen light scatter?
@@argh1989 Miniscule power use even less than leds - so they do what's most desired, bright as possible light. Watch batterys power laser pointers remember. So I suppose car battery will in theory give U unlimited laser power, unlike HIDs which are very very bright but use a lot of energy.
@@argh1989 A laser can produce the smallest point source of any light source. The smaller the source, the easier it is to focus and change the shape of the light with optics. Laser lights can achieve better focus than even short-arc lamps. In contrast, LEDs are fairly large sources, and quite difficult to focus, especially to create low beam patterns. In addition to the phosphor, there will also be a filter that blocks the wavelength of the laser, so there's no chance of any coherent light shining through. As far as the final color, this just depends on the phosphor, so you could have 3500K or 4000K laser lamps.
You don't have a laser beams going out, the beam is to create the reaction with phosphor. It's to creates more light with less energy. The laser beam do not leave the head light.
@@eptdy yes, they were around for decades but at least the script was written by a human being. But also voice overs in the very recent past were just created with very simple voice syntheseis tools and now because of a huge leap in AI technology it's possible to create a voice model very precisely imitating a voice of any given person.
I completely agree, and that’s why I like my halogen headlights although I have had to replace one of my assemblies cuz the vertical adjuster was messed up. Standard price for the assembly was like $700 but I managed to find a reman unit for about $400.
I had to replace a headlight on my 2010 CL 550 after a small accident and just the one headlamp was almost $7k. To be fair even in 2010 Mercedes headlights were very complex. They were adaptive bi-xenon headlights that also projected infrared light for the Nightview night vision camera. Still insanely expensive though.
My Subaru Outback's headlight was replaced when someone merged into me one time. Was AUD$3000 for the headlight alone (we have the LED Matrix version in Australia).
this was also an issue with HID's as people would get kits to run them in the older reflective halogen housings, basically LEDs and HIDs should only be run in projector housings that shape the beam, although i do have LEDs on my van which used sealed beams, but the LED housings do have cutoffs so they dont blind drivers more than normal (sadly high profile vehicles will always blind cars just do to their height) but i dont really drive that van at night so its less of an issue. although there are supposed to be LEDs with the proper filament pattern that can work in reflector housings, i still wouldnt recommend them, My biggest complaint is i do a lot of bad weather driving so the whiter LED's/HID's cause a bit to much back scatter from rain/snow, sorta wish more of the newer lights came in the lower kelvin color temps
I bought 7 inch round LED headlamps for my old Prado from Aliexpress and it's so much better driving with them, especially when it gets foggy. No regrets.
@@jjjacer As I understand it, you can get a way with HID bulbs in standard halogen housings because the 'bulb' emits light similarly to the halogen bulb. But LEDs do not emit light with the same 360 degree pattern as HID or halogen bulbs and so you end up less effective light patterns.
@Mobitz2.3-4 Have you tried Philips, Osram or Bevinsee? These are really good! I recently replaced my H4 halogen to Bevinsee V45 H4 and it works great: sharp cut off line, no flickering, no glare, no blinding traffic, and still awesome light in the night. Philips and Osram even have some types that are getting official road-legal clearance in some countries.
While the tech is impressive, what I miss about 90s headlights is that I never had white and blue spots seared into my eyeballs by oncoming traffic because we were stationary at a red light. Bonus round, my neighbor across the street likes to leave his car on in his declined driveway for up to an hour. Just completely oblivious to his white LED headlights beaming into 3 houses.
Conversion kits exist for both Halogen and Xenon lights. I've hada car with both halogen and xenon light bulbs which i upgraded both to LED and here's what ive noticed. The number one thing that people complain about is how LED blind other drivers. I found that to be the case when installing them on my halogen lights as the mirrors do scatter the light more than lenses in xenon lights. My lights were a bit dirty, and not just dirt but the plastic being faded and scattering the light even more. After cleaning the headlights, ive noticed another thing on the halogen mirror lights: the direction they were facing. Most people don't even bother to do this, but alignment of headlights is crucial for both you having good visibility and not blinding others. Mine were extremely high up, basically hitting most people's windshields + i didn't have the best visibility either. After fixing the two major factors. My halogen mirror lights had not only a distinct cut off line, but were also not blinding others. In xenons lens lights it's pretty much the same thing especially with headlight alignment except the cut off line is way more distinct as lens lights don't scatter light as much
I know, it's ridiculous. An LED OEM tail light is hundreds of dollars Vs a dollar or two to replace a blub in the old days. Another reason I will keep and drive my 2005 Explorer as long as I can keep it running. I have aftermarket LED lamps that cost less then $50 for all of them and I can always go back to $2 blubs till they stop making them.
Recently headlights have gotten much brighter. That's great out in the wilderness. And pretty bad in the city. People drive around my city without their lights on and don't notice. That's unsafe too. But very bright headlights make it hard for everyone to see. We need a city lights setting that is more for the purpose of helping people see the cars with the headlights on, but don't have to illuminate everything in front of them.
That is compounded by that addition of day time running lights that lack proper directionality and sometimes approach the intensity of some headlights. Daytime running lights should be off when headlights are on unless they are either directed down and/or are significantly less bright.
It's not about brightness but control, low beams are design to throw light below drivers eyes. They need to be properly adjusted and you need to use bulbes design for them. Putting LED in an halogen headlight will cause the light to go all over the place and blind other road users.
real problem where i currently live...people wither drive with their brights on constantly, or are unaware of how bright their new car lights are compared to older vehicles they've owned...very annoying when people drive around thinking, "i need to see..."while" blinding everyone else..."...
Another advantage of sealed beam was that they were standardized. You could go into a Walmart and buy an inexpensive standard size seam beam light which would fit in any car.
@@TheLucanicLord there may be reasons to replace the headlight itself and not just the bulb, for example my 1993 disco that was rotting in a field had still working light bulbs but the headlights had rust on the reflective surface. (I prefer the replaceable light bulb design just trying to play devil's advocate)
with halogen it's pretty similar, the housing may vary from car to car, but the bulbs have standardized system like H4 or H7. That way we can even carry some spares in the car without sacrificing much space and when one burns out, it could be changed out on the side of the road
0:02 The muddy water going up the wheel well and through the head and fog lights is something I've never though of as a thing that could happen, but it makes sense I guess. The body of the car is mostly there to look pretty and direct airflow... maybe structural in some areas, but there's no reason to have that part water tight now that I think of it.
Yeah, 11:55 claiming that LED's don't emit heat is completely false. Heat is big concern for the design and usually the main cause for early failure. 16:10 Laser-light is also not a future solution, it was widely available across BMW models including 3-series and not just limited to prototypes or exotics (16:45) but has now been superseded by adaptive matrix LEDs. Also at 8:21, the kelvin value is referred to as intensity of light, which is again completely false.
The problem isn't the headlights per se, it is how good quality hid and led are only available on expensive cars. There is also this misconception that 6500k being the "daylight" color ia the best option for visibility. Based on trial and error I find the 4000k range to offer the best balance between visibility and comfort to the eyes, the 6500k scatters too much in rain and wet surfaces simply absorb it.
Totally agree. I tried putting 6000k LED bulbs in my car, and it felt outright dangerous to drive at night in the rain. Switched to 4200k bulbs and some 2700k fog lights and it is a HUGE difference. Bigger number isn't always better...
4000K to 4500K is the best since it's *WARM WHITE* Anything beyond that is just being obnoxious. 2500K is also good but mainly for fog lamps or aux lamps/lights that you need when going off road or if you plan adding more lights to make you more visible when it rains, snows or when it gets foggy.
Finding any 6000+ kelvin clour temp LED that can accurately render colour isn't going to happen. 4500k to 5000k has the best CRI and would therefore make better headlight bulbs for city driving especially. They choose 6500k as it projects further due to there being less yellow coating on the chip.
True I’ll talk about most Indian manufacturers motorcycles the entry to mid range motorcycles use terrible 6500 k bluish purple led that speed to scatter disperse a lot even in the dry and are an eye sore to oncoming traffic or if in your rear view mirrors I’d rather have a great halogen than a decent led or hid on my bike
Headlights back in the olden days: “Good evening, friends; please allow us to comfortably brighten your late-night adventures!” Headlights these days: *_”I HAVE QUADRUPLE THE POWER OF THE FUCKEN SUN.”_*
@@chrislee6650 Those _are_ their low beams. And they're not mis-aimed or mis-installed aftermarket parts, oh no. OEMs intentionally manufacture LED arrays, which are installed at the factory, with the express purpose of vomiting out as many candela as possible even on the "low" setting. Blinding oncoming traffic is a feature, not a bug.
Headlights that follow the turning of the steering wheel were available on 1967 onwards Citroen DS models, with up to 80 degrees of arc. I believe they were cable operated.
The problem with that, is that it is another thing to fail and on an older vehicle, most will not be repaired if there is no safety inspection to catch the fault, so they become perpetually mis-aimed.
@@cavalierliberty6838 the big three being (as is usually told) afraid of the tucker is also the reason why the US market DS didnt have the swiveling headlights, as US regulations require that thry were fixed
Cable operated are the best. The cyclecars had cable and pulling operated steering. Older airplanes used it for their rudders. Cheap, works well, hardly ever wears out, but if it ever does it's cheap and easy and quick to replace. How things should be built. How they were.
I am old ish😊 , I’ve driven with all of those lights except for the old old chemical gas ones in the early 1900’s. Good lights are important , but unfortunately they are often misused in the wrong application, and also sadly , they are often used by uncaring ignorant drivers . I might add , as someone that worked in car repair industry , and also drove trucks for a living for years , headlights in many countries are probably one of the most poorly policed safety items on a motor vehicle , that goes for general specifications and also design, like for example uniform headlight heights , if you have been in normal sedan sitting at the traffic lights and had higher SUV or four wheel drive sit behind you with the much higher headlights shooting through your back window lighting up the inside of your car like a bright sunny day , you know what I mean. Poorly adjusted headlights, incorrect globes and lights fitted to unsuitable headlights with the wrong reflector shape . Bright lights are fine if they are adjusted and set up correctly. I’d say if you drive highway there is a happy medium to the brightness of lights , even if you are alone on the highway and driving for hours at night , having lights that are so powerful when they hit the shiny metal back of a metal road sign and reflect back at you can really make your eyes sore. A good spread of light that is fairly white but not so white it hurts to look at is good . And low beam lights that are still nice and bright , but adjusted away from oncoming drivers and below their windscreen level . Some cars have height adjustable lights from a dial in the cabin which Is pretty cool , other have dampened height self adjusting mechanisms. Then there are the old cars that are just set at the factory, they have a device they stick in front of the headlights which shows where the main part of the beam is and adjust it to the centre line while on high beams . Of course when you put something heavy in the boot/trunk , the back of the car goes down pointing the old style headlights up a bit , you get that in the pick ups too. I remember as a young bloke driving up the country at night on a very windy mountain road I was going around a bend at a fair rate of speed , there was a very big drop down into the valley on my side of the road , and some asshole came around the bend with headlights and two powerful sets of driving lights on full beam , I was absolutely blinded for about 4 or 5 seconds , I had pretty good nerves back then , I held the steering wheel in same position and managed to negotiate the bend , the asshole just continued on with out dipping his lights . Humans can be ass holes sometimes . I must confess , I probably like leds the best because they light up instantly, they don’t need a few seconds to warm up. Although my current lights in my car are HID with the correct reflector on low beam and the original old halogen globes for the seperate high beam lights , which I have to say are just adequate , however they are very comfortable for driving for hours at night . Here is another little bit of trivia , blue is the hardest color of the light spectrum to see and look at , if you look at the dash lights of many modern cars they are a pretty blue , and people always like the pretty blue and no doubt that is why most car makers use it , but the fact is , blue is actually sub optimal, the best color for long distance night driving that is easier on the eyes is actually red. As an old truck driver at one stage I did a fatigue management course , and this one of the topics mentioned for long distance driving. And having driven many many big rigs over the years , I can confirm red hurts the eyes less.
