Heat output hid vs halogen drivers#

LED (light emitting diode) retrofits often require bulky power converters to operate off the AC voltage in a building on the grid, but are perfectly suited to work with the 12VDC in an automotive system.

These fixtures are more efficient than filament bulbs and can produce more light but contain dangerous chemicals like mercury and emit proportionally more UV light that can damage surrounding parts.

Heat output hid vs halogen drivers#

Most drivers could identify older HID headlights by their distinct blue or green tint, but newer technologies have normalized the color temperature. HID (high intensity discharge) bulbs are a type of arc lamp and generate light by heating metal salts to the point of forming plasma. Halogen bulbs are slightly more efficient than incandescent bulbs and the increased light output makes them the most common light source for headlights even today. The brighter light emits more heat and the specialized glass dictates a smaller bulb size, so these lights get extremely hot and require special handling even when cool to avoid introducing grease or chemicals to the surface that could cause the bulb to heat unevenly and explode.

This setup takes advantage of chemical reactions that let evaporated tungsten return to the filament rather than collect on the glass surface and enables a brighter light with a longer lifetime. Halogen bulbs solve this problem by burning the filament in a halogen gas atmosphere inside a quartz or aluminoscilate glass bulb.