LED selection resources

[solarguy]

"Doesn't it take more energy to turn an incandescent bulb on and off than to leave it on for a minute? (Or is that a myth?)"

Yup, that's a myth. It's just like the myth, "If I turn the thermostat down in my house, it will take way more heat/money to get it back up to a comfortable temperature once I get home."


On brake lights, you may want to use LEDs just because of the faster response time. I'm making it up from memory, but somebody did the math and, at 45 mph, the faster response time keeps the car behind you 5 feet further back from your bumper. Not a trivial distance.

HTH,

troy

[Christ]

Thanks for covering that. I never actually checked to see, but out of convenience, I still usually leave the light on if I'm coming right back in.

[NeilBlanchard]

Yes, I was going to say the same thing about the "speed" that LED's light up -- they are virtually instant, and I think they grab your attention much better than "slow" incandescent bulbs. The cyclops (center) brake light on my xA is LED and it is more noticeable than the main brake lights.

On my car, the taillights are dual intensity, so I get the brake lights as LED's "for free". And I like the turn signals to be "fast".

The marker light on the front of the xA could work as driving lights by providing a little focused light (like dim DRL's). Of course, the headlights are where most of the lighting energy is used...

[Edit: it is the old tube fluorescent fixtures with ballasts that take ~10 minutes of power to start up, so if you would need them again in a shorter time, just leave them on. CFL's are better, but I think the time is just a couple of minutes -- maybe this is what you were thinking about, Chris?]