I believe so too, red is better than blue. Also really? Waiting 2 seconds for xenon's is that bad? LEDs have many more advantages but you mentioning only this is funny for me.
@@drayke8886 you misunderstood. He was talking about the colour of lights inside the car at night. As another commenter pointed out, red is used inside submarines. It’s the colour that is easiest to adjust to no light from. It’s therefore the colour that has the least difference to darkness in front of the car. It’s least stressful.
@@isaackikkert6960 combining three LEDs (surprisingly red, green and blue) onto a common socket and then balance them to seem white. However, you only get three wave-lengths, meaning colour reproduction under such light will be very off as all other wave-lengths present in white light is missing.
I have been driving for 50+ years and owned cars of late 50s vintage to 2023. The absolute BEST headlamps I ever experienced were round, single lens, non-sealed, dual beam, with euro-sourced 50W/100W halogen bulbs. The lens crystal pattern was so well designed that the low beam could be aimed so as to cut off just below the rear window glass of a car approx 4-5 car lengths in front and the high beam pattern allowed aiming down the road with very high precision.
It does have an inert gas in the bulb, with a amall amount of iodine or bromine (the halogen group). This gas combination causes vaporized tungsten from the filament to redeposit on the filament, and not the inside of the bulb. Higher power levels and thus brighter light output can be had compared to regular incandescent bulbs.
@paulqueripel3493 is correct. Also, the names of the two halogen elements in halogen lamps are bromine and iodine, _not_ bromide and iodide. The explanation of how LEDs work is terrible, as well. Obviously the whole thing is generated by AI, including the wonky narrator.
The main problem with LED headlights is that are too bright on some cars and can blind you. For example, if you driving a sedan and there is a big truck behind you, it's headlights will shine in your car. Also, if the LED light malfuctions, you cannot just replace the bulb as it is not a regular bulb like halgeon are. Instead, you have to replace the entire headlight assembly. This is true on the 2014 and newer Toyota Corolla.
There are countless H4 and H7 replacement lights for halogen to LED. Most are just as easy to replace as the original halogen. So you can't blame that on LED, blame it on the car designers.
@@knightwolf200612 yep. The blame is definetly on the designers. If you are blinded at night by oncoming factory LED headlight, then there is a 90% chance that car is a Suzuki Vitara. Their LED headlight is the worst. They blind you out of factory.
True. Every electronic part with current flowing through it puts off heat. Even wires. (For nerds: I know, not in very cold situations that are not naturally occurring here on Earth.)
I haven't hit that section yet, but if they mean 'Not enough to heat the headlight cover and get the ice to melt off', THAT could be true. The LED lights don't HAVE to put out tons of heat, though. Under-volt them slightly (for ones that don't have on-board power drivers, anyway) and they lose a little light but drop a LOT of heat output. They don't put a lot of heat into the headlight assembly, though, at least not when compared to incandescent bulbs! And for the one reply, actually wires DO put out heat, it just is normally not enough to need to care about IN COMMON USE. Try an experiment...but CAREFULLY, because I already know this answer. Use a normal headlight bulb, and feed it through 5-10' of 14 gauge copper wire. Wad/fold/roll that copper wire up and put it between two dish cloths. Let it run for a few minutes, but keep an eye on it because if your wire is sneakily-cheap (copper-clad aluminum or the like) it may heat up a LOT. Even pure copper will warm that up, though, if your headlight bulb takes up a few amps of power. In normal open air it may not get hot enough to be an ISSUE, but it still gets hot even for 12v at 5-7A, even in 14 Gauge braided copper wire. Wires get hot...humans usually just have 'crappy sensors' available with which to notice that. If you don't insulate the wire, it usually just soaks the heat out into the ambient air and we don't notice anything, but they DO get hot unless you're wildly-oversizing the wires. Normal wires expect that you will be allowing them some variety of heat sinking into the air/the car's frame/whatever.
I own three flashlights, at least two of which if not all three have CREE LEDs. I don't know what CREE stands for. But these lights get hot. you can have super powerful LEDs that get hot, but you can also have LED driver circuits that get hot--example would be the cheapie household LED screw-in bulbs you get at the store that can replace a regular 40 watt. The light emitting dome will not be very hot--can run for days and you can grab it. But the opaque base gets very, very warm. Almost too hot to touch, possibly uncomfortable.
I think some people are much more sensitive to the dazzling glare emitted from modern headlights than others....I believe the UK is currently conducting an enquiry into them, due to an online petition. I've seen several youtube optometrists saying that the most commonly asked question from patients is: 'Is there any way of reducing the glare from modern headlights?' Personally I also find the very 'cold' light effect creates an unpleasant nightime driving atmosphere.
I am guessing because cold white light is better for visibility, just like how they replace the older warm white LP and HP Sodium Vapor street lights with cold white LEDs.
I use a 2700 kelvin led light for night hiking for this very reason… and I can run it dim so I can enjoy the stars as well Newer LED lights should allow for color temp adjustment and brightness on vehicles I dislike the LEDs on current vehicles because they’re too blue and cause fatigue and glare… Older HIDs allowed for options - you can upgrade the projector for a more focused beam pattern onto the road and you can choose 4300 kelvin from osram or phillips..
@@rps215 The white LEDs were chosen simply because they were energy efficient and you know, because of the whole "save the planet" bullshhttt. Lots of modern street lights that are LED actually use warm white LEDs now or at least ones that lie between 4000K to 4500K or even 5000K since people and manufacturers have found that super bright white is bad for everyone's eyes.
@@rps215 cold (6500k) colour isn't better per se. Those LEDs project further as there is less colour coating on the chip, but for colour rendition (therefore better subject identification and therefore better shadow really so better depth perception) 4500k is far better. In all hosety 4500 or 5000k would be better for drivers and other road users. But as projectikn is slightly less it doesn't market as well and it doesn't give that fresh look that makes the car look newer or higher spec than a halogen version... so we get the crappy 6500k versions.
On a (probably) related note, the low-beam lens is sometimes ineffective when the road is angled such that you are at a lower elevation than oncoming traffic.
I'm getting to the point where I contemplate fitting LED spotlights so I can blind the drivers of the oncoming cars that have their LED's on high, or adjusted poorly, and blind me. And don't get me started on auto shops selling non-ADR compliant lamps meant for off-road use.....
All my lights have been ajusted properly but my truck still sits higher then cars so when im driving in a city I blind the out of stater who moved here. One person did what you though of and flashed the wrong person and the person they blinded flipped on ALL of their off-roading lights at once, dude panicked well blinded and crashed his car. The dude who did what you are thinking was found completely at fault and charged with reckless endangerment because they were going out of their way to blind another driver who had all their lights properly ajusted to manufacter and state requirements. Before you say something about highbeams his truck doesn't even have high beams (he pulled them out bc he didnt like the way his truck looked with them) and the off roading lights can be seen from blocks away, as well as he had a dashcam)
My dad had a friend years ago that mounted and rigged up a spotlight in the back of his small truck... and when I say spotlight, I mean an old military air raid spotlight, said it was the most satisfying thing ever to see their headlights swerve and go off the road when they'd run up behind him with their ultra bright headlights in his mirrors. Did they get hurt? Probably, did he care? Why should he? They felt it was fine to blind him, so they got a taste of their own medicine. Moral of the story I guess here is, don't be an inconsiderate prick, cause there's always a bigger prick that is considering you. Blessings on your project, I hope you blind many inconsiderate asshats.
@@David-jt9ntNo one needs LED headlights. They are worthless during the day when they are on DRL. On Chrysler vehicles, DRL mode is highbeam. No cop gave someone a ticket for flashing their brights. You are just making shit up to post a comment.
@@David-jt9ntSounds like he should have kept driving. No sympathy for inconsiderate pricks with overly bright headlights and all their excuses. Turn them down or change them out mister "I have a truck that sits high" who asked? Seems likely there's plenty of people with trucks of your height that aren't blinding people, so maybe the problem is you, not the world around you.
My car has bi-xenons as described in this video. Same xenon bulb with a shutter to control hi/lo beams. On another note, I find that SO MANY DRIVERS these days just drive in traffic with their brights on. I'm not talking about low beams that seem like brights in any context, I'm talking about where you can tell--the second set of headlights is on along with or instead of the first. And I'll signal to them by flicking my brights to tell them, as I learned to be the standard way to do it, that their brights are on and they should turn them off. RARE is the driver that actually does it. The overwhelming majority just ignores me and keeps on keepin on with their brights on.
@ 13:11 - Throwing LED's into a halogen housing WILL work depending on the design & manufacturer. The real problem is replacing the signal indicators with LED's. Ideally its best to replace the flasher relay with one that's LED compatible.
Maybe because this is a RUclips channel made by Americans, who are unaware of this French car. Let's not forget that at the time the Citroen DS was marketed, the European and American markets were largely closed to the import of foreign cars.
The DS not only had swivelling headlights but had high level lights at the rear (although just the indicators). It also had a single spoke steering wheel and hydropneumatic suspension. Way ahead of it's time. Then there was the SM with a Maserati engine (and the swivelling lights too). And lets not forget the XM which was essentially double glazed at the back.
My idiot elder brother drove a Citroën with drive lights that moved with the steering. He chose to NEVER use low beam, instead switching between high beam and the 'drive lights' only.
Worse: he shows a DS of the second model. I too was waiting for the third 'nose' (year 1968). The lamp lighting the inside of the curve could swing 80 degrees! A very dear miss!
Whatever about headlights, one thing that I find with quite a number of vehicles produced in recent years is that the rear indicator lights are very small on them. I was recently behind a Tesla and there was a large light cluster on the rear of the car. However, when he indicated to turn the indicator light was about the size of a small matchbox - it would be easy to miss, especially in sunny weather. I would have just assumed that for safety reasons rear indicators would be required to be large purely as a matter of safety
What annoys me is cars like the Chevy Bolt and Mini Clubman that have big fake red reflectors where you'd expect the brake lights to be and the real brake lights are down low in the bumper behind the retroreflectors.
Two more things: 1. All indicator lights should be amber. 2. Indicator lights should just blink - all the way on, all the way off, repeat. None of this nonsense where they light up in sections from inboard to out.
Because you stare at your phone instead of sleeping when you'd probably have fallen asleep if you put it away hours ago. Really that's the only answer.
I was thinking the same thing. Only time those words belong in the same sentence is if we're talking about a compound (think Teflon), which in not the case in the video. Probably meant to say that the bulbs contain a mixture of inert gas with a small amount of a halogen.
There should be legislation to get rid of these painful blue headlights. They need to taken out of production, and cars with such existing headlights should be mandated to be retro-fitted with proper headlights. Though I am in my 70's I find that even young people complain, many claiming they will no longer drive at night. I believe that millions of people find driving at night almost unbearable. It is not merely a case of some drivers not using their low-beams. Low beams will shine into the eyes of oncomers when cresting even the slightest hill. I find myself blinking at blue headlights that were already on low beam, even on flat ground. . I am happy to hear about "matrix" type lights. I have often thought that a cluster of very narrow light-beams that can be selectively turned off is the solution, though quite expensive, and could take many years to produce enough variations to retrofit the millions of annoying blue lights that already exist. Such a "lazer" cluster should contain way more than the dozen or so individual lights, perhaps about 100. This way these large [usually yellow] traffic signs with their much too retro- reflective lettering won't wash out the visibility of everything else around them. I believe it is time for national legislation to address the safety concerns these new blue lights are causing. Even if it causes their manufacturers considerable monetary pain, they should never have been produced in the first place. Time for a forum on Facebook, perhaps ?
