Headlight Bulb Sizes

To make things even worse, some of them are not even as bright as the original halogen bulb. A projector does both beams, low and high, even though it uses a single filament light bulb. Inside a projector there is a shutter that opens and closes to show you all of the light output or only half. So even if you have a basic single filament light bulb you can still get the dual beam out of a projector headlight. This is not the case with the reflector analog. Projectors can make one or two beams depending on the design while reflectors are always one beam. If you want reflector to do both hight and low beam you have to use a different type of a light bulb. Nowadays, a lot of cars can come with a projector and reflector type of headlights on the same vehicle.

For example, you can replace reflector headlights with a projector kit of the same shape. It is a pretty common upgrade because some people like the way the projector looks. Theoretically, it also provides a better beam pattern. Reflectors are pretty simple – a bulb illuminates the chrome area inside, light source bounces off the shiny surface that creates a beam pattern. Generally, it is fairly inefficient and not very focused. At least, not as focused as compared to the projector. The interesting thing about the projector headlights is that they sometimes incorporate the benefits of both technologies. Opposite to a very large horizontal layout found in the reflector, the projector has a very small bowl with the light bulb sitting backward.

The light from the bulb is captured inside this small bowl and gets focused through the lens. The same principle is leveraged when using the magnifying glass in the sun to start a fire except for the fact the desired effect with the lens is to create a razor-sharp beam pattern. There is one big characteristic of the different types of projector lenses dividing them into a single beam and dual beam with the latter one having a solenoid and some wiring coming out. If you give this connector 12 volts the solenoid will be activated inside the projector to lower the cut-off shield. In low beam position, not energized, the shield is upright and creates a sharp cut-off horizontal line.

When switching from low to high beam the solenoid is energized and the shield pulls down opening up the projector lens for 100 percent. In the dual beam projector, this creates high and low beams. In a single beam projector, there is simply one static projector for low beam and either another projector or a reflector for high beam. Some cars might use all three styles. Let us sum up the differences between the reflector and projector headlights. Normally, reflector headlights will use halogen bulbs but there are certain circumstances with a vehicle coming off the factory with a reflector with HID. Same goes for projectors.

It is a 50-50 situation. A lot of factory projector headlights come with a halogen light bulb but a lot of times they have LED or HID. Sometimes you can convert a reflector headlight to LED or HID with just different light bulbs. And sometimes you can do the same thing with the projector. Generally speaking, you are guaranteed an increase in light output if you convert your projector halogen bulb to HID. If you stick with LED the odds are not that good as more and more products are coming to the market which are suitable applications for an LED bulb in a projector. But if you already have projector headlights and you want to make them brighter your best bet is an HID conversion kit.

It is strongly recommended to always wear safety glasses when replacing their headlight bulbs for safety reasons.

We cannot claim to provide a comprehensive headlight bulb guide without mentioning this topic. To start with, always know that the color of the light is always measured in K which is obtained by using the Kelvin scale.

A typical halogen bulb like those found in most cars will be classified as being of warm colors. For it to have an even more temperature, it has to pass through the tinted glass. Now you know why cars that have blue headlight bulbs end up producing white light. But the darker the tint is, the bluer the color will become.

Headlights alignment

How to correctly aim and adjust headlights? Contrary to what many people may be aware of, your car’s headlights are designed in a way that they would end up being a fit in countries that either drive on the left side or the right side.

This is why the headlights used for left-sided traffic always have low-beam headlights that refract to the left. This allows the light to be disbursed in a way that it moves downward as a way of letting the driver see the road without having to blind oncoming traffic. The vice-versa is true for cars that are driven on the right side of the road.

SAE & ECE

SAE is a type of stamp that is majorly used in the US while the ECE is common for the European nations. The only difference between the two is the allowed light intensity and the permissible amount of glare. For instance, America allows more glare.

Load adjustment

The term load adjustment, whenever used, implies that the headlights will typically adjust themselves bending downwards to avoid dazzling the cars moving in the opposite line.

Understanding wattage

Many people tend to get this aspect absolutely wrong. If you want more light, simply go for more watts. It is that simple. You cannot, for instance, compare the light output of a 40Wlight bulb with a 150 W light bulb.

A marking such as 65/55W means that the low beam is 55W and the high beam is 65W.

Check out the full database of car bulbs.

Final Remarks

Considering the above said, we advise to seek a balance between performance, longevity, and price. Headlight manufacturers tend to charge more for bulbs that are whiter and very bright as well. This means that brighter bulbs with higher color temperature and higher light output cost more. Halogen headlight bulbs end up being white and brighter but do not last long. If you want to try high-end products like HIDs and LEDs headlights bulbs, you will get a great white (brighter) lamps with a solid life span. While a high output halogen bulb is expected to last for a year, LED and HIDs will last between 3 and 4 years. Hopefully, you have all the information you need on headlight light bulbs to make the right decisions.

Also, check out our wheels sizes database.