LED's vs Incandescent Lighting, Some data and discussion Options

[pbanders]

OK, I think I'm "finished" with my LED conversion on my car. I converted nearly every light in the car to LED's. Only lights I didn't convert were the fresh air fan indicator, and the non-illumination lights in the dash cluster. Headlights are WHDZ LED 7" from Amazon, all other bulbs from superbrightleds.com. Total cost including shipping and tax was $304. I originally tried H4 LED conversion bulbs but didn't like them, and went with the WHDZ lights instead, which meet my needs. I also converted my fog/driving lights to LED, the lights I bought were $14 a pair from Amazon, so including those brings me to $318.

My purpose was twofold: better lighting, and lower current draw. I hoped with the lower current draw that issues I've had with parasitic alternator drag pulling down the idle with the lights on would be improved. Both goals were definitely accomplished.

With the stock incandescent lights, if you have the lights on and you're using the low beams, the current draw from all of the lights (marker lights, F/R parking lights, headlights, license plate lights, trunk light, instrument lights) is 19.5 A at 12.8 V. Replacing those lights with the LED's I described above results in a current draw of 5.0 A, a reduction of 14.5 A (~75% reduction).

For the first time since I've owned this car, turning on the lights has no effect on the idle. You could probably do the same thing by changing the alternator to a 70 A or the 160 A conversion, but you wouldn't get the improvement in lighting and it would likely cost a lot more. I can even turn on the fresh air blower, heater, or windshield wipers with the lights on at idle - though I think if I turned them all on simultaneously that would be pushing my luck too far.

The lighting is vastly improved. The marker and parking lights are far brighter, as is the reverse lighting (actually useful, now). I can see things in my trunk. My interior light actually lights my interior. My instrument markings are white now and not a dull yellow. I need to build a PWM dimmer for them that works off of the dimmer knob, as right now, they're "on" or "off" (kind of how LED's work with DC voltage).

Headlights are vastly improved. They're so white that when I see cars with halogen lights they look like kerosene lanterns. I'm not a big fan of the WHDZ low beams (not as uniform a pattern as I'd like), but in combo with my fog/driving lights, they're awesome. The WHDZ high beams are excellent, great pattern and super throw.

IMO, it's a good upgrade for our aging cars. Superbrightled's has a nice vehicle system that will tell you all the lights you need. You can find the WHDZ lights on Amazon easily if you search for "WHDZ", they're $64 ea. Or, you can go with the Truck-Lites (~$170 ea) or the GE Nighthawks (~$220). There are some other projector-style LED lights on Amazon if you want to go that way.

Some pics below....

[N_Jay]

Any chance you can list the specific bulbs you use and sources?
Any lessons learned along that way, such as bulbs that seemed right but did not fit?

[sfrenck]

Any chance you can list the specific bulbs you use and sources?
Any lessons learned along that way, such as bulbs that seemed right but did not fit?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I'm looking for the fog lights in particular

[pbanders]

Any chance you can list the specific bulbs you use and sources?
Any lessons learned along that way, such as bulbs that seemed right but did not fit?

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I'm looking for the fog lights in particular

For the majority of the lights, superbrightleds.com has a vehicle configurator, just enter your make/model/year and they tell you what you need. I don't have the front side marker lights, and I have Euro front buckets, so my configuration may be different than yours, here's what I bought from them:

• Qty. 4 of the 1156 bulbs, cool white (backup and rear turn) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ta...it-car/163/724/
• Qty. 4 of the 1157 bulbs, cool white (front parking/turn, rear parking/brake) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ta...ofit/2625/5697/
• Qty. 5 of the BA9 LED's, cool white (rear marker, license plate, trunk light) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba...-car/2077/4721/
• Qty. 2 of the 194 LED's, cool white (Euro bucket front marker) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/mi...it-car/206/919/
• Qty. 5 of the BA7 LED's, cool white (instrument illumination) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba...ofit-car/10/74/
• Qty. 1 of the 578 LED, cool white (interior light) - https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/fe...-car/3582/7660/

The headlights are WHDZ 7" Round LED, with hi/lo beam and standard H4 plug (plugs right into your stock headlight harness socket). Casings are aluminum with locator tabs that correctly position the light in your 914's headlight mount slots. Lens is polycarbonate plastic with a clear and smooth surface. Low beam is in the top half of the light, high beam in the bottom half (different reflector designs). Low beams use 1.8 A, high beam uses 3.6 A (both top and bottom on). Ad copy says "highway approved for all 50 states", is this true? Who knows. While it says it's for Jeep Wrangler, it fits any standard 7" headlight housing and H4 connector. There is no DRL or "Angel Eye" illumination or connector.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019I0UBLU

The fog/driving lights are "TTX LIGHTING - 4 Inch 27W Round LED Work Light 30 Degree Spot Beam DC 9-75V 2430 Lumens". No idea of if these are DOT approved, take your own risk using these. Actual OD is about 1/8" smaller than the ID of the stock 914 "early" fog light opening. Wires are tinned and stripped, I crimped on spade connectors to connect to the 914's stock fog lamp wiring. They come with a U bracket bottom mount. I attached their mount, then fabricated an adapter using 3/4" x 3/32" zinc-plated steel strip from ACE Hardware. The adapter is 75 mm long, with 90 deg bends at 25 mm and 50 mm (see pics below). Hole positions were determined by test fitting to the car. Beam pattern on these lights is hardly "spot", they're more diffuse, but in actual use in combination with the WHDZ headlights, this is exactly what I wanted, as they fill in the pattern and provide excellent illumination. Casing is aluminum and lens is polycarbonate, light is from an array of LED's.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NAR0S20/

Fog/driving light adapter mounted to the stock 914 fog light captive nut, installed in the car.



View of the adapter mounted to the fog/driving light



Another view of the adapter mounted to the fog/driving light (final hole for mounting to the 914 fog light captive nut not yet drilled in this pic)

[Spoke]

...here's what I bought from them:

• Qty. 4 of the 1156 bulbs, cool white (backup and rear turn)
• Qty. 4 of the 1157 bulbs, cool white (front parking/turn, rear parking/brake)

Brad, I'm curious why you purchased white LEDs to put behind colored lenses? Much of the light output of the LEDs is filtered out by the red (brake) or amber (turnsignal) lens. The most efficient light output will be realized when the LED color matches the lens color.

Also, for the load resistors to keep the OEM flasher happy. Keeping with your "reduce the electrical load" campaign, the load resistors you've added take you right back to the power (21W) of the turnsignal bulbs instead of a nice 2-4W for LEDs. Plus you need to crimp these resistors on existing wiring thus damaging the wire and insulation.

Perhaps another path for much lower turnsignal power and no wire crimping is to replace the flasher with EP26 flasher available everywhere. The one issue with EP26 is it doesn't power the 4th terminal needed to power the tach turnsignal indicators. There are easy workarounds for the lack of a powered 4th terminal again requiring no cutting or wire crimping.