Hate the way the entire history was covered, largely irrelevant to anyone what lights were like over 50 years ago as those aren't an option today. Waste of time, and the video was not titled "the history of automotive headlamps" which would have kept me from wasting the time.
I think HIDs are better than LEDs and the other newer ones. With my Lincoln MKZ I'm glad I went with standard adaptive HIDs instead of the LED option. If an LED fails you can't simply replace the individual bad diode, the whole headlight assembly needs replacing (up to $1,000+ for an MKZ). It's a lot cheaper to replace a $150 HID bulb. Plus LEDs are usually more blinding to other drivers than HID. The IIHS has studied this for years and rates so many cars with LED lights poor for excessive glare
17:34 My 14 fusion had HID lamps, I replaced them with LED lights and am very happy with them. And the blind don't cost $150. I replaced them and the blind were only$55.00
The one innovation that all truck makers need to implement would be auto adjusting lights. So when you attach a trailer, it measures the amount of squat and adjusts the headlights down accordingly, so as not to be blinding. When the front of the truck is angled up due to squat, it changes the angle of the cutoff line and the headlight becomes blinding.
It is mandatory in my country to have auto adjustable lights if the light is xenon or LED. The car will fail during inspection if the light is not at correct level.
I drove at night more than a few times, Company Vehicle had a "Light Bar"!, A very Expensive Light Bar, It only made the area brighter that the Low Beam covered, Making the LED pointless at Highway speeds
I've added a $30 single row 22" light bar to my Jeep Cherokee that comes on automatically with when I turn the brights on, I can see much farther down the road. Whoever put yours on didn't do it right or they got a flood instead of a spot beam pattern. Mine is a cross between flood and spot. The outer lights are flood which really light up the sides of the road way better. The center ones are spot and shine light way farther down the road than using just the high beam of the HID lights. (mine use the shutter style). All that with the light bar mounted below the front license plate. If it was mounted higher I would get even more performance out of it.
It depends on what that light bar was designed for. Some is just to light right ahead of you for off-roading ie camping at night. Off road lights design for speeding in rally or so have a further throw
Light bars are not to be used on public roads. Please turn the darn thing off and keep it off until you need more light for close quarters off public roads. Thank you.
Dude thank you so much for making this video. I started watching it and I fell asleep almost immediately and when I woke up you were still talking. Best damn nap I've ever had. Thank you seriously
A properly designed aftermarket halogen light unit from a company like Cibie or Marchal or even Bosch gave you a round or rectangular light that replaced the original sealed beams of the era and had a light output that actually let you drive comfortably and safely at night. Replacing the standard 55/65w bulb with a 75/100w Osram bulb would give you a low beam that increased your seeing distance without being obnoxious to an incoming driver while giving a high beam equivalent to a rally drivers. Replacing a busted glass headlight took a couple of minutes. This was in the 70's for Chrisake! 50 years ago! And we drove every bit as fast as you do now!
I've had two Vespa's with LED lights. My first one had a square headlight, which was terrible. I literally couldn't see at night, even with the high beams on. My second Vespa had the exact same LED light, but in a circular housing. The difference was insane. I could see so much more, just because of the shape. But the light was exactly the same!
@@unsmarties2235eyes do adapt to brightness,by taking in less light and in return making everything more dark. Sounds really safe doesn't it? No chance you will miss a pedestrian because of that.
Ive been driving for almost 20 years 10 of those as a trucker and its all been fine till these L.e.d lights came out . Hurts your bloody eyes ! Theres no adjusting lol . @unsmarties2235
My first Xenon headlamps were amazing! I remember picking up new on July 5, 1995, the first Porsche 993 Turbo to be delivered to the states with (at the time revolutionary S02 tires- it was the first one.) I flew to Houston and picked it up from Momentum Porsche Lamborghini. It was amazing. For those of you who don’t study Porsche day in and day out, the 993 Turbo was interesting. It was the last air cooled 911, but the first with all wheel drive and twin turbos. That thing was a rocket-ship in its day! 12 flat in the quarter. 0-60 in 3.6 seconds- and you could get it every single time. It’s tiny without the liquid cooling. I drove it in 1995, and still own it with 12,000 miles. I’ve owned many 911 Turbos, but that is my favorite!
I like how you explained how the headlights work in a way I could understand. I went from an 08’ Ford Fusion that had H1 LED headlights to a 2023 Nissan Sentra S that has H11 LED headlights. The headlights of my Sentra are way brighter than my Fusion’s were and the visibility on them is great!
Here’s another game, if the content isn’t total mass produced garbage to farm views and ad money and is actually interesting and without errors does it really matter?
@William.Driscoll Who are you talking to? This video is 100% made to farm views and ad revenue, and has multiple significant errors. That’s the real problem. In just a few more years, 75% of the videos on youtube will be this garbage. Quality content will be a thing of the past. And yet people still mindlessly defend it.
LEDs DO get hot, because manufacturers try to get as much light from them as possible. This in turn reduces the LEDs lifetime significantly, where as if they used just slightly less power they would function for many many years. But manufacturers want to sell lots more than one set per car....
All of my bikes and cars use pre halogen era lighting, works as great as it did back in the day, and so simple, it's good enough to see and to be seen but not enough to burn people's retina out. I also have a few kerosene lighting systems, i actually use my carbide lamp on my bike from the 30s which i restored, it shines very bright and you have enough for hours without needing to refill anything.
the brighter the headlight the brighter the reflection from street signs and the like, this puts a greater strain on the drivers eyeballs which is really bad when driving long distance and/ or with tired eyes. halogen with its slightly yellow glow is way more relaxing.
I love LED headlights, however manufacturers need to reconsider making every light as bright as possible, and aftermarket LED headlights need to be heavily regulated. The cheap ones you get on Amazon have no beam pattern and scatter everywhere, blinding other road users and not doing their job of lighting up the road in front of you very well
I have some old carbide mine lamps. I didn't realize they were used on cars. Laser lights are nice, but HIDs remain my favorite headlight. The bright blue glow of 10000k bulbs is awesome
all those lights are fine as long as they are adjusted perfectly and the road is perfectly level. once they become a bit misaligned or there are some small bumps or crests / as/descents they start blinding everyone else.
NO! They are not fine if adjusted properly and on a perfectly level road. They are still excessively bright and casting blinding color temperature cold light into other peoples' eyes.
It is sadly. I can always instantly sniff out this unnatural and emotionless way of speaking. It's a shame more and more videos are using these voiceovers
@@I_hunt_lolis We can mostly thank India for that. They get ChatGPT to crank out "The History of Automobile Headlights" real quick, then they get another piece of software to read it in somebody else's voice. Easy RUclips monitization.
@@I_hunt_lolis Yes indeed. That's I keep telling channels, who use that stuff. I mean, some AI voices aren't too bad, but it's usually worse than a person - I say usually, some people have very annoying ways of talking.
At 11:00, My 2003 Mondeo has xenons,given that I've had it from new and never changed a headlight bulb I'd argue that any bulb that lasts for 21 years and about 90,000 miles so far,is remarkably durable. Where as in the last ten to fifteen years in my job as an auto electrics tech,I have replaced or repaired an endless list of led DRL's,tail lights and headlights where drivers/circuit boards or the actual led board fails,(not to mention the hundreds of those crappy 501 led replacement bulbs that people fit),all failing through poor heat management,cheap components or water ingress and always far exceeding the cost of replacing a DS1/2 Xenon bulb.Even some small led mirror repeaters are around the £150 mark,I paid £300 recently for a Honda jazz DRL not much bigger than a bottle top!. Leds them selves may be ultra durable but the systems to support and control or power them are anything but. There is a steadily growing third party aftermarket industry for led headlight electronic component parts if you know where to look and even OE manufacturers like Hella and bosch have some component parts available now,that in its self is indicative of their fragility.
When I learnt to drive, the car's headlights were yellow. Usually, it was only the bulb itself that was yellow, with a white lens. It was great to drive in the rain, fog, or snow. Yellow lights were mandatory in France since the 30s, I believe. I learnt to drive on my father's 1969 Citroën DS. There were no such innovative and original car in America or anywhere else. The light also turned to follow the steering wheel.
Now get those LED drivers to keep the auto high beam lights off. They see the switch and turn them on in the city when it is not needed and blind the other drivers. Tesla and Honda are the worst.
Where I live people drive with the high beams in the city All the time because they "can't see" You can't see because the other person has high beams too you nitwit. Cops used to make people look into the lamps but stopped immediately after it. became news.
What I would love to have seen included in this comparison along with the light output and temperature, is the cost of replacement bulb/LED and unit. Sure these latest LED matrix and adaptive laser lights seem very clever, and they are. But that comes at a considerable price! I'm pretty sure we'd be looking at a four-figure bill to replace one of these units when they fail / get damaged. And lets face it, halogen and xenon did the job well enough for most situations without bankrupting you or rendering the vehicle scrap... There is such a thing as too much complexity and I think we crossed that line a while back. Not just with headlights, but car technology in general.
I own an Audi S4 cabriolet that is the poster boy for what you are outlining. Brilliant engineering is cheek by jowl with stuff Rube Goldberg would ridicule.
Excellent presentation. I had to replace my HID lamp in my 2009 Range Rover Sport HSE and it was very problematic. But, I was successful in replacing this with an LED with no degradation in performance. So yea - headlights now are very complex and replacing these can be quite the headache.
You can put Osram and Philips LED into any headlights. They have Retrofit lineup for non projector H* type lights. In the EU there are a few countries(like Germany and Austria), where you can use their LED produtcs and you get the TUV licence trough the manufacturing company(the process is in the user manual). You dont have to adjust anything, the Retrofit LED "bulbs" working as the original halogen ones out of box.
No, they are not for ANY Headlight. Those for ANY Headlight arent allowed on most places on the earth because they are not a point lightsource and do not work with the reflectors, causing light to spill everywhere. However, there are Osram replacements for SPECIFIC CARS and ONLY for THAT CAR matching the reflector and those you can use legally.
I got the Osram ones (Philips won't make any for my car) and just as a precaution, I took the car to check the adjustment. It was spot on out of the box!
True, but they have to obtain specific type approvals for each individual vehicle make and model and headlight variant. If your car is not on the list, the retrofit is not approved. They have approved bulbs for a Golf MkII, but not for my RAV4.
I would like to use it in my (even projector) halogen lamps, but my country has butthurt "technical inspectors" who "knows better" than any engineers in the European Union. Yes, I live in Hungary, where properly described TUV licenses worth nothing even installed by certificated specialists. Not only for bulbs, but everything - springs, brakes, exhausts etc. You can buy these LED-things, but only in "off-road" use. Which is also illegal since "off-road" is a public road until it hasn't been under the status of private road. Duck it...
Except not in the US, where it is illegal to put drop-in LED bulbs into incan headlight housings. In fact, it is difficult to find major brand LED drop-ins for headlights in the US for this reason, why the market is mostly dominated by illegal imports who have no accountability, can just close shop and open under a different name and can't be prosecuted in china. You cannot adjust them to make them legal in the US. You also cannot adjust them to improve driving with more light, without blinding others more than it improves driving.
Thanks for the information. I've installed the after market LED to the old casing and am not happy with the result. Will change the casing. Thanks again🙏
I must live in the most expensive area, as all the cars seem to have laser headlights and they go on full beam at drivers eye level at all times. There is an extreme safety issue going on with car headlights now, they are now far too bright, and badly aimed. If lights are going to dazzle oncoming vehicles then they must be better regulated. Many people are now scared to drive at night, not because they cant see in the darker conditions, but because of oncoming vehicles causing white out effects, where all you can see is a searchlight coming towards you. Very interesting and informative video. You missed out on one thing, many vehicles in the 70s had bulbs that were inserted into the reflector housing, and were used for decades before sealed beams came in in the late 70s, early 80s. They were cheap to replace, many of my friends complained that their car had sealed beams and how expensive they were to replace.
