What is the Difference Between LED Stroboscopic Light and Xenon Emergency Light?

It is critical that emergency vehicles have the most effective warning lights, but which type of light is the best choice? Both xenon tubes and automotive LED strobe lights have been used as emergency lights in the past, but few people really know the difference between the two.

To help you find the best emergency light for your vehicle, we can easily differentiate between LED stroboscopic light and xenon tube lights. By understanding the differences between the two lighting options, you can ensure that your emergency vehicle lights are reliable, striking and error-free.

1. What is a xenon lamp？

Sometimes it's called a flash tube or flash. Xenon lamps produce very intense, bright white light for a short period of time. Once commonly used in camera flashes, light can make a big difference, even with relatively small xenon tubes.

It consists of a glass tube filled with xenon gas that glows when the gas inside the tube is ionized. When this happens, a high-voltage pulse produces light. Because the light is present for such a short time, repeated triggering of the gas produces repeated flashes of light.

This is one of the reasons why xenon lamps are suitable for emergency lights. For example, when fastened to a police car, a brief flash of light produced by xenon produces the flashing lights we all recognize. While the light produced by xenon tubes is of course white, colored gels can easily produce the blues and reds associated with emergency vehicles, or the yellow lights we often see on warning signs.

2. What are automotive LED strobe lights？

LED stroboscopic light also produces short bursts of bright light, but they do so with a different light source. LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, rely on electrons to generate energy in the form of photons when they reconnect with electron holes in the semiconductor.

The color of light produced by LED stroboscopic light is determined by the energy band gap of its semiconductor. By changing this gap, the color emitted by the LEDs can be changed, meaning that LED troboscopic light can be used to produce the white, red, blue and yellow hues used by emergency services.

While both xenon tubes and LED stroboscopic light produce brief flashes of light, the way they produce this light is quite different. As a result, emergency services personnel may find one type of lighting is more suitable for use on emergency vehicles.