LED Headlight Conversion (revisited)

[shegarty]

Your experience is the main reason that I chose to install the ABM's with standard halogen bulbs. The other thing to consider is bulb life, here in the great white north the low beams are on all the time as the daytime running lights. When I am driving more regularly even the halogens don't last that long when they are on all the time.

[MrAl]

Your experience is the main reason that I chose to install the ABM's with standard halogen bulbs. The other thing to consider is bulb life, here in the great white north the low beams are on all the time as the daytime running lights. When I am driving more regularly even the halogens don't last that long when they are on all the time.

Hi,

Oh i see what you mean. That would make LED lamps the better choice i think just because of the longevity alone.

LED life ratings are somewhat overrated though because it depends on how hard they are driven current wise. They might quote 20000 hours but if driven beyond the manufacturers specs it could be 20 hours. We have to hope that the designers of the LED headlamps knew what they were doing.
From my estimation so far the input current to mine is about 3 amps. With an internal buck/controller that could be pushed up to 6 amps. But since there are 6 LEDs for each LED unit, that means only 1 amp per LED. That means very very long life beacuse they are rated for more than 2 amps but that also decreases the light by roughly 50 percent of max. THere is heat to worry about too though. Heat also reduces life so if they can not cool properly they will die faster. When they die though they dont usually go out completely they just reduce in brightness over time. The rating is for the "half life" which mean the time when the LED produces only half the lumens as it did when it was new.

But i also wonder about this little fan they put inside many of these things, well on the back. Fans are mechanical things that often STOP completely after they run for hours. The small ones are vulnerable because they run faster. So i wonder how long those little fans will last more than the LED chips used for each LED lamp unit.