L.E.D lights

[NanLaew]

9 minutes ago, jaiyenyen said:

I really don't think the tint is an issue. The tint is hardly noticeable when you look at the front and rear screens.

...in daylight?

 

Having too dark a tint is a real issue at night especially when the trend here is for a darker tint on the side windows. This further impedes peripheral vision at night and can seriously impair the view in the wing mirrors. I rented an old Datsun pickup years ago and the owner had already cut away the heavy dark tint on the front lower quarter of the  driver and passenger windows to make it easier for the driver to see the wing mirrors. I have subsequently seen it done where a neat circle is cut out using an X-Acto (modellers) knife or similar.

[NanLaew]

16 hours ago, NE1 said:

Just taken a photo of what was added when I upgraded.......One for each light.

That's a ballast for Xenon lighting. You had a total lighting retrofit.

 

Xenon is a more expensive lighting option than LED but better suited than LED's for headlight assemblies that have built-in reflectors.

[NE1]

13 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

17 hours ago, NE1 said:

 

That's a ballast for Xenon lighting. You had a total lighting retrofit.

 

Xenon is a more expensive lighting option than LED but better suited than LED's for headlight assemblies that have built-in reflectors

What ever it is  , it certainly improved my visibility in the dark.

[Robin]

Replacing the red tail lights is not possible as the light output from the LED will not show through the red lens.  You have  to use special red LEDs.  flashing indicators will not work as LED take less current and upset the 'flasher'  You will need a complete new LED flasher system.

There is a UK company "Better car lighting" check their web-site.  Lots of info there, and they supplied me with a complete kit to change all the light on my classic Rover. 

[NanLaew]

14 hours ago, Robin said:

Replacing the red tail lights is not possible as the light output from the LED will not show through the red lens.  You have  to use special red LEDs.  flashing indicators will not work as LED take less current and upset the 'flasher'  You will need a complete new LED flasher system.

There is a UK company "Better car lighting" check their web-site.  Lots of info there, and they supplied me with a complete kit to change all the light on my classic Rover. 

To be more precise, a red LED behind a red lens will pass the full red wavelength for maximum redness. A white lens behind a red lens will see the other wavelengths filtered which will give a much lower intensity,washed out redness.

 

 

The same goes for amber: only use an amber LED if replacing an amber globe behind an amber lens.

[3STTW]

The box that they added was probably an LED driver circuit. So let's have a nerd moment; an LED driver provides two functions:

 

1. Incandescent light bulbs are constant voltage devices, i.e. if you put ten of them in series in a 12v circuit, you would need to apply ten times the current to get each one to emit the same brightness as a single bulb in the circuit. The opposite is true of LED's; if the forward current of a single LED is 1 Amp, even if you put 10 in the circuit the current needs to be maintained at 1 Amp, however you need to increase the voltage in order to get them all to switch on. So LED's won't work well with a fixed 12v system and this is why they need a constant current driver.

 

2. If you keep LED's switched on all the time, they don't last long because they aren't very good at dissipating heat. The best way to increase their life is to have them switched off half the time, if you switch them on-off 20 times/second this is what happens in practice. The LED driver takes care of this, it also explains why when you shoot a video of cars at night their lights appear to be flashing - this is the stroboscopic interference between the LED drivers' switching frequency and the camera shutter speed.

 

 

 

[Lancashirelad]

5 minutes ago, 3STTW said:

The box that they added was probably an LED driver circuit. So let's have a nerd moment; an LED driver provides two functions:

 

1. Incandescent light bulbs are constant voltage devices, i.e. if you put ten of them in series in a 12v circuit, you would need to apply ten times the current to get each one to emit the same brightness as a single bulb in the circuit. The opposite is true of LED's; if the forward current of a single LED is 1 Amp, even if you put 10 in the circuit the current needs to be maintained at 1 Amp, however you need to increase the voltage in order to get them all to switch on. So LED's won't work well with a fixed 12v system and this is why they need a constant current driver.

