Looking to buy bulbs for your car? You will need this guide to know which one fits your car the best and which one suits your tastes.
So, without further ado, let’s dive in deeper.
Bulb Types
There are three major bulb types that you can buy in the market:
Halogen Bulb
The halogen bulb has been used in vehicles since the early 20th century. It is still the most common and popular bulb in the market, beating the others by a healthy margin, You can visit car wreckers and find tons of vehicles with this kind of bulb. Perhaps, manufacturers went with the notion: ‘if it’s not broken don’t fix it’.
After all the technology seems to have passed the test of time and halogen bulbs are made the same way they were made decades ago. But it is really the low cost of production that has allowed halogen bulbs to existing after being in the market for multiple decades.
Halogen bulbs have a tungsten filament inside the glass shell that glows once electricity passes through it. Also inside the bulb is halogen gas that allows the light to shine brighter.
The H4 is the most common halogen bulb, nowadays, but there are other variants. The H17, H18, H8, H9, and H11 are all halogen bulbs that are used in either the headlight or the fog lights.
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Xenon Bulbs
High-intensity discharge (HID) or xenon bulbs, as they are sometimes called, do not have a filament inside the glass shell. Instead, there is an arc between two electrodes that lights up within a few seconds after being activated.
Interestingly, the xenon gas and the arc need a high voltage of electricity to work perfectly. Therefore, HID lights extract a lot of energy from the battery. As a result, you shouldn’t install them if you don’t have a capable battery and high-quality wiring.
Xenon bulbs are also long-lasting and emit an extremely bright white light. In other words, they are the perfect light bulbs for people looking for extra visibility in tricky conditions. But you should be very careful with HID bulbs, if they are not installed properly, they can catch fire. When that happens you will have no choice but to sell your vehicle to a junkyard that gives cash for cars.
LED Bulbs
After halogen bulbs, LED light bulbs are getting increasingly common. Not because they are cheaper to make, but because they last longer and perform better than traditional halogen light bulbs. In LED bulbs, light is produced when electricity passes through the diodes. The entire mechanism is very efficient and perfect for modern vehicles.
All the newer cars have LED bulbs. If your vehicle has one, and it has malfunctioned, look for a place that offers a car removal service. These guys usually have spare light bulbs to sell.
