LED = poor man's HID? Even BETTER?!?

[jEct2]

My friend got LED lights as main headlights for his Scion tC.

Good thing about LED is that they're pure truest white, unlike yellowish bulbs. I guess it's a poor man's HID solution. They were pretty bright too, just as much as regular bulbs.

I'm wondering if there is one for my car Mazda 6? The bulb type is H1.

[edit]
While I'm at it: What are the pros and cons of LED vs bulbs?

Don't LEDs last forever? You never hear LEDs burning out, there's no 'coil' inside that lits up.
Don't they also produce more true colors?

What are the fundemental difference between the two in terms of technology?

[edit2] From wikipedia
Advantages of using LEDs

* LEDs are capable of emitting light of an intended color without the use of color filters that traditional lighting methods require.
* The shape of the LED package allows light to be focused. Incandescent and fluorescent sources often require an external reflector to collect light and direct it in a useable manner.
* LEDs are built inside solid cases that protect them, making them hard to break and extremely durable.
* LEDs have an extremely long life span: twice as long as the best fluorescent bulbs and twenty times longer than the best incandescent bulbs.

It seems LEDs are simply just superior than incandescent bulbs.

This means in the future, LED headlights will be better than HIDs? At a fraction of a cost? $20~ each vs $700 HID kit !

 

[The Stigenator]

link??

i dont think they are dot legal yet.

 

[jEct2]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
link??

i dont think they are dot legal yet.

Why would they be illegal? They work perfectly fine and looks no different than HIDs, just less bright while staying just as white.

 

[Caesar]

Link? Pic?

 

[jEct2]

Originally posted by: CaesaR
Link? Pic?

Sorry, I'll let u know when I get more info from him. He only paid like $20 each.

 

[DaWhim]

wow, these are awesome!

 

[SaturnX]

Yeah, aren't these illegal? Might want to check your local traffic laws before going out and installing them.

 

[aceO07]

I've burned out my luxeon led on my inova xo. I used rechargable CR123A batteries and was giving it 8.4v instead of 6v. oops..

Edit: LED doesn't light up things as far as incandescant bulbs.

 

[aceO07]

I'm curious about the $20 headlight though. Seems really cheap if it's as bright/good as HID.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: SaturnX
Yeah, aren't these illegal? Might want to check your local traffic laws before going out and installing them.

Why? Every ricer in America is exempt from laws

<-- hugs his OEM HIDs

 

[Dessert Tears]

Running non DOT-certified (and thus illegal) headlights is irresponsible at best. I don't know that your friend's lights are not certified, but my guess is that they are not.

One of the problem related to "pure" whites is that LEDs have non-uniform emission spectra - they don't look white against everything. Try mountain-biking with a HID-looking (bluish white, Y0 or YA) Luxeon; it doesn't work well because greens are dimmer and reds (e.g. trees!) are nearly completely dark. A yellowish Luxeon (V0 or V1, which is whiter than any incandescent) works better, but is still lacking a little.

I've posted in other LED vs incandescent threads here, and I don't post that much, so it's easy to do an advanced search. Your wikipedia findings and link are mostly related to 5mm LEDs, not high-flux LEDs.

LEDs are vibration-insensitive, but somewhat heat sensitive (overheating causes rapid wear, i.e. dimming) and current sensitive (overdrive -> lots of internal heat).

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Flatscan
Running non DOT-certified (and thus illegal) headlights is irresponsible at best. I don't know that your friend's lights are not certified, but my guess is that they are not.

One of the problem related to "pure" whites is that LEDs have non-uniform emission spectra - they don't look white against everything. Try mountain-biking with a HID-looking (bluish white, Y0 or YA) Luxeon; it doesn't work well because greens are dimmer and reds (e.g. trees!) are nearly completely dark. A yellowish Luxeon (V0 or V1, which is whiter than any incandescent) works better, but is still lacking a little.

I've posted in other LED vs incandescent threads here, and I don't post that much, so it's easy to do an advanced search. Your wikipedia findings and link are mostly related to 5mm LEDs, not high-flux LEDs.

LEDs are vibration-insensitive, but somewhat heat sensitive (overheating causes rapid wear, i.e. dimming) and current sensitive (overdrive -> lots of internal heat).

pwn3d