LED sidelights - yay or nay

Flukester · 11 Sep 2009 at 15:34

Sin_Chase said:
What colour temp are your Osrams?

The White LEDs you buy will probably be closer to 6000k. My HIDS are 4300k and the LEDs are a cripser white/bluey. I wont be changing my HIDs to 6000k as it's a shocking loss in lumens. PIAA did do some 4500K LEDs that I wanted to get but nowhere has stock, it's end of line now.

But doesn't 6k give better night vision, I'm sure I read it did.. the way signs and road markings light up at 6k afaik is way better than at 4k3

It's a trade off, a little less light (not shocking loss), but better night performance, and isn't that what they are for

As a biker I prefer the look of 6k as I feel it gets bike noticed better than 'blending in' with every other light out there...so safer

Trifid · 12 Sep 2009 at 08:20

Laser402 said:
Pimping up your Focus then eh?

Thinking about some Xenons for my Fiesta

Nods. The candles I had in there were getting annoying. The Osrams fill up the road with light, no need to use full beam on unlit roads. I want Xenons but don't have projectors/suitable reflector.

Just as well, they are expensive.

Flukester, I assume the HIDs in your shop require projectors still?

Sin_Chase · 13 Sep 2009 at 16:28

Flukester said:
But doesn't 6k give better night vision, I'm sure I read it did.. the way signs and road markings light up at 6k afaik is way better than at 4k3

It's a trade off, a little less light (not shocking loss), but better night performance, and isn't that what they are for

As a biker I prefer the look of 6k as I feel it gets bike noticed better than 'blending in' with every other light out there...so safer

It "looks" nicer/crisper but there is less light on the road. After umming and arring about it I will not be going up to 6k on HIDs, had some S2000s behind me since being over here in England and they are very, very bright

Flukester · 13 Sep 2009 at 17:48

Trifid said:
Flukester, I assume the HIDs in your shop require projectors still?

the kits I have work fine on (motorbike) reflectors, a lot of the beam pattern / glare of the light is down to the quality of the bulbs... and if you have top quality bulbs you can get away with reflectors and still have good quality output (pretty much same as you would with stock halogen but brighter)

it's the cheaper fleabaychinwanese kits that really suffer when fitted to reflector headlamp units...

Trifid · 13 Sep 2009 at 17:54

Flukester said:
afaik they don't m8, a lot of the focusing / quality of the light is down to the quality of the bulbs... and if you have top quality bulbs you can get away with reflectors and still have good quality output (pretty much same as you would with stock halogen but brighter)

it's the cheaper fleabaychinwanese kits that really suffer when fitted to reflector headlamp units...

Would it be possible to get a picture if you do a install in a reflector? If they are OK I'd be very interested in a set.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3262280&postcount=40 Obviously I don't want to blind passers by like the second image would.

[TW]Fox · 13 Sep 2009 at 17:57

lordrobs said:
I've also gone a bit LED crazy with LED numberplate lights and interior lights... which reminds me that I need to source one for the boot

Have you got pics of the numberplate light?

Flukester · 13 Sep 2009 at 17:59

Trifid said:
Would it be possible to get a picture if you do a install in a reflector? If they are OK I'd be very interested in a set.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3262280&postcount=40 Obviously I don't want to blind passers by like the second image would.

sure, I'm hopefully going to do a H4 BiXenon conversion on a 15 year old BMW K1100LT in the next few weeks... will get some photos. If they work with that they will work with anything

will keep you posted

Trifid · 13 Sep 2009 at 18:01

Flukester said:
sure, I'm hopefully going to do a H4 BiXenon conversion on a 15 year old BMW K1100LT in the next few weeks... will get some photos. If they work with that they will work with anything

will keep you posted

Cheers. It would have to come out of next months pay packet anyway! Let me know how well the H4 is at flashing too when cold.

Flukester · 13 Sep 2009 at 18:04

yeah thats the problem with BiXenons, I think these ballasts are pretty good at a quick start though..

one thing I know though, HIDs are the best upgrade you can do on a bike to increase visibility, really gets you noticed.

Lum · 13 Sep 2009 at 18:32

I hate the single LED sidelights. There are a whole bunch of (chav) cars with them around here and on a lot of them the sidelights are almost impossible to see, meaning that in the right light conditions the whole car is very hard to see. Probably because there is just this tiny white dot that fails to make the entire headlight lens illuminate.

Audi's version is fine from a visibility standpoint because there are so many of them, but still looks naff IMO.

fizzle-187 · 13 Sep 2009 at 18:40

They look tacky to be fair. But each to their own I suppose. Depends on what it's on though not same chavy piece of ****.

Lopéz · 13 Sep 2009 at 18:52

[TW]Fox;14879049 said:
Have you got pics of the numberplate light?

Here's mine with LED numberplate lights if you're interested:

The dark patches aren't actually as severe as that in real life. It's a very white light which is what I like about them.

Lum · 13 Sep 2009 at 19:16

fizzle-187 said:
They look tacky to be fair. But each to their own I suppose. Depends on what it's on though not same chavy piece of ****.

