Blue Bulbs

[Adrian North <anorth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All those blue bulbs are strange! The light doesn't seem as diffuse (a bit
like white street lights don't seem to spread as well as orange). BUT the
colour isn't blue - it's just less red/orange than normal headlights! The
idea is to create a more 'natural' light. Obviously, painting a clear blue
onto the lights will cut out the red/yellow of normal bulb elements, but
this reduces the light from the bulb. The proper equipment only has a VERY
slight tint which filters out certain frequencies. The gas in the bulb
enables a hotter element to compensate for the light reduction. Xenon gas is
unreactive (except in exceptional circumstances), so the element won't
corrode & fail as fast as with halogens.

Over here in the UK, Halfords have started to do direct replacement Xenon
bulbs for most cars. They also offer ones with a different tint that is
supposed to improve wet/foggy weather visibility. (I think these filter out
a little of the blue light!)

One thing I do notice, is that the lights seem to 'wobble' more on
approaching cars. As I'm a cheapskate, I'll stick with normal bulbs, and
just drive more carefully when it gets to worse visibility.

Adrian
'85 316
Basingstoke, UK

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