LED lights question

Tony... I have the IV so I don't have the LED''s but I think they are around 6000K for brightness.. if they look a tad blue that would be the case, otherwise prob around 5000K if blue is barely visible... it it looks pure white, it may be around 4500K.

Sometimes this is hard to tell without a known kelvin to compare it to at the same time.

I can't imagine how they are adjustable in brightness... no one would want them any dimmer, so I'm assuming they are as bright as they go.

 

The LED headlights on my car appear to about the same color/brightness as HIDs I've had on other cars. The BMW I just sold had 4200K HIDs, so my guess is the LEDs are about the same. I doubt they're as high as 5000K, since they don't have a blue tint, and OEM headlights don't generally go that high, because higher Kelvin = lower brightness.

 

1. No
2. No

It's been reported that LED headlights of the prius 2010 look brighter than halogen versions. Light distribution is also reported to be much more even.

 

I'd say they have just a touch of blue to them.

The brightness is great. The light is more focused than the HIDs from my 2007, so the light does not drift high up off of the road (I did a side-by-side comparison). The halogen brights really light it up, though they add some of that yellow tone to the mix.

 

I replaced the high beams with whiter/brighter bulbs:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-parking-lights-rear-license-plate-bulbs.html

 

Great post, Mark.

I had an opportunity, the day after I picked up my 2010, to go back to the dealer and take side-by-side photos of the lights shining onto a building. It would have been better had we been able to be farther away from the building. It also would have been better later in the evening. Nonetheless, I was just pleased the salesman would give me such great assistance.

Here is a link to the post showing the side-by-side comparison of the HIDs (from my 2007) to the LEDs (from my 2010). It is far from perfect, but it was a start at the time. There may have been others who've done this side-by-side comparison since then.

 

Thanks for the post.. I was trying to get someone to do this test before I bought, but seems I couldn't.

 

sounds right Stream......

 

While it is technically true that there are less "usable" or "visible" lumens with higher color temps, 5000k is PLENTY bright enough. It is not "dark" in any way whatsoever... neither is 6000k, really.

Once you move into the 8000k and beyond range, then the loss of brightness becomes obvious.

 

Actually, LEDs can be different colors...depending on the batches made, some can be yellowish, some white and some blue. I have bought a number of LED flashlights and altho they are supposed to be all white, I have noticed color discrepancies...

 

The LED headlights might be rated 4300K, but it's certainly not going to look like that 4300K color because of the projector. The projector gives it a blue ting, although it's strongly angle dependent. Straight on they look pretty white, but at an angle there's a touch of blue to it (especially when looking at the headlight glass from the side).

I'm currently on a quest to find front side marker bulbs that closely match the LED headlights. So far, WLED-WHP5 from superbrightleds (rated at 5100K) looks way too white and iJDMTOY White 12-SMD (rated at 6000K) looks way too blue. I'm going to try 5500K and see how that looks.

If anybody has found bulbs that closely match the LED headlights, let me know!

 

Isn't the plastic covering the lights blue-tinted?

 

If that's true, it explains the color discrepancy. I thought it was coming from the projector because some HID projectors are known to alter the color appearance of a bulb with a given color temperature rating.

In any case, I'm still looking bulbs that match the LED headlight color more accurately.

 

Technically LED shouldn't be be classified in Kelvin anyway, since they are not black body radiators. The band of frequencies is much smaller than for incandescent light sources. So it is possible to have a higher apparent temperature without much of the energy being lost in invisible frequencies.

 

So I take it the front side marker light housing glass doesn't have a blue tint to it? The 5100K WLED-WHP5 still looks way too white compared to the LED headlights. Otherwise, the color shift could be coming from the projector.

 

The bottom photo shows what the 6000K iJDMTOY white 12-SMD led looks like. Way too blue compared to the LED headlight.

 

I think that the blue-tinted headlight covers are on all Toyota/Lexus hybrid vehicles...it's a "hybrid thing" i believe. I may be wrong, but i think that Ford/Lincoln hybrids also have this feature.