How they look doesn't bother me. The problem I have is that in certain cars, fitting them (specifically the single LED ones) is a safety issue as they make your car hard to see if it's dusk and you're only running on sidelights.

Personally if I happened to own an R8, I'd be looking for some alternative headlights just because they look naff, but at least you can see the damn things on those.

CliffyBiro · 13 Sep 2009 at 19:20

I use LED sidelights and passed the MOT fine with them in so they must be OK legally?

Flukester · 13 Sep 2009 at 19:55

Lum said:
How they look doesn't bother me. The problem I have is that in certain cars, fitting them (specifically the single LED ones) is a safety issue as they make your car hard to see if it's dusk and you're only running on sidelights.

Personally if I happened to own an R8, I'd be looking for some alternative headlights just because they look naff, but at least you can see the damn things on those.

look naff ?, tbh I thing they new audi style led strips really stand out, far more so than a normal side light...most people who think they look naff only do so as it's apparently cool on internet to hate them

as much as you hate LEDs, they are the future of all motor vehicle lighting...give it 10 years and even HID will be obsolete. (such is the rate of innovation in LED tech)

give it a few years you'll still be running dim halogen rubbish, everyone else will be on ultra bright / ultra white LED lighting.

i for one cant wait... it's about time heating a little coil of wire was obsolete as a way of seeing where you are going, it's prehistoric rubbish

edit: btw, who just runs sidelights at dusk, I know it's all you are required by law (in a street lit area), but as soon as light is getting low put on your main lights. I have some little LED lights on my test bench that output over 250 lumens, it's like looking a little suns

Sin_Chase · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:07

Some pretty comical comments.

LEDs being harder to see, seriously?

My standard sidelights are almost invisible and not ALL sidelights work in a reflector lense, mine for example. Using LEDs increases visibility by them alone 5 fold.

Nothing chavvy about white LEDs either, anything above 6k is though as it is 100% show for the cost of lumens.

Trifid · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:08

I run side lights only during the day when it is light outside but a little dull if you understand the conditions I'm talking about, normal 5w sidelights get lost in my reflector. As soon as it gets to half light/very dim I put dipped on.

The Bikevis ones do light up the edges on my reflectors and a sort of halo with a 5500/6000k (Hid) halo.

Flukester · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:15

Sin_Chase said:
Nothing chavvy about white LEDs either, anything above 6k is though as it is 100% show for the cost of lumens.

totally agree, 6k is the sweet spot I think... some prefer more light of 4k3 ish, some the slight blue tint of 6k

it's the people who put 8k+ in cars / bikes I cant understand, it's just a waste of money and a huge drop in visible light

8k+ bulbs are purely made for corsas dripping in halfords go faster rubbish

the thing I like about 'cool' white led's is they are running 5k-6k in the main and match HID very well. if you have HIDs and normal halogen sides it just looks wrong and your sides get totally overwhelmed

Fr0dders · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:39

Flukester said:
look naff ?, tbh I thing they new audi style led strips really stand out, far more so than a normal side light...most people who think they look naff only do so as it's apparently cool on internet to hate them

as much as you hate LEDs, they are the future of all motor vehicle lighting...give it 10 years and even HID will be obsolete. (such is the rate of innovation in LED tech)

give it a few years you'll still be running dim halogen rubbish, everyone else will be on ultra bright / ultra white LED lighting.

i for one cant wait... it's about time heating a little coil of wire was obsolete as a way of seeing where you are going, it's prehistoric rubbish

edit: btw, who just runs sidelights at dusk, I know it's all you are required by law (in a street lit area), but as soon as light is getting low put on your main lights. I have some little LED lights on my test bench that output over 250 lumens, it's like looking a little suns

problem is

theres something so very chav about the idiots who put LED strips in their OEM corsa headlights to make it look like an Audi

Lum · 13 Sep 2009 at 20:57

Flukester said:
look naff ?, tbh I thing they new audi style led strips really stand out, far more so than a normal side light...most people who think they look naff only do so as it's apparently cool on internet to hate them

I thought I was pretty much on my own on this one. I don't hate them. Like I said I can see them fine so I have no problem with them, I just don't like them.

give it a few years you'll still be running dim halogen rubbish, everyone else will be on ultra bright / ultra white LED lighting.

This is not a good thing IMO. Cars have far too much lighting these days and all it does is put more vulnerable road users (eg. pedestrians, cyclists and motorbikes) at risk as they are more likely to blend into the background.

edit: btw, who just runs sidelights at dusk, I know it's all you are required by law (in a street lit area), but as soon as light is getting low put on your main lights. I have some little LED lights on my test bench that output over 250 lumens, it's like looking a little suns

I seriously hope that by "main lights" you mean "dipped headlights" not "main beam", so I'm going to assume that, and I again disagree. I wish we could go back to the days where even in the middle of night, people would switch back to sidelights if the area has sufficient streetlights. Sidelights are (or should be) basically position markers that allow you to be seen, dipped and main beam are for allowing you to see if the current lighting conditions prevent you from doing so.

Of course, in this day and age we have tossers who drive around with full beams on during the day, presumably convinced that more light == safer, either that or they're too dumb to know how to turn them off.