[boypaulkim]

Hi guys,

so i've been driving my 230i for awhile and having a lot of fun with it.
i did opt for the lightning package which changes the whole look of the headlight (angel eyes) and are bright white.
i never gave much thought into it and always assumed the option gave full LED lights, until i decided to ramdomly build a 240i.

i was surprised to find out that LED light is not offered for 2er even with the lightning package.

however, i've always thought bright white lights were all LED and xenons were mostly yellow with big bulbs. (traditional circular light bulbs we see)

the angel eye part of my vehicle seems to have no bulbs and the angel eye is seemed to be made up of tiny led strips? that make the 'O' (hope this makes sense)


can someone explaine how thie xenon works in BMWs? and how it differs from LED lights? to mer personally, my light seems to have the same level of brightness to my friends 340i with LED headlights.



thank you in advance!

[Thebush121]

I'm not sure any vehicle out there has lightning as an option.

There are different lighting options though. And LED's are not available on the 2 series.

I don't have access to youtube at the moment but there's a video that shows what the LED's can do compared to regular lights. The vehicle can turn off specific LED's to light up different portions of the road (you can have brights light up to your right and not blind the person directly in front of you. Although I am pretty sure doing this "illegal" in the states due to outdated DOT lighting rules.) You can't do this with xenon's since it is 1 bulb.

[boypaulkim]

Originally Posted by Thebush121

I'm not sure any vehicle out there has lightning as an option.

There are different lighting options though. And LED's are not available on the 2 series.

I don't have access to youtube at the moment but there's a video that shows what the LED's can do compared to regular lights. The vehicle can turn off specific LED's to light up different portions of the road (you can have brights light up to your right and not blind the person directly in front of you. Although I am pretty sure doing this "illegal" in the states due to outdated DOT lighting rules.) You can't do this with xenon's since it is 1 bulb.

thank you for your response.
so my angel eye (the 'O' looking part) actually has one singular bulb inside? instead of having multiple little LEDs?

and are some xenons yellow and some white?

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by boypaulkim

thank you for your response.
so my angel eye (the 'O' looking part) actually has one singular bulb inside? instead of having multiple little LEDs?

and are some xenons yellow and some white?

Yes, your angel eye rings have one LED illuminator. Most all Xenon bulbs are white or bluish-white. It may be possible that there are xenon-based fog lights that have a yellow filter over them, but xenon bulbs produce colors above 6,000 on the Kelvin scale.

[Fugly M3]

Are you talking about brightness or color? Color is measured in Kelvin with 4300 or so being equivalent to daylight. Lower is more yellow then red, higher gets bluer and then purple/violet. Brightness is measured in lumens.

A standard halogen filament bulb (think Thomas Edison GE tech) is 55w-65w will be somewhere around 3500-3800K and put out 1100-1500 lumens.

A standard xenon bulb is 35 watts and when "ignited" an arc of light is created between two electrodes in a chamber of xenon (and other) gases when electricity passes through. Standard (OEM) output is 3000-3200 lumens at 4300K. They are offered in different colors but generally speaking, for the same output in watts, they will be "brightest" at 4300k. last about 3-5 times longer than halogens.

As for LEDs, I have not spent as much time looking into them, but I have to imagine BMW and others have created a light that provides just as many lumens at a lower power draw. LEDs are "light emitting diodes" IIRC, and aren't actually light bulbs (in the traditional sense) at all. They don't run hot, they draw far less power and they last a hell of a lot longer. I believe they can also be designed to much more effectively distribute light...meaning they may not actually be putting out as much light, but because of how it's being distributed, they will seem to be much brighter. E.g., you'll be less satisfied if the road right in front of you is bright as day but you can't seen more than 100 ft out or the side of the road, than you will if it's all evenly lit at a slightly less than bright as day level.

Hope this helps.

