Article: Hella LED Headlamp Study

[tjts1]

Autospeed article on building LED headlight.
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_109714/article.html

[NoCO2]

Can't you just mod your existing headlamps to use LEDs instead of regular ones? I would think all you would need to do would be to add a resistor or two to the line to lower the voltage a little bit and then pop in between 10 and 20 ultra bright LEDs in each lamp fixture to make it work...seems like it would be simple enough in theory. Then in the back I would wire up a string of LEDs that ran along my bumper as night time rear lights, that way only the break lights are using the regular lamps.

Gotta love instructables.com
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-...r-headlights!/

[Ryland]

those LED's don't sound so good any more, I just checked the lable on a new 13 watt CF, and it's rated at 800 lumens, so those 800 lumen 20 watt LED's are sounding less great only 40 lumens per watt insted of 61, if only CF bulbs fit in head lights.
found a few more:
50 watt LED (wow) but it's only 1,700 lumens, only 34 lumens per watt.
3 watt, 80 lumen around 26 lumens per watt, and that seems to be pretty standared for something that can run for more then just a minute or two.
but this is the best I've found! 1.3 to 3.7 watt, 107 to 228 lumens (depending on how you regulate them) $9 each $8 if you buy 3 or more, but it also needs a driver that is going to regulate the voltage very carfully to keep it from burning up, but I think if 5 or more of those were mounted in a reflector, with good heat sinks (still like the heat pipe chanaling heat to defrost the windsheild) and had them at full driven power for high beams, and I like them because they give you specs over a wide range of amps going thru them, and if you don't need them as bright they are more efficent!
as for tail lights, I already use LED tail lights, they are brighter and use less power then standard bulbs, I personaly tested them at less then 3 watts each.

[johnpr]

hmm i have been considering doing led headlights for a while and think i may get some of those 800 watt "bulbs" sounds like a fun project

[getnpsi]

I would first try leds as DRL's, sort of a compromise where you can run them on just with the parking lights not consuming a lot of power. In addition depending on the car model, you can remove the drl/marker light and leave the headlight intact, so you have no downtime and don't have to do a rush job in a daily driver. If you get enough brightness in the second housing, you can probably use them solo at night in traffic and only need the real headlights on a dim road.

I too have upgraded led flashlights. One thing ive noticed is you can buy 99 cent store C/D-cells and they'll live forever. The savings are very notable. I have a 3 year old.