how headlight work question
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 6,209
Likes: 33
From: Texas-out west
how headlight work question
is it the reflector that determines the distance, width, cutoff etc. for lights or the lens and the way it is ground/designed or is it a combination and if so which one impacts the above the most....thanks.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 19,384
Likes: 87
From: Horncastle Lincolnshire, England
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
There are a few things that affect performance. The ideal is to have a high power lamp in a focussed housing.
HID lights will give the best output. The cheap ones are not DoT approved and spec compliant versions can be expensive. There are a few gotchas when fitting them. That said, they're popular here and a good fit is very effective.
Euro headlights have faceted lenses so they shape the beam better. They focus at about 200 yds or so and point towards the kerb. They also have good cut off. You can modify the housings to take high wattage bulbs which increase the power of the beam. As its better shaped it shouldn't blind oncoming drivers. They also use H4 type buls which are dual filament; in other words low and high beam from one bulb.
Stock lenses are the worst of all. They produce a diverse flat beam which is badly focussed. Its effectively a flat floodlight.
The low and high beam bulbs are fitted in separate housings
There are some real lighting experts on the Forum who will offer advice. Radioflyer is a real guru.
HTH
HID lights will give the best output. The cheap ones are not DoT approved and spec compliant versions can be expensive. There are a few gotchas when fitting them. That said, they're popular here and a good fit is very effective.
Euro headlights have faceted lenses so they shape the beam better. They focus at about 200 yds or so and point towards the kerb. They also have good cut off. You can modify the housings to take high wattage bulbs which increase the power of the beam. As its better shaped it shouldn't blind oncoming drivers. They also use H4 type buls which are dual filament; in other words low and high beam from one bulb.
Stock lenses are the worst of all. They produce a diverse flat beam which is badly focussed. Its effectively a flat floodlight.
The low and high beam bulbs are fitted in separate housings
There are some real lighting experts on the Forum who will offer advice. Radioflyer is a real guru.
HTH
