LED Headlight Cost Analysis

[modproductions]

OK, today I will do the math to know if changing headlights for LED is worthy
I will take my car as an example, a Toyota Matrix 2013

Low beam model : 9006 from factory they consume 50watt each
Same model in LED they consume 4.5watt each and are $24.95 + $15shipping(estimate)

You save 91watt/hour if you put those light and drive for 1 hour

1 Liter of gas contain: 8900watt/hrs.
An ICE (Internal combustion engine) is only 20% efficient so each litre of gas give 1780 watt/hrs of moving energy

An alternator is only efficient at around 50%
So you need 1 litre of gas if you want to draw 890 watt/hrs of electricity,

With the LED headlight it need 890/91 = 9.78 hrs of driving to save 1 liter of gas.

On my GPS I have the information on my average speed on the last 45000km. My average speed was 68.5km/h

68.5Km/h*9.78h = 669.93Km, let’s call it 670Km So it take me 670km of driving to save 1 liter of gas if I put those LED light.
Or I bring down my consumption down of 0.15Liter/100km

In Canada Ontario (where I live), the Gas is at $1,20/liter
Total cost of light + shipping is approximately $65
$65 = 54.16liter of gas

670Km/1L * 54.16L = 36292Km
I will break even after 36292Km (22700miles) or approx 1 year of driving.

Is it worth it? - Kind of ..
Oh, its 36292Km of driving with day light, you have to buy another set if you want to drive at night. High beam is the model 9005. it’s the same price as the 9006. So double the initial price and double the distance.

My car is still new; it may be worth it to change now if I plan on driving the same car for 250,000+Km but don't think that those LED will save you money rapidly.

Let me know what you think of it.

[PaleMelanesian]

There are a couple problems with LED's for headlights.

1. They're not bright enough. Sylvania quotes 910 lumens low beam and 1500 high beam for my car's 9003 headlight bulbs. The best LEDs at SuperbrightLeds (i think your source) are only 480 lumens.

2. The light source is wrong for the headlight reflector. It's designed for a point light source, and the multi-LED "bulb" is bigger and more spread out. That means the light will not aim down the road as it should. Instead it will spread too wide and too high and blind oncoming traffic, while not putting enough where you need it.

Combine those two and it's not a good idea.

My solution: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...red-25490.html

[PaleMelanesian]

I am considering getting some LED bulbs for my H11 fog lights. They're already spreading the light wide, so it won't matter nearly as much if the beam isn't perfect.

[NoD~]

Do some research on LED lighting, especially in the car. I have tried out several bulbs and found MANY of them cannot keep up. I haven't tried headlight bulbs specifically, but after seeing simple 3157 bulbs SPANK various LED versions, I highly doubt a headlight will be any different. In fact, I'd say LED headlight conversion, without spending a hefty price of getting some high end components, will be incredibly dangerous on the road.

Here's a pic of the orange 60-LED tower compared to the standard bulb. I had the hazards on and finally got a pic of it on the blink...


I have changed over many of my stock bulbs to LED, though. All interior lights are now LED. I found side marker/license plate LEDs that did go brighter than stock and are working great there. I tried the 3157 light on front marker and it definitely failed to keep bright enough. I did get the white 3157's as well and tried in the rear tail lights, but too dim (should have bought red ones). I ended up putting in the 3157 clear towers into the reverse of my Neon and it was a bit dimmer, but good enough.

I do, however, hope somebody can chime in and say "oh, this LED light easily beats a standard headlight", but I doubt the technology is quite there yet. I have no experience at all with headlight LEDs, personally. Only every single other light my car has available. Good luck!

[modproductions]

Yes I did source my information on SuperbrightLeds

I was trying to show that LED are not worth it.
There is no way that paying $15 for LED brake light make any sense for brake light or flasher light. It will require 1,000,000 km before being close to break even. I guest that some people want to save gas more than saving money, in that case, LED make sense I suppose.

[PaleMelanesian]

Here's some different math, using my car.

The lower power consumption of the new bulbs allows more engine-off coasting before draining the battery. What are the savings of 0 fuel consumption vs idling just to power the lights?

0.25 Idle gph
$3.30 / gal fuel
$0.825 / hr Idle fuel consumption
$115 eco headlights and led tails, markers, license bulbs (ignoring brake and turn signal because their use-time is minimal)
139 hours of engine-off time required to make up the cost of the bulbs (that I wouldn't have had before).

Say I can do an extra 5 minutes of engine off per commute in winter, 1/2 the year. 10 minutes per day. 5 days a week, 26 weeks.
21 hours per year

6.6 years to pay back the bulbs.

But there's also the benefit of extended battery life.
Add in the savings you calculated above during engine-on time.
Safety is improved because I'm more willing to use my lights in marginal daylight times because of the reduced consumption.

[RedDevil]

On Alibaba.com (amongst others) you can find LED units that produce over 2000 lumen ussing in excess of 20 Watt. Some have a metal housing that extends from both sides of the plug. Some even have an inbuilt ventilator.
Reliability of these figures or the LEDs themselves remains to be seen, might be shady
None of these can replace the low beam as they emit light from a rather large area, as they always do.

Get a HID set, a 2x35W set saves you 40W compared to halogen and produces 3 times as much light. Got to keep them well aligned as not to blind other road users. HIDs typically last 6000 to 8000 hours of usage, chances are you won't ever have to replace them.

You might replace the fogs with LEDs to use them as DRLs instead of running low beam by day. They need to have more oomph than the 3W units I tried.
Better still, buy a set of LED DRL strips. They project most of their light in a level plane so they are more noticeable for the same watts than the fog replacements. I would do that if I had to do it over, and might just anyway.

[meelis11]

your best option is to just buy dedicated LED DRL lights and use them in daytime. At least daytime your wattage is then 2x5W instead of 2x55W. Less battery/alternator stress in winter time after cold start.
You can get DRLs from ebay (dont buy cheapest stuff, get 5W ones) about 30$ and they look cooler too

bonus is that your low-beam bulbs are lasting longer if you dont burn them daytime - you need to calculate bulb cost too because bulbs are burning out more often. You can use more expensive low-beam bulbs that are giving +80% light and not wasting them when it is not dark.

[PaleMelanesian]

Oh, I pulled the DRL fuse so mine aren't running at all. I like to use the LED marker lights instead, they make me visible to the rear as well.