Re: Anyone moved to LED Lighting?

[Nate Nagel <njnagel@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
> salty@xxxxxxx writes:
>
>> On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:19:05 -0700, Joe Pfeiffer
>> <pfeiffer@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> This I can readily believe -- but that's absolutely not what the
>>> automotive "replacements" that try to drop a bunch of LEDs in to replace
>>> an 1157 are like.
>> We are not talking about the cheap chinese 1157 replacements.
>>
>> I have a car that came from the factory with LED tail light/brake
>> lights. Trust me, they are a lot more visible from any angle then any
>> incandescent tailight you have ever encountered.
>
> A taillight engineered around an LED array can work at least as well as
> incandescents, with all the longevity and energy savings of LEDs.  I can
> also believe in an LED array engineered to fit behind a particular
> existing lens, which would also work as well, though I've never seen it.
> But this discussion started (when I brought up the topic) with drop-in
> retrofits for auto taillights -- ie cheap Chinese 1157 "replacements".
>
> And those fail for all the reasons that have been quoted enough times in
> this discussion that I snipped them this time.

I have seen circuit-board type retrofits for Studebaker Avantis
(notorious for dim, hard to see taillights even when everything is in
as-new shape) and they work really well.  Unfortunately I have a '55
coupe which has the same issue but there is no ready-made retrofit kit.

I'm thinking of perhaps taking some of the "truck-lite" oval taillights
and busting them apart and seeing if that works better.  Only thing I've
tried that provides acceptable lighting in those taillights so far are
halogen bulbs (which I don't like for heat reasons) and one set of LED
"bulbs" that I got from DealExtreme that use three high-output LEDs
rather than the usual array of cheap crappy LEDs.  Unfortunately for
those wanting a "drop in" replacement, I suspect that those particular
"bulbs" will only work well in a light designed with a Fresnel type
lens, and not one relying on the reflector for its optical
characteristics.  Even worse; one of them has already fallen apart.

If an LED "bulb" were available that would work well in reflector-type
optics and would fit the same form factor as a typical 1034, 1157,
P21/5W or single filament equivalent, I would be really happy.  I sure
wouldn't mind having LED lighting on the rear of my Porsche 944, but
that uses a molded-together type lens/reflector assembly where the bulbs
are inserted through little holes in the rear, so it's damn near
impossible to implement a circuit board type retrofit there (OK, not
impossible, but it would be an ambitious project, esp. considering that
there's five different segments in each taillight - three red, one
amber, one white (stop, tail, and rear fog are discrete segments) and I
just don't have enough free time to build such a taillight, and I doubt
the results would be worth it even though they'd be quite cool.

As I posted before, I tried some that looked like this:

http://www.urban-neon-car-lights.com/car-lights/1156ledbulb.html

I think I got them from superbrightleds.com - what a misnomer!
absolutely worthless.  Then I tried some of these a couple years later:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1156-Super-Red-63-LED-Light-Bulb-1141-1073-3497-7506_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem1c0dfca729QQitemZ120493745961QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

those are the ones that I said worked well but were too dim.

these are the ones that worked well in my '55 (Fresnel type lens) but
fell apart:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/240415486/LED_Car_Light_LED_Auto_Lamp.html

Now that I think about it, I think I also put a power resistor in series
with the parking light function, as it was way too bright.

Nothing yet that I can recommend as a plug 'n' play for most people in
an average car.

I haven't tried the SMD type "bulbs" yet but at $20 a pop and me
expecting to be disappointed, I'm hoping that someone else will try them
first and let me know :)

nate

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