@@Markibass wow I liked one of the older videos because I couldn't really tell. AI is getting scary nowadays. There needs to be an extension made to automatically block these wastes of time.
@@TH3C001 yes because the content is never good and you can assume everything they're saying is wrong Multiple ai's their source is literally reddit comments
@TH3C001 It’s NOT good, that’s the whole point. So many of these so-called educational videos are full of falsehoods galore. Those of us who actually know about the subject catch the errors, but the people who these videos are made for DON’T know that what they’re watching is often wrong. But people think it’s right because it’s well made and sounds/looks good. “Artificial Intelligence” means the total dumbing down of society.
A thing worth noting is that modern LED globes can emulate halogen globes pretty well, making LED conversion for halogen headlights actually quite feasible! Make no mistake, there's always going to be junk LED globes that don't comply well with reflectors, but some work exceptionally well, providing even better beam placement than the halogens they replace! I've used a few great H4 alternatives, but the downside I've encountered is short lifespan likely due to the dependence on an integrated fan for cooling, as the dust boots on some cars can interfere with airflow, and the fans themselves can fail causing the LED to overheat and fail. This is the only reason I'm not currently using LED globes myself, as I was changing them about as often as I was changing halogens anyway
LEDs can't legally and practically replace halogen bulbs in halogen reflectors. For one, a filament is a point source. LEDs have a heat sink/driver board between them so the light source will not be perfectly aligned to where the filament was. Two, vehicle lighting is federally regulated and type-approved. If a headlight is designed for an H9 halogen, for example, it can only legally be replaced with an H9 halogen.
Another disadvantage of LED headlights is that they run cool. In snowy conditions halogen and xenon headlights melt the snow withn their heat, while with an LED headlight the snow will stay on the lens and reduce the light output.
The weird part is that they don't have to be that way. It's possible to have an led that gives off a natural looking light. The problem is, the colder the color temperature, the brighter the light appears to be, so they always choose those sickly blue-white leds. I have an led flashlight that has about a 3000 K color temperature, and is 'high CRI', meaning it reproduces colors very naturally. The light it gives off is warm and beautiful, and the high color rendition makes distant objects easier to make out. I think this style of led would be much better for headlights, but unfortunately, they don't look as cool as the bluish ones (both figuratively and literally).
the old headlights in the 70s and 80s were less strong, but their light was "warmer" and less harmful if you had it behind you. Nowadays we have highly lit cristmas trees in the back and front that nobody needs and they are so aggressive that takes my eyesight each time when I look into them
Good video. Just want to say these days headlights are just too powerful and have in fact become a danger to drivers. There is no need for "laser headlights" in my opinion. Car manufacturers have now become light polluters. Instead of making quality cars, they are using cheap childish LED lightings to entice buyers. And the biggest offenders are Audi and Merc.
"dazzling other drivers" This phrase pops up numerous times. With good reason. HID and LED light on new cars dazzle other drivers even on low beam. They are obnoxious and dangerous. let's say it like it is. A few points:- Higher kelvin light temp is not always a good thing. If the CRI rating is low, then you lose colour and visibility may actually be degraded despite typically having higher lumens than a halogen. Higher kelvin light temp is bad for other drivers. It "Dazzles other drivers". Higher kelvin headlamps when seen at a distance tend to throw dazzling blue and purple light colours for oncoming drivers. Very annoying and "dazzling". Lower kelvin halogen headlights do not dazzle the human eye at night, nor show twinkling of other colours. Lower kelvin headlights are far superior in fog conditions. Higher kelvin reflects back from the fog badly. I also suspect newer headlights also dazzle because the light source seems to be projected directly forward from the light source and through a small hemispherical lens straight into your eyes. This is a suspicion, I haven't pulled them apart so don't quote me, but in any case, the same lumens coming from a smaller lens typical in new cars, is just going to be more intense for others to look into. Halogen bulbs have an opaque cap on top of the bulb. The light reflects backwards onto a metallic reflector of your headlight which has a large surface area (compared to tiny hemisphere lenses), and then forwards. So the light source is diffused over a larger surface area, and you are not looking directly at the light source, so therefore less dazzling to oncoming drivers. No oncoming halogen bulb headlight car has ever dazzled me on low beam during country driving. Numerous HID and LED cars have dazzled me, even if they are behind you, they are very bright and distracting through your mirrors. I honestly think headlight developments have outpaced the automotive design safety standards bodies globally, and they are caught short in the area of specifying allowable light Lumens, kelvins, CRI, and light spread and other headlight design standards, such that now driving the country at night is becoming unsafe and I don't really like doing it anymore.
Interesting video. I remember when xenons first came out in the mid 90's, I think the Mercedes E class was the first car to use them widely. They immediately stood out from other vehicles due to that blue/white beam.
I agree with a lot of the comments here. Many of the newer LED, xenon and other intensely white headlamps are too bright you get blinded by them when they're approaching or coming up behind you, especially on darker country roads. The brightness should be regulated by government like halogens used to be regulated to about 50 or 55w
"remember, the best time to use very bright lights is when you're in a lifted truck in the city/suburbs where there are a ton of incoming traffic. This way, the light can hit multiple cars and blind people causing them to lose their sight and/or crash." - car manufacturers.
Obviously the car manufacturers to the drivers are listening to you. lol
Impossible LED lights don't blind people, the video said so. Don't worry about any past experience telling you otherwise.
the worst is those "squatted" trucks, the ones who lower the rear end while leaving the front jacked ?
you blow right past the limitations of adjustment when you do this, so no matter what, your blinding oncoming traffic along with low flying aircraft...
these people are the epitome of narcissistic morons in my opinion.
The outcome is that more vehicles will be sold. - car manufacturers
I totally agree.
You know what I miss about headlights? It's the glass lens! Never had to worry about yellowing, when they were glass!
My 1998 toyota camry and my 1991 honda lead have glass lens and Metal housing😊
Yeah, until the glass shatters from the littles things like a single piece of gravel.
My 1997 audi has glass headlights
You can try waxing them
@@H982_FKL What? You don't know what you are talking about. They very rarely if ever broke. They would burn out but not break.
I think you are probably younger and just think because its glass they break easily and that is not the case at all. When I grew up, every car had sealed glass headlights.
It was not until the 90s that the Halogen bulbs took over. They did take over fast because of styling because the glass sealed lights basically came in two shapes, round and rectangle. With Halogen, you could get very creative with the shape and contour of the plastic headlight assembly.
The real problem with LED is the high blue light content. This blue light is not much of a problem in normal conditions...It's a huge problem in wet conditions. The blue light scatters easily off water particles or even dirt/salt on the windshield. This creates a glare. GLARE IS REAL but very difficult to measure. There are highway driving videos that show LED streetlighting and HPS side by side done in the rain. You'll see under HPS, the orange light cuts right thru the rain and wet surface to provide decent visibility...The Blue LED light scatters, and everything appears very dark because too much stray light is entering the eye. The LED lighting gives a false confidence of visibility when glare produces significant gaps in visibility.
Additionally, old people are far more affected by blue light glare than young people. The cornea yellows with age and blue light scatters passing thru the yellow lens, making everything in the field of view appear darker as a result. That's why old people HATE cars that use white headlights and young people don't really understand why. The young people generally think those old people just don't like the new white color or are exaggerating the glare. I'm a lighting engineer...I could go into the details of Rayleigh scattering, veiling luminance, and disability glare from cold white light - the effects on visibility especially for the elderly, and especially during inclement conditions (rain, fog or snow)...But the bottom line is that all street lighting and headlights should be warm white 3000K CCT max, though I'd push for warmer 2700K.
Not just old people, 19 here with slight astigmatism,.. newer leds make it almost impossible to see, no not retrofits on older cars, im talking about 2023 -2024 vehicles,.. hate them leds...
I'm old people and I approve of this comment.
I believe that blue spectrum light as in LED's is not good for the eyes.
46, legally blind. Agreed 👍
Hey Dan, I myself am really into lighting and have plans to become a lighting engineer. I'm wondering what kind of careers there are in this particular field? Do you work for DOTs as a lighting install planner or do you work more closely with the fixtures / diode assemblies? I'm 16, and thinking of going into either materials or lighting engineering. Thanks, Max.
I can't wait to go from metaphorically being blinded by LEDs to physically being blinded by laser beams
Sure hope those phosphor filters beforehand don't degrade over time and make that a reality. Also wondering with it being a laser is it scanning the beam out over time or is it spread by some kind of lens
@@luketorpedo It does say and show in the video that it's being spread by a lens. Not sure why they're using a LASER to start with, maybe it produces more uniform light to help lessen light scatter?
@@argh1989
Miniscule power use even less than leds - so they do what's most desired, bright as possible light. Watch batterys power laser pointers remember. So I suppose car battery will in theory give U unlimited laser power, unlike HIDs which are very very bright but use a lot of energy.
@@argh1989 A laser can produce the smallest point source of any light source. The smaller the source, the easier it is to focus and change the shape of the light with optics. Laser lights can achieve better focus than even short-arc lamps. In contrast, LEDs are fairly large sources, and quite difficult to focus, especially to create low beam patterns.
In addition to the phosphor, there will also be a filter that blocks the wavelength of the laser, so there's no chance of any coherent light shining through.
As far as the final color, this just depends on the phosphor, so you could have 3500K or 4000K laser lamps.
You don't have a laser beams going out, the beam is to create the reaction with phosphor. It's to creates more light with less energy. The laser beam do not leave the head light.
It's sad that it all has been written and read by AI.
I had a hunch that the voice-over was AI
Man I didn't even realize that until you said it
Why do we call these voice overs AI now? They've been around for decades and we never called it AI.
@@eptdy yes, they were around for decades but at least the script was written by a human being. But also voice overs in the very recent past were just created with very simple voice syntheseis tools and now because of a huge leap in AI technology it's possible to create a voice model very precisely imitating a voice of any given person.
Oh wow, that’s lazy and pathetic. Glad I read the comments before watching the video.
I would rather change a $20 bulb than a $1500 headlight housing. I work at a collision repair/ body shop and I deal with it every day
I completely agree, and that’s why I like my halogen headlights although I have had to replace one of my assemblies cuz the vertical adjuster was messed up. Standard price for the assembly was like $700 but I managed to find a reman unit for about $400.
I had to replace a headlight on my 2010 CL 550 after a small accident and just the one headlamp was almost $7k. To be fair even in 2010 Mercedes headlights were very complex. They were adaptive bi-xenon headlights that also projected infrared light for the Nightview night vision camera. Still insanely expensive though.
My Subaru Outback's headlight was replaced when someone merged into me one time. Was AUD$3000 for the headlight alone (we have the LED Matrix version in Australia).
Used to be that anybody with a screwdriver could replace headlights without taking the front end apart.
Why I buy base model stuff with halogen reflector or projectors...
Remember when you could walk into the parts store and say "I need a headlight" and the only question was "Round or rectangle?"😂
My car has LEDs so I doubt I’ll still have this thing by the time any of the LEDs burn out lol
I remember when the only question was "dual or single headlight setup ?"
Sealed beam era.
'High beam, low beam, or dual?'
It doesn't matter what shape your car's headlight is, from inside its bulb and reflector both are always round or oval
13:10 tell that to all the idiots that put LEDs in their old car lights thinking it’s better, blinding everyone while having a worse light.
