LED rear lights

[Cruz]

I have smoked lenses and only Stevie Wonder would miss the light from them

[nicq]

I fully agree all dash side lights stop lights and interior but indicators you are adding 8 more connections & 4 more components. How many threads on bad connections on this forum.

Nic

[CovKid]

reliability, longevity? All talk unless you can say categorically that they're still working a year or so later, and are actually better than filament bulbs in terms of good light from any angle. In my experience the quality simply isn't there, let alone the technology unless you're forking out some serious money for rally-spec LED bulbs. I've only ever seen one car with LED lights of that standard and they put out some heat too as they needed a meaty heatsink. Forget the cheapos on ebay. Maybe in another ten years the cost will be low enough for good quality LEDs but without a major redesign of the actual lenses themselves, it'll be money down the drain at the moment.

LEDs are far more efficient than tungsten bulbs (by miles) but there are no LED bulbs that fit stock T25 lights that are any good. They all come from the far east and fall to bits or are too directional to be any use.

[jamesc76]

reliability, longevity?

Well the rear side lights, brake lights , fog light , reverse light that have been on my van for 4 years kinda says they last to me!!!!!

[CovKid]

It was about that point James when all mine began to pack up. One went after 12 months. What tends to happen is that the individual clustered ones begin to pop, one after the other, until the output is so poor they're scrap. I've had tungsten ones last longer than that. Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of the LED but really, the lenses need to be geared to LEDs, ideally using the new generation surface-mount LEDs rather than the plastic encapsulated arrays and that costs money - proportionally way more than its worth. You can buy a tail light bulb for what, 50p, a £1. On the lower end of the scale LED bulbs still cost more but in practice don't last as long. Can only say what I've found.

This type are particularly pants:

[Hacksawbob]

I changed the earth point on the LHS of the engine bay and wired it straight to the starter battery neg terminal (diesel) That along with cleaning up the contacts in the light clusters made a huge difference to the brightness of the rear lights.

[CovKid]

Spot on Bob. Its easy to forget that the voltage drop isn't limited to headlights. Well worth doing.

As an aside I took some time out this year to look at the feasibility of modifying the rear lenses to take surface mount LEDs but concluded that it would basically mean gutting the entire light pod and so much work, it just wasn't worth the time and effort. Much as I don't like departing too far from the stock T25 design/look, I then looked at Iveco light pods, some of which are already LED-driven, albeit too large, but I found a pair of which were more or less identical in size to stock ones. However, that presented yet more problems and would have either required some body cutting, or lights that bulged out the back.

I have to say, there are times when you can follow a train of thought that terminates in potentially weeks of work. Its at that point I have to draw a line under it. Life is just too short. We may get some much better designed LED bulbs that don't cook themselves or in extreme cases melt the light lens (seen that too) - that would seem to be the best solution in terms of time and money. Remember, we're now entering the graphite age where flexible electronics will really come to the fore and it may well have an impact on lighting generally.

[Plasticman]

I maybe missing som ething here but what is wrong with the original rear lamps and bulbs,
they are not power hungry in so far as depleting the leisure battery , internal led's perhaps yes .
just curious
mm

[jamesc76]

I maybe missing som ething here but what is wrong with the original rear lamps and bulbs,
they are not power hungry in so far as depleting the leisure battery , internal led's perhaps yes .
just curious
mm

I fitted them to mine so I didnt need to change blown bulbs and 4 years later there still the same ones, this bumcum about less energy and faster responce may be true but thats not why the majority fitt um, just look at all new truck s/trailers/busses all fitted with led lights as there less prone to blow!

[Plasticman]

aye and maybe more to do with the cost as built as manufacturers place little importance on you and me years down the road.cant recall when i last had a bulb blow,lol
mm

[billy739]

also worth checking the rear side lamps are the 10 watt variety , not the very similar 5 watt bulbs that are commonly fitted!

5 watts are very dim compared to the 10watt as you will guess , but its suprising how many have 5 watters fitted!

[CovKid]

And a day later on BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is something to be said for not having to change bulbs but research suggests most of us are not doing enough exercise as it is lol.

I still maintain that LED technology whilst good, in what might be deemed the 'affordable' bracket, there are a lot of cheap imports doing the rounds that are such poor quality if not badly designed. The tungsten bulb still gives a better 360 degree output, albeit at the red end of the spectrum and beats the LED ones on price too. We are talking about only a few screws to change a bulb here. My original thinking behind switching to external LED lighting was the same as James but I've since changed my mind. The cost is just too high for quality LED replacements. Defeats the object. Besides, although LEDs tend to be very bright head on, they don't actually light the road that well in practice.

[Mickyfin]

Says page not found Ralph. Not sure if the problem is my end though as I tried to view an article on there regarding new plastic bulb tech, and got the same 404 error when clicking the link to full article.

[CovKid]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20553143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; checks out here. Try "also in the news" on front page of BBC news

[Mickyfin]

Strange, still not opening for me. Will try another browser.