Blue Lights

[onsknht]

OK, I remember when the sealed square halogen lights were all the rage... I really don't care about modding lights so much but get flaming pissed when they burn out or don't work.

At any rate, the above should give indication I'm not about to mod my lights. I can see the benefits of xenon but my halogen projectors work good for me and are blinggy enough for my simple life.

What I want to know is two things...

1) what's the attraction with blue lights, I see 10 year old S-10s with emphasized blue lights and know for a fact HIDs were not and option from Chevy 10 years ago?

2) even though I have halogen projectors.... Am I really seeing a little blue color coming from them at certain angles, I thought this only occurred with HIDs???

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Epsilon]

When you talking about blue lights do you mean like 8000k+ HIDs where the light output is like pure blue or purple?

Yes, you are seeing a little blue from your stock halogen projectors. If you shine your headlights onto a wall, you will notice a slight blue color at your cutoff line.

[trdsupragt]

From my point of view, I think these people don't know what it's like to be on the receiving end of the lights while driving. They look at the lights from an above angle and think, ooohh wooww that's niiceeee I'm gonna get some too. Blue lights in my opinion don't look good at all.

I'm thinking of purchasing a set of white lights for my 07. If there's even going to any blue in my lights, it'll only be a slight slight, very very slight bluish tint. It's the ones where you can actually see the blue bulbs in daylight that tick me off. It almost takes away from the look of the car IMO.

-edit-

Yeah, I did notice that too Epsilon. I was wondering what it was about

[onsknht]

Originally Posted by Epsilon

When you talking about blue lights do you mean like 8000k+ HIDs where the light output is like pure blue or purple?

Yes, you are seeing a little blue from your stock halogen projectors. If you shine your headlights onto a wall, you will notice a slight blue color at your cutoff line.

I think you answered as I suspected, the blue tinge is really created by the "optics" of the projector not the bulb. I'm aware of the differences in "k" causing different wavelengths of light and thereby different colors... So I guess I can conclude one of the following...

1. There's a lot of projectors out there HID or Halogen with the wrong temp bulbs. I say this because they're blue "all the time?"
2. Misguided individuals are everywhere, adding the blue lights to thier cars thinking the bulb causes the color and not the projector lense.
3. An S-10 with blue lights is owned by a wannabe

I unfortunately was under the impression that HIDs were the only light set to emit a blue light at certain angles, but that's why I asked.

[white3ch0c0late]

Originally Posted by onsknht

I think you answered as I suspected, the blue tinge is really created by the "optics" of the projector not the bulb. I'm aware of the differences in "k" causing different wavelengths of light and thereby different colors... So I guess I can conclude one of the following...

1. There's a lot of projectors out there HID or Halogen with the wrong temp bulbs. I say this because they're blue "all the time?"
2. Misguided individuals are everywhere, adding the blue lights to thier cars thinking the bulb causes the color and not the projector lense.
3. An S-10 with blue lights is owned by a wannabe

I unfortunately was under the impression that HIDs were the only light set to emit a blue light at certain angles, but that's why I asked.

1. There is no "wrong" temp bulbs. Its all personal preference. If the guy wants blue bulbs, leave him alone.
2. The bulb DOES create the color. The projector lense has nothing to do with it. The projector lens simply refracts the light. The blue at the top of the cutoff is not created by the lens itself per se. It is cause by a wavelength of light due to an increase in the distance between the bulb and the lens. The bigger the distance, the bigger and bluer the cutoff.
3. This is like saying that since I retrofitted projectors in my Camry, I'm a wannabe too? Yeah, ok.

[touringcamry]

HIDs produce more bluish light, higher color temperature, compared to typical halogen bulbs. People started noticing how much brighter these new fangled HIDs were so they started putting halogen bulbs with blue and purple coatings on their vehicles. Advertisers used terms such as xenon, gas used in HID capsules, photographic flashes, and blue neon tubes, and claimed that they were brighter than standard bulbs - when in reality they are typically, at best, no better or worse than standard bulbs.

So basically the S-10 with blue lights is a poser who tries to simulate HIDs/arc discharge lamps in color temperature only.

In reality, blue tinted halogens are generally dimmer and produce less useful light - the blue tint decrease the brightness and reduces or eliminates the yellow light which eyes are more sensitive towards.

A dichroic coating could also cause blue reflections but unlikely because that would mean it would have to pass orange light. A dichroic coating will reflect the opposite color of light it allows to pass. I have H3 bulbs in my fog lights with a yellow pass dichroic coating o that reflect purple - looking at the lights from the edge of the beam, you will see purple fringing or sparkles.

[danorthface]

Originally Posted by white3ch0c0late

The projector lense has nothing to do with it. The projector lens simply refracts the light. The blue at the top of the cutoff is not created by the lens itself per se. It is cause by a wavelength of light due to an increase in the distance between the bulb and the lens. The bigger the distance, the bigger and bluer the cutoff.

Different wavelengths of light (different colors) will bend differently in the lenes. In white light, you have a red, green, blue and all the colors inbetween to make up the light. Blue obviously doesn't bend as much in the lenes as the other colors.