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Discussion about modifying your auotomotive lighting, retrofits, auto body, share projects, ideas, etc.
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08-22-2013, 07:59 PM
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#1 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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| LED Headlights
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with using LED's for headlights.
I'm wanting to try something new out and have seen a few videos where people are using LED's for headlight but I wonder about long term reliability and if there are any heat issues that could melt plastics.
IF you have any experience with LED's as headlights I would like to hear it.
This would be in a 93 Supra if it matters.
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08-22-2013, 09:51 PM
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#2 | | RS has made me the bitter person i am today!
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led's tend to burn a lot cooler than other bulbs.
I would imagine that you would have a much lower output though than standard headlights. Unless I am mssing some sort of new technology, I only have LED's for my DTRL and backup lights.
I guess mercedes and stuff have LED headlights now though, I have never looked into what they were...
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08-22-2013, 10:13 PM
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#3 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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I was watching a video on YouTube where the car had one 6k HID and one 4300k LED bulb.
From the video, it seemed to be equal if not better light output from the LED than the HID. Also, one thing that really attracted me to the LED setup is the "instant on" ability. Unlike a HID setup, there is no warm up time on the bulbs.
I know this may not seem important, but I have had situations where the vehicle I was driving had high and low HID's and I needed to use the flash feature, but because the high ballest was not warmed up it produced very low light.
The low heat output is a good thing. No issues about melting lenses like I have seen happen in HID equipped cars that were not OE equipped with them.
The other concerns are longevity of the bulbs in a headlight application. I would keep spares in the car in event I burn out, but I don't want to have to change them every month or two.
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08-23-2013, 09:05 AM
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#4 | | Media Officer / MOD
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newer led is super bright buses use them as headlights, only thing is cost.
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08-23-2013, 09:24 AM
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#5 | | Zionism gets my shell hard and slimy
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yeah, busses are LED lamps, there are some LED low beam setups you can buy but i remember them being 300$ a set minimum!
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08-23-2013, 09:43 AM
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#6 | | Pull Out Towing. Women rescued for free.
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The Nissan Leaf uses an LED bulb for their headlights.
Definitely, LED's produce a lot less heat. Last winter, some of the traffic lights that used LED's were also the same ones covered by snow. The older traffic lights with regular bulbs produced enough heat to melt the snow.
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08-23-2013, 09:52 AM
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#7 | | I WANT MY 10 YEARS BACK FROM RS.net!
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Should see some of the new LED off-road lights that are available. Seen some Jeeps with light bars I'm pretty sure could be seen from space.
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08-23-2013, 09:55 AM
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#8 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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You can purchase just the bulbs for $20-30 a piece.
For instance, I can pick up a 9005 for the Supra for $25each.
My concern with that is the amount of light. It is listed as being VERY bright, but if its bright enough for a headlight....
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08-23-2013, 09:59 AM
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#9 | | Media Officer / MOD
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those bulbs will not give you the light you need for headlights
the oes that the leaf has and audi a8 is much much more powerfull then those 25 dollar bulbs
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08-23-2013, 10:09 AM
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#10 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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Who sells LED headlight kits?
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08-23-2013, 10:16 AM
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#11 | | Media Officer / MOD
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i dont think anyone has kits just yet. A lot of people on hidplanet.com does something called retrofit, by taking working led units and putting them in to their own car's headlight housing
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08-23-2013, 10:21 AM
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#12 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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I did see a kit for some H7's, but that was the only one I could find. There was a lot involved in them as well.
Had a cooling fan, bulbs, controller, and some other bits and pieces....not wanting complex when it comes to headlights.
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08-23-2013, 02:21 PM
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#13 | | Wunder? Wonder?? Wander???
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I replaced my halogen DTRL / fog lights with LED's and they are way brighter than the OEM halogen bulbs.
They can definitely be used as headlights if you don't use the crappy old school LED's.
Make sure you get the ones with the lens on top and uses cree chips.
It has been over a year now, and it is still bright as day one and they look way better than the stock yellowish look.
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08-23-2013, 02:25 PM
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#14 | | Wunder? Wonder?? Wander???
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They look something like this when I bought it: http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/m...n_2_1_1_36.jpg
But they look a little more refined now with silver heatsinks everywhere, watched another rs member install his LED's the other day and his bulbs look much more beast than mine and they are almost 2x as bright as my already extremely bright bulbs.
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08-23-2013, 02:43 PM
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#15 | | Captain Happy Bubble is my Homeboy
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Did this yeterday! They retail for like $35 per pair but got them for free for demoing, if you get errors or flickers just order a pair of resistors for less than $10.
