Post by Crossbones Dennis on Dec 23, 2009 10:20:29 GMT -6
Posted By Ilona French
As lighting solutions have had to keep up with drivers’ ever-increasing demands, technology has quickly surpassed the original lighting options on yesteryear’s vehicles— with more options available than ever before.
Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor of the light bulb, has been quoted as saying, “I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it.” Some of the greatest automotive aftermarket manufacturers have worked in the same way, listening to customers’ concerns, finding gaps in product offerings and then filling them with useful technology to make each vehicle perform better. This can certainly be said of aftermarket companies supplying lighting products for hot rods, classic cars and restorations, as they find dark spots in the industry and fill them with vivid new lighting options.
Today’s lighting choices enhance a vehicle’s style and performance while also providing safety on the road. And, aftermarket lights are certainly more efficient than the lamps of the 1920s and 1930s.
“You get more light out per watt,” said Joel Felty, owner of Headwinds in Monrovia, California. “The problem with the lights on the early lamps is that the technology of the day was far behind where we are now. The Massachusetts speed limit in 1928, for example, was 30 mph. The roads wouldn’t let you go any faster. When the roads started getting better and the engines started getting more powerful, soon the cars were outrunning the headlights. Little by little, the lighting had improved.”
To gain a better perspective on the differences between lighting and how lighting can translate into retail sales, let’s discuss the basic composition of common automotive light sources.
What’s the Difference?
Go back in time and you will discover burner lights, which were used in early, non-electrified cars, such as steam cars and early internal combustion engine vehicles.
“They typically used kerosene as the combustible fluid,” said Felty. “Standard, halogen and xenon bulbs are of the incandescent type, where light is produced when a metallic filament, housed in a glass tube, is heated white-hot in a vacuum by passing an electric current through the filament.
“Scientists realized that a brighter light [indicated by its color temperature] is obtained when the [quartz glass] bulb is filled with the halogen gas iodine,” said Felty. He added that there are many gases in the halogen family— iodine, fluorine, chlorine, bromine and astatine, some of which are used in lights.
“Most hot rodders familiar with arc welding might relate to how the arc temperature and brightness rise when adding gas to the arc,” said Felty. “For example, straight argon gas produces a heat and brightness to easily weld steel. But mixing helium with argon increases the temperature and brightness, making aluminum easily welded.”
This brings us to xenon, an inert gas.
“Most of the xenon lighting around is still just incandescent bulbs that are filled with xenon gas,” he said. “But xenon gas is good! It produces about 30 percent more light than the ‘halogen’ iodine bulbs.”
Halogen lights became popular in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s, replacing old sealed beam and incandescent technology in automotive applications.
“Halogen bulb is a tungsten filament encased in the quartz glass bulb filled with halogen gas,” said Bogdan Durian, president of Delta Tech Industries in Placentia, California.
“Halogen gas along with quartz glass allows the bulb to operate at higher temperatures than sealed beam [technology], thus producing a stronger and whiter light. Delta Tech has long abandoned this technology in favor of a new generation of lighting [devices] — xenon lights.”
“Xenon lights [otherwise known as blue bulbs, hyper-white bulbs, etc.] have recently surfaced as an improvement over the halogen light source due to the introduction of xenon gas, which allows the filament to burn even hotter and emitting whiter light than halogen,” he said.
HID (high-intensity discharge) lights represent the latest technology in automotive lighting currently available on luxury automobiles.
“The burner has no filament to burn; instead, it is filled with xenon gas, which once excited by a direct current of 20,000-plus volts, ignites to create light intensity equal to daylight at 6,000 Kelvin in color temperature,” Durian said. “This is made possible by a ballast and igniter, which can energize 12-volt DC current to such high output in voltage. The extremely bright light is not the only benefit here. An HID single light system draws only 2.9 amps while operating on 35 watts of power. This is by far the most efficient automotive forward light system known today.”
Delta Tech currently produces many auxiliary lights and light bars in HID configuration.
“The expected life span of high-intensity discharge lighting over standard OEM halogen lighting is ten-fold simply because there is no filament to burn out,” he said. “Aftermarket lights, such as HID auxiliary lights, are 36 percent more energy-efficient than standard halogen lighting.”
LED (light emitting diode) lights, in simple terms, are glowing diodes (semi-conductors, which convert electricity into light).
“Their advantage is super-low amperage draw measured in milliamps,” said Durian. “The drawback of these lamps is their directional output and that they are very heat-sensitive, limiting this technology’s application in forward lighting. For automotive usage, LED lights are best suited for instrument or signaling applications. Delta Tech is using this technology exclusively for stop, directional and instrument lighting (switch lights).”
Dakota Digital of Sioux Falls, South Dakota uses LED technology in its LED taillight assemblies, replacing stock incandescent lighting. “This newer technology is much more energy-efficient, can provide more intense lighting and offers a greater lifespan when the product is designed correctly,” said Scott Johnson.
Although much depends upon the circuitry driving the LEDs, a common spec is over 50,000 hours of use, he added.
