I converted to LED lighting!

[Ecky]

Scangauge should be able to show gallons per hour fuel consumption; that would definitely drop with this change.

[Xist]

4,000 lumens each?

[EcoCivic]

Originally Posted by Xist

4,000 lumens each?

Yes, 8,000 lumens for the set.

[teoman]

SI lumens or chinese lumens?

[EcoCivic]

Originally Posted by teoman

SI lumens or chinese lumens?

I don't know, but they're BRIGHT.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by EcoCivic

I don't know, but they're BRIGHT.

Question now is: will they STAY bright for a reasonable length of time before failing?

[Xist]

The standard Sylvania low beam is 910 lumens and the high beam is 1700.

Well, it saves energy while binding oncoming traffic.

Brilliant.

[freebeard]

What lights did you convert from?

I'm not familiar with the HB4 element designation. I have H-4s.

Did you convert one light and then take a picture of the beam pattern on high- and low-beam against a wall?

I converted from halogens to LEDs in the Hella H-4 housing. The phenomenal low-beam cutoff went away. I had to apply a field expedient fix:



Also the halogens had good high beams, I could light up reflectors on road signs a quarter mile down the road. The LEDs have good color temperature, but don't have that reach.

For another thread I was looking at beeping backup lights. They only seem to be available in halogen. Backup lights would be a good use case for LEDs.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Question now is: will they STAY bright for a reasonable length of time before failing?

The phosphor will degrade in a high power application like car headlights where things get quite hot, but it should be good for a few thousand hours before losing 30%-50% of its light output, dependent on specific circumstances like ambient temp, which bulb you buy, etc.. At which point, it would become only as bright as an OEM bulb.

I definitely noticed that the highway mpg would go down by a tiny bit when turning on the OEM lightbulbs, but I imagine the fuel savings won't really pay for the bulb. The more important thing is that you get a brighter bulb that doesn't hog electricity and doesn't burn out quickly and abruptly. JDM Astars have a good beam pattern that let you see out in the distance without blinding traffic and correctly advertised lumens rating, and you can get the same bulb from their OEM for I think 100 bucks on Ebay, that's the one to get.

[Daschicken]

An interesting benefit I noticed when I got my LED low beams is that the headlights do not dim when I restart the car with lights still on. Less draw=easier starting!