[sturgeongeneral]

Just wondering if anyone has used the 100 watt Led headlight kits on an Elige? The heat factor is a concern and was wondering if it will melt the headlight housing? We can get the kits cheaply by ordering bulk but would like to know if our car can handle the heat. Anyone?

 

[Lowtush]

do you mean for the headlight bulbs? We looked into this when we were designing the retrofit kits and there is no room for the fan that needs to go behind the bulb. Also like you said cooling is a huge issue. If the headlights were bigger it may have worked. Also IF you could make them fit you may run into the same issue as sticking HID bulbs in halogen projectors.

 

[Lowtush]

Another thing you may have not considered is can the factory wiring harness handle it? People are pushing it with 55w bulbs.

 

[surferpkt]

Most use a transistor in-line with the ballast to amplify the power to the 55w bulb. It should not pull any more draw than usual on the harness if a transistor is used.

 

[Dr.Hess]

surferpkt, that's not how transistors work. Thermodynamics laws come into play, and 100 Watts is 100 Watts, no matter what you do to get it, and in a 13.8V system, that's 7.25 Amps draw on the power supply regardless of how you get it there at the end. Now, that said, I think the circuit could handle an extra (200W-130W)/13.8V = 5Amps. The English learned their lesson on electrical systems and cheaping out and the current ones aren't that bad.

100 Watt LED's sound interesting. sturgeongeneral, do you have any specs on these? Is that 100 watts input power? Would that be "kinda blinding" to oncoming traffic? Is it a bulb and separate driver circuit kinda thing? Does the "bulb" part fit in the existing socket or would this replace other pieces? Just curious.

 

[streetthrowback]

opcorn:

 

[darkSol]

It's been a year and I've seen all sorts of LED H1 kits out there - some with lower "back" profiles than others.

Certainly SOMEONE has done this - even if they had to take a Dremel to the back of the headlight housing for clearance.

I've been running HID's since 2006 and love them but the thought of having EVERYTHING in the car LED based is so tempting...

 

[Lancia]

Any specs?

 

[MrBlah]

100W of LED is way more than is necessary for vehicle headlights.

In regards to luminous efficacy, lumens/watt, essentially, lamps are as follows:
Halogen: ~15-20 lm/w
Xenon Arc Tube: 15-60 lm/w
LED: 80-200lm/w

Stock Halogens, or even aftermarket, @ 55W per bulb will output up to 1100 lm. 2200lm at best, for both bulbs.
Xenon arc tube, usually 35W per bulb, output somewhere around 1600-2000 lm. 3200+ lms for both.
LEDs, in order to achieve the same performance as those Xenon arc tubes, would have to be 20W/bulb.

Heat is not really an issue per se, but you do need to keep LEDs below 85°C junction temperature for their 50,000hr L70 lifetime to be maintained. This isn't particularly difficult when you only have ~15w of heat to remove via convection. It does however become an issue when you decide to run 50W of LEDs in a single headlamp fixture. And, it's not the fixture that will have any problems. The fixture can handle 55W of heat being created inside it, because that is what those 55W halogens are. It's a problem for the LEDs themselves and removing heat from the chips via heat sinks.

So, you don't have to worry about the headlight housing being damaged, you have to worry about the LED bulb replacement being damaged.

So, yeah, stick with a 15-25W replacement and you will be just fine.

For reference, some LED fixtures I'm working on at work right now are 1,800W fixtures. (3) 600W power supplies, over 300 LED chips, and the hea tsink is cooled by fans providing about 250 CFM of airflow across the entire fixture. The heat sink is 3" wide x 144" long x 2.5" tall.

 

[holmz]

Most use a transistor in-line with the ballast to amplify the power to the 55w bulb. It should not pull any more draw than usual on the harness if a transistor is used.

If you put 4 transistors in-line then you will be close to having free power.
I wonder if I can make the Mrs Prius into a supercar?

 

[Lancia]

Mr Blah, nice to hear from someone using newer LEDs.

I have looked up the standard auto HIDs, and I think they are over 2000 and over 3000 depending on model.
Being pushed, which explains the shorter life.
An excessive amount of light for low beams.

Whiter lights are more effective too, even though the lumens measurments weight to the amber scale.

 

[surferpkt]

If you put 4 transistors in-line then you will be close to having free power.
I wonder if I can make the Mrs Prius into a supercar?

@holmz

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power. It is composed of semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal. Today, some transistors are packaged individually, but many more are found embedded in integrated circuits.

Let's not be ridiculous though!rotfl

 

[surferpkt]

Just to clarify -

The draw can be a minimal jump when bumping up the wattage depending on how high you increase the wattage to. The wiring harness on our cars have a 15a fuse inline to protect the wiring harness from damage due to excessive draw. People were getting up in arms on the debate over a 35w vs 55w systems dealing with the HID conversions over the years. The difference is a 3a vs 5a draw on the system as a whole. This is no where near the capacity of the harness. The real issue would be the amount of heat dissipation occurring at the bulb/projector lens and its potential of melting your headlight housing and or causing a fire.

