Halogen Lighting

Elegant Efficiency

Standard halogens are more efficient, modern versions of Edison's incandescent bulb, and they last longer - 2,250 to 3,500 hours. Often they feature a parabolic aluminized reflector to improve the focus of the light. They give off a crisp, very bright, white light, and they maintain their light output over time without fading with age, as incandescent do. As a result, most automobile headlights are halogen now.

Halogen bulbs operate in a way similar to incandescent bulbs except that a small amount of a halogen gas has been added to the inside of the glass envelope. They emit crisp white light with very good color rendition.

Strengths
It is considered good for illuminating art and fitting into small areas, it needs to be changed less often than incandescent bulbs and can be dimmed easily. They have a better beam control that allows light to be carefully focused.

Weaknesses
The light can be too bright for living rooms or some decorative fixtures; light bulbs and fixtures can become very hot; touching glass will shorten the life of the light bulb. However they have become increasing popular because of their ability to light well.

Halogen bulbs last longer than incandescent bulbs
The filament is the wire inside the bulb that produces light when heated. The light bulb will not work if the filament is broken which may occur as a result of the application of force, such as dropping the bulb, or by lack of tungsten in a particular area over the filament. During the operation of tungsten filament light bulbs, tungsten from the filament evaporates into the gas inside the light bulb. Often, with incandescent products, the tungsten condenses on the bulb wall. Because the tungsten is redeposited on the wall instead of the filament, the filament grows thin over time. Eventually, there will be a point on the filament with so little tungsten that the filament will break and the light bulb stops working.

Halogen light bulbs have a special gas inside their bulb containing halogens. The halogen gas facilitates the "halogen regenerative cycle" which means that the halogens carry the evaporated tungsten back to the filament instead of allowing it to deposit on the bulb wall. By placing the tungsten back on the filament instead of the wall, it delays the filament breaking due to lack of tungsten. Although the halogen cycle significantly increases the life of the light bulb, it cannot last forever because the halogen gasses cannot place the tungsten on a specific spot on the filament to avoid any place having too little tungsten and breaking.

There are many more fixture articles in our fixture section. There is more specific information in the links at the beginning of this article. They can guide you where you need to go.