You need adjust the lights after you put them in, that's why it blinds people.
this was also an issue with HID's as people would get kits to run them in the older reflective halogen housings, basically LEDs and HIDs should only be run in projector housings that shape the beam, although i do have LEDs on my van which used sealed beams, but the LED housings do have cutoffs so they dont blind drivers more than normal (sadly high profile vehicles will always blind cars just do to their height) but i dont really drive that van at night so its less of an issue.
although there are supposed to be LEDs with the proper filament pattern that can work in reflector housings, i still wouldnt recommend them, My biggest complaint is i do a lot of bad weather driving so the whiter LED's/HID's cause a bit to much back scatter from rain/snow, sorta wish more of the newer lights came in the lower kelvin color temps
I bought 7 inch round LED headlamps for my old Prado from Aliexpress and it's so much better driving with them, especially when it gets foggy. No regrets.
@@jjjacer As I understand it, you can get a way with HID bulbs in standard halogen housings because the 'bulb' emits light similarly to the halogen bulb. But LEDs do not emit light with the same 360 degree pattern as HID or halogen bulbs and so you end up less effective light patterns.
@Mobitz2.3-4 Have you tried Philips, Osram or Bevinsee? These are really good! I recently replaced my H4 halogen to Bevinsee V45 H4 and it works great: sharp cut off line, no flickering, no glare, no blinding traffic, and still awesome light in the night.
Philips and Osram even have some types that are getting official road-legal clearance in some countries.
While the tech is impressive, what I miss about 90s headlights is that I never had white and blue spots seared into my eyeballs by oncoming traffic because we were stationary at a red light. Bonus round, my neighbor across the street likes to leave his car on in his declined driveway for up to an hour. Just completely oblivious to his white LED headlights beaming into 3 houses.
Conversion kits exist for both Halogen and Xenon lights. I've hada car with both halogen and xenon light bulbs which i upgraded both to LED and here's what ive noticed. The number one thing that people complain about is how LED blind other drivers. I found that to be the case when installing them on my halogen lights as the mirrors do scatter the light more than lenses in xenon lights. My lights were a bit dirty, and not just dirt but the plastic being faded and scattering the light even more. After cleaning the headlights, ive noticed another thing on the halogen mirror lights: the direction they were facing. Most people don't even bother to do this, but alignment of headlights is crucial for both you having good visibility and not blinding others. Mine were extremely high up, basically hitting most people's windshields + i didn't have the best visibility either. After fixing the two major factors. My halogen mirror lights had not only a distinct cut off line, but were also not blinding others. In xenons lens lights it's pretty much the same thing especially with headlight alignment except the cut off line is way more distinct as lens lights don't scatter light as much
I prefer the type of headlight that DOESN'T cost $1000 and up to replace!
Absolutely agree with that!
And doesn’t blind people
I know, it's ridiculous. An LED OEM tail light is hundreds of dollars Vs a dollar or two to replace a blub in the old days. Another reason I will keep and drive my 2005 Explorer as long as I can keep it running. I have aftermarket LED lamps that cost less then $50 for all of them and I can always go back to $2 blubs till they stop making them.
Then we need to keep our older vehicles on the road
what headlight cost 1000? what?
Recently headlights have gotten much brighter. That's great out in the wilderness. And pretty bad in the city. People drive around my city without their lights on and don't notice. That's unsafe too. But very bright headlights make it hard for everyone to see. We need a city lights setting that is more for the purpose of helping people see the cars with the headlights on, but don't have to illuminate everything in front of them.
That is compounded by that addition of day time running lights that lack proper directionality and sometimes approach the intensity of some headlights. Daytime running lights should be off when headlights are on unless they are either directed down and/or are significantly less bright.
There is, it's the Daytime lights
It's not about brightness but control, low beams are design to throw light below drivers eyes. They need to be properly adjusted and you need to use bulbes design for them. Putting LED in an halogen headlight will cause the light to go all over the place and blind other road users.
@@dufonrafalthey are directed below but still very bright
real problem where i currently live...people wither drive with their brights on constantly, or are unaware of how bright their new car lights are compared to older vehicles they've owned...very annoying when people drive around thinking, "i need to see..."while" blinding everyone else..."...
Another advantage of sealed beam was that they were standardized. You could go into a Walmart and buy an inexpensive standard size seam beam light which would fit in any car.
Inexpensive? Not compared to just buying a bulb.
@@TheLucanicLord there may be reasons to replace the headlight itself and not just the bulb, for example my 1993 disco that was rotting in a field had still working light bulbs but the headlights had rust on the reflective surface. (I prefer the replaceable light bulb design just trying to play devil's advocate)
with halogen it's pretty similar, the housing may vary from car to car, but the bulbs have standardized system like H4 or H7. That way we can even carry some spares in the car without sacrificing much space and when one burns out, it could be changed out on the side of the road
The conversion housing that accepted bulbs was the way to go in the early 2000s.
@@floundario3011and in the older cars you could change the bulb, unlike many newer ones that require major dismantling to do so.
0:02 The muddy water going up the wheel well and through the head and fog lights is something I've never though of as a thing that could happen, but it makes sense I guess. The body of the car is mostly there to look pretty and direct airflow... maybe structural in some areas, but there's no reason to have that part water tight now that I think of it.
Gonna be honest this video watches like a highschool presentation done at last minute
especially considering the surprising amount of misinformation and bullshit in the video, it was painful to watch
Like what? Seemed solid to me
And the AI voiceover sounds uncanny.
Yeah, 11:55 claiming that LED's don't emit heat is completely false. Heat is big concern for the design and usually the main cause for early failure. 16:10 Laser-light is also not a future solution, it was widely available across BMW models including 3-series and not just limited to prototypes or exotics (16:45) but has now been superseded by adaptive matrix LEDs. Also at 8:21, the kelvin value is referred to as intensity of light, which is again completely false.
Yeah it’s read and written by AI, and then set over likely stolen footage
The problem isn't the headlights per se, it is how good quality hid and led are only available on expensive cars. There is also this misconception that 6500k being the "daylight" color ia the best option for visibility. Based on trial and error I find the 4000k range to offer the best balance between visibility and comfort to the eyes, the 6500k scatters too much in rain and wet surfaces simply absorb it.
Totally agree. I tried putting 6000k LED bulbs in my car, and it felt outright dangerous to drive at night in the rain. Switched to 4200k bulbs and some 2700k fog lights and it is a HUGE difference. Bigger number isn't always better...
4000K to 4500K is the best since it's *WARM WHITE*
Anything beyond that is just being obnoxious.
2500K is also good but mainly for fog lamps or aux lamps/lights that you need when going off road or if you plan adding more lights to make you more visible when it rains, snows or when it gets foggy.
Finding any 6000+ kelvin clour temp LED that can accurately render colour isn't going to happen. 4500k to 5000k has the best CRI and would therefore make better headlight bulbs for city driving especially. They choose 6500k as it projects further due to there being less yellow coating on the chip.
^this!
True I’ll talk about most Indian manufacturers motorcycles the entry to mid range motorcycles use terrible 6500 k bluish purple led that speed to scatter disperse a lot even in the dry and are an eye sore to oncoming traffic or if in your rear view mirrors I’d rather have a great halogen than a decent led or hid on my bike
Headlights back in the olden days: “Good evening, friends; please allow us to comfortably brighten your late-night adventures!”
Headlights these days: *_”I HAVE QUADRUPLE THE POWER OF THE FUCKEN SUN.”_*
Apt!
And the only place I can shine on is your fucken eyes!
Exactly 🥲
I have crashed from passing your sun
"LET'S BLIND ANYONE IN MY WAY, ME ME, ME!"
I really hate LED/Xenon headlights because when I drive at night, I'm blinded by those modern cars coming the other way.
Me, too.
@@chrislee6650 Those _are_ their low beams. And they're not mis-aimed or mis-installed aftermarket parts, oh no. OEMs intentionally manufacture LED arrays, which are installed at the factory, with the express purpose of vomiting out as many candela as possible even on the "low" setting. Blinding oncoming traffic is a feature, not a bug.
Thats because most people who drive their cars never actually read the manual how to operate it.
Its xenon light that it can blind you
USA drivers lol
Seems like the real problem with These Headlights wasn't covered.
1:49 you’re telling me they used to have tot refill their blinker fluid in the old days😂
Headlights that follow the turning of the steering wheel were available on 1967 onwards Citroen DS models, with up to 80 degrees of arc. I believe they were cable operated.
The tucker had a middle headlight that turned with the steering column.
The problem with that, is that it is another thing to fail and on an older vehicle, most will not be repaired if there is no safety inspection to catch the fault, so they become perpetually mis-aimed.
@@cavalierliberty6838 the big three being (as is usually told) afraid of the tucker is also the reason why the US market DS didnt have the swiveling headlights, as US regulations require that thry were fixed
Cable operated are the best. The cyclecars had cable and pulling operated steering. Older airplanes used it for their rudders.
Cheap, works well, hardly ever wears out, but if it ever does it's cheap and easy and quick to replace.
How things should be built. How they were.
Some cars in the '30s had swiveling auxiliary lights. Someone might have had them even earlier.
I am old ish😊 , I’ve driven with all of those lights except for the old old chemical gas ones in the early 1900’s.
Good lights are important , but unfortunately they are often misused in the wrong application, and also sadly , they are often used by uncaring ignorant drivers .
I might add , as someone that worked in car repair industry , and also drove trucks for a living for years , headlights in many countries are probably one of the most poorly policed safety items on a motor vehicle , that goes for general specifications and also design, like for example uniform headlight heights , if you have been in normal sedan sitting at the traffic lights and had higher SUV or four wheel drive sit behind you with the much higher headlights shooting through your back window lighting up the inside of your car like a bright sunny day , you know what I mean.
Poorly adjusted headlights, incorrect globes and lights fitted to unsuitable headlights with the wrong reflector shape .
Bright lights are fine if they are adjusted and set up correctly.
I’d say if you drive highway there is a happy medium to the brightness of lights , even if you are alone on the highway and driving for hours at night , having lights that are so powerful when they hit the shiny metal back of a metal road sign and reflect back at you can really make your eyes sore.
A good spread of light that is fairly white but not so white it hurts to look at is good .
And low beam lights that are still nice and bright , but adjusted away from oncoming drivers and below their windscreen level .
Some cars have height adjustable lights from a dial in the cabin which Is pretty cool , other have dampened height self adjusting mechanisms.
Then there are the old cars that are just set at the factory, they have a device they stick in front of the headlights which shows where the main part of the beam is and adjust it to the centre line while on high beams .
Of course when you put something heavy in the boot/trunk , the back of the car goes down pointing the old style headlights up a bit , you get that in the pick ups too.
I remember as a young bloke driving up the country at night on a very windy mountain road I was going around a bend at a fair rate of speed , there was a very big drop down into the valley on my side of the road , and some asshole came around the bend with headlights and two powerful sets of driving lights on full beam , I was absolutely blinded for about 4 or 5 seconds , I had pretty good nerves back then , I held the steering wheel in same position and managed to negotiate the bend , the asshole just continued on with out dipping his lights .
Humans can be ass holes sometimes .
I must confess , I probably like leds the best because they light up instantly, they don’t need a few seconds to warm up. Although my current lights in my car are HID with the correct reflector on low beam and the original old halogen globes for the seperate high beam lights , which I have to say are just adequate , however they are very comfortable for driving for hours at night .
Here is another little bit of trivia , blue is the hardest color of the light spectrum to see and look at , if you look at the dash lights of many modern cars they are a pretty blue , and people always like the pretty blue and no doubt that is why most car makers use it , but the fact is , blue is actually sub optimal, the best color for long distance night driving that is easier on the eyes is actually red.
As an old truck driver at one stage I did a fatigue management course , and this one of the topics mentioned for long distance driving.
And having driven many many big rigs over the years , I can confirm red hurts the eyes less.
Can someone add a TLDR?
@@ihavenoideasforahandle3 Why? Is "Too Long, Don't Read" too many letters for you to process?
Red lights are used inside submarines
I believe so too, red is better than blue.
Also really? Waiting 2 seconds for xenon's is that bad? LEDs have many more advantages but you mentioning only this is funny for me.
