Sold on LEDs

[Carl Beck]

If you used LED Headlights - would you still need the relays etc?

Carl B.

[FastWoman]

That's one of my next projects -- LED conversion. It's a simple thing and will add so much life to our crusty electrical systems.

About LED fade: Strictly speaking, LEDs don't really fade (much). They just keep cranking away until one day they fail. However, that's not true in practice with WHITE LEDs. White LEDs are really blue/near UV LEDs that are coated with phosphors. When the phosphors are hit with the higher energy near UV and blue light, they fluoresce at a variety of longer wavelengths, adding to the blue light that comes through the phosphors to create white light. Over time the phosphors degrade significantly, resulting in very dull light.

So when you convert to LED bulbs, make sure to buy the ones that come in colors (e.g. amber or red) wherever possible. They'll keep their brightness very well, as compared to their white counterparts.

OH, and flashers: The electronic ones are VERY cheap and easy to substitute. Both the turn signal and hazard flashers are under the dash (at least in my '78). I got generic electronic ones and made mounts for them out of PVC pipe. They sell load resistors to run LED lights with thermal flashers, but I don't know why anyone would want to go through the trouble/expense of LED conversion and then load the thermal flashers with power resistors -- except maybe to be kinder to the bulb sockets.

[FastWoman]

Carl, I don't think LED headlights would require headlight relays. The problem is that I don't think anyone makes LED headlights for our cars. I think Lexus has introduced LED headlights, but I think they're ahead of the curve.

Almost on that subject, I've seen cheap LED driving lights at the auto parts store. Has anyone tried these? I wouldn't put them on my Z (kinda tacky, plasticky things), but they look great for boating -- particularly on our sailboat (where power budgets are very stingy).

[SteveJ]

If you used LED Headlights - would you still need the relays etc?

Carl B.

I did a search for LED headlights in Google Shopping. Most of the offerings weren't for actual LEDs. There were a lot of products that had an LED halo around an H4 light. The few times that I saw a completely LED headlight was for a product from Trucklite, and it was about $300 for pretty much anywhere. I'm just not ready to fork out that much, especially for the gains that can be had with H4 lights and relays at less than half that cost.

As for relays on LED headlights, I think it depends in part on the health of the wiring and combo switch in the headlight circuit. Relays will always only draw in the milliamp range and should be good down to 8VDC or so. If you recall from my write up 10 years ago on relays in the headlight circuit, I saw 9 VDC in my 73 at the headlight plug before installing relays. Even LED headlights would draw more current than relays. Relays would move the true power burden over to new wiring. You would get better voltage and probably better light output. While I haven't ever tried hooking up LEDs to a power supply to quantify response, but I do know there is some sort of proportionality of light output to voltage levels.

[Pomorza]

I'm watching this thread rather intently. Do have a question. From the website you posted it look like the bulbs are straight up replacements. I might of missed this but other than making sure the wire harness is good is there anything else I should do?

Jan

[SteveJ]

If you replace all of the 1157 style bulbs (dual filament), you'll need electronic flashers for the turn signals and hazard light circuits.

[Z train]

I just did all the dash lights in the 620.Some of the factory dash bulbs that are listed as drawing 3.4 watts,now draw .27 watts.Start adding them up and it makes a difference.

[ZCurves]

I was originally going to put LED's in my Z, but I just liked to originals so I stuck with them. So, I will make a heck of a deal for my entire set -just maybe get a few $$$ back out of my original investment.

I have the entire set excluding running lamps and headlamps for a '78 Z.

So, if anyone is interested please PM me.

Edited December 12, 2010 by ZCurves

[Carl Beck]

The problem is that I don't think anyone makes LED headlights for our cars.

Someone at the Z Car Convention this year - had 7" LED Headlights installed in his 240Z. I ask him to send me a picture of them taken at night -so I could see how bright they were and what the light pattern looked like. Haven't received the picture yet...

I didn't ask him how much they cost..

FWIW,

Carl B.

[Walter Moore]

... The problem is that I don't think anyone makes LED headlights for our cars. ...

Almost on that subject, I've seen cheap LED driving lights at the auto parts store. Has anyone tried these? I wouldn't put them on my Z (kinda tacky, plasticky things), but they look great for boating -- particularly on our sailboat (where power budgets are very stingy).

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/GenericView?pageName=/new/PressReleases_en_US/12vLEDHeadlamp.html&storeId=10001&langId=-1

I have considered the LED driving lights, but decided to give them a few more years to "mature" before I really got serious about it. For now Halogens will have to suffice.

I was interested in the explanation of why white LED's fade. So in essence "White" LEDs are actually LED powered florescent bulbs. (replacing the mercury vapor with an ultraviolet LED.) I wondered how they got the white light out of them.

[SteveJ]

Here's a quick update...

I finally got around to putting in the front turn signal lights. When I was putting in the driver side bulb, I didn't push and twist enough for the bayonet to lock in. The end result was that the bulb fell out of the socket as I was lining up the socket to go back in. Getting the bulb back out of the housing wasn't fun, either. Instead of taking off the housing (in of itself being a monumental task due to the rust on the bolt), I tried fishing it out by grabbing it with a parts grabber. I might as well have been trying to grab a greased pig. I eventually put tape on my finger so the bulb would stick to it, and when the bulb was finally within reach, I grabbed it with a pair of long nosed pliers. Upon getting the bulb properly seated in the socket, I re-installed the socket.

I put the car in run and tried the left turn signal. As expected, it did not blink. Having learned from my mini-ordeal with the driver side, I installed the passenger side turn signal light with no drama.

The next challenge was to find the electronic flasher units. Having searched many liking hiding places, I asked my wife to join the hunt due to the fact that she has a finding gene that I have never managed to locate within myself. After describing the packaging and when the flashers arrived, we set about to track them down. Eventually, my wife mentioned that she had put some parts in the passenger seat. Of course, those parts were the flashers.

I installed one flasher and tested the blinkers and hazards. They did not blink. I installed the second unit, and the lights flashed at a rate faster than I had ever seen on either of my Z cars. I consider this a good thing and recommend that people experiment with electronic flashers even if they have the standard incandescent bulbs.

I did not take pictures, yet. It was just too cold today for me to go outside and play with a camera. Maybe I'll take some next weekend or during my Christmas time off. However, subjectively, I'm VERY pleased with the results.

[cygnusx1]

Why, do you suspect, did the first flasher unit not work? Glad to hear you got it working though! Very excited to see the results.