how many lumens do car headlights output?

[Walterk]

what are you really trying to figure out here?

Peak beam intensity expressed in candlepower.
Or distance in meters at which Lux-meter reads 1,0.
(Of modern-day lens-based high and low beam headlights, the average and the top-range, may it be xenon or HID. )

That is not an accurate ballpark figure for beam peak intensities, no.

I don't know how and what this is measured and do not understand the meaning of the tables in your link to halogen lights from 2004. All I see is there is more variation than I thought there would be. I don't think I am that far off.

I assume you understand the article you referred to, can't you just give me 'more accurate' figures?
Else prove I am wrong with explicit information to make things not more complicated then they are.

Thanx

Edit FYI:
NYS Vehicle & Traffic Law Excerpts Quote: 'No lamp shall be used on a motor vehicle having a light source greater than thirty-two candle power, unless such lamp is approved by the commissioner as provided by this section.' (Note: peak of 50kcd is permitted)
This limit to 35.000 candlepower was already the limit in 1976 according this article in Populair Science 1976 . At the same time in Europe car headlights on high where limited to 110.000 candlepower each.
From 1913 up to 1930 the maximum was 21kcd, but new cars with suitable fittings where allowed to use 32kcd for headlights. Here is told in 1983 the maximum for high beams was lifted to 150.000cd.

 

[-Virgil-]

Peak beam intensity expressed in candlepower.

OK, the link I gave you provides that info for 25th, 50th, and 75th-percentile U.S.-market 2004-model headlamps. If you spend some time searching the UMTRI library's online catalogue, you will find similar data sets for previous years and for European headlamps as well.

I don't know how and what this is measured

Huh?

and do not understand the meaning of the tables in your link

It's the intensity values for 25th, 50th, and 75th-percentile (market-weighted) headlamps through a large matrix of test points from far left to far right, far up to far down. This is why your flashlight comparison is meaningless; headlamps are required to distribute certain minimum and/or maximum levels of light to a large number of test points widely distributed relative to the lamp axis.

Else prove I am wrong

Not interested.

Quote: 'No lamp shall be used on a motor vehicle having a light source greater than thirty-two candle power, unless such lamp is approved by the commissioner as provided by this section

Yeah, that language appears in many U.S. state vehicle lighting codes, most of which are many decades out of date, and were poorly written even when the lamps they were written for were current-production equipment. Under the "no more than 32cp" restriction, exactly none of the current-production headlight bulbs would be legal. Fortunately, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 preempts any State provisions.

This limit to 35.000 candlepower was already the limit in 1976

The U.S. limit on high beam axial intensity was 37,500 candela per side of the vehicle until 1979, when it was raised to 75,000 candela per side of the vehicle*—*that is the current limit, though everywhere else in the world the limit is above 140,000 candela per side of the vehicle. Note this is a restriction on axial intensity, not a restriction on intensity anywhere in the beam.

At the same time in Europe car headlights on high where limited to 110.000 candlepower each

The limit in Europe has varied from 102,500 to 215,000 per side of the vehicle over the last sixty years or so.

 

[Walterk]

It's the intensity values for headlamps. This is why your flashlight comparison is meaningless; headlamps are required to distribute certain minimum and/or maximum levels of light to a large number of test points widely distributed relative to the lamp axis.

For each and all lightsources on earth and beyond, you do can compare peak beam intensity. It describes one of the parameters and the behaviour of light, that is why the international standard unit for intensity candela exists and is being used.

I agree there is much more needed to compare lights concerning the distribution patterns, beam shape, spotsize, colour, angles, lumen, flux, efficiency, physical and subjective factors and others that you can think of.
For peak beam intensity candela is just right.
(It is a reference point, and after all, I can't think of anything that I judge by one single parameter. )

The limit in Europe has varied from 102,500 to 215,000 per side of the vehicle over the last sixty years or so.

So it is safe to assume high beam headlights with 215.000cd exist and are in some European production cars?

 

[-Virgil-]

For each and all lightsources on earth and beyond, you do can compare peak beam intensity.

No. You can put any given light source into any given headlamp optic and measure the peak beam intensity, but the figure obtained is utterly useless for predicting the peak beam intensity from that same light source in a different headlamp optic.

For peak beam intensity candela is just right.

Er...yes, we use the candela as the unit of measurement for beam intensity at any point. Why does it seem as though you are arguing matters not in dispute?

it is safe to assume high beam headlights with 215.000cd exist and are in some European production cars?

The provision for high beams exceeding 150,000 cd per lamp are brand new and associated with adaptive lighting systems, so I don't think there are any...yet.

 

[Walterk]

No. You can put any given light source into any given headlamp optic and measure the peak beam intensity, but the figure obtained is utterly useless for predicting the peak beam intensity from that same light source in a different headlamp optic.

Who is arguing matters not in dispute here? From the start all I asked was candlepower-figures!

 

[-Virgil-]

Who is arguing matters not in dispute here?

You are. I will no longer help, but feel free argue with yourself all the livelong day and half the night.

 

[kaichu dento]

You are. I will no longer help, but feel free argue with yourself all the livelong day and half the night.

Please don't go away because of the ballbusters. The rest of us find your information always enlightening and hope to see more.

