Those with LED headlights- Would you leave them on to act as DRL's?

My LEDs have been always on for 2.5 years. They are supposed to be long lived, so I don't foresee a problem.

 

We're in Canada, so have DRL, and have the model with LED headlights, which are the low beams. The DRL's use the high beams, at diminished brightness. There some sort of halogen, not exactly sure what, but a more conventional light. Also, the tail lights do no come on with DRL.

 

Warranty won't cover burned-out bulbs (unless proven to be defective), but LEDs are supposed to last for the life of the car. They're $800 a pop and the whole unit must be replaced; you can't just change out the bulb.

 

My owners manual indicates that the DRL's are on with the switch on AUTO or off. I have my Prius V five std in today and asked the dealer to fix this and they said they cannot "dim" the LED headlights. If you look at the headlight cluster, there is a separate light (not and LED) that comes on when you switch from low beam to high and that is the bulb that should be the DRL and NOT the LED's.
I'm going to press Toyota to make this work as the DRL is a safety feature that should work.

 

(I do not know about automotive uses) In my house I have 4 LED lights, they are rated to last 6 to 27 years run 8 hours a day. Three of the four I have installed with no switch at all, they simply ALWAYS are on. (They all draw under 10 watts, one draws under 2 watts) The fourth is my shower light in a waterproof fixture and I just never wanted to disassemble that ever again.

My 7 watt hall light is wired into my router/modem UPS, so that even during power failures, I have light in the house


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I bought the level 2 "v," because I did NOT want LED headlights. As one poster mentioned, they have a replacement cost of about $800.

Luckily, I don't live in a state with yearly vehicle inspections, like Virginia.

Here, in South Carolina, a lot of drivers use "parking lights only."

You know that they have NEVER lived out West, because it is "illegal" to drive with parking lights only in many Western states.

The life of an LED is greatly affected by the number of "on-off" cycles, since the turning them on imparts more "wear" on them dur to over current and overvoltage.

The next time that you're stopped at a traffic lighe, just look at how many individual LED's are burned out on the signal.

 

That makes no sense. LED headlights don't go through "on-off" cycles like traffic lights and they're supposed to last the life of the car. We've heard from numerous owners with burnt out halogen bulbs but never from a Gen III Five owner who've had to shell out $800 to replace a burnt out LED headlight.

 

I just remember my friend in Virginia, who had a 1994 Blazer with one of those back center high mounted stop lights. I don't recall how many burnt out LED they allowed, before they failed to pass the annual state inspection. She spend $200 just for one of those high mounted stop lights. And, that was in 2005.

"Supposed" to and "real world" are two different things. Toyota warrants the LED lights for 36,000 miles or 3 years, or are they excluded?

I'll stick with the "cheaper" halogens. I have a 1998 Mazada MPV that had halogens that were still burinng, when I replaced them 12 years, ago, when I replaced tham with "upgraded" Sylvania Silverstar bulbs. Surprisingly, the car has never burned out even any of the incandescent turn signal or parking lights bulbs.

To me, technology for technology's sake, serves no advantage.

And, what are you doing, if you are running you headlights? You have to be turning them on and off.

I'll stick with "cheap, inexpensive, and serves the purpose."

 

Since we're telling anecdotes about LEDs now, here's one I have.

Years ago, I bought a Logitech mouse that was in a package with a blinking LED. I removed it ( a simple LC circuit) and put it in a fire truck that my nephew played with when he visited. It ran (on 2 AA batteries) for years. I estimated it blinked 60 million times before the batteries burned out.

How's that for "on off cycles?"

 

You want "real world?" See this thread on Gen III owners are having their halogen headlights burning out. Now, show me a thread in which LED headlights have burnt out. Moreover, there hasn't been a single OP on burnt out LED taillights or LED high mounted stop lights on the Gen III either.

That's a good question about the warranty covering the LED headlight and someone inquired about that before. In fact, nobody really knows the answer as that hasn't happened (at least not yet). All LED headlights replaced under warranty so far have been due to split seal leading to condensation build-up.

Owners of the Five will call you on that, as many have gone for that trim for the much better lighting provided by LED headlights (especially with lots of night driving).

Certainly not as frequently as traffic lights.

 

Thankfully, I've had no problems with night driving for the past 45 years, using antique "seal beams" and halogen headlights. They work reliably and are cheap and easy to replace.

I've had experience with technology, having been involved with the aircraft and aerospace industry for 30 years, before I retired 10 years, ago.

The simplest, least inexpensive, lightest weight, and easiest to use technology that does the job, is quite simply the most efficient and the best.

I now buy only LED flashlights, but I am not sold on expensive LED running, turn signal and headlights on cars, where the power source is inexpensive and readily available.

An electronic battery powered LCD tire gauge is much less efficient than a bourdon tube gauge or the electronic tire monitors now supplied with late model vehicles.

I don't need an expensive iPhone, the montly bill and the so call app to tell me to walk around the car to see if the tires are low or to check their pressure with a $5 tire gauge.

 

Hawgwarsh on the on-off cycles bit. LEDs fail from overheating (overcurrent, improper thermal design), manufacturing defects, reverse bias, maybe moisture. On-off cycling by itself does not cause overcurrent or overvoltage.

Old LED displays typically cycled on-off nearly a hundred of times per second for their entire life. Your LED mouse cycles thousands of times per second while tracking. Optical data products have them cycling millions of times per second.

Sorry, I don't see this, only old incandescent traffic lamps that have failed completely. My local gov't must buy from different vendors than does yours. But LED lamps could still partially fail for the causes I listed above.

Manufacturing defects, e.g. poor solder joints from a poorly controlled or too-cheap process. Sounds like a bit too much of Alfred Sloan's penny-pinching.

I insist on LED stop lamps on any new vehicle because they light up faster than incandescent lamps. At highway speed, this provides most of a car length quicker warning to the driver behind.

 

I'm not saying that there is not a benefit for LED's on the prius. I'm just saying that, for the added additional cost and it's replacement cost, I'll pass.

I prefer the self repair for less than $20 for any burned out halogen or even less for an incandescent bulb.

I recall, that wen I showed up at work some 35 years ago for the first day as a novice at an office as a junior engineer for the first day. There was one guy dressed to the nines with a really flashy designer tie. He chided me on my cheap $5 KMart tie and bragged that he paid $50 for his and how I can't afford it.

I responded that I agreed with him and said that he's right, I can't afford it. The $45 that I saved by buying the KMart tie amounts in around $3,000 today after interest and investment savings.

I retired in 2001, and the $45 that I saved and invested 35 years, ago, is still making me money.

As a safety factor, I agree with the use of multiple LEDs for traffic stoplights.

I can't see how much advantage LEDs have even though they turn on much quicker, since electricity travel at the speed of light. I've not convinced that they are much better as a safety factor like multiple LEDs on stoplights. It is not very likely that both incandescent stop light bulbs burn out at the same time, unless it is an electrical circuit problem, which can happen with LEDs. too.

 

Don't forget the cost factor. LED traffic lights slash energy use and replacement labor costs.

Cold tungsten filaments do not heat up to incandescent temperatures anywhere near that fast. It is much worse on trucks with significant voltage drop in the long wiring runs and connectors between the cab and the back of the rear trailer.

 

Actually, the "flow" of electrons in (on) a wire is pretty slow, about 2.02 meters per day. You get a fast response because of the huge number (and dense packing) of electrons on the wire.

Thus, the effect is kind of like that of a water hose. If it's full of water, water flows as soon as you turn on the tap. If the hose is empty, though, you have to wait a while for the water to get to the far end.