[silversteed]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

On general question, do we see LEDs taking over in very quick time from HIDs. CForty years ago it was normal incandescent, then Halogen, then HID and now LED.

Professor, the future is going to be LASER. No, not direct LASER lighting, but the source is going to be LASERs and the optics are going to be extremely complex - some of the German marques are ready with their setups, check this video out, if you haven't already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpMas6aV6ls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSaekxfZz5M

[sgiitk]

@silversteed; What bugs me with laser is if ever the scan mechanism fails some people may be permanently blinded. We looked into laser for railway fog vision, but found it too complicated. Of course with an ASIC cost and complexity will drop and reliability increase (it seems to be more dependent on chip/component count, than complexity).

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Have heard of Osram’s Night Breaker lineup but stumbled upon another one - Fog Breaker!

Checked on eBay.in. They are available for about ₹2700 for a pair from car.n.more. I have bought from Nikhil in the past and he is a very decent chap.

[Thumping Soul]

I have until now been using the stock headlamps on my Fiat Punto 1.3MJD Active. But had been planning to upgrade to a better set. Hence ordered for a pair of Philips Diamond Vision 5000k from ebay.

Link to the product page:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/PHILIPS-DIAMO.../111453997901?

how is the performance of these lamps in normal city driving and highway driving situations. Should i be worried about the car wiring etc. since these seem to be a direct plug n play type.

[H_Dogg72]

They're all show and no go. If you wanted more light, you should've gotten Xtreme Vision

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

They're all show and no go. If you wanted more light, you should've gotten Xtreme Vision

I just changed my Grand i10's stock headlamps (which are woefully, grossly inadequate), and moved to OSRAM Night Breaker Unlimited (since Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs were not available).

The light is a bit brighter and whiter, but not a huge real world difference in the glare of oncoming high beams.

I compared the stocks with this in a dark area also, and in such a situation the new ones are much better, but again, it doesn't make a lot of difference in night time city and highway driving. Desperately wanted Xtreme Visions but simply couldn't source it - out of stock in all online and physical stores.

My headlamp casing is pretty smudged on the outside with a lot of dirt and fingerprints. Can I use regular Colin to clean it up?

[Thumping Soul]

Originally Posted by H_Dogg72

They're all show and no go. If you wanted more light, you should've gotten Xtreme Vision

So should i cancel this & order for an Xtreme Vision? And also how is the Crystal Vision?

[H_Dogg72]

[quote=Parth46;3642326
My headlamp casing is pretty smudged on the outside with a lot of dirt and fingerprints. Can I use regular Colin to clean it up?[/QUOTE]
It will eat up the plastic, so no. Google headlight restoration.

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

So should i cancel this & order for an Xtreme Vision? And also how is the Crystal Vision?

Depends, check the spec sheet on philips website. Max light = Max lumens
Max show= Max K temp
Your choice, if you're doing only city driving get the diamond, they're uber cool. If you're doing night and highway drives, extreme or crystal, I guess they're both 1500 lumens.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

On general question, do we see LEDs taking over in very quick time from HIDs. CForty years ago it was normal incandescent, then Halogen, then HID and now LED.

LEDs have a very serious problem. As you increase wattage/area ratio, efficiency decreases exponentially. This is a a semiconductor problem, and current tech has a limitation. Maybe, in future it will be solved.
So for smaller lights like tail lamps etc., LEDs will lick Halogen.
However, when it comes to more powerful lighting, you need very good heat sinks.
This increases cost for manufacturer, so economy cars will never use this, and this means no economies of scale.
One solution is to use Arrays, so basically a 25W LED array. But then you need expensive collimator optics. When you have a point source, its very easy to focus it into a shape you need. Think low beam and high beam.
So for your fog lamps, LED 25W array with collimater is fine, however, if you want to take a large array, and then focus it into your classic low beam pattern with a sharp cut off, it will be tough.
Until we can create smaller sized LED chips with good light/heat ratio, LEDs won't go mainstream. Great for aux lights, since DoT standards of cutoff low beam etc., don't apply, but not good for stock lamps.