As stated the higher the wattage the more likely heat dissipation will play a major factor. I know that LEDs run cooler than most average light sources, but certain LED systems have heat-sinks for a reason and that is to protect the lighting system from the heat produced during its use. The other major issue is the amount of potential glare you will produce into oncoming traffic.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

Is this 100 W LED really dissipating 100 W or is it the equivalent light output of a 100 W something else. That's possible.

If the load (the LED or light or whatever) takes 100 W, there is no circuit that's going to reduce the input power below 100 W. Voltage? Sure, a buck converter will reduce output voltage, but if the load is drawing 100 W, then the input is going to see 100 W divided by efficiency.

So yah....you need to get rid of the heat.

 

[holmz]

Is this 100 W LED really dissipating 100 W or is it the equivalent light output of a 100 W something else. That's possible.

If the load (the LED or light or whatever) takes 100 W, there is no circuit that's going to reduce the input power below 100 W. Voltage? Sure, a buck converter will reduce output voltage, but if the load is drawing 100 W, then the input is going to see 100 W divided by efficiency.

So yah....you need to get rid of the heat.

I have no idea what you are trying to convey.

The 100W of power coming in get converted to heat energy and light energy (or power).
In an incandescent light the energy is more heat than light.
In a LED the energy is more light than heat.

 

[holmz]

@holmz

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power. It is composed of semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal. Today, some transistors are packaged individually, but many more are found embedded in integrated circuits.

Let's not be ridiculous though!rotfl

I am failing to see how one can install your 3 terminal transistor into a wiring harness.

To suggest that you can use a transistor to make 55W go to 100W violates the laws of physics and relies on the laws of magic or salesmanship.

You either know how they work, or you do not. It may be best to stop now.

 

[surferpkt]

Look @holmz,
I'm man enough to admit that I'm a newb when it comes to the circuitry in our cars. I'm learning, like others on this board. Instead of making daft comments like you're butt hurt, perhaps it would be more beneficial to all by explaining what you do know about the system!
I try to help others when I can, and am just learning about the lighting system in our cars. Knowing what I do now, I understand that the ballast controls the current capacity to fire HIDs and an inline resistor helps to stabilize the current. A 55w bulb uses roughly 40% more volts to power the unit vs the 35w bulb. The 15a fuse is the weak link in the system to prevent failure due to a spike or short in the circuit followed next by the gauge of the wire itself. Those alone don't control the heat produced by the light energy or the problems that can occur from that heat build up at the light source.

I know that LEDs are different as the light energy used is done so more efficiently. I know that the power used is also significantly less to achieve a 100w equivalence(let's say 18w). Won't the components that drive the LED still suffer from heat in some form? If not, then why did/do they use heat-sinks on some LED systems?





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[holmz]

@surferpkt ... Where do I start?

1) The 55W uses ~40% more Current or Power than the 35W.
The voltage is the only thing that is the same, so it is not using 40% more voltage.
(Power = Voltage * Current)

2) The fuse is not the weak link in the system, other than it is designed to protect the system in the even of a short. The same for the wiring. They were designed for ~3-6 Amperes of current, so 15 Amps is clearly a failure, which is requiring the fuse to blow.

3) The use of transistors, or other components are not just words to throw out like some buzz-word bukaki. These are standard things that electricians and electrical engineers learn, or many people doing high school electronics lab.

4) Lastly your comment "like you're butt hurt". I believe you mean to use "like your butt hurt", unless you do really mean "you're" as the contraction of "you are" ??

It is fine to ask questions and enquire about things like the lighting. I have no issues with that.
The noob aspect about the circuitry would be fine if its was some specific aspect to Lotus circuitry... But this is more of 'just standard electrical stuff'.

The use of the LEDs is pretty interesting and you are correct about the heat issues. But it will need some engineering for the heat. It is also unclear about how the reflector works as they are usually designed for more of a point of line source than a flat illuminator like the LED has. While I would like it to work, I personally have some doubts as to it being trouble free.

If you review this:
https://www.google.com.au/#q=voltage+current+power+explained
Then maybe we should both consider editing our previous posts in this thread to clean up the confusion and get the tone back to something more friendly and collegial ?

 

[MrAdun]

Aside from the current issue (hahaha, pun), I don't believe NHTSA has approved any LED headlights...? That's why we can't have the awesome BMW laser headlights. I also don't feel like you could cone the light properly, so the 100 watt would be a little pointless since you can't utilize the output. The ones I'm seeing online are square-shaped arrays.

To answer @surferpkt these seem to be using a legit 100 watts, not just 100 watt equivalent like you see in the stores.

 

[sleepe]

It's been a year and I've seen all sorts of LED H1 kits out there - some with lower "back" profiles than others.

Certainly
SOMEONE has done this - even if they had to take a Dremel to the back of the headlight housing for clearance.

I've been running HID's since 2006 and love them but the thought of having EVERYTHING in the car LED based is so tempting...

I thought I had swapped out all the filament bulbs as well but recently discovered the fender blinker is a yellow 194 filament bulb on a 2008 S240. You0probably already know this considering your fastidiousness. (I've seen your weight loss log0