Will cheap PWM Controllers from Ebay be appropriate for a vehicle LED light?

According to the claimed specifications on most of these PWM controllers on ebay, these should work just fine for a LED light I recently purchased that will is 42W and 3.5A on a 12VDC system

Here is a typical PWM controller on ebay and other places like aliexpress

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-90V-15A-D...206?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item48687c80c6

I'm sure I'll be able to set the wiring up right but I really don't know if I'd be setting off on the wrong foot with this unit.

In case the LED model is somehow relevant, its a Baja Designs Squadron

http://www.bajadesigns.com/science-of-lighting/data-sheets/squadron-xl-data-sheet

Thanks.

What's the application, exactly?

I'd like to use the PWM to dim that LED so I can run it on the street safely.

Two things:

First, welcome to the forum! I hope you find it as interesting and helpful as I have.

Second, you absolutely cannot safely or legally use that on the street. Headlights are carefully designed to illuminate properly without causing glare to other drivers. Using any light not properly designed and meeting the applicable local regulations will likely not illuminate the road properly for you, and will certainly irritate, distract, or even blind oncoming drivers, making not only you a danger to them, but them a danger to you as well. Plus it's illegal.

I absolutely support the DIY community in doing things like this for off road use, even to the point that I designed, build, and sell a driver specifically for this application. However, I can neither condone nor support something I believe would put others at risk. Also, the moderators strictly enforce Rule 11, which prohibits advocating illegal activity.

If you want to learn some more about what you CAN do, there's an Automotive subforum in the Special Applications Lighting forum. I found reading there to be very enlightening .

D

Thank you for your assistance and concern.

I researched this extensively (off and on over several months) and I'm going to both run the light extremely dim on the street (30% max) but also aim it very carefully, ie excessively down when on-road. The light has a very accurate beam pattern, it isn't an indiscriminate flood.

I ride fairly defensively but the biggest accident risk statistically is drivers that turn in front of me or pull out in front of me because they're extremely distracted and did not see my dull h4 bulb. I need something that stands out a little bit more.

The company recommends a certain dimmer to run with the light, but I dislike the functionality.

Deer are also a huge risk where I live, even well within the city limits such as near golf courses.

It won't dim. PWM is an intelligent circuit and the modules to smooth out that circuit to power LEDs is capacitor based. You can use a potentiometer on halogen lights but not most LEDs. You won't dim them, you'll flicker them.

If you want supplemental highbeams or driving lights, get an appropriate pair. They're much less expensive than those Squadrons. Those things are for offroad and offroad only; it's a total mis-application.

By the way, I've got the new JW Speaker Evolution-2 headlights installed with a set of their branded flicker-stopper adapters and they don't work properly. Evidently the Evo-2s draw less amperage than the Evo-1s in highbeam mode and when you dip the beams from highbeam to lowbeam there's a very noticeable 1.4 second delay that I consider dangerous.
So getting the farads correct is of paramount importance.

wstn said:

In case the LED model is somehow relevant, its a Baja Designs Squadron

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wstn said:

I'd like to use the PWM to dim that LED so I can run it on the street safely.

Click to expand...

wstn said:

I researched this extensively (off and on over several months) and I'm going to both run the light extremely dim on the street (30% max) but also aim it very carefully, ie excessively down when on-road. The light has a very accurate beam pattern, it isn't an indiscriminate flood.

Click to expand...

That's not a road-legal lamp to begin with. Adjusting the intensity and the aim isn't going to legalize it.

I ride fairly defensively but the biggest accident risk statistically is drivers that turn in front of me or pull out in front of me because they're extremely distracted and did not see my dull h4 bulb. I need something that stands out a little bit more.

Click to expand...

If the vehicle isn't equipped with DRLs, use the DRL-1 module to add DRL functionality using the turn signals.

If this is a motorcycle, it's your obligation to always ride as if nobody can see you. Never assume they can see you, and never assume that they will respond appropriately if the DO see you.

Deer are also a huge risk where I live, even well within the city limits such as near golf courses.

Click to expand...

Deer won't particularly pay any respect to your headlamps or DRLs except maybe to gaze into them.

wstn said:

Thank you for your assistance and concern.

Click to expand...

You would be very well advised to listen to what you're being told: your idea is not a good one. Do not proceed this way. Not only will it not do what you hope it will do in terms of safety, but you cannot make a random LED lamp into a road-legal one by twiddling its intensity and aim.

Recent legitimate research has given us a much better handle recently on what works (and what doesn't) to significantly improve motorcycles' conspicuity and reduce their likelihood of being involved in a crash. The kind of modification you propose is on the "doesn't work" list. Your assumption about the mechanism by which people don't see you ("they're extremely distracted and did not see my dull H4 bulb") is not correct.

Moreover, using the auxiliary light you have in mind to spot deer is fully contra to your claim that you'll be running it in a very dim mode.

You really need to rethink this from the start.