Bad night vision? Boost your bulbs
As the days grow shorter our commutes get darker and darker and it seems we’re always behind the wheel in the dark. More and more drivers today are looking for a way to improve their vehicles’ headlamp performance as they try to compete with more light from oncoming traffic and to accommodate for weakening vision.
As the senior driver demographic grows so does the number of drivers with vision difficulties. Add to this the number of adults struggling with Type I and II Diabetes which may bring eyesight degradation and it’s no surprise that many automakers and light manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand for brighter vehicle headlamps. The number of those diagnosed with diabetes has increased 15 per cent between 2009 and 2013.
Newer vehicles are coming with a wider array of headlamp styles every year with an increasing proliferation of high intensity discharge ( HID) systems with their distinctive bluish white piercing beam colour. But rather than trade in the daily driver for a white light steed, what’s a consumer to do to improve their night driving vision? Before dialing up or web- searching automotive lamp bulbs and systems for your chariot, take a moment to check your vehicle’s lamp style to find out what options you have.
No matter what shape, size, number or wattage of vehicle headlamps on the road today they can be basically sorted into two groups; reflector or projector style. When searching for brighter bulbs it’s important to know the difference. The older design reflector style is still the most common and can be identified by the large reflective surface at the back inside lining of the lamp. On these lamps, the bulb projects most of its light rear- ward into the reflective dish and that surface focuses and emits the light forward in the correct pattern to light up the road ahead without blinding oncoming drivers.
With the other main group, the projector style lamps, the key feature is a focus lens at the front of the lamp ( round, thick and located at the forward end of a tube). With these lamps, the bulb is located in the rear of the focus tube/ lens unit and the light is transmitted forward for the lens to create and direct the beam’s pattern.
As high intensity discharge ( HID) lamps are becoming popular as factory equipment on many vehicles, there is a considerable growth in the number of companies offering kits to retrofit HIDs to cars that didn’t come with them in the first place. The prices on these kits have dropped in recent years to the point where some quality DIY packages are available for less than $ 200.
The main problem drivers run into when they try to install an HID kit is that the HID bulbs are designed to project the light forward and therefore are only designed for projector style lamps. Another kink with HID retrofits is that sometimes the wiring on the vehicle’s lamps has to be modified to properly operate the new lamps, often due to a difference in high beam/ low beam switching. You can check with your factory dealership for advice or in any of the vehicle owner chat rooms online.
For reflector style lamps there are safer alternatives to HID kits. There are several bulb manufacturers such as Sylvania, Phillips, and GE that make brighter- thanoriginal equipment bulbs. I had a chance to compare the most popular recently using a photographer’s digital light meter and found on my own car with its reflector lamps that the highest illumination reading came with GE’s Nighthawk Platinum bulbs. The difference between the worst bulb tested ( the original factory part) and GE’s Nighthawks was less than 15 per cent.
If your vehicle is three or four years old or older you may be able to get a marked improvement in headlamp intensity simply by restoring the plastic headlamp lenses. With age these covers get cloudy and there are several easy- to- use restoration kits available on autoparts store shelves for less than $ 50. These kits involve removing the clouded outer layer of the plastic lens to reveal a clearer cover. They use polishing compounds and special applicators and abrasive sheets.