Description
One thing's for sure, the stock headlights on the 1st Gen Cummins leave a little to be desired when it comes to nighttime visibility. Whether its for driving down the highway, cruising some backroads, or out in the fields, we've got numerous lighting upgrades to drastically increase your nighttime visibility.
For those uncertain as to the differences in Halogen, LED, and HID technology, below is a brief summary to help give you a better understanding.
Halogen
A halogen bulb is a form of incandescent light that uses a tungsten filament. When the halogen gas comes into contact with the bulb filament, a chemical reaction occurs that deposits evaporated tungsten back into the filament, allowing it to create light and heat. Overall, halogen lighting is the most cost effective means of automotive lighting, but their overall efficiency suffers due to inefficiencies that cause much of the energy to be transformed into heat energy, as opposed to light energy.
LED (Light Emitting Diode)
LED technology has quickly become the replacement for halogen and incandescent lighting. Overall, the light output of a single LED is comparable to that of halogen, but due to its extremely small size, numerous LED's can be utilized in the same space constraints as a single halogen, thus delivering a much greater light output. Further, the overall power efficiency is much greater than that of halogen, meaning very little energy is wasted to heat, in turn causing the life expectancy to dwarf that of halogen. In the automotive sector, LED also has advantage because it does not require a sensitive filament that can be damaged due to vibration and jarring.
HID (High Intensity Discharge)
In terms of light output, HID is the brightest form in comparison to LED and Halogen if basing upon a single element. HID's are similar in design to that of halogen, but have no filament, rather a tungsten electrode. The electrode is encased in a tube that contains Xenon and metal salts, that when ignited, create an immense amount of light. Overall, HID is great in terms of light output, but are still fragile compared to that of LED.