when will led lamps go mainstream for auto's

[souNdguy]

Ok.. we know LED lamps save power vs incandescent jobs.

we also know that with the exception of actual headlamps.. that LED's are fine, day or night for just about any other illumination needed on an auto.

IE.. marker lamps, turn signals and brake lamps, even 'parking' / daytime running lamps should be fine for hi brite leds.

the power savings having all car interior and exterior illumnination, with the exception, for now, of headlamps being LEd's would = lower electrical demand.. thus better fuel economy.

dome and map lamps could even be led..e tc.

soundguy
 

[willie in mn]

Initial cost is a big factor. When they first came out for the big rigs a 4" round tail/stop light was around 50 bucks, but the old incandescent type was around 4 bucks. With increased useage costs have come down a lot. Projected service life was 100,000 hours, or 24 hours a day for about 11 years.
Main causes of failure in old style bulb/socket are moisture corrosion & vibration. Modern design of sealed contacts & shock mounts has greatly reduced light failure of incandescents. I have a 97 GMC p-up with all original bulbs still working.
Power consumption doesn't seem to be enough to be concerned about except for some big rigs with 50 or 100 "chicken lites".
My 2 cents worth.
Willie
 

[mkirsch]

I think LEDs already have gone "mainstream."

UPS and Fedex trucks all have LED lights on the back. More and more commercial trucks are out there with LEDs.

A lot of cars built in the last 2-3 years have LED tail lights.

If you shop carefully you can get good LEDs pretty reasonably. Harbor Freight has the ovals for $15 each when they come on sale. Walmart sells 4" rounds for $15 every day.
 

[bdpayne]

I don't think it will happen, if it does then they will have to have defrosters on them. The LED's don't make enough heat to melt snow and ice.
Brad
 

[d beatty]

The company I worked for bought several newer trailers with LED's . They replaced them with regular bulbs. I pulled several of them in snow storms and they would totally get covered with snow. The old style bulbs will melt the snow off lens.
 

[souNdguy]

1, plenty of led tail and stop lamps already.. I don't lknow of any defrosters on them.

2, I kinda doubt interior lamps will need defrosters.

notice I ssaid with the 'exception' of headlamps.. etc.


soundguy
 

[souNdguy]

all of our tractor/trailer lamps are coming out, oem'd now , as led fixtures..

soundguy
 

[Joathan MacDonald]

I know allot of new vehicles that have LEDs in them trucks cars and ect.... LED's arnt going to get you better fuel mileage... Sounds like something a salesman would say. (Fact) power train (electrical) in a veichles electrical mods wont give you more power. Alternator only spins as fast as the motor spins (LEDS or no LEDS) alternator just trickle charges whats there regardless of the draw on the batterys. You have to changes drivetrain to get better fuel mileage(motor, fuel delivery, air, etc. Only thing LEDs have as a pro on is they take less off a draw on your battery or batterys and produce a brighter light.
 

[souNdguy]

you obviously speak as a person with no electromechanical theory knowledge.

electrical load directly corelates to mechanical load.

the more electricity used by a vehicle, the more the alternator charges. the more the alt charges, the more of a mechanical load it is.. the more mechanical load, the more fuel used.

Ok rocketscientist.. look at a generator set.. you know.. portable one.. or heck.. even pto.

ever notice they will tell you fuel usage at half load, or full load.

ever notice the fuel usage goes up as load goes up.

simple physics.. no free lunch.. you use more electricity.. you use more fuel.

if you can reduce the incandescent load on a vehicle by replacing all but headlamps out with LED's then you an reduce overall fuel consumption...

sheesh.... this is high school level stuff here people....


soundguy
 

[Jon Mac]

LMAOA LAMOA LAMO LAMO Change a car out with leds all the lights we will dyno it before and after. I want to see this. Everyone is going to laugh out you. Am i being punked right now like really!? Lmao you have no idea how a car electrical system works. Your idea is there if cars came with generators WITCH THEY USED TO. Generator in old cars would recharge loss voltage. Alternator only keep batterys up to par. You are so dumb just stop while your ahead leds will get me miliage.hahahahahahahahahaha Put down the pipe sir apparently its to strong for you. Me and the boys at the shop are going to laugh about this tomarrow. Leds will make your car in to a 9 sec track car. Did you come up with the muffler bearing joke too
 

[Shetland Sheepdog]

[chevytaHOE5674]

Tried LED taillights on my trailer and found that since they create no heat that in the winter the snow doesn't melt off of them. Normal bulbs create just enough heat that they usually remain a little visible even in a blizzard. This same fact was discovered by the Counties and State on their plow trucks. So they are slowly going back to normal bulbs.

Even switched to LED traffic signals to "save electricity". Now they had to add heating elements to the LED signals to melt the snow off them. Tell me how running a heating element all winter saves electricity.....

I really don't see switching over to LED bulbs saving enough electricity to make any measurable difference in fuel economy. If they did then the manufactures would already be doing it as they try everything to get mpg's out of vehicles.
 

[showcrop]

[mkirsch]

This whole "melt snow" thing is baloney...

Tail lights are "dim bulbs" that don't generate enough heat to melt snow.

The stop/turn bulbs aren't lit long enough to create any appreciable amount of heat.

When it's snowing that hard, your tail lights are going to get plastered. All you can hope is that your lights are bright enough to shine through, and the guy behind you is paying attention.

LEDs are better in this case because the light they produce is much more intense and will penetrate a thicker layer of snow.
 

[chevytaHOE5674]