Hi Friends,
It all started when I decided to upgrade my Alto's headlight possibly to something better. So I looked out here for suggestions and other reviews on the net.
At one point I was almost done with wasting my money on cheap imported Xenons on the advice so called experts in the after market who just want to sell of things. (
He promised to give me Sagitta xenon lamps imported from Taiwan for just Rs 1200 claiming it as a discount price.Installation procedure is simple. Just replace the bulbs.That is what he said. I was almost done by his blah blah, decided to buy it and waited for the technicla guy to do the installation. At that time, my wife called and I had to urgently leave . So I said excuse and left the place. )
To verify the marketing guy's claims,I went through this thread carfully and after reading most of your reviews and suggestions I did some research on the net .
The result is, Thank god I escaped somehow from wasting my money.
The following is the conclusion that I reached .
Please correct me if I am wrong in any of the points:
1)
Xenon headlamps are technically known as Xenon HID light.
HID stands for High Intensity Discharge, and refers to the technology involved. Instead of a glowing filament, the light is generated by a spark which jumps across a gap constantly - just like a constant arc of mini-lightning.
2)
Xenon's produce more , but not better light we expect on practical driving environments.
The colour of the Xenon lights are a lot closer to that of daylight. This is noy necessarily a good thing: At night, your eyes adapt to the warmer tones of the motorway lighting and other drivers, and the daylight-colour of Xenon lights might be problematic, as the eyes may not be able to register colour information correctly. In addition, light from Xenon lights is of very specific colours, rather than a continuous string of all colours of the rainbow
3)
Xenon's cannot be proper upgrade for a halogen lamp assembly. The main difference is that Halogen bulbs use reflectors to aim the beam, but most HID-headlamps use lenses. Replacing a halogen bulb with a HID-bulb and assembly will frequently be illegal, and will cause safety to decrease, both for yourself and for the other road users
If you upgrade, 99% of teh time you are lost, because as experts suggest it is something to be done with lot of homework and expertise which you can never get in the aftermarket.
4)
You cannot replace a halogen bulb with a Xenon bulb.Cheap Xenon look alikes in the aftermarket are just gimmics.
A full Xenon lighting system consists of
the following components:
1 Xenon light source
2 Ballast
3 Igniter
4 Reflector
5 Lens
There are a few packages out there that replace the entire headlamp assembly (i.e the front glass, filters, lenses etc) with a HID unit. These are of varying quality, but could only in theory work correctly.
5)
So, is it logical, should you choose Xenon headlamps? Advantages
Xenon lights give a higher light output than their halogen equivalents, it allows car designers more freedom in designing unique-looking cars which still fulfill the needs for strong light.
It improves the look of the car when upgraded in the aftermarket.
Disadvantages
In theory, Xenon is a good idea. In practice, more light doesn't necessarily mean that the quality of your night-vision is any better. In fact, it may be worse: The fact that the light is so bright could make your eyes adjust to the brightness. This means that you can see perfectly right in front of your car, but especially on wet roads, the glare may be tiring and problematic. In practice, despite the light being brighter, you may not be able to see further in front of you at night.
Please refer this site for more information about HID's.
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply.
http://www.mvlc.info/pdf/MVLCbrochure.pdf.
Those of you really want to know why Relays's are important during upgrading to a higher wattage, this link is informative.
Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply
So I have decided to upgrade to PHILIPS,OSRAM or BOSH Halogens.
Haven't yet decided, whether to go with the same wattage better bulbs or higher wattage and bulbs. My alto is the model without clear lens lamp. So those of you guys who had done similar upgrade can help me.