Installing aftermarket lighting is not like building an engine. Lighting is quite easy to work on. However, installation time will vary depending upon the application and the product used. For example, typical installation time of Delta Tech’s auxiliary lights is under one hour, said Durian.
“Since our wiring harness comes already pre-wired and pre-terminated, the installation time is usually limited to the time it takes to install a switch in the dashboard with the rest falling right in,” he said. “In general, installation of aftermarket lights and light bars presents very little challenge.”
David Odegard, product manager for Carson, California-based United Pacific Industries, agreed that installation is usually easy.
“Installing our lights is as simple as replacing the original lens with our new lens containing the embedded LEDs. We have made a connector that looks like the base of the original 1157 or 1156 light bulbs and installs in seconds without any cutting or splicing of the original vehicle wiring.”
Basic automotive tools are necessary to complete an installation, ranging from a soldering iron and crimper to a wrench, screwdriver and electric drill.
“Electrical connections are of extreme importance,” said Johnson of Dakota Digital. “In many cases, the connections are made outside the vehicle and may be exposed to the elements. Soldering is normally the recommended method, but any watertight solid connection should be acceptable.”
Clearing Up Misconceptions
When it comes to new lighting technologies, customers often carry common misconceptions. Scott Johnson of Dakota Digital discussed a few of them, giving retailers advice on how to approach them:
“I’ve heard that I will have to rewire my car to use LED taillights.”
This is not the case, said Johnson. A new flasher may need to be installed, which will compensate for the smaller amount of current used by the LED tail lights, but no major modifications are required to the electrical system.
“LEDs are spotty and look like LEDs.”
This can certainly be the case; however, when designed with proper optics and diffusion techniques, this can be avoided. Placing as many LEDs into a given space is not always the answer to brighter light. Working with the available lens optics often provides much better results, said Johnson.
“I’ve tried the 1157 plug-in LED replacements, but they didn’t offer an improvement over my stock bulbs.”
There are two reasons for this, according to Johnson, the first being the optics in front of the lens. LEDs provide a relatively directional light; diffusion of this light is very important to provide a full and diffused appearance.
A second reason these plug-in replacements generally are not an improvement is the method in which the LEDs are driven. An inexpensive method of driving LEDs is to add a resistor inline, leaving the remaining voltage to power the LED. Although cheap, this is the least efficient method of powering an LED.
Another downfall is the brightness of the LED will vary based upon the incoming voltage. Imagine turning on your air-conditioner and losing taillight brightness. This is the result of directly driving LEDs with this method. Dakota Digital uses the addition of a switching power supply. This improves efficiency and helps LEDs maintain brightness, regardless of voltage.
As lighting solutions have had to keep up with drivers’ ever-increasing demands, technology has quickly surpassed the original lighting options on yesteryear’s vehicles— with more options available than ever before.
Thomas Edison, the prolific inventor of the light bulb, has been quoted as saying, “I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it.” Some of the greatest automotive aftermarket manufacturers have worked in the same way, listening to customers’ concerns, finding gaps in product offerings and then filling them with useful technology to make each vehicle perform better. This can certainly be said of aftermarket companies supplying lighting products for hot rods, classic cars and restorations, as they find dark spots in the industry and fill them with vivid new lighting options.
Today’s lighting choices enhance a vehicle’s style and performance while also providing safety on the road. And, aftermarket lights are certainly more efficient than the lamps of the 1920s and 1930s.
“You get more light out per watt,” said Joel Felty, owner of Headwinds in Monrovia, California. “The problem with the lights on the early lamps is that the technology of the day was far behind where we are now. The Massachusetts speed limit in 1928, for example, was 30 mph. The roads wouldn’t let you go any faster. When the roads started getting better and the engines started getting more powerful, soon the cars were outrunning the headlights. Little by little, the lighting had improved.”
To gain a better perspective on the differences between lighting and how lighting can translate into retail sales, let’s discuss the basic composition of common automotive light sources.
What’s the Difference?
Go back in time and you will discover burner lights, which were used in early, non-electrified cars, such as steam cars and early internal combustion engine vehicles.
“They typically used kerosene as the combustible fluid,” said Felty. “Standard, halogen and xenon bulbs are of the incandescent type, where light is produced when a metallic filament, housed in a glass tube, is heated white-hot in a vacuum by passing an electric current through the filament.
“Scientists realized that a brighter light [indicated by its color temperature] is obtained when the [quartz glass] bulb is filled with the halogen gas iodine,” said Felty. He added that there are many gases in the halogen family— iodine, fluorine, chlorine, bromine and astatine, some of which are used in lights.
“Most hot rodders familiar with arc welding might relate to how the arc temperature and brightness rise when adding gas to the arc,” said Felty. “For example, straight argon gas produces a heat and brightness to easily weld steel. But mixing helium with argon increases the temperature and brightness, making aluminum easily welded.”
This brings us to xenon, an inert gas.
“Most of the xenon lighting around is still just incandescent bulbs that are filled with xenon gas,” he said. “But xenon gas is good! It produces about 30 percent more light than the ‘halogen’ iodine bulbs.”
