Automotive LED replacement units
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AnAppleSnail
Flashlight Enthusiast
I think Schweinfeinerman will be here soon with the good details, but broadly speaking:
It is difficult for an LED retrofit unit to include all the features of a well-designed signal, brake, and driving light bulb. These features include optical output pattern, brightness in various directions as mandated by laws designed around your personal safety, and the other niceties such as water-proofness and reliability.
The entire housing of the brake light, for instance, is designed around a small, hot point of filament in a particular place, emitting in a spherical pattern. The reflector and optics create a pattern visible behind the car and to each side without dazzling drivers or having weak directions. Putting any LED in place of that bulb will change the light output in hard-to-predict ways and most likely reduce your driving safety. The usual outcome I've seen is that some directions become blinding-bright, while the off-axis view becomes very dim.
I saw a set of JW Speaker LED headlights on a big rig a few weeks ago. I checked some YouTube videos of those lights - they could be the Next Big Thing.
Only downside - they are complete units - designed to replace whole headlights. They do not make bulbs for upgrading to LED.
Only downside - they are complete units - designed to replace whole headlights. They do not make bulbs for upgrading to LED.
You can buy dozens or hundreds of different kinds of "LED bulbs", but none of them work safely or effectively in lighting devices designed to accept filament bulbs. The problem is at the concept level; it's not a question of waiting for someone to do it right or waiting for the right emitters to come along. It's an optic/source mismatch issue very much the same as why "HID kits" are dangerous (and illegal) in halogen headlamps. "LED bulbs" are also Federally illegal, because installing them violates the prohibition on "rendering inoperative" any mandatory item of safety equipment. This is not quite intuitive: "inoperative" doesn't just mean the stop light, turn signal, back-up light, parking light, tail light, side marker light, license light, etc. doesn't light up, it means its performance does not comply with the requirements. The requirements for even a simple-seeming lamp are actually quite complex to assure adequate safety performance in all operating conditions (light, dark, prolonged use, hot, cold, wet...) and through a large range of viewing angles. None of these aspects of performance can be assessed with the naked eye or handheld light meter or comparison to another lamp, etc., it takes special and very costly equipment. Lighting devices designed around LED light sources have to pass additional tests because of LEDs' thermal management issues; LED emitter temperature rises and light output drops with prolonged illumination...this is a tough test to pass, and none of the "LED bulbs" has anything like adequate heat sinking to pass it.
If you feel you would prefer LED courtesy lights, dome lights, glove compartment lights, and that kind of thing, go ahead. But you need to use the correct kind of light source in each of your vehicle's safety-related lights. To do otherwise is not just unsafe but illegal, and rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal activity.
If you feel you would prefer LED courtesy lights, dome lights, glove compartment lights, and that kind of thing, go ahead. But you need to use the correct kind of light source in each of your vehicle's safety-related lights. To do otherwise is not just unsafe but illegal, and rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal activity.
Please keep in mind that rules apply even to those who are not aware of them or aren't interested in learning about them. Actually, your rules in the UK are considerably stricter than in North America; all bulbs and lighting devices used in any vehicle first registered since 1 April 1985 must bear E-mark evidence of being type-approved to ECE Regulations, which have no provisions for LED versions of the various filament bulbs standardized and specified in ECE Regulation 37.
Moreover, even if the law books didn't forbid the kind of "LED bulbs" you have in mind, it would be most unwise to tamper with your vehicle's lighting system in this or any other manner that hinders safety performance. Your lights must operate completely as intended so they can do their job immediately, accurately, and unambiguously to convey to other road users your vehicle's presence and your intent as the driver.
Please be advised we will not have an argument over the (il)legality of "LED bulbs"; if you continue to advocate or ask about them, this thread will be closed in accordance with rule 11 of this forum.
Moreover, even if the law books didn't forbid the kind of "LED bulbs" you have in mind, it would be most unwise to tamper with your vehicle's lighting system in this or any other manner that hinders safety performance. Your lights must operate completely as intended so they can do their job immediately, accurately, and unambiguously to convey to other road users your vehicle's presence and your intent as the driver.
Please be advised we will not have an argument over the (il)legality of "LED bulbs"; if you continue to advocate or ask about them, this thread will be closed in accordance with rule 11 of this forum.
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
I've used one of these type of dome light replacements with modest success. The light is a much cooler white than the OEM incandescent bulb, but it is a little brighter. Interior dome lights do not need to have any regulatory approvals to the best of my knowledge.
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
It is, if my understanding of the ECE regulations are correct, subject to rules that state that the photometric performance of exterior lighting conforms to particular standards; with LED replacement bulbs, they will not conform to those standards.
Perhaps not. Check carefully with a reliable MoT office to learn about the British national non-ECE rules that apply to your pre-1985 vehicle, and if you find a way to tapdance past, through, and around rules that can be interpreted to allow the "LED bulbs", have a very careful think about the consequences (in terms of injury/death, property damage, and financial burden) of reducing the effectiveness of your car's safety lights.
Alaric Darconville
Flashlight Enthusiast
Did you read the rest of this thread, in particular, the 4th post? Those LED "drop-ins" are not safe, they are not effective, and they are not legal when used in regulated lighting equipment. If you want them in your dome light, or glove box light, that's one thing-- but don't use them for exterior lights.
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Supur-Lyte
Newly Enlightened
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Hamilton Felix
Enlightened
Where did you get this idea? Statues please.
Let us know how that "getting DOT approval" works out, given that DOT does not approve lights.
You are wrong; it is neither safe nor legal. Rule 11 of this board prohibits advocating illegal or dangerous activity. You know that very well, and you also know about rules 4 and 8 (no trolling, which you are doing, and no whining about the rules) as you have been warned before. There will be consequences.
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