Department of Lumen Resources

An overall look at lighting and how you can illuminate the trail

- Jered Korfhage

When the sun goes down and the road turns to dirt, you may find yourself wanting more than what the factory lights on your 4x4 can offer. Thankfully for you, and that deer lurking in the roadside bushes, lighting technology has evolved in its cost-effectiveness, package size, efficiency, and the staggering amount of bright you can add to the front (back, or anywhere else) of your vehicle. Follow along and we’ll explore halogen, HID, and LED lights, with a few more bright ideas mixed in.

Halogen

Halogen lights are ubiquitous and have been used in homes and for brightening streets for most of the last half-century. They were also the automotive gold standard and remain a viable option for your vehicle. Similar in function to a conventional incandescent lightbulb, these lights run an electrical current through a tungsten filament making it glow, thus creating light. The filament is sealed within a quartz (more heat-tolerant than glass) envelope and the space inside is filled with halogen gas. Why the halogen gas, you ask? The high operating temperature of the filament (752 to 1,832 degrees F depending on the bulb) begins the Halogen Cycle where the vaporized tungsten from the filament reacts with the halogen gas in the bulb and is redeposited on the filament, extending its service life.