[gatorfast]

I think the OP is asking the basic difference between HID and LED headlights. BMW has 3 main types of headlights : 1) Halogen, which is I believe what you are referring to when you said “mostly yellow with big bulbs” 2) HID/xenon which uses a xenon gas bulb as projects a crisp white light, you will see a projector/bubble in the center of the headlight which is where the xenon beam comes out of 3) LED which produces a light similar to xenon but uses less power and has certain other benefits, the headlight itself looks more similar to a halogen headlight except it has an LED bulb instead.

As for the angel eyes, Halogen headlights do not have angel eyes. HID and LED headlights both have LED angel eyes (producing a bright white look) but the shape of the angel eyes is slightly different.

That is my simple explanation

[m981addicts]

[QUOTE=Thebush121;20800206]I'm not sure any vehicle out there has lightning as an option.

There's a few drivers I'd like to zap on during my commutes!

[G4Z808]

I think OP is thinking of the older angel eyes (BMW calls then corona rings) that had a halogen bulb. All F chassis cars that have angel eyes have LED powered angel eyes, if you lift your hood and look ontop your headlight you will see a big round heatsink, which is where the LED for the angel eye is. The 2 series does not have available full LED headlights, where the main light is LED. The lighting package on the F22 upgrades the headlights from halogen units with no angel eyes, to Xenon projector units with LED angel eyes

[boypaulkim]

Originally Posted by G4Z808

I think OP is thinking of the older angel eyes (BMW calls then corona rings) that had a halogen bulb. All F chassis cars that have angel eyes have LED powered angel eyes, if you lift your hood and look ontop your headlight you will see a big round heatsink, which is where the LED for the angel eye is. The 2 series does not have available full LED headlights, where the main light is LED. The lighting package on the F22 upgrades the headlights from halogen units with no angel eyes, to Xenon projector units with LED angel eyes

oh this solves my question. thank you so much.

so the angel eyes (the 'O' ring and the eyebrow looking part above) are indeed LED but the bulb inside the 'O' ring is xenon.

[boypaulkim]

Originally Posted by gatorfast

I think the OP is asking the basic difference between HID and LED headlights. BMW has 3 main types of headlights : 1) Halogen, which is I believe what you are referring to when you said “mostly yellow with bug bulbs” 2) HID/xenon which uses a xenon gas bulb as projects a crisp white light, you will see a projector/bubble in the center of the headlight which is where the xenon beam comes out of 3) LED which produces a light similar to xenon but uses less power and has certain other benefits, the headlight itself looks more similar to a halogen headlight except it has an LED bulb instead.

As for the angel eyes, Halogen headlights do not have angel eyes. HID and LED headlights both have LED angel eyes (producing a bright white look) but the shape of the angel eyes is slightly different.

That is my simple explanation

thank you so much for your response.
so i know now that at least my angel eyes are made up of LED.

i did notice the different in shape of the angel eye between 2er/3(4)ers.

3/4ers angel eyes seem to be brighter too.

[krhodes1]

Originally Posted by boypaulkim

thank you so much for your response.
so i know now that at least my angel eyes are made up of LED.

i did notice the different in shape of the angel eye between 2er/3(4)ers.

3/4ers angel eyes seem to be brighter too.

I believe the brightness of the angel eyes can be coded.

[ThreeToTwo]

I have the lighting package in UK. The Xenon (HID) lamps are very bright and pretty much white. They do some very clever things too that I think are what's mentioned above for LED lamps (I gather some of this is not legal in the US):
* They self-level (a legal requirement for Xenons in Europe)
* The beams swivel with the steering wheel so that they illuminate into a corner
* They have a smart main (high) beam that uses the camera in the front of the rear-view mirror to avoid dazzling other traffic:

You can drive on main beam behind another vehicle and the lights will steer a dark area onto the other vehicle but illuminate around it. The main beams will also adapt to oncoming traffic and only light your side of the road. The really good part is that the system seems to be almost 100% accurate - I have never been flashed by other traffic when driving on main beam.

Watching them at work is fascinating as they can adapt to several vehicles simultaneously; if you get a lot of traffic then they bail and go to dipped beams (which is fine as lots of vehicles equals lots of light around anyway).

You probably gathered that I think they're pretty cool

[DF]

I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos showing Xenon light are better than leds