Civic EPES: Alternator Delete Project (with additional lithium battery...)

[ps2fixer]

The alt delete option would be a nice plus, not sure if savings would out weigh the cost involved or not.

LED lights bright enough for head lights cost ~$100 for a pair based on fog lamps which draw 15w x2 and depending on the room, you could ideally gut the back side of the head light assembly and mount the fog lamps inside there, at least that is my plan if my DIY approach is a fail. Here is an idea of what the differences would be, I drive mainly at night (midnight shift) so I need to see well since my trip is 70% along fields and see deer very often and hit one last winter on the express way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdl1HW0_vfU

I don't know off hand what kind of draws everything else takes, but your current double battery setup should last your trip if you was 100% converted to LEDs, night or day.

[mans]

I see a lot of talk saying the appropriate led headlight bulbs arent avail and you need to modify the lens housing etc.

what happens if I put a pair of these
into my car? wouldn't it work, its 6w that should be equivelant of like50-60w regular headlamp bulb

2 X Car H7 6W SMD LED Super White Headlight Bulb Light | eBay

H7 6W High Power Car Headlight Fog LED Constant Currency Head Light Bulb White | eBay

these are available in h3, h4, h7(in link) etc etc

[ps2fixer]

Originally Posted by mans

I see a lot of talk saying the appropriate led headlight bulbs arent avail and you need to modify the lens housing etc.

what happens if I put a pair of these
into my car? wouldn't it work, its 6w that should be equivelant of like50-60w regular headlamp bulb

2 X Car H7 6W SMD LED Super White Headlight Bulb Light | eBay

H7 6W High Power Car Headlight Fog LED Constant Currency Head Light Bulb White | eBay

these are available in h3, h4, h7(in link) etc etc

According to what I have researched so far your figures would probably be closer to the 50w equivalent or a bit less depending how they designed the current limiting methods. Resisters = most inefficient method while constant current drivers are among the best. Just looking at it I would guess resister.

Quick and simple math, it appears to be basically 4 leds, 3 on the sides, and 1 direct out. So according to LED series parallel array wizard ....

voltage: 13.8v
No. LEDs: 4
forward voltage: 3.2v (most whites are 3 to 4v)

The result would be a 2.2 ohm resistor that dissipates 496.375 mW or ~500mw wasted of 6w. In a car that isn't bad at all, house lighting is pretty bad compared to what is out there. Since about 5.5w is converted to light via the LEDs, I would say they would almost exactly match a 55w headlight bulb. Just remember the effects of cold vs natural vs warm lights and our perception of it, if I remember right, cold light looks brighter than warm so it would be a plus .

I am assuming here TOTAL draw is about 6w, and that it is not 6W at the LEDs only not counting the resister(s).

Either case... 12w vs 110w = savings and the LEDs are a great priced!

All in all, I would say try it and see, I know I'm going to be buying some! Thanks for the link share.


EDIT:

Looking at the expected life of 50k hours, I'm going to say that will not be a typical case, since 6w of leds should have (according to my past research) atleast 20 squre inches of AL to cool it. In other words, the life of them will be shorter if you go on long distant trips at night often, short distances and winter driving would allow them to last longer. LED life is directly related to quality and temp ran at. I would expect 10k hours out of them, which I would think would pay for its self in that time .

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by brucepick

I'm interested in replacing smaller bulbs with LEDs but it's the 55W x 2 headlights that draw down battery voltage. Four or even six corner bulbs at 5-8W each is a relatively smaller load on the system. I believe I won't escape the need to run the 110W of headlights any time soon. Yes I could run a pair of HIDs for 70W total but it's significant $$ for a savings of 40W.

I'm not sure I understand you completely. The stock corner bulbs and tail lights on our Civics are 20watts each. For relatively little $$ you could replace just the five tail/brake lights and reduce load by maybe 70 or 75 watts, correct? Of course the demand is not as constantly high as running the headlights. But the brake/tail light mod is what I did first, because I have to use the brake lights all the time, day or night.

BTW, re: raising the funding for it, I'll just share what I do when cash is tighter and I want/need something small like this that I am having difficulty justifying to myself or my wife. I cut something else I routinely budget for. I cut whatever it is for just for a short while, to "defray" the cost of the purchase. Just my method. I hope it helps.

[jakobnev]

2 X Car H7 6W SMD LED Super White Headlight Bulb Light | eBay

I think those will have an incorrect beam pattern and will bedazzle other drivers at night and might get you a big fine.

[mans]

Originally Posted by jakobnev

2 X Car H7 6W SMD LED Super White Headlight Bulb Light | eBay

I think those will have an incorrect beam pattern and will bedazzle other drivers at night and might get you a big fine.

u sure?

isn't it the reflector and the back of the lamp housing that's responsible for this kind of thing, not the bulb?

these are made to be used as fog lamps which are close to the ground.
headlamps are higher up but are still directed at the ground.
no?

please correct me if im making a mistake

[jakobnev]

Originally Posted by mans

u sure?

isn't it the reflector and the back of the lamp housing that's responsible for this kind of thing, not the bulb?

Well, reflectors don't give the same beam pattern regardless of the shape of the light source. (If they did they could violate the second law.) The short focal length reflectors on car headlamps are very sensitive to the source.

[ps2fixer]

The reflector fact could be a problem, for the ones willing to go more of a DIY route (splitting the head light to install), you could install 4x 3w led in series each with a cone on them (45 degree linked below) and run them at 50~66% rated current. Probably would be best to have 2 at a wider angle, and 2 shorter so the sides light up well.

2pcs LED Lens for CREE Lumens Seoul 45 degree Matte | eBay

Don't forget current limiting in the design or you will burn them out fast, and sites suggest ~10in of heat sink surface area for cooling a fully powered 3w led (700ma) I would be planning to run at around 350-400ma so around 1/2 that should be about right for me.

Now I don't know what I want to try first lol, similar 6w led headlight lamps for my car are around $30 per pair or I already have 40 3w LEDs but not the cones or drivers/1-2w resister. Fun factor and learning experience is priceless though for me

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by ps2fixer

Fun factor and learning experience is priceless though for me

Me too, man. A thought I have that is not as adventurous but could still be fun would be to install the Rigid Industries lights in the vid in post #23 above or the $30 ones your refer to AS FOG LIGHTS and then use them for lighting in the early dawn, late twilight, or to keep police off my back when I am rolling slowly and in less need of long range visibility. They seem to illuminate really well, and I think would be useful and power saving in the partial light situations. Would be fun to experiment. I'd have my 35w HIDs for the genuine dark, but the 15w LEDs for the twilight/dawn. What do you think? Would cars like mine and brucepick's still need the heat sink and such you describe or can the manufactured lights/reflectors be installed "plug and play"?

[ps2fixer]

The lights sold are plug and play, them 15W fog lights are designed to cool in some way I'm sure. They would be good for running lights/just starting to get dark times, but I would think you wouldn't need that much light if your planning to use HID for dark lighting. Maybe look for some ~4w lights (4x 1w led) for cars just for the other people to see you factor + they would give a little light (about 30-35w comparable)

The only time current limiting or cooling is 100% needed is when you build it your self buying separate LEDs (2.5-4v normally each) not led bulbs rated for 12v and plug into car sockets, or the fog lights.