LED Headlight

[winkosmosis]

The CCFLs in LCD screens have mercury

[blackjackel]

Fantastic, I vote STICKY for SURE!!!

I am seriously thinking of doing this as everything you said is well within my capabilities and the writeup was nothing short of awesome!

[captainslug]

One last note

Typical Motorcycle Headlight output: 700 lumens
High end Motorcycle Headlight output: 1200 lumens

Achieving equivalent intensity requires using arrays of high power LEDs, in groups of anywhere from 3 to 9 individual LEDs.
You also have to be mindful of the angle of output of the LED. The model of LED I intend to use for my next electric motorcycle project has a 180 degree output and will require a collimator in order to utilize all of its light output.

As such I may end up making a second chapter of this guide to cover such models that do not have factory optics options.

[blackjackel]

What is the average output of a typical car? I drive a toyota corolla...

I found some 55,000mcd LEDs on eBay for double the price you paid for your 6000mcd but their angle output is only 20 degrees plus or minus 10 degrees.

Does that mean that for 1000 lumens I only need roughly 18 of these LEDs?

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by blackjackel

What is the average output of a typical car? I drive a toyota corolla...

I found some 55,000mcd LEDs on eBay for double the price you paid for your 6000mcd but their angle output is only 20 degrees plus or minus 10 degrees.

Does that mean that for 1000 lumens I only need roughly 18 of these LEDs?

Typical automotive halogens output 1500 lumens per bulb at 55 watts.

1,000mcd = 1 candela = 1 lumen. So a 55,000mcd LED is only 55 lumens.

to get 1,500 lumens you will need 30 of those 55 lumen LEDs per headlight, but you will only get the same intensity level if you have optics to go with the array, or make the array so that the LEDs are focused to converge at an ideal distance. If you can find the datasheet for those LEDs it will tell you want the drop-off distance is for their output.

You may not be able to replace your automotive high beams with LEDs, but fog lamps or running lights are very possible.

[blackjackel]

Originally Posted by captainslug

Typical automotive halogens output 1500 lumens per bulb at 55 watts.

1,000mcd = 1 candela = 1 lumen. So a 55,000mcd LED is only 55 lumens.

to get 1,500 lumens you will need 30 of those 55 lumen LEDs per headlight, but you will only get the same intensity level if you have optics to go with the array, or make the array so that the LEDs are focused to converge at an ideal distance. If you can find the datasheet for those LEDs it will tell you want the drop-off distance is for their output.

You may not be able to replace your automotive high beams with LEDs, but fog lamps or running lights are very possible.

I rarely use my high beams, if ever... I can't think of a single instance since I first started driving that I've actually NEEDED to use high beams... The closest incident was when I Was driving a 4x4 in bumf*ck nowhere in costa rica and there wasn't a light in sight (pitch black) but even then the low beams were just fine.

So you're saying the average HIGH beams are 1500 lumens or the average LOW beams? I would love to know both answers. Also, what do you mean by "intensity level" and "optics" ?

Also, I calculated that If I were to do 1500 lumens then the LED's would draw approximately 4 watts of power, are my calculations correct or am I way off? How much would they draw at 1500 lumens?

[Nerys]

something is off your not going to get headlight brightness with 4watts. LED's are good but not that good :-)

I was thinking of multiple mini arrays on dual axis swivels so I could "align" and "tune" the lights to replicate the pattern of regular head lights. I also want to use WARM white led's I really had the bluish cast of the cold white units.

[captainslug]

This is now my go-to replacement LED headlight.


800 lumens @ 10 watts
Vision X Solstice Solo 2x2 10watt LED Euro Beam Off Road Light

A bit spendy at $119, but it comes with its own driver that accepts anything between 9 and 50 volts, is waterproof, and comes in three output options (spot, euro, and flood).

[Nerys]

ohhhhh those are nice but man I would need 4 of them. Ouch $480 but drool for sure. I wonder if they have them in 4000k or so I hate the blue cast of the cold white.

[8v fury]

Been looking at doing this a while back to my car, but there was no good write ups on how to do this. Now, i can give this a try.