LED Headlamps....OEM?

[Pdwight]

Dont know about that one.....but

I have seen the one the military used for special forces, it costs $5K !!!!! and can be seen from the space shuttle in orbit providing there is no cloud coverage...

 

[3DFanatic]

Justin's got it. Luxeon LEDs are where it's at. My Surefire has a 3 watt LED combined with a projector lens and is brighter than many fog lights.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I had an idea recently. Maybe these bulbs could be used for either headlights, or fog lights: http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/cc-vivid-par-38-led-spotlight-bulb.aspx

 

[justin146]

only 200 lumens, thats about 2800 short of a set of HIDs.

 

[BrooklynBay]

How many lumens are stock halogens?

 

[Pdwight]

No Idea

But I got a 35 Watt HID Spot light for Christmas, let me tell you that this makes a 5 Watt Luxeon Star light look like a firefly compared to a aircraft searchlight. I think perhaps that HID will be the next generation. I have read that even the experimental 10 Watt Luxeon Star Modules that are in research are only delivering 20% more light than a 5 Watt Module so they have reached the point of Diminished Returns. If you want to get a look at cutting edge lighting check out candlepower forums sometimes....tons of reading.

Dwight

 

[Afboy143]

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadg...-astonishing-styling-possibilities-210326.php

The part that boggles my mind is when they say the leds get hotter than a "2 dollar pistol". I thought LED's didnt get hot?

 

[BrooklynBay]

 

[huskyfan23]

Smaller LEDs don't get very hot compared to light sources giving the same output. It's not until you get into the bigger ones, like Luxeon, where heat becomes an issue. Luxeon LEDs require heatsinks and all that stuff. I believe many traffic lights are Luxeons.

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://wheeltalk.fancal.net/?p=844
http://ledsmagazine.com/articles/news/2/4/14/1

 

[jluv]

Interesting timing. I was watching "World's 100 Greatest Discoveries" or something like that on the History channel last night. They talked about how all traffic lights in the US were supposed to be switched to LED by the end of 2005 (not sure if ithey are all done yet) and that the major auto manufacturers have all vowed to switch all tail lights and headlights to LED by 2010. It was also explained that the energy they produce is like 90% light and 10% heat vs a lot of other light sources that are the other way around.

I'm no expert, just regurgitating what was said last night on this show.

 

[Afboy143]

Interesting timing. I was watching "World's 100 Greatest Discoveries" or something like that on the History channel last night. They talked about how all traffic lights in the US were supposed to be switched to LED by the end of 2005 (not sure if ithey are all done yet) and that the major auto manufacturers have all vowed to switch all tail lights and headlights to LED by 2010. It was also explained that the energy they produce is like 90% light and 10% heat vs a lot of other light sources that are the other way around.

I'm no expert, just regurgitating what was said last night on this show.

makes sence. Just like the flourecent bulbs in the house vs. halogen. Lot less heat, lot more light

 

[Bill Kemp]

After the first few veh.s hit the streets w/LEDs for headlights you can be sure that there will be a bunch of poorly designed conversions on Ebay and such sites.
As we all know, the DOT/OEM standards are less than what most of us consider good lighting. So how are we going to brighten the LEDs?
Gonna be interesting.....

 

[BrooklynBay]

I'm sure that they will be bright enough in order to be in competition with HID lighting.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I did a search on EBay just to see if there are any LED headlights, and I found some: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/04-0...tegoryZ33710QQihZ002QQitemZ120068446288QQrdZ1

 

[huskyfan23]

The Halo is made up of an LED placed inside a little tube.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Here is an interesting article about somebody trying to make his own LED headlights, and an electronic controller for high/low beams: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=117661&page=1&pp=30

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://www6.autonet.ca/Spotlight/Co...y=/Spotlight/Concepts/2005/11/02/1289804.html

 

[3DFanatic]

The part that boggles my mind is when they say the leds get hotter than a "2 dollar pistol". I thought LED's didnt get hot?

Anything you do electrically or mechanically makes a certain amount of heat. Maybe not much but it's there. My surefire light has a "Warning Hot Surface" warning on the bezel. One guy used his light to thaw his frozen door lock once.

 

[gijoecam]

I've seen the Visteon LED headlight prototypes on an test-mule F-150 on the road.... Aside from the whiter light, they looked just as bright as a conventional halogens. The only thing that gave it away was the big 'Visteon LED Headlamp Test Vehicle' magnetic decal on the truck with a link to the Visteon site.

-Joe