[wagonman76]

Sorry I didn't mean to start a fiasco. Should have thought a little more, some parts far south and without as much nearby water would probably see 90F more often. Almost never see it up here.

All I meant by warm is the outside air temp was 20F, and the air around them felt a bit more than that. But still cold compared to the human body temp. If the air around the LEDs was 40F I would be able to feel the difference even though it was technically cold compared to the human body temp. Instead of warm I should have said not as cold. Only way to figure out what will give the best output without heating up considerably would be to experiment anyway.

The reason I wanted to stay with 3 LEDs per resistor is for the control. I could still bump up the resistor size to get around 5ma or whatever I need to keep them cool. I just want them to be able to handle normal voltage fluctuations.

Say I go with 4 LEDs per resistor. To get 5ma at 13.5v I would need a 60 ohm resistor. Let that voltage fluctuate to 14.5v and I would be at 22ma, enough to fry them in little time.

Now say I go with 3 LEDs per resistor. To get 5ma at 13.5v I would need a 720 ohm resistor. Let that voltage fluctuate to 14.5v and I would be at 6ma, hardly a change at all.

When I tried them outside I was seeing how the cutoff worked. There was a definite cutoff from the blinding zone. The LEDs I think would be most comparable to HIDs, and wiki says HIDs need to be aimed for a sharp cutoff from the blinding zone. I also do plan to try them behind a normal headlight lens for a diffusion effect, as well as stock outside appearance.