@@drayke8886 you misunderstood. He was talking about the colour of lights inside the car at night. As another commenter pointed out, red is used inside submarines. It’s the colour that is easiest to adjust to no light from. It’s therefore the colour that has the least difference to darkness in front of the car. It’s least stressful.
About the LEDs : in cars and home lights, the semiconductor produce a blue light. It goes through a phosphorus coating that actually glows white.
Phosphor, not phosphorus.
And yet we have the LED street lamps that have the filament detonating in the housing, and the "phsyicodelec" theme happens 🤪🤪
So how do RGB LEDs work?
@@isaackikkert6960 combining three LEDs (surprisingly red, green and blue) onto a common socket and then balance them to seem white.
However, you only get three wave-lengths, meaning colour reproduction under such light will be very off as all other wave-lengths present in white light is missing.
@@Ithinkiwill66 What the Hell is that?
I have been driving for 50+ years and owned cars of late 50s vintage to 2023. The absolute BEST headlamps I ever experienced were round, single lens, non-sealed, dual beam, with euro-sourced 50W/100W halogen bulbs. The lens crystal pattern was so well designed that the low beam could be aimed so as to cut off just below the rear window glass of a car approx 4-5 car lengths in front and the high beam pattern allowed aiming down the road with very high precision.
Late 1960's Euro specification Mercedes ?
Fitted my 96 Nissan President with aftermarket Laser H4's, although initially skeptical, and WOW!! Thoroughly impressed!
That's the first time I've heard a halogen as being inert. Wrong group in the periodic table.
The fact it reacts to Tungsten to prolong it's life means it's not inert/noble lol
It does have an inert gas in the bulb, with a amall amount of iodine or bromine (the halogen group). This gas combination causes vaporized tungsten from the filament to redeposit on the filament, and not the inside of the bulb. Higher power levels and thus brighter light output can be had compared to regular incandescent bulbs.
@@VJ-ft2xj and longevity
@paulqueripel3493 is correct. Also, the names of the two halogen elements in halogen lamps are bromine and iodine, _not_ bromide and iodide. The explanation of how LEDs work is terrible, as well. Obviously the whole thing is generated by AI, including the wonky narrator.
The main problem with LED headlights is that are too bright on some cars and can blind you. For example, if you driving a sedan and there is a big truck behind you, it's headlights will shine in your car. Also, if the LED light malfuctions, you cannot just replace the bulb as it is not a regular bulb like halgeon are. Instead, you have to replace the entire headlight assembly. This is true on the 2014 and newer Toyota Corolla.
There are countless H4 and H7 replacement lights for halogen to LED. Most are just as easy to replace as the original halogen. So you can't blame that on LED, blame it on the car designers.
I’ve seen you somewhere before🤔
@@knightwolf200612in many countries they are illegal and will result in a failure if they do government road worthy testing!
@@knightwolf200612 yep. The blame is definetly on the designers. If you are blinded at night by oncoming factory LED headlight, then there is a 90% chance that car is a Suzuki Vitara. Their LED headlight is the worst. They blind you out of factory.
ever heard of matrix LED?
Had to stop the video when it said, "led's don't put off heat" , I guess all those aluminum fins are just for looks.
True. Every electronic part with current flowing through it puts off heat. Even wires.
(For nerds: I know, not in very cold situations that are not naturally occurring here on Earth.)
Wind resistance, that's all😂
Its the electronic drivers ie transistors, FETs for the LEDS that produce heat. I still do not like them.
I haven't hit that section yet, but if they mean 'Not enough to heat the headlight cover and get the ice to melt off', THAT could be true. The LED lights don't HAVE to put out tons of heat, though. Under-volt them slightly (for ones that don't have on-board power drivers, anyway) and they lose a little light but drop a LOT of heat output. They don't put a lot of heat into the headlight assembly, though, at least not when compared to incandescent bulbs!
And for the one reply, actually wires DO put out heat, it just is normally not enough to need to care about IN COMMON USE. Try an experiment...but CAREFULLY, because I already know this answer. Use a normal headlight bulb, and feed it through 5-10' of 14 gauge copper wire. Wad/fold/roll that copper wire up and put it between two dish cloths. Let it run for a few minutes, but keep an eye on it because if your wire is sneakily-cheap (copper-clad aluminum or the like) it may heat up a LOT. Even pure copper will warm that up, though, if your headlight bulb takes up a few amps of power. In normal open air it may not get hot enough to be an ISSUE, but it still gets hot even for 12v at 5-7A, even in 14 Gauge braided copper wire.
Wires get hot...humans usually just have 'crappy sensors' available with which to notice that. If you don't insulate the wire, it usually just soaks the heat out into the ambient air and we don't notice anything, but they DO get hot unless you're wildly-oversizing the wires. Normal wires expect that you will be allowing them some variety of heat sinking into the air/the car's frame/whatever.
I own three flashlights, at least two of which if not all three have CREE LEDs. I don't know what CREE stands for. But these lights get hot. you can have super powerful LEDs that get hot, but you can also have LED driver circuits that get hot--example would be the cheapie household LED screw-in bulbs you get at the store that can replace a regular 40 watt. The light emitting dome will not be very hot--can run for days and you can grab it. But the opaque base gets very, very warm. Almost too hot to touch, possibly uncomfortable.
I think some people are much more sensitive to the dazzling glare emitted from modern headlights than others....I believe the UK is currently conducting an enquiry into them, due to an online petition. I've seen several youtube optometrists saying that the most commonly asked question from patients is: 'Is there any way of reducing the glare from modern headlights?' Personally I also find the very 'cold' light effect creates an unpleasant nightime driving atmosphere.
I have the auto-dimming LED's in my '24 Silverado HD and they are great! Over half my driving is in the country where no streetlights exist.
The thing is, it’s really not that hard to make warm white LED headlights. I don’t understand why this is so rare!
Oh Yh, that’s true!
I am guessing because cold white light is better for visibility, just like how they replace the older warm white LP and HP Sodium Vapor street lights with cold white LEDs.
I use a 2700 kelvin led light for night hiking for this very reason… and I can run it dim so I can enjoy the stars as well
Newer LED lights should allow for color temp adjustment and brightness on vehicles
I dislike the LEDs on current vehicles because they’re too blue and cause fatigue and glare…
Older HIDs allowed for options - you can upgrade the projector for a more focused beam pattern onto the road and you can choose 4300 kelvin from osram or phillips..
@@rps215
The white LEDs were chosen simply because they were energy efficient and you know, because of the whole "save the planet" bullshhttt.
Lots of modern street lights that are LED actually use warm white LEDs now or at least ones that lie between 4000K to 4500K or even 5000K since people and manufacturers have found that super bright white is bad for everyone's eyes.
@@rps215 cold (6500k) colour isn't better per se. Those LEDs project further as there is less colour coating on the chip, but for colour rendition (therefore better subject identification and therefore better shadow really so better depth perception) 4500k is far better.
In all hosety 4500 or 5000k would be better for drivers and other road users. But as projectikn is slightly less it doesn't market as well and it doesn't give that fresh look that makes the car look newer or higher spec than a halogen version... so we get the crappy 6500k versions.
MY EYES!!!!!! Holy moly. The worst is when your lower level than the current turning. Instant blindness
...What? Not sure what you just said.
On a (probably) related note, the low-beam lens is sometimes ineffective when the road is angled such that you are at a lower elevation than oncoming traffic.
@@jeromeglick I have noticed that
I'm getting to the point where I contemplate fitting LED spotlights so I can blind the drivers of the oncoming cars that have their LED's on high, or adjusted poorly, and blind me. And don't get me started on auto shops selling non-ADR compliant lamps meant for off-road use.....
All my lights have been ajusted properly but my truck still sits higher then cars so when im driving in a city I blind the out of stater who moved here. One person did what you though of and flashed the wrong person and the person they blinded flipped on ALL of their off-roading lights at once, dude panicked well blinded and crashed his car. The dude who did what you are thinking was found completely at fault and charged with reckless endangerment because they were going out of their way to blind another driver who had all their lights properly ajusted to manufacter and state requirements. Before you say something about highbeams his truck doesn't even have high beams (he pulled them out bc he didnt like the way his truck looked with them) and the off roading lights can be seen from blocks away, as well as he had a dashcam)
Agreed
My dad had a friend years ago that mounted and rigged up a spotlight in the back of his small truck... and when I say spotlight, I mean an old military air raid spotlight, said it was the most satisfying thing ever to see their headlights swerve and go off the road when they'd run up behind him with their ultra bright headlights in his mirrors. Did they get hurt? Probably, did he care? Why should he? They felt it was fine to blind him, so they got a taste of their own medicine. Moral of the story I guess here is, don't be an inconsiderate prick, cause there's always a bigger prick that is considering you.
Blessings on your project, I hope you blind many inconsiderate asshats.
@@David-jt9ntNo one needs LED headlights. They are worthless during the day when they are on DRL. On Chrysler vehicles, DRL mode is highbeam.
No cop gave someone a ticket for flashing their brights. You are just making shit up to post a comment.
@@David-jt9ntSounds like he should have kept driving. No sympathy for inconsiderate pricks with overly bright headlights and all their excuses. Turn them down or change them out mister "I have a truck that sits high" who asked? Seems likely there's plenty of people with trucks of your height that aren't blinding people, so maybe the problem is you, not the world around you.
My car has bi-xenons as described in this video. Same xenon bulb with a shutter to control hi/lo beams.
On another note, I find that SO MANY DRIVERS these days just drive in traffic with their brights on. I'm not talking about low beams that seem like brights in any context, I'm talking about where you can tell--the second set of headlights is on along with or instead of the first. And I'll signal to them by flicking my brights to tell them, as I learned to be the standard way to do it, that their brights are on and they should turn them off. RARE is the driver that actually does it. The overwhelming majority just ignores me and keeps on keepin on with their brights on.
@ 13:11 - Throwing LED's into a halogen housing WILL work depending on the design & manufacturer. The real problem is replacing the signal indicators with LED's. Ideally its best to replace the flasher relay with one that's LED compatible.
14:48 the Citroën DS did it better😝 And why didn’t he mention it, that kinda got me mad
Maybe because this is a RUclips channel made by Americans, who are unaware of this French car. Let's not forget that at the time the Citroen DS was marketed, the European and American markets were largely closed to the import of foreign cars.
The DS not only had swivelling headlights but had high level lights at the rear (although just the indicators).
It also had a single spoke steering wheel and hydropneumatic suspension.
Way ahead of it's time.
Then there was the SM with a Maserati engine (and the swivelling lights too).
And lets not forget the XM which was essentially double glazed at the back.
My idiot elder brother drove a Citroën with drive lights that moved with the steering. He chose to NEVER use low beam, instead switching between high beam and the 'drive lights' only.
Worse: he shows a DS of the second model. I too was waiting for the third 'nose' (year 1968). The lamp lighting the inside of the curve could swing 80 degrees! A very dear miss!
Damn, the fact that something as miniscule as that got you mad has me bricked up rn
Whatever about headlights, one thing that I find with quite a number of vehicles produced in recent years is that the rear indicator lights are very small on them. I was recently behind a Tesla and there was a large light cluster on the rear of the car. However, when he indicated to turn the indicator light was about the size of a small matchbox - it would be easy to miss, especially in sunny weather. I would have just assumed that for safety reasons rear indicators would be required to be large purely as a matter of safety
Volkswagen and Audi ditto
What annoys me is cars like the Chevy Bolt and Mini Clubman that have big fake red reflectors where you'd expect the brake lights to be and the real brake lights are down low in the bumper behind the retroreflectors.
Two more things:
1. All indicator lights should be amber.
2. Indicator lights should just blink - all the way on, all the way off, repeat. None of this nonsense where they light up in sections from inboard to out.
Yeah, so many of the new Toyotas have essentially small pocket flashlights for rear lamps.
