Headlights are a critical component to driving safely at night. Combined with good night-driving techniques and a clean windshield, good headlights can reduce your chances of having a collision (approximately half of all deadly accidents occur at night, yet night driving accounts for only 25 percent of overall traffic).
The first headlights appeared in the late 1880's, and were fuelled by acetylene and oil. It was time-consuming hard work to operate them. Not long after, electric lights were introduced, and although the fragile filaments in the bulbs failed often, they were a vast improvement. Cadillac was the first to add the luxury of switch controls INSIDE the vehicle. Prior to that, drivers were at risk of being shocked, burned, or run over when switching each individual light on/off and to high/low beam.
Headlight technology improved very little over the next forty years. The typical headlight had a glass lens, a chrome-plated reflector and a bulb. Each carmaker had unique headlights to suit the "style" of their car. Combine the large number of unpaved roads with fragile glass lenses and auto part suppliers were forced to stock a great variety of replacement lenses and bulbs. Another issue was the mediocre moisture seals in most headlamp assemblies – over time moisture rusted the reflectors – light output got dimmer and dimmer. To solve these problems, it was mandated in North America that beginning in 1940 every new car and truck was to use the same seven inch round headlamp. To eliminate the rusting problem a "sealed beam lamp" was required. Sealed beams combine the lens, bulb and reflector into one sealed unit. Eventually, two sizes of both round and rectangular sealed beams were available. But car stylists complained their designs were restricted by having only these few headlamp options...
In 1983, the 44-year-old US headlamp regulations were amended to allow replaceable-bulb, nonstandard-shape, architectural headlamps with aerodynamic plastic lenses. Today, as in years past, every car's headlights are different. However, the lenses are now made from very durable plastic, the reflectors are chrome-plated plastic (which does not rust) and the replaceable bulbs use only a few standard sizes. The only downside I see is a wide range of quality in the plastic lenses – some stay crystal clear for years (like my 10 year old smart car's lights), while others look cloudy and yellowed in only a few years.
Then Came HID
HID stands for high-intensity discharge, a technical term for the electric arc that produces the light. These units produce brilliant bluish light. There's no bulb or filament in the light so they should last longer. Initial cost is much higher than more conventional lamps.
Now We're Getting LED's
Headlamps running on light emitting diodes are becoming more common. They have several advantages due to having multiple light sources within the lamp. With some very clever software AUDI has made the first glare-free high beam. Check out this youtube video showing how they work.
But Wait Lasers Are Coming!
Actually the new BMW i8 has them now and here's a youtube video explaining their new technology.
Then There's "OLD SCHOOL" Lighting!
Back in the day, a night-driving enthusiast would first replace his car's sealed beam headlights with "Cibie" halogen units. Next, high-powered driving lights would be mounted on top of the bumper. These would be complemented by a set of fog lamps mounted as low as possible – often these had yellow lenses. Finally the most obsessed enthusiasts mounted multiple auxiliary lights on the roof. To operate all these lights took a bank of toggle switches.
FOG: with headlamps on low beam, switch this to ON and the yellow fog lamps illuminated and low beams went out. Fog lamps are meant to shine below fog and mist thus minimizing glare, this is only possible if the normal headlamps are switched off*.
DRIVING: switch this to ON and the lights mounted over the bumper would illuminate when high beam was selected. When the headlamps were dipped to low-beam, the driving lights went out.
AUX: switch this to ON and the lights on the roof would illuminate when high beam was selected.
What great fun it was to drive at night with all these lights burning! A mile of road would be lit up bright as day! With the enthusiast flipping these switches, heel and toe shifting and watching TEMP, OIL PRESSURE and TACHOMETER he or she didn't have time to get drowsy!
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| Here's an old guy in an original mini equipped with a full set of rally-style lighting. |