 

2. If you keep LED's switched on all the time, they don't last long because they aren't very good at dissipating heat. The best way to increase their life is to have them switched off half the time, if you switch them on-off 20 times/second this is what happens in practice. The LED driver takes care of this, it also explains why when you shoot a video of cars at night their lights appear to be flashing - this is the stroboscopic interference between the LED drivers' switching frequency and the camera shutter speed.

 

 

 

You'll be right about what it is. Wouldn't be a relay as the circuit would already be relay switched from the factory.

[NanLaew]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:51 PM, 3STTW said:

The box that they added was probably an LED driver circuit. So let's have a nerd moment; an LED driver provides two functions:

 

1. Incandescent light bulbs are constant voltage devices, i.e. if you put ten of them in series in a 12v circuit, you would need to apply ten times the current to get each one to emit the same brightness as a single bulb in the circuit. The opposite is true of LED's; if the forward current of a single LED is 1 Amp, even if you put 10 in the circuit the current needs to be maintained at 1 Amp, however you need to increase the voltage in order to get them all to switch on. So LED's won't work well with a fixed 12v system and this is why they need a constant current driver.

 

2. If you keep LED's switched on all the time, they don't last long because they aren't very good at dissipating heat. The best way to increase their life is to have them switched off half the time, if you switch them on-off 20 times/second this is what happens in practice. The LED driver takes care of this, it also explains why when you shoot a video of cars at night their lights appear to be flashing - this is the stroboscopic interference between the LED drivers' switching frequency and the camera shutter speed.

 

 

 

If it's @NE1's box, it isn't an LED driver.

 

 

Good write-up on LED's though.

 

I had to put 8 ohm, 50 W ceramic resistors in series/parallel with the after market LED's a retrofitted to my MY2014 Ranger WY. The BCM (Body Control Module) that handles CANBUS electrical stuff that's installed at the factory is programmed to see filament globes or constant current devices. The only ones that don't need resistors are the high-beam. However, without resistors, the low-beam would work for a few hours before the BCM cut off the supply which needed a BCM reset.

 

You may also note a lot of vehicles with what's called 'hyper-flashing' of their turn signals. This is because they have replaced stock filament globes with LED globes but haven't bothered to add the driver and/or resistor. Vehicle turn flashers still mostly work on the old-fashioned bi-metallic strip that heats up and cools down thus making and breaking the 12V to the turn signal globes. Since the flasher module sees a different resistance (almost a short circuit with an LED), it heats up/cools down faster, hence the high speed blinker or hyper-flashing. They may think it's cool but in effect, it is reducing the visibility of the turn signal by over 50%, especially from a distance.

 

When they then replace OEM lenses with dark tinted ones, the hyper-flashing makes the turn signal very hard to see in daylight. Bloody annoying!

[Lancashirelad]

On 7/3/2022 at 1:32 AM, jaiyenyen said:

I really don't think the tint is an issue. The tint is hardly noticeable when you look at the front and rear screens.

Whilst stationary, roll down the driver's window, stick your head out and have a look at the area of road illuminated by the headlights, then look through the windscreen.

[MadMuhammad]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:58 PM, Lancashirelad said:

[Lancashirelad]

On 7/7/2022 at 11:16 AM, MadMuhammad said:

 

????

 

[Lancashirelad]

Any update on this?

 

[jaiyenyen]

Sorry. Nothing to update from me. I think I'm going to stick with original lights at the front, but I still intend brightening the reversing light. Don't know if it'll be a change of bulb or fit a couple of extra reversing lights.

[Lancashirelad]

I'd go for extra(s). Something like this might fit unobtrusively next to the number plate.

[NanLaew]

23 minutes ago, Lancashirelad said:

I'd go for extra(s).

Change/upgrade the incandescent globe with a LED of the same socket type in the existing reverse lights first.

 

If that seems inadequate, see about getting an after-market LED light fitted as well.