How did I end up watyching this at 4am even tho I have to wake up at 8 this morning?
I bet you was watching the video like a deer looking into headlights. 😅
03:31 for me wtf am I doing 😂😂 I should be sleeping!
Because you stare at your phone instead of sleeping when you'd probably have fallen asleep if you put it away hours ago. Really that's the only answer.
Same
probebly ADHD?
"Combining the words Halogen and Inert in the same sentence is criminal! " - Chemistry student
I was thinking the same thing. Only time those words belong in the same sentence is if we're talking about a compound (think Teflon), which in not the case in the video.
Probably meant to say that the bulbs contain a mixture of inert gas with a small amount of a halogen.
Absolutely love it when the new, modern headlights blind me and make it really hard to see! Makes driving fun and exciting!
Laser lights. Great. Melted retinas are fine as long as it’s the other guy.
Lasers: vaporizing retinas since 1980s
There should be legislation to get rid of these painful blue headlights. They need to taken out of production, and cars with such existing headlights should be mandated to be retro-fitted with proper headlights. Though I am in my 70's I find that even young people complain, many claiming they will no longer drive at night. I believe that millions of people find driving at night almost unbearable. It is not merely a case of some drivers not using their low-beams. Low beams will shine into the eyes of oncomers when cresting even the slightest hill. I find myself blinking at blue headlights that were already on low beam, even on flat ground. .
I am happy to hear about "matrix" type lights. I have often thought that a cluster of very narrow light-beams that can be selectively turned off is the solution, though quite expensive, and could take many years to produce enough variations to retrofit the millions of annoying blue lights that already exist. Such a "lazer" cluster should contain way more than the dozen or so individual lights, perhaps about 100. This way these large [usually yellow] traffic signs with their much too retro- reflective lettering won't wash out the visibility of everything else around them.
I believe it is time for national legislation to address the safety concerns these new blue lights are causing. Even if it causes their manufacturers considerable monetary pain, they should never have been produced in the first place. Time for a forum on Facebook, perhaps ?
Its not the new cars that blind you its the old cars retrofitted and not adjusted properly.
@@johnhotine5232Some of the Teslas are overly bright from the factory.
Love the way the entire history of headlights covered. Very informative especially pros and cons of each headlight technology over the years.
Hate the way the entire history was covered, largely irrelevant to anyone what lights were like over 50 years ago as those aren't an option today. Waste of time, and the video was not titled "the history of automotive headlamps" which would have kept me from wasting the time.
@@stinkycheese804 This! The video was okay IMO but I fucking hate clickbaity titles. That's always a downvote/dislike.
Bright LED's suck for the oncoming car. Blinds you so bad sometimes you can't see the center line in the road.
I think HIDs are better than LEDs and the other newer ones. With my Lincoln MKZ I'm glad I went with standard adaptive HIDs instead of the LED option. If an LED fails you can't simply replace the individual bad diode, the whole headlight assembly needs replacing (up to $1,000+ for an MKZ). It's a lot cheaper to replace a $150 HID bulb. Plus LEDs are usually more blinding to other drivers than HID. The IIHS has studied this for years and rates so many cars with LED lights poor for excessive glare
17:34 My 14 fusion had HID lamps, I replaced them with LED lights and am very happy with them. And the blind don't cost $150. I replaced them and the blind were only$55.00
The one innovation that all truck makers need to implement would be auto adjusting lights. So when you attach a trailer, it measures the amount of squat and adjusts the headlights down accordingly, so as not to be blinding. When the front of the truck is angled up due to squat, it changes the angle of the cutoff line and the headlight becomes blinding.
Load sensor on tow arm, connected via car computer along with adjustments to the steering/brakes/traction when pulling.
This would just be investing in the same lights that blind people even when aimed correctly, so more sweeping change is needed.
It is mandatory in my country to have auto adjustable lights if the light is xenon or LED.
The car will fail during inspection if the light is not at correct level.
I drove at night more than a few times, Company Vehicle had a "Light Bar"!, A very Expensive Light Bar, It only made the area brighter that the Low Beam covered, Making the LED pointless at Highway speeds
A light bar is made for driving offroad, at crawl speeds. Don't be the moron who has it on while on public roads, in traffic.
Whoever fitted it didn’t calibrate it right, take it somewhere and get it fixed
I've added a $30 single row 22" light bar to my Jeep Cherokee that comes on automatically with when I turn the brights on, I can see much farther down the road. Whoever put yours on didn't do it right or they got a flood instead of a spot beam pattern. Mine is a cross between flood and spot. The outer lights are flood which really light up the sides of the road way better. The center ones are spot and shine light way farther down the road than using just the high beam of the HID lights. (mine use the shutter style). All that with the light bar mounted below the front license plate. If it was mounted higher I would get even more performance out of it.
It depends on what that light bar was designed for. Some is just to light right ahead of you for off-roading ie camping at night. Off road lights design for speeding in rally or so have a further throw
Light bars are not to be used on public roads. Please turn the darn thing off and keep it off until you need more light for close quarters off public roads. Thank you.
Dude thank you so much for making this video. I started watching it and I fell asleep almost immediately and when I woke up you were still talking. Best damn nap I've ever had. Thank you seriously
A properly designed aftermarket halogen light unit from a company like Cibie or Marchal or even Bosch gave you a round or rectangular light that replaced the original sealed beams of the era and had a light output that actually let you drive comfortably and safely at night.
Replacing the standard 55/65w bulb with a 75/100w Osram bulb would give you a low beam that increased your seeing distance without being obnoxious to an incoming driver while giving a high beam equivalent to a rally drivers.
Replacing a busted glass headlight took a couple of minutes.
This was in the 70's for Chrisake! 50 years ago!
And we drove every bit as fast as you do now!
I am convinced that our sense of engineering and design is actually degrading with time.
I've had two Vespa's with LED lights. My first one had a square headlight, which was terrible. I literally couldn't see at night, even with the high beams on. My second Vespa had the exact same LED light, but in a circular housing. The difference was insane. I could see so much more, just because of the shape. But the light was exactly the same!
BMW i8, gotta love its timeless futuristic design.
Also the engine & electric motor duo too
@@Short_N_SimpleNah thats what makes the car terrible.
A 3cyl hybrid thats incredibly slow really ruins the car
I mean it looks cool but it just needs to have some power.
@@NeedForSpeed.2004 Yes, this car will never age! Can you imagine it with the V10 of the Huracan?!
nd the 3 cylinders 🤣
Thak you chatGPT for this wikipedia-esque summary
How safe is it when oncoming traffic is blinded by your headlights?
Like normal. You need to train your eyes to adapt to the headlights. Of course, high beams are significantly brighter which cause a distraction to it.
@@unsmarties2235ok adapt to look at the sun
@@unsmarties2235eyes do adapt to brightness,by taking in less light and in return making everything more dark. Sounds really safe doesn't it? No chance you will miss a pedestrian because of that.
Ive been driving for almost 20 years 10 of those as a trucker and its all been fine till these L.e.d lights came out . Hurts your bloody eyes ! Theres no adjusting lol . @unsmarties2235
@@unsmarties2235umm noooo just stop making over bright lights it's not a train your eyes situation
My first Xenon headlamps were amazing! I remember picking up new on July 5, 1995, the first Porsche 993 Turbo to be delivered to the states with (at the time revolutionary S02 tires- it was the first one.) I flew to Houston and picked it up from Momentum Porsche Lamborghini. It was amazing. For those of you who don’t study Porsche day in and day out, the 993 Turbo was interesting. It was the last air cooled 911, but the first with all wheel drive and twin turbos. That thing was a rocket-ship in its day! 12 flat in the quarter. 0-60 in 3.6 seconds- and you could get it every single time. It’s tiny without the liquid cooling. I drove it in 1995, and still own it with 12,000 miles. I’ve owned many 911 Turbos, but that is my favorite!
I like how you explained how the headlights work in a way I could understand. I went from an 08’ Ford Fusion that had H1 LED headlights to a 2023 Nissan Sentra S that has H11 LED headlights. The headlights of my Sentra are way brighter than my Fusion’s were and the visibility on them is great!
The headlight getting to bright these days. Most new cars blind me when they pass me on the otherside of the road.
Let's play the game - Is the narrator a human or an AI?
Here’s another game, if the content isn’t total mass produced garbage to farm views and ad money and is actually interesting and without errors does it really matter?
@TH3C001 You sound like a bot defending this crap. Knock it off. Nobody is on your side.
@@TH3C001No
I agree with his take, and not yours.
Good day.
@William.Driscoll Who are you talking to?
This video is 100% made to farm views and ad revenue, and has multiple significant errors. That’s the real problem. In just a few more years, 75% of the videos on youtube will be this garbage. Quality content will be a thing of the past. And yet people still mindlessly defend it.
LEDs DO get hot, because manufacturers try to get as much light from them as possible. This in turn reduces the LEDs lifetime significantly, where as if they used just slightly less power they would function for many many years. But manufacturers want to sell lots more than one set per car....
All of my bikes and cars use pre halogen era lighting, works as great as it did back in the day, and so simple, it's good enough to see and to be seen but not enough to burn people's retina out. I also have a few kerosene lighting systems, i actually use my carbide lamp on my bike from the 30s which i restored, it shines very bright and you have enough for hours without needing to refill anything.
the brighter the headlight the brighter the reflection from street signs and the like, this puts a greater strain on the drivers eyeballs which is really bad when driving long distance and/ or with tired eyes. halogen with its slightly yellow glow is way more relaxing.
I bought yellow (blue-blocking) clip-on/flip-up lenses for my glasses so I won't be permanently blinded by all the oncoming 6500K blaster beams.
Smart idea
As an Optometrist, I use blue block lenses for night driving. Much better. Go see your local optom for blue block driving lenses. Specsavers has them.
Remember when you could go buy headlights without having to take out a mortgage
I love LED headlights, however manufacturers need to reconsider making every light as bright as possible, and aftermarket LED headlights need to be heavily regulated. The cheap ones you get on Amazon have no beam pattern and scatter everywhere, blinding other road users and not doing their job of lighting up the road in front of you very well
I had hoped for advice on which type of headlight was best. What I got was a history lesson!
I have some old carbide mine lamps. I didn't realize they were used on cars.
Laser lights are nice, but HIDs remain my favorite headlight. The bright blue glow of 10000k bulbs is awesome
all those lights are fine as long as they are adjusted perfectly and the road is perfectly level. once they become a bit misaligned or there are some small bumps or crests / as/descents they start blinding everyone else.
NO! They are not fine if adjusted properly and on a perfectly level road. They are still excessively bright and casting blinding color temperature cold light into other peoples' eyes.
BINGO!
I remember being able to drive at nite without being blinded by every other car that goes by
This voice has got to be a machine. The timing on some of these words is completely unnatural.
Yup, it's AI. You gotta say, AI narration has come a long way in a short time, it took me 2 minutes to realize, it's not a person.
It is sadly. I can always instantly sniff out this unnatural and emotionless way of speaking. It's a shame more and more videos are using these voiceovers
@@I_hunt_lolis We can mostly thank India for that. They get ChatGPT to crank out "The History of Automobile Headlights" real quick, then they get another piece of software to read it in somebody else's voice. Easy RUclips monitization.
@@I_hunt_lolis Yes indeed. That's I keep telling channels, who use that stuff. I mean, some AI voices aren't too bad, but it's usually worse than a person - I say usually, some people have very annoying ways of talking.
