Know about Dual-Beam and Single-Beam Headlight Bulbs for Your Car
Recently, one of our customers brought our attention to dual-beam and single-beam headlight bulbs, he was wondering if an AUXITO 9006 LED bulb could work for low and high beams on his Toyota Camry 2006.
So what’s the difference between dual beam headlight bulbs and single beam headlight bulbs? What bulbs are single beams and what bulbs are dual beams? Should you choose single beam or dual beam LED bulbs when buying LED headlight bulbs?
In this guide, we will be answering all those questions.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DUAL BEAM BULBS AND SINGLE BEAM BULBS
The easiest way to tell is that if the bulb is a single beam, then there is only one filament in the bulb, and only emits one beam of light at a time. If the bulb is a dual beam, it has two filaments one to create a light beam for the lows and a second to create a beam for the highs.

Single Beam | Dual Beam | |
Number of filaments | One | Two |
Function | Only low beam OR high beam | Low & high beam |
Headlight housing | Need two bulbs | Only need one bulb |
Bulb Pins | Two | Three |
Models | H11, 9005, 9006, 9012, H7, H1, H3 | H4, H13, 9004, 9007 |
WHAT IS THE SINGLE BEAM HEADLIGHT BULB?
Single-beam headlights do not mean only one bulb, which is probably a misconception for many people.
The single beam headlight bulb has a single function, one bulb creates only one beam. So single-beam headlights work with two bulbs -- one for low beam and one for high beam. If you want to replace both low and high beams, you will need two single beam headlight bulbs.
WHAT IS THE DUAL BEAM HEADLIGHT BULB?
The dual beam headlight bulb can create dual beam patterns, only one bulb is needed per headlight housing. The dual beam headlight system uses only one bulb to switch between high and low beams.
SOME SPECIAL CASES
1. In rare cases, a single-beam bulb performs for both high and low beams in the headlight assembly. The reason is a movable housing or a mechanism that shifts the position of the light source, such as a shutter unit.When the low beam is on, the shutter will block a portion of the single beam, allowing the headlights to project a portion of the light as the low beam. When the high beam is turned on, the shutter will open, allowing the single beam bulb to project more light and see farther, i.e., have a high beam function. For example, the H7, 9012 model bulb may be used in this case.
2. We just mentioned that normal dual-beam headlights have only one pair of bulbs, one on the driver's side and another on the passenger's side. However, there are some models that require two pairs of dual beam bulbs to provide more light, such as the Ford F250. But this does not mean that one dual beam headlight bulb only works on the low beam or only on the high beam. When the low beam function is turned on, the low beam filaments in all four bulbs are energized and function as low beams.
Leave a comment