New led driving lights

[dicklague]

I am experimenting with some new LED driving lights.

these have 9 Cree high intensity bulbs in a 5" diameter housing. they mount nicely on the splitter on my 911 RS Tribute.

The purists will scream, but I do drive this car all the time and I love having the best lighting.

And I want good DRL for driving on the narrow mountain roads during the day.

They draw only 2 amps each so they are pretty efficient, and the LED bulbs will out live me!

Here are the specs
Led Power: 27W
Body Color: Black
LED type: Cree
Dimensions: 5 inch
Waterproof rate: IP 67
Operating Voltage: 10-30V
Beam Type: SPOT
Lumens Output: 1800 LM
LED quantity: 9PCS*3W high intensity Leds
Color Temp: 6000K









Here is a detail shot of the lights each puts out 1800 lumens

[RNajarian]

Wow neat project

I wonder if they could be direct replacement for existing fog lights

[Cairo94507]

I believe those will fit the stock early 914 fog light grills. I looked at them for my Six, but they are just to "new" looking to fit the stock appearance of the car. However, they appear to be nice and bright and were cheap at about $28 each, assuming these are the same, and they appear to be. Yeah, I know a 914 isn't a 911..... I have a 911 too.

[tirwin]

I like the look. Nothing wrong with experimenting.

[dicklague]

Originally Posted by tirwin

I like the look. Nothing wrong with experimenting.

Thanks tirwin! They are super bright and surpisingly wide beam. So far so good.

They are very bright in daylight which is what I want for DRL use.

The housing is finned cast aluminum. I am thinking of making some aluminum mounting brackets and anodizing them. I think it would be better than the chrome.


Here are some better daylight photos.

[wwest]

Those can't be driving lights, more like a flood, or fogs, lots of up close wide area lighting. No aid in night time distance vision like what driving lights are designed for.

Cooling the LEDs is the most critical design aspect for lighting of this type.

The reason early DRLs used high beam bulbs at low voltage was to be visible at distances beyond what the low beam, or fog light, pattern provided and yet not "blindingly" BRIGHT.

[dicklague]

Originally Posted by wwest

Those can't be driving lights, more like a flood, or fogs, lots of up close wide area lighting. No aid in night time distance vision like what driving lights are designed for.

Cooling the LEDs is the most critical design aspect for lighting of this type.

The reason early DRLs used high beam bulbs at low voltage was to be visible at distances beyond what the low beam, or fog light, pattern provided and yet not "blindingly" BRIGHT.

WWEST and do you have ANY practical experience with these lights?

By the way, I want them to be "blindingly" BRIGHT as DRL lights!!! I don't want them to be polite!! I need all the help I can get on these mountain roads in the daytime.

I am surprised you commented, this has nothing to do with A/C!!!

[dicklague]

Originally Posted by wwest

Cooling the LEDs is the most critical design aspect for lighting of this type.

.

The housing is heavy cast aluminum. I feel they have designed for cooling well.

[wwest]

Originally Posted by dicklague

WWEST and do you have ANY practical experience with these lights?

By the way, I want them to be "blindingly" BRIGHT as DRL lights!!! I don't want them to be polite!! I need all the help I can get on these mountain roads in the daytime.

I am surprised you commented, this has nothing to do with A/C!!!

My LS400 has 2 "high" beam bulbs on each side. One is a high/low and the other is a single filament used as low voltage DRL and high beam pattern "fill".

I replaced the DRL with a compatible socket LED with what I thought was an adequate heat sink. The bulbs included a feature that resulted in powering off entirely if the LED approached an over heat level.

So I found one's with an improved heat sink and the "feature". No more shut off on "hot" days.

My 2001 C4 come with a small 5W "city light" in each side that I converted to a LED with a "distance" mirrored reflector.


Politeness resulted in my adding a resistor to reduce the brightness in DRL mode.

Since I suspect the LED lights in question do not have anything close to a normal high beam pattern, more like fogs, I doubt if you have a need to be polite.