DIY LED Headlights

[ton]

Hid is better than LEDS- correct?

[NeilBlanchard]

Define "better"?

[Nerys]

I am looking to go LED as I want to get rid of the alternator and water pump and one of the largest power pigs is the headlights at 110watts (55 each)

my lights output 1400 lumens. I am going to use a 20watt warm white LED with an output of 1900 lumens. (so after lens losses and REAL lumen output its probably 1200-1400 ie more than enough)

I am going to mount a 4inch by 6 inch by half in solid copper plate where the lights go now with 2 massive solid copper heatsinks mounted onto the backside and the LED mounted to the front.

thats more than enough copper to keep them cool. I make "slot" the front of the copper for both looks and to increase cooling even more !!

my only problem is HOW do I focus the stinking light? I have the copper and the sinks already. I have 2 different LED's on the way from china to test out.

I just don't know how to do that. Suggestions?

HID is just not efficient enough for me. while they are 35watt at the bulb they are 48watt at the battery (driver losses are pretty high) ie only 6 watts less than the halogens. sure you get more light but I do not CARE about more light I want lower power.

I wish someone made a true 15watt (22-24 at the battery) hid system which would put out about the same lumens as a halogen.

[Nerys]

So far ever emitter I have gotten is no where near focused enough. "way wide" flood style. at least compared to a car headlight.

I did find some hemispherical lenses an oval one and a "ridged" one thats supposed to give a more "square" like resulting pattern (ie more head light like)

we shall see.

[wyatta4]

So is my cars headlights LED or HID ready already? I went to a website and there headlights on their example car looked identical to these.. They came with the car so IDK anything bout them..



Sorry the picture isn't the best. I just cropped it.

[Nerys]

there is no LED ready. they don't make LED yet. there are a few OEM's doing led's on very high end cars and there are 1 or 2 mill app led lights aftermarket for trucks and rv's but VERY expensive.

[Phantom]

To help with the voltage drop from the battery to the head lights you should try doing this Headlamp Harness Upgrade

[p38fln]

We ran into problems on our semi trucks with LED tail-lights - they don't put out enough heat to melt the snow off, and the trucks were getting ticketed for not having working tail lights when they drove through snow storms. Eventually had to go back to incandescent lights because of this.

Easy solution for the problem on headlights though - wipers. Wouldn't add any power draw to the vehicle unless it was raining, and I believe some countries already require them for HID headlamps.

[Nerys]

Here is a solution for the trucks. ever see the old war time vehicles or "old style" cars that have the shades over the lights kind of like the shades over STOP LIGHTS?

install them. ALSO here is an odd but effective solution. WAX THEM. a quick coat of wax before the storm hits will make them slippery enough to be less able to "hold" snow.

also wipers would also work well on tail lights :-) but at that point the added cost of the wipers and their maintenance might exceed the cost savings of the LED.

Another solution might be to use glass or crystal lenses and use the lenses as the heatsink for the LED's

LED's actually make a pretty decent amount of heat but its not directed at the "lens" like a regular bulb. so embed the LED in the lens so they "heat up" the lens.

[Christ]

Insulate the entire light housing except the lens, add 20 watt moisture activated heat coils around the lights. As snow builds up, the coils get turned on and melt it.

If the drivers were stopping for periodic safety checks, the tail light things would not have been as bad. Several of the companies I've worked for identified a lack of periodic safety checks via Independent Witness and data gathering systems.

Incandescent brake bulbs are seldom on, and don't generally develop enough heat to thoroughly melt snow build up, either.