What Colour, Kelvin, Choose Wrong Could kill Ya

No that's not right. We all have to follow the ADRs which are just a copy and paste of the European lighting rules and regulations. That would also mean you cant get a new Merc or Landrover registered in Queensland because they come out with factory 5000K bulbs. That is why we have this silly rule about having washers on HID lights. That rule is there for countries that have a lot of ice and snow on the lights which is also the reason most run hot water though there washers now. Washers don't clean your lights. That's like hosing a car and as soon as it dries it just as dirty.lol

Cheers Mick.

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Originally Posted by Winnie

Just remember there is a difference between lumens and lux.

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Yes thats correct. I have a Lux meter but Lux and lumens usually always go up together with HID bulbs.

Lux is the SI unit of illuminance which is the luminous flux per unit area incident on a surface. (In english this means how bright the light is)

Lumen is the SI unit of luminous flux which is a measure of the perceived power of light. (In english this means how powerful the bulb is)

Cheers Mick.

So apart from reading the writing on the bulb, how are people measuring the colour temperature of their lights?



Tipsy-tap

I can tell usually by looking at them. If you don't know the difference by looking at them the only way is to read the bulb base. Although most cheap HID bulbs don't have anything written on them which makes it hard.

Cheers Mick.

All HID after market lights are illegal like projector style lights. once the start lookink blue youll draw attention. mine are 55watt HID 5000k on headlights mainly from failing eyesight.
I find them great for night driving, my driving lights are !00 watt AC HID 6000k all I can say about them is fantastic, the the 40" lightbar on roof. and everything is back to daylight, well nearly, as yes I carry halgen globes in glove box just in case.

Well that got some attention.
Ideas in first post on what k is only to try and get people to ditch the blue garbage and be more aware of their and others safety.
The colour as we all see alittle different,
is always going to be a subject of much debate for each and everyone's preferred colour.

What I am trying to achieve is bring to notice that there is a safety issue with over say 6000k plus.
Yes I gave a few suggestions, but that's going by majority average of what I see out there on the Rd every night.
hence the brighter 6000k headlights.

Personally 4300k head lights and 5000k spots.
Had 35w 6000k spots, but to much glare.
Replaced with 55w 5000k for spotties, a vast improvement, still a little glare off Rd signs.
Much easyer to live with 5000k than 6000k
I am happy to read that there is also so many like minded others out there.
Thanks for the input.
Cheers Robo.

It's a great thread and I don't think you will get many arguments especially from me.lol

Anyone who has ever rang me I always recommend the 4300K bulb for headlights but if they already have spoties with 6000k or 5000K I tend to recommend the 5000K as you want both colours as close as possible so your eyes don't have as many dramas adjusting when you switch off your spotties. I do keep 6000K but I try to sway people towards the 4300k or 5000K first.

Robo with projectors 5000K wont show up any glare at all and even 6000K is minimal as the light is focused on the ground unlike spotlights which rely the the reflectors and splash light everywhere.

Again it's a good thread and I think most of the people running 6000K or more are usually cars more so then 4wds. Although I still see a couple of 4wds getting around with them in.

Cheers Mick.

Hate that blue look as well but found 3000k not bright enough 5000k ok for head lights been a while since I fitted them but thing Imatched them to headlights
great night vision with my failing eyes, bi-xenon on the heag=dlights too. 68 smd LED T20 front parkers that turn with indcator, and bullbar parkers are 30 odd led jobs, check pic of reverse 120 x4 smd globes and a 36watt spot light, every globe either led or hid

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Originally Posted by Irvs

I think 6000k is even too high personally, I wouldn't go above 5000k for headlights, I see it as a good in between of light output and glare reduction. Perhaps 6000k for driving lights because they will never be on against oncoming traffic but I would need to be sold on the improved lumen output and light penetration, they are the only arguments I could see for having them. Maybe a combo of 2 x 4000k and 2 x 6000k for all round performance?

From my high school science memory white light has a 'wider' (for lack of a better word) wavelength and therefore when it travels through the air it gets dispersed easily because effectively it's to fat to pass through things e.g.fog/mist
Yellow light has a narrower wavelength and therefore has a better chance of getting through the gaps in the fog and also refracts less off the fog/mist and therefore has less chance of blinding you by reflecting back.

How's that for two cents worth?

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Exactly yellower refracts less than white, and as a result less glare.
white is split up by water droplets in the air and bounced in every direction and you get white out so to speak.

I should add, stupid me for not being so blunt before but I was trying to keep it minimal.
Around 8000k on a wet Rd and you may as well just about turn your lights off 8000k is that dangerous in my opnion.
Cheers.

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Originally Posted by melcor

please correct me if im wrong , but i believe 4500k is the highest legal for headlights in qld.. i think its the best compromize between contrast and distance.. the yellow light is high contrast giving you greater ability to distiguish(bad spelling yea)between objects . blue goes miles but everything blends together, the exact reason y things on the horizon,eg mountains, all look blue..

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Thanks for ya input
Sorry but I thought the blue horizon above trees, was the gasses the trees give off.