Broken headlight? Halogen, LED or Xenon? Our info!

Reading time 6 Min.

Does the vehicle have a defective headlight? Halogen, LED or Xenon, how is it repaired or replaced? And what are the costs? The most important thing in a nutshell: There are three types of headlights. the Halogen headlights (halogen lamps), the Xenon headlights (a xenon burner at least) and the LED headlights (bulbs = LED modules). Halogen, xenon and LED is the order in terms of luminous flux yield, but the spare parts costs can also be represented in this order. Thus, LED headlights are the ones with the best luminous flux, but also the ones with the highest costs when they need to be changed. Of course you can here too Laser headlights name, but these are by no means represented as often as the others. That's why we leave them out.

Signs/Symptoms - Defective headlight

There are usually three reasons that are responsible for a defect: an accident, water ingress and age-related wear. The most common symptoms of a defect are: The on-board computer issues an error message, there is less light output than usual because only one headlight is working or there is a total failure. What has symptoms similar to a broken headlight? If a headlight is not working properly, the cause can of course only be the light source. If the headlights are equipped with LEDs or Xenon, the cause may be in the control unit or in the regulation of the headlight range. Good to know: Often the reason for a necessary exchange is not that the bulbs are completely defective, but that they have become dull, which is known blind is called. This has a negative effect on the luminosity. It may even be the reason that the main inspection failed will. However, the worn headlight can often be remedied by polishing (Attention, can be illegal) or the replacement of the glass can be repaired.

How is a defective headlight repaired / replaced?

With the LED or Xenon headlights, the problem can come from one of the Attachments lie like that Headlight control unit, the Motor for controlling the headlight range or other. These components can actually be replaced individually. In reality, however, the individual components are often not interchangeable because they all form one large component are glued. As a result, a defective headlight often has to be completely replaced. How long it takes to replace a headlight depends on the vehicle. Sometimes it is necessary that bumper to dismantle or at least to solve. If the headlights have been replaced, the specialist workshop must replace them set according to the specifications. This is an important step, because misaligned headlights dazzle oncoming traffic and fail the general inspection.

What are the costs of changing headlights?

Depending on the vehicle model and the headlights installed, the total costs vary extremely. Depending on the vehicle and the manufacturer of the spare part, halogen headlights cost around 50 to 300 euros. The more expensive xenon headlights are between 500 and 2.500 euros. LED headlights top the price at up to 3.000 euros apiece. We prefer not to talk about the laser headlight mentioned at the beginning. Changing a headlight usually takes half an hour to two hours. The working time depends on how many additional components have to be dismantled, i.e. depending on the effort. With an hourly wage of 100 euros, the labor costs are 50 to 200 euros.

Comparison between LED, halogen & LED headlights!

Halogen, xenon or LED lights can be found in current vehicles. The following overview lists the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of light. A look into the future: Laser light is the further development of LED light. It is four times as bright and has so far only been found in a few luxury vehicles. It is therefore not presented further here. However, laser light will certainly soon be available in almost all vehicle classes.

Halogen headlights

• The basis of a halogen headlight is the classic one light bulb. To improve the luminosity, the inner glass bulb gets an additional gas, that is the "halogen".

The halogen headlight, the advantages:

• The acquisition costs are cheap.
• Here the change on your own is very easy.

The halogen headlight, the disadvantages:

• Xenon and LED headlights have a much higher luminous flux.
• The durability is comparatively low.
• They have high energy consumption.

Xenon headlights

They work differently than the halogen headlights. A "gas discharge lamp" filled with xenon gas is installed. With this technology, an arc is created between two electrodes inside the lamp. The arc is created due to a high voltage pulse controlled by a special control unit.

The xenon headlight, the advantages:

• The luminous flux is higher than with a halogen headlight.
• The lateral street illumination is better and the range of the light is longer than with a halogen headlight.
• The gas discharge lamps are durable and can be replaced individually.
• The color of the light is similar to daylight.
• The light can be adapted to the driving situation, as with adaptive headlights.

The xenon headlight, the disadvantages:

• More expensive than a halogen headlight.
• The luminous flux builds up slowly and is not immediately available.

LED headlights

A semiconductor crystal generates the light in the LED headlights. A reflector trough distributes the light evenly in front of the vehicle.

The LED headlight, the advantages:

• The luminous flux is extremely high.
• The range is longer and the lateral radiation is much better than the halogen headlight.
• The energy consumption is very low.
• The light color is similar to daylight.
• The design is visually sophisticated, like animated turn signals.
• The light can be adapted to the driving situation, as with adaptive headlights.
• The service life is extremely high.

Adjust the range of the headlights.

Adjusting the headlight range influences the light cone of the headlight so that oncoming traffic is not unnecessarily dazzled. This regulation can be done manually or automatically. One automatic headlight range control is mandatory if xenon and LED headlights are installed, which have a luminous flux of more than 2.000 lumens to have. There are manufacturers who have designed the xenon or LED headlights on some models of their vehicles in such a way that they have the 2.000 lumens not exceed. If a manual headlight range control is installed in the vehicle, it must be possible to adjust it from the driver's seat at any time. How to do this is in the vehicle manual. This is necessary so that the headlight beam angle is adjusted to the vehicle load. If the trunk is fully loaded, the rear of the car sinks, which means that the headlights are more upwards. The manual headlight range adjustment compensates for this. Whether the basic setting is correct is tested in the main inspection. If the setting is no longer correct, the headlight adjustment device is used and the basic setting is corrected.

Of course, that wasn't the end of it.

tuningblog.eu has a lot of other articles on the subject of auto & tuning in stock. Do you want to see them all? Just click HERE and look around. But also planned changes in the law, violations in road traffic, current regulations in the field of STVO or on the subject inspection we would like to inform you regularly. Everything you can find in the category "Test sites, laws, offenses, information". Following an excerpt of the last information:

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