 

[-Virgil-]

Oh, no worries, I'm not going away — I'm just discontinuing participation in Walterk's silly game, is all.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

If you are trying to use a headlamp as a consistent source with which you can calibrate your light meter, I don't think that's a good use for them. Scheinwerfermann was just trying to point out that whatever you are doing, that data measurement of the brightest part of the pattern isn't going to provide any useful information about the light itself. I've seen some aftermarket headlamps that had peak intensity points many many time brighter than any headlamp from the factory.

The measurement of this point, and how much light passes through it, cannot be used to determine how many lumens the particular source is putting out. Even if you had 50 of the same car, you wouldn't be able to say anything about the light sources from measuring flux in one spot.

HIDs dim with age. Ballasts may or may not feed 35.00W to the bulbs. Projectors put out different amounts of light depending on what condition they are in and how close the bulb is to the optimum focal point. Outer lenses can vary greatly in clarity and color.

I think, for these reasons and more, Scheinwerfermann would not give you a solid end-all be-all magical average number of the universe for the candlepower of a xenon high beam.

Also, I agree. This is quite an old thread. I almost think we ought to preserve it in a glass case full of xenon.

 

[-Virgil-]

This is quite an old thread. I almost think we ought to preserve it in a glass case full of xenon.

OK, but only if we gots the xenon with the 19281K kelvin rating!

 

[kingofwylietx]

OK, but only if we gots the xenon with the 19281K kelvin rating!

Ooooh, pretty. I'm going to go replace my vehicle headlight bulbs with those immediately...and adjust them upward to help others see me easier.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Well, if you do THAT, obviously you should make sure you run your fog lights at all times so you can see the deer in the road in front of you! And if anyone flashes you, they're just jealous of your awesome lights!

 

[-Virgil-]

they're just jealous

They're a bunch of h8rs.

 

[irrbloss]

I'm interested in getting a TM11, but I have no clue what to compare it to. How does it compare to car headlight(s), in practice? Let's say you're out driving in the countryside at night and somehow the car headlights breaks down. It's pitch black and you somehow attach your TM11 to your car. Would it be a noticeable difference to the better/worse? Will it even be close? How about comparing it to one headlight? Or comparing two headlights with two TM11's?

 

[TEEJ]

I'm interested in getting a TM11, but I have no clue what to compare it to. How does it compare to car headlight(s), in practice? Let's say you're out driving in the countryside at night and somehow the car headlights breaks down. It's pitch black and you somehow attach your TM11 to your car. Would it be a noticeable difference to the better/worse? Will it even be close? How about comparing it to one headlight? Or comparing two headlights with two TM11's?

Check out this thread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...18650-3xXM-L)-Review-RUNTIMES-BEAMSHOTS-VIDEO

It has images that might give you your answer.

 

[idleprocess]

It boggles the mind that one of the more recent posters in this subject seemingly failed to comprehend that there's an appreciable difference between the fairly simple parabolic reflector in most flashlights/spotlights (and resultant uniform/simple "hotspot-and-spill" beam pattern) is an entirely different animal compared to the composite reflector/optic arrangements in vehicle headlights that produces a highly shaped beam with varying intensities in various sectors in order to comply with both the law and desirable performance characteristics.

A cheap $20 spotlight from Harbor Freight using a H3 bulb can reasonably produce many thousands of candlepower in the center of its hotspot at 10m yet the same bulb in a car headlight assembly will likely produce a few tens of candlepower at best in the brightest part of the beam at 10m (yes, I am speculating here and might be off by an order of magnitude or more) in addition to fewer out-the-front lumens and still be considered a very good headlight.

Then again, I should just let this very old thread die.

 

[cy]

It boggles the mind that one of the more recent posters in this subject seemingly failed to comprehend that there's an appreciable difference between the fairly simple parabolic reflector in most flashlights/spotlights (and resultant uniform/simple "hotspot-and-spill" beam pattern) is an entirely different animal compared to the composite reflector/optic arrangements in vehicle headlights that produces a highly shaped beam with varying intensities in various sectors in order to comply with both the law and desirable performance characteristics.

A cheap $20 spotlight from Harbor Freight using a H3 bulb can reasonably produce many thousands of candlepower in the center of its hotspot at 10m yet the same bulb in a car headlight assembly will likely produce a few tens of candlepower at best in the brightest part of the beam at 10m (yes, I am speculating here and might be off by an order of magnitude or more) in addition to fewer out-the-front lumens and still be considered a very good headlight.

Then again, I should just let this very old thread die.

so what's the latest on LED headlight development?

are they ready for prime time yet?

Trucklite claims 1300 lumens for low, 1300 lumens for high... with LED specific reflectors. = 2600 lumens.

getting close to HID 3,000 lumens

 

[-Virgil-]

so what's the latest on LED headlight development?

There are more of them on the world's roads every day. Some of them are quite good, some of them are quite poor, and most of them are somewhere in between those extremes. As lumens per watt and per dollar rise, LED headlamps will gain market share.

Trucklite claims 1300 lumens for low, 1300 lumens for high

The actual beams produced by the Truck-Lite headlamps don't even come close to those figures. The optics, especially on low beam, are not very well engineered -- and yes, I am talking about their latest revision, not their earlier ones. It's possible they are citing source lumens rather than lumens in beam, though looking at the LED type and count in their headlamps it's more than a little difficult to agree with 1300 lumens as even a source lumen figure.

getting close to HID 3,000 lumens

That is also a source-flux figure that is not necessarily linked to light flux in beam.