Xenon Light Bulbs – Discount Lightbulb Tips

Discount Xenon light bulbs are used in a wide variety of lamps, with common uses being automotive headlights, fire alarms and street lightening to name only a few. This type of lamp is much more advanced than the traditional incandescent lightbulbs and does not use a filament. Xenon lamps are gas filled tubes of strong glass material, usually quartz, with tungsten electrodes. Tungsten is chosen for its high electrical resistance and because it can withstand high temperature.

With xenon being the hottest upgrade technology on the market, especially for auto headlight upgrades, the pricing of replacement bulbs varies greatly from retailer to retailer. In order to get the best discount on xenon lightbulbs we suggest using eBay and Google Products searches to get an idea of the prices available.

The remainder of this article will focus on xenon technology and uses for xenon light bulbs. The first thing to understand, there are three types of xenon lamps, we’ll cover each below.

Long Arc Xenon Light Bulbs

Xenon long arc is used most often for lighting where it is necessary to acquire a light spectrum which closely approximates that of the sun. These lamps operate in a spectrum from ultraviolet, through visible, and into the infrared region, very similar to sunlight. They are used mainly in places where the sunlight spectrum is required, as for plant growth, material inspection, the testing of solar cells, and rapid thermal processing, a process used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Short Arc Xenon Light Bulbs

Xenon short arc are gas filled lamps in a quartz bulb to which two thorium doped tungsten electrodes are fused. The quartz is as strong as stone and necessary to withstand the high gas pressure. The tungsten electrodes are welded to strips of molybdenum or Invar alloy which is then melted into the quartz for a strong seal. One electrode is the cathode and one is the anode. The light gives off a very bright white light very much like daylight. These lamps are used in many applications; one of the most well-known is in the IMAX projector. In fact, the world’s largest cinema screen is an IMAX screen in the LG IMAX theatre in Darling Harbour, Sydney. It is approximately 8 stories high by almost 4 meters wide. According to a 2007 article in wiki, almost all movie projectors in theaters use the xenon lamp with a rating from 900 watts up to 12 KW.

The xenon short arc lamp is generally a low voltage high current DC device that requires a high voltage pulse to start the lamp. Two popular uses of these lamps are car headlamps and motorcycle lights. If the vehicle is not already equipped with the xenon lightbulbs, there are kits to make it so.

Flash Lamp Xenon Light Bulbs

Xenon flash lamps are electric glow discharge lamps which give full spectrum white light for brief durations. The high voltage necessary to operate these lights is supplied by a high voltage rectified to DC with a charged capacitor which gives rapid delivery to the lamp when triggered by an additional third external electrode. They are used in photography, such as for strobe lights and stop action photography, and because of their bright white light flashes, they are used in warning lights, emergency vehicle lights, fire alarm annunciators, and aircraft anti-collision beacons.

Caution: When installing replacement xenon light bulbs be extremely careful. They are under high pressure and can explode.