Brightest City Lights?

[Algernon]

What are suggestions for brighter city lights?
Are there any LED bulbs that get close to BMW "Angel's eyes"?
(Does anyone recall what size the socket is?) Thanks.

[Pazuzu]

BA9/BA9s

I put these in (amber, tied to my turn signals) Amazon.com: Cutequeen LED Car Lights Bulb Yellow BA9 BA9s 5050 5-SMD BA9S, 53, 57, 182, 257, 1895, 6253, 64111, 64113 (pack of 2): Automotive . When the headlights are off, you can see the housing light up after dusk, but not daytime. with the headlights on you cannot see them at all.

I don't think you can get a small bulb in that cavernous housing to make anywhere near the kind of light that the angel eyes do. You'd need to get a bright bulb right at the glass surface for that.

Although, maybe something like http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018LVVTC2 at 30 smd might work...

All of the really bright LEDS seem to be directional along their axis, you need one that throws light sideways.

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

. . .
All of the really bright LEDS seem to be directional along their axis, you need one that throws light sideways.

This fits the bill as to the lens design: http://www.everychina.com/p-z52cc8d0-94460355-side-emitting-ba9s-base-led-replacement-bulbs.html

This example is the wrong voltage but I suspect someone makes them. Question is if the sell them in anything less then bulk quantities.

[Pazuzu]

Huh, a little bit of research and I learn a lot...

SMD means "surface mount device", which means the little yellow flat LEDS that we see on these multi-LED bulbs.

"5050" and "3014" stands for the actual chip construction, 0.50x0.50mm or 0.30x0.14mm, etc

Then, we learn that those chips are pretty standardized (because of physics yo) so we can look here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMD_LED_Module
and learn the standard flux and candlepower for each. Then, buy looking at how many of each chip is on a given BA9s bulb, we can tell how much total light they throw out. Hoping that the reflector in the headlight bucket respond pretty much the same, we can tell which will appear brighter. now, i would consider LUMENS to be more important right now as the total light produced in all directions, since we are trying to illuminate a chamber, not produce a beam like a flashlight.

So, the one I used had 5x5050 chips, the one I linked has 30x3014 chips.

5050 chip has 17 lumen, and about 5.5 candela each
3014 has about 12 lumen and 3 candela each

5x5050 is 85 total lumen, 27.5 total candela
30x3014 is 360 lumen, 90 candela total

So, the 30 chip bulb should be MUCH brighter, like 3 times as bright.


What about others (now that I know what to shop for...)?

Amazon.com: JDM ASTAR 4pcs Super Bright 5630 SMD BA9 BA9S 53 57 1895 64111 LED Bulbs,Xenon White(Best Value in the market): Automotive
6x5630 6x47=282 lumen, 6x18.4=110.4 caldela total
Not as impressive. Candela is higher, but the total lumens (total light) is lower

http://www.amazon.com/Festoon-Adapter-White-Ceiling-Light/dp/B00K8397F8
Harder to mount, but has 9x5630, for 423lumen total. If it was oriented somewhat sideways, you could use all of the candela since the intense axis would be pointed outwards...for 165 total candela.


Basically, there are a bunch of similar geometry designs out there, and the 30x3014 seems to be the best total light output. I will probably buy a pack and try them out...

[Pazuzu]

Or this crazy thing, with 110 chips, 1320 total lumen, 330 total candela...
http://www.amazon.com/Vplus-Universal-Interior-Footwell-Courtesy/dp/B01E5JTBRO

The pad is 1x2 inches, but the light output is so high that it should still strongly illuminate the headlight bucket.

[Algernon]

Thanks Wayne and Mike - just what I was hoping for! The Wikipedia chart is 'enlightening'. For reference, the original 3CP bulbs are around 36Lm.
So far it seems like the Luyed 30x3014 at about 360Lm is the winner. I haven't found anything brighter than that.
Although it's hard to resist trying to cram the 110x3014 array into the bucket. 1300Lm should be really impressive!

[Algernon]

I just found a 10x5730 light from Cutequeen. 500Lm seems to beat even Luyed.
These are way different from Cutequeen 5x5050 that Mike tried. They only seem to come to 80Lm!!
Anyone found a plug-in replacement LED bulb brighter than 500Lm?

[RSBob]

Post a pic once you find what you are looking for and have them installed.

[Pazuzu]

I just bought far too many LED BA9s bulbs to compare

Maybe this weekend I will take my rocking new power supply (from here 12v power supply for the garage to test stuff... I picked the Tekpower http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L2M2Y5O but I paid $99 shipped free...)

back on topic! I will try to do a shootout between a few bulbs this weekend.

[IslandHopper]

Mexico City... Apparently can be seen from space

[Pazuzu]

Um...BRIGHT ENOUGH???????????


This is the 30x3014, 360 lumen bulb.

Compare to the low beam headlight (H4, Hella 80/100W bulbs):


I was mistaken, these high lumen LED bulbs are more than capable of replacing/replicating something like DRLs and angel eyes. In fact, that one might be just a bit too much!

I also learned that the colored LEDs are terribly weak, becuase they take the standard ones and put filters on them, I don't think they are really amber or red or whatever (in this case). The white and amber bulbs with the same number and size LED chips had a dramatic difference in brightness, even when viewed through a colored lens. so, the white 300 lumen bulb was still brighter behind the side markers than an amber 300 lumen bulb. However, the while bulb was more lemon-yellow behind the lens, while the amber bulb was more orange. So, if you want an orange tinted "amber" light, then go with the colored LEDs and lose some brightness.


Finally, since I had bought one of the 1x1 inch sheet with the LEDS on it, I tried using that somewhere....

FRONT SIDE MARKERS! It's like having turning lights they're so damned bright. The 1x1 board fits lovely right up in the housing. I also put the 300ish lumen ones in the rear side markers, which means that all of my lighting is now LED front and back.

[sthein]

I wrote an article for the recently released Esses (Early S Registry) on this subject that you may wish to read. I'd suggest the Cyclops (cyclopsadventuresports.com) 3800 LED, if you have H4 assemblies. Look at Classico's sealed beam solution for H1 or sealed beam lights. The key is an adequately heat-sinked product, not that the light generates heat but the supporting electronics do.

[Algernon]

Well, I finally decided the Cutequeen LEDs were out because of low reliability reviews, and went with the Luyed 360Lm version. Even with 30 leds the bulb goes into the hole in the reflector(just).
I wanted to photo the car with one LED side and the other with original, but the Luyeds are just so damn bright I could not wait to put the second one in.
Pazuzu you are right, these things are just amazing. Will work as DRL's, and have a nice blue/white color. I think when on with headlights they will make the lights look a bit whiter, and more modern.
And just $12 for 5 bulbs is great. I may put another 2 in the front side markers!

[4flyboy]

Fodder for another thread but has anyone figured out what LED replacement will work for the anemic fog/driving lights.....or is this what you reference when you say DRL?

Thanks, great thread! Scott