Halogen lights became popular in the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s, replacing old sealed beam and incandescent technology in automotive applications.
“Halogen bulb is a tungsten filament encased in the quartz glass bulb filled with halogen gas,” said Bogdan Durian, president of Delta Tech Industries in Placentia, California.
“Halogen gas along with quartz glass allows the bulb to operate at higher temperatures than sealed beam [technology], thus producing a stronger and whiter light. Delta Tech has long abandoned this technology in favor of a new generation of lighting [devices] — xenon lights.”
“Xenon lights [otherwise known as blue bulbs, hyper-white bulbs, etc.] have recently surfaced as an improvement over the halogen light source due to the introduction of xenon gas, which allows the filament to burn even hotter and emitting whiter light than halogen,” he said.
HID (high-intensity discharge) lights represent the latest technology in automotive lighting currently available on luxury automobiles.
“The burner has no filament to burn; instead, it is filled with xenon gas, which once excited by a direct current of 20,000-plus volts, ignites to create light intensity equal to daylight at 6,000 Kelvin in color temperature,” Durian said. “This is made possible by a ballast and igniter, which can energize 12-volt DC current to such high output in voltage. The extremely bright light is not the only benefit here. An HID single light system draws only 2.9 amps while operating on 35 watts of power. This is by far the most efficient automotive forward light system known today.”
Delta Tech currently produces many auxiliary lights and light bars in HID configuration.
“The expected life span of high-intensity discharge lighting over standard OEM halogen lighting is ten-fold simply because there is no filament to burn out,” he said. “Aftermarket lights, such as HID auxiliary lights, are 36 percent more energy-efficient than standard halogen lighting.”
LED (light emitting diode) lights, in simple terms, are glowing diodes (semi-conductors, which convert electricity into light).
“Their advantage is super-low amperage draw measured in milliamps,” said Durian. “The drawback of these lamps is their directional output and that they are very heat-sensitive, limiting this technology’s application in forward lighting. For automotive usage, LED lights are best suited for instrument or signaling applications. Delta Tech is using this technology exclusively for stop, directional and instrument lighting (switch lights).”
Dakota Digital of Sioux Falls, South Dakota uses LED technology in its LED taillight assemblies, replacing stock incandescent lighting. “This newer technology is much more energy-efficient, can provide more intense lighting and offers a greater lifespan when the product is designed correctly,” said Scott Johnson.
Although much depends upon the circuitry driving the LEDs, a common spec is over 50,000 hours of use, he added.
Installing aftermarket lighting is not like building an engine. Lighting is quite easy to work on. However, installation time will vary depending upon the application and the product used. For example, typical installation time of Delta Tech’s auxiliary lights is under one hour, said Durian.
“Since our wiring harness comes already pre-wired and pre-terminated, the installation time is usually limited to the time it takes to install a switch in the dashboard with the rest falling right in,” he said. “In general, installation of aftermarket lights and light bars presents very little challenge.”
David Odegard, product manager for Carson, California-based United Pacific Industries, agreed that installation is usually easy.
“Installing our lights is as simple as replacing the original lens with our new lens containing the embedded LEDs. We have made a connector that looks like the base of the original 1157 or 1156 light bulbs and installs in seconds without any cutting or splicing of the original vehicle wiring.”
Basic automotive tools are necessary to complete an installation, ranging from a soldering iron and crimper to a wrench, screwdriver and electric drill.
“Electrical connections are of extreme importance,” said Johnson of Dakota Digital. “In many cases, the connections are made outside the vehicle and may be exposed to the elements. Soldering is normally the recommended method, but any watertight solid connection should be acceptable.”
Clearing Up Misconceptions
When it comes to new lighting technologies, customers often carry common misconceptions. Scott Johnson of Dakota Digital discussed a few of them, giving retailers advice on how to approach them:
“I’ve heard that I will have to rewire my car to use LED taillights.”
This is not the case, said Johnson. A new flasher may need to be installed, which will compensate for the smaller amount of current used by the LED tail lights, but no major modifications are required to the electrical system.
“LEDs are spotty and look like LEDs.”
This can certainly be the case; however, when designed with proper optics and diffusion techniques, this can be avoided. Placing as many LEDs into a given space is not always the answer to brighter light. Working with the available lens optics often provides much better results, said Johnson.
“I’ve tried the 1157 plug-in LED replacements, but they didn’t offer an improvement over my stock bulbs.”
There are two reasons for this, according to Johnson, the first being the optics in front of the lens. LEDs provide a relatively directional light; diffusion of this light is very important to provide a full and diffused appearance.
A second reason these plug-in replacements generally are not an improvement is the method in which the LEDs are driven. An inexpensive method of driving LEDs is to add a resistor inline, leaving the remaining voltage to power the LED. Although cheap, this is the least efficient method of powering an LED.
Another downfall is the brightness of the LED will vary based upon the incoming voltage. Imagine turning on your air-conditioner and losing taillight brightness. This is the result of directly driving LEDs with this method. Dakota Digital uses the addition of a switching power supply. This improves efficiency and helps LEDs maintain brightness, regardless of voltage.