At 11:00, My 2003 Mondeo has xenons,given that I've had it from new and never changed a headlight bulb I'd argue that any bulb that lasts for 21 years and about 90,000 miles so far,is remarkably durable. Where as in the last ten to fifteen years in my job as an auto electrics tech,I have replaced or repaired an endless list of led DRL's,tail lights and headlights where drivers/circuit boards or the actual led board fails,(not to mention the hundreds of those crappy 501 led replacement bulbs that people fit),all failing through poor heat management,cheap components or water ingress and always far exceeding the cost of replacing a DS1/2 Xenon bulb.Even some small led mirror repeaters are around the £150 mark,I paid £300 recently for a Honda jazz DRL not much bigger than a bottle top!. Leds them selves may be ultra durable but the systems to support and control or power them are anything but. There is a steadily growing third party aftermarket industry for led headlight electronic component parts if you know where to look and even OE manufacturers like Hella and bosch have some component parts available now,that in its self is indicative of their fragility.
When I learnt to drive, the car's headlights were yellow. Usually, it was only the bulb itself that was yellow, with a white lens. It was great to drive in the rain, fog, or snow. Yellow lights were mandatory in France since the 30s, I believe. I learnt to drive on my father's 1969 Citroën DS. There were no such innovative and original car in America or anywhere else. The light also turned to follow the steering wheel.
Now get those LED drivers to keep the auto high beam lights off. They see the switch and turn them on in the city when it is not needed and blind the other drivers. Tesla and Honda are the worst.
They just need to be upgraded to a halogen light.
My Volvo XC90 with full adaptive headlights automatically dips to low beam when it detects street lighting.
@@MrOpinions-f3ono
Where I live people drive with the high beams in the city All the time because they "can't see" You can't see because the other person has high beams too you nitwit. Cops used to make people look into the lamps but stopped immediately after it. became news.
@@MrOpinions-f3oor acetylene 😂
My great grandfather had an early Model T. He broke his arm twice starting the car. His buddy was not such a fast learner. He broke his arm 3 times.
What I would love to have seen included in this comparison along with the light output and temperature, is the cost of replacement bulb/LED and unit.
Sure these latest LED matrix and adaptive laser lights seem very clever, and they are. But that comes at a considerable price!
I'm pretty sure we'd be looking at a four-figure bill to replace one of these units when they fail / get damaged. And lets face it, halogen and xenon did the job well enough for most situations without bankrupting you or rendering the vehicle scrap...
There is such a thing as too much complexity and I think we crossed that line a while back. Not just with headlights, but car technology in general.
And this is one of the reasons a slight bump at parking speeds car result to five figure damages.
I own an Audi S4 cabriolet that is the poster boy for what you are outlining. Brilliant engineering is cheek by jowl with stuff Rube Goldberg would ridicule.
incredible amount of information presented very well.
Excellent presentation. I had to replace my HID lamp in my 2009 Range Rover Sport HSE and it was very problematic. But, I was successful in replacing this with an LED with no degradation in performance. So yea - headlights now are very complex and replacing these can be quite the headache.
You can put Osram and Philips LED into any headlights. They have Retrofit lineup for non projector H* type lights. In the EU there are a few countries(like Germany and Austria), where you can use their LED produtcs and you get the TUV licence trough the manufacturing company(the process is in the user manual). You dont have to adjust anything, the Retrofit LED "bulbs" working as the original halogen ones out of box.
No, they are not for ANY Headlight.
Those for ANY Headlight arent allowed on most places on the earth because they are not a point lightsource and do not work with the reflectors, causing light to spill everywhere.
However, there are Osram replacements for SPECIFIC CARS and ONLY for THAT CAR matching the reflector and those you can use legally.
I got the Osram ones (Philips won't make any for my car) and just as a precaution, I took the car to check the adjustment. It was spot on out of the box!
True, but they have to obtain specific type approvals for each individual vehicle make and model and headlight variant. If your car is not on the list, the retrofit is not approved. They have approved bulbs for a Golf MkII, but not for my RAV4.
I would like to use it in my (even projector) halogen lamps, but my country has butthurt "technical inspectors" who "knows better" than any engineers in the European Union.
Yes, I live in Hungary, where properly described TUV licenses worth nothing even installed by certificated specialists. Not only for bulbs, but everything - springs, brakes, exhausts etc. You can buy these LED-things, but only in "off-road" use. Which is also illegal since "off-road" is a public road until it hasn't been under the status of private road.
Duck it...
Except not in the US, where it is illegal to put drop-in LED bulbs into incan headlight housings. In fact, it is difficult to find major brand LED drop-ins for headlights in the US for this reason, why the market is mostly dominated by illegal imports who have no accountability, can just close shop and open under a different name and can't be prosecuted in china.
You cannot adjust them to make them legal in the US. You also cannot adjust them to improve driving with more light, without blinding others more than it improves driving.
Very informative keep it up Brother...
Did I really just spend 17 minutes watching a video about headlights😂
Hell yeah😂 RUclips recommendation 😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for the information. I've installed the after market LED to the old casing and am not happy with the result.
Will change the casing. Thanks again🙏
I must live in the most expensive area, as all the cars seem to have laser headlights and they go on full beam at drivers eye level at all times. There is an extreme safety issue going on with car headlights now, they are now far too bright, and badly aimed. If lights are going to dazzle oncoming vehicles then they must be better regulated. Many people are now scared to drive at night, not because they cant see in the darker conditions, but because of oncoming vehicles causing white out effects, where all you can see is a searchlight coming towards you. Very interesting and informative video. You missed out on one thing, many vehicles in the 70s had bulbs that were inserted into the reflector housing, and were used for decades before sealed beams came in in the late 70s, early 80s. They were cheap to replace, many of my friends complained that their car had sealed beams and how expensive they were to replace.
I was hoping for you to mention that the Citroën DS was the first mass-produced car to feature adaptive headlights :/
Exactly my thoughts, introduced in 1967!
He always mentioned the very firsts in the video, why would he mentioned the DS? Just because its european and not american?
Is this an ai channel?
@@Markibass wow I liked one of the older videos because I couldn't really tell. AI is getting scary nowadays. There needs to be an extension made to automatically block these wastes of time.
@theairaccumulator7144 Welcome to the beginning of the end of the internet. In just a few years it will be mostly AI garbage.
If the content is _actually_ good does it even matter?
@@TH3C001 yes because the content is never good and you can assume everything they're saying is wrong
Multiple ai's their source is literally reddit comments
@TH3C001 It’s NOT good, that’s the whole point. So many of these so-called educational videos are full of falsehoods galore. Those of us who actually know about the subject catch the errors, but the people who these videos are made for DON’T know that what they’re watching is often wrong. But people think it’s right because it’s well made and sounds/looks good. “Artificial Intelligence” means the total dumbing down of society.
Excellent history of headlights 👌
A thing worth noting is that modern LED globes can emulate halogen globes pretty well, making LED conversion for halogen headlights actually quite feasible!
Make no mistake, there's always going to be junk LED globes that don't comply well with reflectors, but some work exceptionally well, providing even better beam placement than the halogens they replace!
I've used a few great H4 alternatives, but the downside I've encountered is short lifespan likely due to the dependence on an integrated fan for cooling, as the dust boots on some cars can interfere with airflow, and the fans themselves can fail causing the LED to overheat and fail. This is the only reason I'm not currently using LED globes myself, as I was changing them about as often as I was changing halogens anyway
LEDs can't legally and practically replace halogen bulbs in halogen reflectors. For one, a filament is a point source. LEDs have a heat sink/driver board between them so the light source will not be perfectly aligned to where the filament was. Two, vehicle lighting is federally regulated and type-approved. If a headlight is designed for an H9 halogen, for example, it can only legally be replaced with an H9 halogen.
Another disadvantage of LED headlights is that they run cool. In snowy conditions halogen and xenon headlights melt the snow withn their heat, while with an LED headlight the snow will stay on the lens and reduce the light output.
I hate when people just sit in their cars while its parked with the headlights burning.
replacing old car's yellow interior lights with white LEDs is heresy
so what is the problem with them?
I got clickbaited too
That Tucker 48 is beautiful! Shame it never made it to mass production.
I drive a 2001 Pontiac Aztek, so I'm just glad mine turn on.
The main problem with LEDs is that they are disgusting looking. 12:00 illustrates the obnoxious flickering. Some literally make me nauseous.
Some household and even flashlight LEDs seem to have a buzzing or strobing quality
The weird part is that they don't have to be that way. It's possible to have an led that gives off a natural looking light.
The problem is, the colder the color temperature, the brighter the light appears to be, so they always choose those sickly blue-white leds.
I have an led flashlight that has about a 3000 K color temperature, and is 'high CRI', meaning it reproduces colors very naturally. The light it gives off is warm and beautiful, and the high color rendition makes distant objects easier to make out. I think this style of led would be much better for headlights, but unfortunately, they don't look as cool as the bluish ones (both figuratively and literally).
Talk about the fogging of the plastic headlight housing.
Believe it or not the Citreon DS had headlights that turned as your turned the steering wheel back in the 1950s.
Wrong. The DS was indeed introduced in the 50's, but the turning headlights only came later on in its life
@@horvathr95 How much later? It was still a long time ago.
@@Andronicus2007 just google it, probably in the 60’s early 70’s
0:41 Bicycles have had this feature for over a century! Glad to see automotive tech finally catching up.
the old headlights in the 70s and 80s were less strong, but their light was "warmer" and less harmful if you had it behind you. Nowadays we have highly lit cristmas trees in the back and front that nobody needs and they are so aggressive that takes my eyesight each time when I look into them
Good video. Just want to say these days headlights are just too powerful and have in fact become a danger to drivers. There is no need for "laser headlights" in my opinion.
Car manufacturers have now become light polluters. Instead of making quality cars, they are using cheap childish LED lightings to entice buyers. And the biggest offenders are Audi and Merc.
"dazzling other drivers" This phrase pops up numerous times. With good reason.
HID and LED light on new cars dazzle other drivers even on low beam. They are obnoxious and dangerous. let's say it like it is.
A few points:-
Higher kelvin light temp is not always a good thing. If the CRI rating is low, then you lose colour and visibility may actually be degraded despite typically having higher lumens than a halogen.
Higher kelvin light temp is bad for other drivers. It "Dazzles other drivers".
Higher kelvin headlamps when seen at a distance tend to throw dazzling blue and purple light colours for oncoming drivers. Very annoying and "dazzling".
Lower kelvin halogen headlights do not dazzle the human eye at night, nor show twinkling of other colours.
Lower kelvin headlights are far superior in fog conditions. Higher kelvin reflects back from the fog badly.
I also suspect newer headlights also dazzle because the light source seems to be projected directly forward from the light source and through a small hemispherical lens straight into your eyes. This is a suspicion, I haven't pulled them apart so don't quote me, but in any case, the same lumens coming from a smaller lens typical in new cars, is just going to be more intense for others to look into.
Halogen bulbs have an opaque cap on top of the bulb. The light reflects backwards onto a metallic reflector of your headlight which has a large surface area (compared to tiny hemisphere lenses), and then forwards. So the light source is diffused over a larger surface area, and you are not looking directly at the light source, so therefore less dazzling to oncoming drivers.
No oncoming halogen bulb headlight car has ever dazzled me on low beam during country driving. Numerous HID and LED cars have dazzled me, even if they are behind you, they are very bright and distracting through your mirrors.
I honestly think headlight developments have outpaced the automotive design safety standards bodies globally, and they are caught short in the area of specifying allowable light Lumens, kelvins, CRI, and light spread and other headlight design standards, such that now driving the country at night is becoming unsafe and I don't really like doing it anymore.
Did an AI write this video?
Of course it did. Report this garbage.
Interesting video. I remember when xenons first came out in the mid 90's, I think the Mercedes E class was the first car to use them widely. They immediately stood out from other vehicles due to that blue/white beam.
I agree with a lot of the comments here. Many of the newer LED, xenon and other intensely white headlamps are too bright you get blinded by them when they're approaching or coming up behind you, especially on darker country roads. The brightness should be regulated by government like halogens used to be regulated to about 50 or 55w