Xenon bulbs

Description

Xenon headlights are more popular on high-end cars of the last decade, where they have a premium, stylish look. Also known as High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps, xenon headlights deliver a white-blue light, approximately two to three times brighter than a halogen, last approximately 2,500 hours and are energy efficient.

How do they work?

A xenon (HID) lightbulb is a transparent quartz housing with tungsten electrodes at each end and filled with a mixture of gases. The lights work in three steps:

1. Ignition. A high voltage pulse produces a spark that ionizes the xenon gas and creates a connection of current between the electrodes.
2. Heats up. The temperature quickly rises, ionizing the gas mixture, lowering the resistance between the two electrodes.
3. Bright light. The ballast switches to continuous operation with a constant supply of power so the light won’t fail. The ballast is a capacitor that creates and regulates the high-voltage that xenon lights need to operate.

The xenon gas is only used during the start up to give instant light while the other gases are still heating up to their operating temperature. Even so, it can take a few seconds for the light to turn fully on.