[sgiitk]

@Tsk1979; See the amount of cooling provided in the Audi LED headlights, and that corroborates what you say.

[PMK-MoJo]

Originally Posted by Thumping Soul

I have until now been using the stock headlamps on my Fiat Punto 1.3MJD Active. But had been planning to upgrade to a better set. Hence ordered for a pair of Philips Diamond Vision 5000k from ebay.

Link to the product page:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/PHILIPS-DIAMO.../111453997901?

how is the performance of these lamps in normal city driving and highway driving situations. Should i be worried about the car wiring etc. since these seem to be a direct plug n play type.

Beware of fake bulbs, I brought Diamond Vision 5K from ebay few months back. Output is whitish with little blue shade, however not satisfied with the illumination. I feel the bulbs which i received are fake. So better to buy in well known shop.

I feel OSRAM Night Breaker Unlimited will do better job.

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@silversteed; What bugs me with laser is if ever the scan mechanism fails some people may be permanently blinded. We looked into laser for railway fog vision, but found it too complicated. Of course with an ASIC cost and complexity will drop and reliability increase (it seems to be more dependent on chip/component count, than complexity).

Contrary to the layman perception, the laser lights in cars do not emit any laser at all. The laser beams are pointed inside the light assembly into a capsule of phosphorescent gas, that emits normal light, which is then directed by lenses on to the road.
So there is no chance of anyone getting blinded.

There are also mechanisms build into the light assembly in which in case of any accident, wherein the laser diodes move out of their normal position, the system shuts down, so that no stray beam gets emitted.

In short, laser lighting for cars do not emit any laser beam and hence are perfectly safe. Nothing like a laser pointer that we see around, shining into peoples eyes.

rgds

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by VineetG

...
In short, laser lighting for cars do not emit any laser beam and hence are perfectly safe.

The BMW video shows how things work, and they claim the technology to be very safe. BUT, despite having a plethora of fancy acronyms to improve safety and reliability (ASIL, FIT, FMEA, etc), things in cars (am not relating to Laser headlights) do break down at some point and cause trouble. As a layman I'd think twice before going for Laser headlights, and that's precisely why the technology is taking time to evolve. A lot of testing and validation has to be done, before it'll become common.

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The BMW video shows how things work, and they claim the technology to be very safe. BUT, despite having a plethora of fancy acronyms to improve safety and reliability (ASIL, FIT, FMEA, etc), things in cars (am not relating to Laser headlights) do break down at some point and cause trouble. As a layman I'd think twice before going for Laser headlights, and that's precisely why the technology is taking time to evolve. A lot of testing and validation has to be done, before it'll become common.

BMW laser headlights are now moving into production stage, and seem to have gone through the mandatory testing and certifications. I am sure they will get homologation in Europe soon.

They are as safe as your DVD or Blu Ray player that also have laser diodes inside, albeit of lower power, but can still be harmful if pointed directly into the eye.

From BMW Website
"Laser lighting: high efficiency and safety.
Safety is a key consideration in the development of laser lighting for use in passenger cars. For BMW, the complete eye safety of this technology for all road users and its complete reliability in day-to-day use have top priority. Importantly, therefore, before the light from the tiny laser diodes is emitted onto the road, the originally bluish laser light beam is first of all converted by means of a fluorescent phosphor material inside the headlight into a pure white light which is very bright and pleasant to the eye. As a result, in future it will be possible to use laser light to implement all the familiar – including more recent – BMW lighting functions such as Adaptive Headlights, the "Dynamic Light Spot" spotlighting system and the "Anti-Dazzle High-Beam Assist". It will also be possible to use BMW laser lighting to implement completely new functions, which will have only minimal power consumption."

[Schoudhury]

From where can I source 100W -H7 bulbs?
Found a link in amazon, but don't see any link suggesting these are available in india.