Left: OEM halogen
Right: Osram LED, upgraded version of the Osram 29W LED that isn't released yet
The days of LED's not being as bright as halogens are over. 
Both sides swapped, darker environment:  | |
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08-23-2013, 03:13 PM
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#16 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by wonton1017 Did this yeterday! They retail for like $35 per pair but got them for free for demoing, if you get errors or flickers just order a pair of resistors for less than $10.
Left: OEM halogen
Right: Osram LED, upgraded version of the Osram 29W LED that isn't released yet
The days of LED's not being as bright as halogens are over.
Both sides swapped, darker environment: | Where did you pick them up from?
I will be doing this for sure.
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08-23-2013, 03:19 PM
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#17 | | Captain Happy Bubble is my Homeboy
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Cheapest place to get them would be ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-29W-Osram-Chip-H11-LED-Highest-output-Fog-light-DRL-bright-/190814789625?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c6d729ff9&vxp=mtr
I don't know your socket size or if they even make it for other sizes, but as long as it has a cree chip in it (more the merrier, seen some with like 2x cree chips on top) with a lens on top, it will be bright enough.
My friends thought I put in HID's because of how bright and white they are. They definitely have some minor glare but they don't distract oncoming drivers nearly as much as HID's.
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08-23-2013, 03:41 PM
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#18 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
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With the LED's, is the hither the wattage the brighter the light?
I have seperate high, low and driving bulbs so I will switch all bulbs to LED, I just want to be abloe to match the light color as well as the light output across the bulbs.
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08-23-2013, 03:50 PM
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#19 | | Captain Happy Bubble is my Homeboy
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Higher wattage does not always equal to brighter output, they are more for advertising purposes. But if they use the same chips, and one has more of that chip then their will be a higher wattage. And in that case, the higher wattage does mean brighter output.
The most important thing to look at is whether or not they use Cree LED chips, it should be bright enough if it has 2 cree chips on the top... but there are different kinds of cree chips as well but I never wanted to research into that. All i know is that some are brighter but uses a lot more power, some are 80% as bright but uses half the power and etc etc.
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08-25-2013, 11:54 AM
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#20 | | NOOB, Not Quite a Regular!
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There are new high power led kits available in the market. Some have hi-lo functionality as well. Here are some examples  .
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08-26-2013, 09:28 PM
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#21 | | Even when im right, revscene.net is still right!
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I just bought these. Cree 50w. cost me $65 dollars. Taxes and shipping in. I'll review the before after when I get them.
2x hb4 9006 low beam 9006 HB4 CAR 50W High Power 10 Cree LED Bulb FOG Light Head Lamp White DC12 24V | eBay
2x hb3 9005 high beam
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9005-HB3-Car-50W-High-Power-10-CREE-LED-Bulb-Fog-Light-Head-Lamp-White-DC12-24V-/310714015337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=610204943999&hash=item4857ff9e69
Last edited by corollagtSr5; 08-26-2013 at 09:33 PM.
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08-27-2013, 10:46 AM
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#22 | | RS.net, helping ugly ppl have sex since 2001
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How well do LED bulbs work with halogen reflectors?
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09-10-2013, 04:14 PM
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#23 | | Even when im right, revscene.net is still right!
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Ok, so I grabbed 2 pairs, one high beam and low beam from that link I gave you guys. They suck donkey balls. They look nice, but you can't see shit when your driving. Even the high beam is shit. It seemed to turn out great for wonton1017 though but he used a different brand. I just put back my oldschool bulbs back in, because its way to unsafe using the ones I got.
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09-10-2013, 08:26 PM
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#24 | | Media Officer / MOD
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As I said above, these are not for illumination, more for decoration.
think of this as well, halogen bulbs have a focal point different then these led bulbs. Have you ever put hid into halogen housing? It doesn't light up the road any better then halogen because of the focal point. I'm pretty sure these leds will be similar.
Take a look on hid planet, people have tried these bulbs before and have said it doesn't have the output of halogen. If you want led headlights, some people are retrofitting newer Prius headlights into their original housing.
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09-10-2013, 11:19 PM
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#25 | | Even when im right, revscene.net is still right!
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by wonton1017 Left: OEM halogen
Right: Osram LED, upgraded version of the Osram 29W LED that isn't released yet
The days of LED's not being as bright as halogens are over. | Are you talking about left side FOGLIGHT oem halogen, and right side FOGLIGHT osram? I just got owned. Made me believe he changed his headlights to LED.
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