Eco- Headlamp bulbs?! anyone tried these?

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by christofoo

I wish I could put HID or LED in there for some much larger power draw reduction, but alas, headlamp reflectors are designed for a very specific source geometry, as of now there isn't a way I know of to make the swap without changing the entire assembly.

The ECO headlamps still rank as the cheapest way to knock out ~20W, although I find swapping headlamps to be a surprising PITA. I'm still trying to find good LED's for the tail-lamps, so far I've had no luck finding 1157 LED bulbs that actually work in the Civic's sockets, at least not under $10/pair.

very few drivers understand this fact! they buy the 'plug n play' ebay hid kits and blind everybody!

[justme1969]

How about a set of these??
7.5W Car LED high power lights: H4
The highest Lumens for car LED light bulbs!
Wide View Angle/ Piranha Type
For car headlight and fog lights:
Double the Light Output!
The Best Bulbs on the Market!
1, 7.5W high power and highly-efficient lights
2, Lifespan: Over 50000hours
3, Lumens: 280 - 320 LM
4, Light color: White / Yellow / Amber / Red / Blue / Green
5, Working voltage: DC12-24V
6, Working current: 300MA
7, Nonpolarity
8, Lighting angle: 360°

LED Car Headlights (H4-7.5W) - Sell Car Led Lights on Made-in-China.com

also found on alibaba.com

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by justme1969

How about a set of these??
7.5W Car LED high power lights: H4
The highest Lumens for car LED light bulbs!
Wide View Angle/ Piranha Type
For car headlight and fog lights:
Double the Light Output!
The Best Bulbs on the Market!
1, 7.5W high power and highly-efficient lights
2, Lifespan: Over 50000hours
3, Lumens: 280 - 320 LM
4, Light color: White / Yellow / Amber / Red / Blue / Green
5, Working voltage: DC12-24V
6, Working current: 300MA
7, Nonpolarity
8, Lighting angle: 360°


also found on alibaba.com

what part of the words 'fog lamp' are you missing.......
THe basic problem as mentioned above is that the lamp is designed specificly for a certian type oj bulb.

[NeilBlanchard]

If you have 7" round headlight, then you can use LED replacements.

[justme1969]

Yes they make round ones for trucks and seen another for mustangs.

wow ok! so anyways. since rated at 360 degrees and avg.300 lumens looks like a combination of 2 sets low / high but wire low in paralell so as to be drl and lows and series for high..Im not sure about the 360 degree part? and it doesnt come rite out and state color intensity. so 4=30 watts and 1200 lumens before focus and reflectors are conscidered it puts out more light at 1/2 the wattage than a 9004 bulb. So that part is solved, cost im sure is exhorbant and then mounting it into housing is another issue but this is plausible. even if it cant be done in Tx.

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by TheIVJackal

If they are 10-20% less energy, what does that look like MPG wise?
- Aaron

The eco purpose of reducing power draw, IMHO, is to extend battery cycling life with repeated engine-off use, and/or reduce the likelihood of accidentally draining it beyond restartability. EDIT: or get ready for an alternator delete.

Actually in my case the Civic is having 'smart' alternator issues and I was hoping to forestall a real repair. So far that hasn't been working out for me.

Assuming 37kWhr/gal for gasoline: (EDITED)
'Eco' bulbs: reduction of 20W/15%(efficiency)/37,000Whr/gal = 0.015 gal/hr
HID (hypothetically): reduction of 0.03 gal/hr

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by justme1969

How about a set of these??
7.5W Car LED high power lights: H4
The highest Lumens for car LED light bulbs!
Wide View Angle/ Piranha Type
For car headlight and fog lights:
Double the Light Output!
The Best Bulbs on the Market!
1, 7.5W high power and highly-efficient lights
2, Lifespan: Over 50000hours
3, Lumens: 280 - 320 LM
4, Light color: White / Yellow / Amber / Red / Blue / Green
5, Working voltage: DC12-24V
6, Working current: 300MA
7, Nonpolarity
8, Lighting angle: 360°

LED Car Headlights (H4-7.5W) - Sell Car Led Lights on Made-in-China.com

also found on alibaba.com

You can tell by looking at the picture that the source geometry is wrong. Definitely not regulation, they will not have a low-beam of any sort. I believe they are also not as bright as standard by about 5X, so that fixed high beam isn't going to be right either.

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

Hmmm the same rating as a standard bulb.
There are a few DOT approved passanger vehicle LED replacement head lamps. (I know of 1)

L.E.D conversion - EcoModder

I didn't find any DOT approved headlamps in that link. Can you provide a direct link?

AFAIK the only use of LEDs is to replace taillights and parking lights, although anytime a blinker gets touched it may require a resistor kit (referring i.e. to my forward dual function bulbs for parking and blinkers, where the power draw savings comes from the parking light component, after the resistor add there is no savings from the blinker side). In all I have 6X 5W bulbs (they are 20W for braking, only 5W each for taillight function) that are candidates on my vehicles, for a total of almost 25W on the table (plus braking, but how often do I do that?). But so far the <$10/pair LED versions don't fit the 1157 Honda socket.

[christofoo]

Originally Posted by christofoo

...
Assuming 37kWhr/gal for gasoline:
'Eco' bulbs: reduction of 20W/50%(efficiency) = 0.0011 gal/hr
HID: 0.0022 gal/hr

Leave it to me to be off by an order of magnitude.

Efficiency should be ~30% ICE X ~50% alt = ~15%

'Eco' bulbs: reduction of 20W/15%(efficiency) = 0.015 gal/hr
HID (hypothetically): 0.03 gal/hr

[LeanBurn]

Consult candlepower forums concerning lighting, just because a headlamp, bulb or enclosure is for sale and claims DOT doesn't mean it really is.

The ECO bulbs work to an extent. Their life is shorter than an OEM bulb though from what I have read so you have to work out the economics of buying bulbs slightly more often than OEM.