L.E.D Solutions for dash and other LIGHTS?

[Murph]

They are now selling leds that are 25,000mcd and 50degree

Crikey that's bright! Good to see a wider angle too...

What have been you findings so far in how many LEDs of a given cd compare to a bulb of a given wattage? Roughly what's required?

[hls30.com]

I haven't been comparing side by side, I have been looking at just the brightness with leds, so far the best coverage takes about 200 leds per combination light(240Z), but with the new direction, hopefully that will drop considerably. I did say I want even the most anal among us to be satisfied!

Will

[TomoHawk]

Will-

When I suggested the 10x10mm leds, Iit was that they be used for guage lights. the flat smd units were ment to be used to illuminate an area, not to project light long distances.

BTW. MCD is MEGA Candelas. I know you meant to type mCd for milliCandelas. Same for MlM, whatever those are.

j/k

[hls30.com]

Typing too fast, with too little attention. :laugh:

My thought was 1 series of leds for the whole car to make the illumination consistant.

Will

[TomoHawk]

Those square l.e.d.s are supposed to hjave 1,000,000 hours of operation. If you opened up your gauges and put in a string of l.e.d.s, you'd never have to replace them. If they were oem from the Nissan factory in 1970, etc., we'd be changing them out just about now, I would say.

[Bambikiller240]

Of course the LED's for this purpose weren't even available commercially in 1970.

Some of us are still running the old fashion bulbs that were installed back in 1970.

I think that Nissan did alright with their choice for gauge illumination given what they had to work with at the time.

[Tommo560]

i agree with bambikiller,

i mean my lights still all work so that seems like a very good life to me considering they havnt been touched since new.

Tom.

[Inf]

Those square l.e.d.s are supposed to hjave 1,000,000 hours of operation. If you opened up your gauges and put in a string of l.e.d.s, you'd never have to replace them. If they were oem from the Nissan factory in 1970, etc., we'd be changing them out just about now, I would say.

As long as we are nitpicking now, one million hours is going to be about 114 years. Is it 2084 already? By golly!

[TomoHawk]

114 years? how did you come by that figure. For automotive lights, I'd say they might be used on average about 1 or 2 hours a day, unless you're a nightttime courier or something (like moonshine driver?). So that means about 1 million days until they burn out. How many years would that be?

If I use the word never in relative to gauge bulb replacement, it means more like a really long time, and for the average car (they want you to buy a NEW one every 3-5 years), 30 years is a really llong time.

thx

[Bambikiller240]

If they were burning for 24 hours a day. 1,000,000 hours divided by 24 = 41666.666 days divided by 365 = 114.15524 years. So if switched on continuosly they would last 114 years. If used 2 hours per day like you suggest you wouldn't be replacing them now (as you suggested in your post), it would be MUCH longer than 114 yearsbefore they needed replacing. Doesn't matter anyway, the cars will be long gone before either time frame.

Yes, 30 years is a really long time especially for inexpensive incandescent bulbs but many, many of them are still performing just fine. Replacing them with LED's for "better" light. or lower electrical consumption may be somewhat desirable, but it's hardly necessary for greater longevity.

[TomoHawk]

About that 1,000,00 hours...

I would like to know how the manufacturer figured that number in the first place. was it on continuously, or 50% of the time or what? It might change things considerably.

But I will agree will Carl this once, that the things will last so long that the cars will be memories when l.e.d.s will need replacing. Assuming nothing extraordinary happens.

And good luck to Will on his search to find the ultimate do-it-all l.e.d. substitute for small incandescent bulbs.

[hls30.com]

I really didn't come up with this conversion to replace lightbulbs. I wanted a better answer to even light distribution, and the electrical short commings of the car relative to viewable parts(Keep the original alternator, fuse box, and wiring).

I would have given up on the electrical part earlier, but the even light distribution really has me by the short hairs. I want my lights to be uniform and devoid of point sources.

Will