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LED Headlights

S

soldi

Expert
Joined
Jan 13, 2012
Messages
398
Location
Sweden
I searched a few years back for h4 led lights that would equal atleast the hallogen headlight in our sleds and found out that there at the time were none bright enough. Led lights are going more and more into cars (altough with custom deflectors) but Im guessing power should be up quite a bit as seen in some crazy flashlights.. Anyone know what is the strongest and brightest leds out there today that could do as a headlight.. Looking into getting them from the source so brand is not important rather manufacturer.
 

I am not aware of an aftermarket option that will take the place of standard H4 and can match the output of a good HID retrofit or even upgraded halogens.

Even the high end rides (Audi A8, MB, Escalade Platiunum) that have all LED headlamps have a cluster of like 5 or 7 leds mounted behind projector lenses to get the job done. These are all purpose built and big $$$.
 
LED headlamps are $$$$ expensive. Think $2000+ for a set that will match the output of a cheap halogen. Also, they generate a massive amount of heat, and most have heatsinks and fans behind them.

Also, because of the light pattern, any existing sled light housing is going to be 100% completely worthless. You will have to custom design the housing, using some fairly expensive ray tracing computer software.
 
LEDs have passed HID in terms of efficiency BUT HID has the advantage of not needing a BIG HEAT SINK to to keep cool like the high power LED's do. There are 10w led lights now on the market with a SINGLE LED is puts out roughly the same amount of light as 55w halogen but the housing/heatsink it about the size of rattle can paint top. We are 5+ years off from "Drop in" LED that will go in a current Halogen housing and provide as much light. On the other side I can't believe the cost of LED headlights, the LEDs and Drivers would cost under 150$ to outperform a pair of 35w HIDs and the rest is just the plastic/aluminum housing to hold the stuff. Hell, I built an LED light fixture for my Saltwater aquarium 2 years ago that uses 115w of power and has equal light output to the 250w HID that it replaced. I bought a pair of the CHEAP chinese "10w" leds lights off ebay for 70$ to play around with and took one apart right way and I was surprised to see a Cree XML chip in it which is an American made 10w chip! Granted it wasn't a good color bin though and had a slight "greenish" tint to the light but I replaced it with a 3500k color temp XML and have been using them as work lights on my old skid-steer.
 
Please school me on led lights being hot as most highway tractor trailer lights are led and cannot melt snow worth a snit, same for the tail light on the ape.?????
 
scott32 said:
Please school me on led lights being hot as most highway tractor trailer lights are led and cannot melt snow worth a snit, same for the tail light on the ape.?????
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Those are a fraction of the output that you would need for headlights... Go buy yourself an LED light that you use in a home light fixture. Fire it up for an hour, then grab the bottom of it. It will be warm/hot... Not burning skin hot, but warmer than even CFL's. (most will run up to around 160 degrees in a typical home setting)

Look at the bottom part of this light, that is all one big metal heatsink. This one is barely big enough to dimly light up a living room.

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Not sure where this "heat story" is coming from....I run LEDs in my RV as they draw about 1/10 the power and are cool to the touch all the time. I also have a Rigid LED on my quad (I had a 10" on my Outlander and now a 6" on my Renegade) and same thing....cool, cool, cool. The 10" Rigid on my Outlander was so bright that I removed the stock headlights. My Renny has focused factory lights that work pretty great, but coupled with the 6" Rigid, I look light a lit up military chopper coming in for a landing when I ride....the total light is amazing.

For a sled, I would look at mounting a 6" or 8" SR series on the handlebar...tons of light. No heat.

Here's a night ride...from two summers ago...both of us running Rigid 10"...no factory lights at all.
 
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I am also curious about this "heat thing" with LED's, have them in myboat, my house, and a few other places. They run on a fraction of the power and I've held my hand on them and they weren't even warm..
 
DaveB said:
Not sure where this "heat story" is coming from....I run LEDs in my RV as they draw about 1/10 the power and are cool to the touch all the time. I also have a Rigid LED on my quad (I had a 10" on my Outlander and now a 6" on my Renegade) and same thing....cool, cool, cool. The 10" Rigid on my Outlander was so bright that I removed the stock headlights.
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Just checked on rigid's site, the brightest fixture puts out 1568 lumens at 20 watts. That is almost the exact same as the first capsule headlight bulb, developed in 1962, which put out 1550 lumens. Right now the bare minimum to meet the specs for a low beam headlight is 2000 lumens. A decent hid light puts out 3000+ lumens.

Anyway, just checked the temp on a 100w equivalent LED that has been on most of the night. 160 to 165 degrees on the heat sink. Hot enough you don't want to hold on to it very long.


I'm all for LED's, I probably have more LED lighting in my house than anyone on the board, combined. But the reality is that the harder you push an LED, the hotter it gets. Once you start heating things up, your efficiency goes down. LED's that are truly bright enough for headlight use are expensive, hot, and inefficient. The LED's that get you to the 70% level, like the rigids, are in the sweet spot. They aren't pushed hard, remain cool, and still have decent efficiency.
 
OK...that info might be correct for a single fixture...but a LED bar or cluster still works very efficiently and has much more light that 1500 lumens. Even the little 6"SR bar has 3200....the 10" in nearly 4000 lumens. The new RZR UTVs come with LED lights and they work very well.
 
120 volt Home led lighting is not the exact same thing as 12 volt vehicle led lighting.
I've never seen 12volt LEDs get hot.
120 volt LEDs do generate enormous amounts of heat.
I think this is where the confusion is
 
Looking around for a new sled I noticed that Lynx offers a LED kit for their headlights, although it appears to be additional lights it seams things are moving forward... www.brplynx.com then on the 3900 boon docker and buildmysled options..
 
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