LED fog light bulb upgrade

Oh thanks, I didn't see the thread cause I never visit the Audio/Electronics page, lol.

 

I have changed all outside lights to leds apart from headlamps reversing lights and indicators. Sorry for the delay in replying I don't check my e-mails often enough.

 

I find the short life of the LED's you are experiencing quite unusual. Where are you buying these, and who makes them ? Are you using an LED driver circuit, or how are they being powered-directly from battery-thru a current limit resister ?

Something does not add up, as they should last a very long time. Some of the material from Asia is substandard, pulls, failed factory test, etc. Perhaps this could be the reason for the trouble you are having. Here is a link that may help you.

national.com/analog/led

 

There are $1 LEDs from China on eBay, and then there are $5-20 LEDs from "reputable" websites such as V-LEDs, SuperbrightLEDS, Auto Lumination, etc. Here's the thing - they are all the same; they are all cheap. They do a very poor job of heat sinking and most of these small wedges are unregulated.

I think you are wrong to assume this is "quite unusual." Unless you design your own high quality LEDs, LED retrofits are very tough to get right. It requires a certain amount of luck. And since car manufacturers don't design the car correctly for LEDs, retrofitters are faced with this ubiquitous issue.

So let me ask you something: Where are you buying your LEDs from?

 

No reason to get huffy puffy over LED lights, now. Let's take the conversation down just a notch.

 

Wow. Thanks? My question to him was serious. Nobody got huffy puffy.

 

Sorry, but, whatever your intention was, it sounded awfully accusatory at the end. Italicizing you and your on your last sentence really did not help the way your post sounded. I just wanted this thread to stay civil.

 

You can turn LEDs on and off all you want. You can strobe them if you feel like it. They don't care. They do care about overheating and being overdriven.

 

I suppose the question I'm most interested in, and I'm sure others are is:

Where can I get the high quality LEDs without making them myself?

 

^That is exactly what I wanted to know too.

 

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For anyone who cares to know...
I purchased two LED light bulbs from super bright LEDS last month:
Super Bright LEDs, Inc.
4400 Earth City Expressway
St. Louis, Missouri 63045-1328
tel: 866-590-3533 (toll free)
fax: 314-972-6202
Qty | Product / Options | Price/ea |
==========================================
2 | HB4-WHP: HB4 DRL LED bulb | $ 14.95 |
HB4-NW1W: Natural White 1Watt LED 8.00

I installed them over this past weekend and I am not impressed. The older lights were bright enough for me to see their reflection or their "beam" on the ground in front of my vehicle. I could actually see the beam "light up" when I engaged them via the steering column stalk twist switch. The new LED versions I installed are so dim I can't even see them at all from the drivers seat. I know they are on only because I've left the vehicle and walked to the front so I could see them illuminated, but I honestly could not tell they were on during the day at all (I had to go out and check it out at night).

If you are looking for a low wattage alternative to the standard stock bulbs for your front fog lights, I'd say buy these dim bulbs.

If you actually want to have bulbs that can illuminate the roadway in front of your vehicle, keep searching for a viable LED alternative because these are NOT it.

...just thought I'd post my experiences with this mod.

 

Certainly not from Ebay. I source from Cree, Osram, and Phillips. If its an unknown from China thats 30% less, it aint worth the cost. Warranty costs will eat your business if you sell junk-and and want to stay in business. The Hobby market is full of junk, but hey -for a headlamp for a toy train a China knock off works. For a Auto headlamp--No way.

 

I bought all mine from ebay and they are cree and osram ones a lot cheaper than the retailers. I only had one side repeater lamp that wasn't bright enough I informed seller and he told me to keep the lamps and gave me a refund, there are good and bad sellers on there you just to check out the feedback