Halogen to LED conversion

[Edahall]

I notice that 500 Watt LED bulbs that produce 75,000 lumens each bulb are now available for a reasonable price. The common complaint with LED bulbs has been poor performance compared to the standard 55 watt Halogen bulb. Is there anyone using these 500 Watt LED bulbs?

Here's a video of a slightly less wattage LED bulb in use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UejSzGqlfc

[Dead Parrot]

Before you get too excited, 500 watts / 12V = about 41 amps. So for a pair you would need an 82 amp alt running at 100% just for the LED bulbs.

Also, blinding oncoming drivers so they can't see doesn't improve safety. Aiming these and eliminating bounce glare will be very important.

If you proceed, please make one of your testing steps be letting a friend drive your truck toward you while you are driving a car toward him at night.

[andrewmp6]

Throwing leds in a h4 housing is a bad idea.The cheap ebay led lights with a lot of leds do not focus the lights right.Only led headlights worth buying are trucklite and j.w. speaker.If they are out of your budget a h4 hella housing a headlight harness will give you brighter useable lights with out breaking the bank.

[Edahall]

Originally Posted by andrewmp6

Throwing leds in a h4 housing is a bad idea.The cheap ebay led lights with a lot of leds do not focus the lights right.Only led headlights worth buying are trucklite and j.w. speaker.If they are out of your budget a h4 hella housing a headlight harness will give you brighter useable lights with out breaking the bank.

I figured, thank you. I already use H4 Hella e code 150mm housings but the stock wattage 55/60watt bulbs burn out so quickly. I get on average 6 months out of a bulb. They usually burn out during the hot summer months so I believe it's heat related. When the low beam element burns out, then I focus the housing down and run them on high beams to get more life out of the bulb.

I don't believe Trucklite and J.W. Speaker sell 150mm housings.

I need a bulb that produces less heat.

Here is the 500watt eBay bulb being advertised.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F282784115867

[sweetk30]

i just did the j.w. speaker led conversion in a 2007 chevy 5500 med duty truck and let me say this

yes there expensive but in this case you get what you pay for .

not 1 person has flashed me with my low beams on yet thinking there high beams . the flood of light in front/side angle is 10x better than old halogen . also the color is true white light and makes driving at night a joy now .

with high beams on its crazy how far down the road i can see .

i have not noticed any real hot spots of light . it all seems to be spread out nice and even like it should compared to lots of others so called lights that make hot spots of bunched up light .

i live in the north snow belt so i got the heater grid option lights for snow/ice melting . they plug/play with no extra work at all . its all automatic .

yes crappy cell phone pics at night and these do not do them justice in the light output . but gives you a idea of how much they improve .

headlights in the truck .
old halogen low
old halogen low/high
new led low
new led low/high

[sweetk30]

Originally Posted by Edahall

I figured, thank you. I already use H4 Hella e code 150mm housings but the stock wattage 55/60watt bulbs burn out so quickly. I get on average 6 months out of a bulb. They usually burn out during the hot summer months so I believe it's heat related. When the low beam element burns out, then I focus the housing down and run them on high beams to get more life out of the bulb.

I don't believe Trucklite and J.W. Speaker sell 150mm housings.

I need a bulb that produces less heat.

Here is the 500watt eBay bulb being advertised.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F282784115867

did you even read the info on there pics ? ? they butchered the English language bad

and the pic of there light looks like it would be blinding to on coming traffic .

also you know there over driving there diodes if they install a fan to help in cooling .

and for 13 bucks come on give me a brake . . .

[farmall]

I have been looking at the JWS 5x7s with heat. I have to have heat. There are not any swinging deals on Amazon or eBay like the round ones have. Just not as popular I guess. I missed a regular turn the other night with oncoming traffic and my weak and poorly aimed antiques. I will just keep looking.

[wilkin250r]

Originally Posted by Dead Parrot

Before you get too excited, 500 watts / 12V = about 41 amps. So for a pair you would need an 82 amp alt running at 100% just for the LED bulbs.

A 500 Watt LED light most likely isn't actually pulling 500 watts, it's more likely to be somewhere around 75 watts (about 7 amps).

The reason they are described that way is because the old-school method was to describe lights by the amount of power they draw, and it was reasonably accurate at the time. A 55 Watt bulb did indeed put out more light than a 35W bulb.

The problem is: As technology has changed, and there are now more efficient ways to create light, nobody has gone back and re-written old specifications. Go ahead, try to find a "7500 Lumen" light bulb for your bathroom. You can't find one, all you have is a choice of a 40W, a 60W, or a 100W.

That 500W LED bulb is "equivalent to 500W of light output from a standard incandescent bulb", not the actual power draw. It's described that way because that's all most people know.