lower wattage light bulbs

[johnathanf1lm]

Just wondering about those eco headlights I'm sure this was in a discussion at some point. Ihave silver star ultras as headlights and hid fog lights. Fog lights do almost all the road lighting the headlights just do the slightly farther range so I was looking at putting the eco save a couple of watts in. They will only lose an amp off the power draw but since the alternator is around 50% efficient in cars I would be removing about 24 watts of power off the engine which in theory is 24/747 of a horsepower. Is this worth it

[Daox]

Of course it will get you better mpg, but we're talking a tiny fraction of an mpg. I would say no. There are plenty of other mods that will return WAY better gains.

I see that a partial grill block is on your 'planned mods' list. That is a much better place to start.

[johnathanf1lm]

I actually did the partial grill block a little while ago probably should update that

[WD40]

I did the Eco headlights just on principle, they will make a difference eventually.
No notable difference in headlight brightness.

[gone-ot]

Every 746 Watts of electrical power is 1 HP.

So, if you figure each headlamp draws 10 Amps on 'highbeam' that would be 294 Watts, or 0.39 HP, of continuous power.

Now, add in all the 'other' electrical components that are drawing their power from the BATTERY/ALTERNATOR system and you've probably got an electrical "load" of 2-5 HP.

Since the 'typical' car requires about 15 HP at 55 MPH for movement, that means the engine is being asked to "put-out" 33% more power just to accommodate that 2-5 HP electrical load...and HP eats fuel, just like you and I eat food for energy.

[Cobb]

In my insight the current setup effects mpg by .2 Use to the DRLs alone was 2 mpg. I replaced all the bulbs with leds but the turn signals and just removed the DRL fuse. The head lamps were HIDS, 35 watts 4300k low 50 watts 3000k high. Then the fog lamps are 3000k 35 watts all with relay kits. I use to drive 18 miles a day with high beams in the dark alone back roads. Previous with halogen bulbs the cabin started to get warm near the end of that stretch of my commute.

I since went to eco bulbs for high beams. Seems to be same brightness as the oem ones and when driven 9 miles continious it doesnt heat up the cabin like before. I use those now to flash for people to merge in front of me.

[oil pan 4]

L.E.D conversion - EcoModder

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ent-20498.html

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Every 746 Watts of electrical power is 1 HP.

So, if you figure each headlamp draws 10 Amps on 'highbeam' that would be 294 Watts, or 0.39 HP, of continuous power.

Now, add in all the 'other' electrical components that are drawing their power from the BATTERY/ALTERNATOR system and you've probably got an electrical "load" of 2-5 HP.

Since the 'typical' car requires about 15 HP at 55 MPH for movement, that means the engine is being asked to "put-out" 33% more power just to accommodate that 2-5 HP electrical load...and HP eats fuel, just like you and I eat food for energy.

Uh, that is definitely not a 'typical' electrical load on a car, unless you have a 2000 watt sound system. I did a bit of research into this trying to figure out how whether off the shelf thermoelectric generators could generate enough electrical power for the car. 300W is a typical electrical load, comes out to maybe 0.75hp at the alternator.

[johnathanf1lm]

Well dont forget efficiency of the alternator which for most cars is around 50%

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by johnathanf1lm

Well dont forget efficiency of the alternator which for most cars is around 50%

I did consider it, 0.75hp=560W.