Car Headlight Bulbs

                                Car Headlight Bulbs

the first step is to get educated. There are a lot of products on the automotive lighting market, most of which are claimed to be upgrades. Some of them are, but many of them are downgrades, and some of them are dangerous and illegal. The technical standards and regulations to which lighting devices must conform vary by state/province and by country.

If you're looking for lighting products but don't know exactly what you need, or if you require lighting consultation services, we're happy to help. Please start by reading the articles in the Technical Information section. If, after reading the articles there, you don't find the information you're looking for, don't hesistate to contact us via email with any questions about automotive lighting or our products and services.

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Click here to learn all the technical details on different kinds of headlamps, bulbs, light color, regulations and lens markings. You'll also find information in this section on how to aim lamps properly, work with the lighting and wiring systems of your car, and more.

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The US DOT is thinking about changing headlamp laws in America. Take a look!


Blue-ish headlights are not very common yet, but they are likely to become the norm because they produce more light than normal headlights while at the same time using less power. This combination is hard to beat!

There are several different articles having to do with light here at HowStuffWorks:

    Halogen lights
    Gas camping lanterns (the kind with mantles)
    Lasers
    Fluorescent lights
    Electroluminescent panels

All of these technologies excite atoms so that they produce photons. In the case of halogen bulbs and gas lanterns, heat is doing the exciting. In other technologies it is various forms of electricity or light that create the excitement.

Most cars currently use halogen bulbs in their headlights. The new blue-ish headlights are using a different technology called High Intensity Discharge (HID). We normally see HID lamps in the form of mercury vapor and sodium vapor lights used as street lamps and as outdoor lighting for stadiums. These lamps are popular because they are efficient. In the case of sodium vapor, they are twice as efficient as normal fluorescent bulbs.

Mercury and sodium vapor lamps produce light using a technique similar to that used in fluorescent lamps. In fluorescent lamps a low-pressure mercury vapor produces lots of ultraviolet light that excites a phosphor coating the tube. In the case of mercury vapor lamps, it is a high-pressure gas, the distance between the electrodes is very short and the light is produced directly without the need for the phosphor.

In the case of HID headlights, the same high-pressure technology is used. The lamp is similar to a mercury vapor lamp. However, designers of the headlights had to solve one problem with normal mercury vapor lamps -- the fact that they have long start-up times. Xenon helps solve the start-up problem, as does a special controller. All of these tricks mean that these headlights are expensive now, but mass production should bring the cost down eventually.

Here are some interesting links:

    Motor Vehicle Lighting Council: Xenon FAQ
    Automotive Xenon metal halide HID lamps
    Philips: High Intensity Discharge Lamps
    HID electronic ballasts
    GM Goodwrench Videos

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The second filament will only light up when you activate the main beam.

The most common type of headlamp bulb with two filaments in is a H4 (472) bulb which is easy to recognise when you take it out as it has a 3 pin connection.

All the following car makers use the H4 types of bulbs for their twin element type bulbs, Vauxhall, Ford, VW, Toyota, Jaguar, Fiat, Nissan, Honda, and Renault. But don’t forget your car may not have the twin element type.

The cars that go for the two separate bulb option usually use a H1 (448) headlight bulb for the main beam and a H7 (499) for the dip beam.

The H1 shown below has just a single pin connection and the H7 has a two pin connection.

H1, H7 Headlight Bulbs

The H4 headlight bulb is virtually the only 2 filament option open to the worlds major car manufacturers, but there are lots of other types of single filament headlight bulbs available besides the H1 and H7.

Although those two types are probably in 90% of single filament head lamps throughout Europe today, there are a lot of other types that your car might have.

We have listed some of the other types on this page.

If you'd like to know which headlights fit your car please use our Make and Model Search for Bulbs here or phone us free on 0800 019 6459.



Here is a Brief History of Car Headlight Bulbs.

The first cars to have headlamps (these were not electric lamps) were way back in 1880. The first electrically run headlights were seen on an electric powered car in 1898, made in the USA.

Some cars started to offer them as standard equipment from 1904 but it was Cadillac who introduced the electrical ignition and lighting system in 1912 that really started off lights on cars as we know them today.

Dipped or low beam headlights came out in 1915 but they were crude examples. Again it was Cadillac that invented the first headlights that could be dipped merely by using a lever inside the car in 1917.

In 1927, the foot-operated dimmer switch was introduced and became standard for many years.

Modern day headlights are required to produce a low and a high beam. Low beam headlights are for use on one side of the road. In the UK our dip beams are set to show light on the centre and left hand side of the road so as not to dazzle oncoming vehicles.

Obviously if you do drive through Europe, France, Spain for example, then you will legally be required to use headlamp adaptors to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. See Headlamp Adaptors here.

The first car to be fitted with Xenon headlights was the BMW 7 Series in 1991. Even to this day most cars are still fitted with standard Halogen headlamps. Xenons are still considered to be a luxury.

Xenons burn brighter due to the gas enabling them to get far more light from the same wattage/voltage. It is worth remembering though that if something burns brighter it is often short lived. Xenon's such as the Osram Nightbreakers only last half the time of a standard headlight bulb and very often even less than that.

We at Click Parts sell a full range of xenon upgrade headlight bulbs here including the new Philips Eco Vision headlight bulbs. These have addressed the problems of longevity.These new bulbs consume 20% less energy, generate 10% more light and last twice as long as standard head light bulbs.