Driving at nighttime can be a blinding light show because of the multitude of headlights that vehicles use. The comforting, yellow light from halogen bulbs is being replaced by the whiter and brighter LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) and the brighter, HID (high intensity discharge) lights that are filled with xenon gas.
One is probably wondering what the difference between these two types of headlights (LED and Xenon) is.
Below we will go over the answer and tell you whether xenon is brighter than LED.
Xenon Headlights
Xenon HID (high intensity discharge) headlights come with bulbs, but not like halogen lights, they don’t come with filaments so they usually last much longer than halogen bulbs (they don’t last as long as LED lights (2,000 to 2,500 hours). They also use more energy than LEDs and less than halogen bulbs. They also become dimmer over time and are hotter than LEDs.
In xenon headlights, electric currents are passed through xenon gas to make an arc in between a couple of electrodes to produce intense bluish or white light that’s brighter than LEDs. There are aftermarket xenon bulbs that come in different shades of white, yellow, and blue.
When it’s darker outside, xenon lights are very bright and can actually blind (make things not visible) oncoming drivers. To make up for it, xenon lights often use leveling systems that adjust the beam pattern when the headlights are on.
Xenon lights and LEDs were usually only placed on higher end vehicles, but now they are made available to more users, the LEDs especially. There are actually some companies who have made LEDs a standard across their vehicle range.
LED headlights
For use in vehicles, LEDs typically have a distinct white color and are much brighter than halogen bulbs, even though they aren’t as bright as xenon HID lights. Due to their small size, LEDs can be placed in tight spaces and placed in a number of patterns which gives vehicle designers and engineers more space to be creative with them.
In LEDs, electric current is passed through a semiconductor / diode to make a light that is brighter and has a wider beam pattern than other bulb types. LEDs are more efficient (90 percent) than incandescent lights and produce less heat. They also last longer than xenon or halogen lights, even though they tend to dim as they age.
LEDs are becoming the dominant type of headlight because of their lowered energy usage, and because of the fact that they tend to last longer and are cheaper.
Which is brighter?
Xenon lights tend to be brighter than LED headlights. Look below for a side-by-side comparison of their brightness.
- Xenon headlights tend to offer approximately 3000 lumens of brightness.
- LED headlights tend to produce around 2,000 lumens of brightness.