which bulbs are brightest

[nazamin]

as title im looking to change all interior and numberplate bulbs i know what sizes they are but could anyone tell me which ones are brightest and whether to get LED or SMD if SMD how many SMD bulbs will be the brightest as i been told too many smds mean they share the current and end being dimmer. pics would be good but links to bulbs just as good thanks

 

[will130787]

I would personally just go with a decent quality LED. Better the devil you know and all that!

 

[Jfox]

My SMD number plate bulbs were brighter than my LED ones.

 

[nazamin]

My SMD number plate bulbs were brighter than my LED ones.

how many smd bulb were they?

 

[andy.morgan]

Loads of info here http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=149468

i have 3 SMDs which is very bright, buy a couple off fizmo on eBay http://stores.ebay.co.uk/fizzmo-uk the more SMD, or LEDs the brighter

 

[nazamin]

Loads of info here http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=149468

i have 3 SMDs which is very bright, buy a couple off fizmo on eBay http://stores.ebay.co.uk/fizzmo-uk the more SMD, or LEDs the brighter

cheers andy will be ordering asap and i read that thread doesnt mention more smds = brighter just sizes of bulb but cheers pal

 

[nazamin]

SMDs are a lot better then LED IMHO

cheers matt

 

[Jfox]

I have exactly the same ones as andy.morgan from fizzmo

Great tbh, much better than the LED's i had before it :]

 

[Nautilus]

Changed mine like this:

Dome light -> VW Passat W8 dome light with 4 x 4-SMD white bulbs
Dome lights behind sun visors -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Door puddle lights -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Rear dome lights -> 4-SMD white festoon bulbs
Glovebox light -> 3-SMD white festoon bulb
Number plate -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Front sidelights -> 1-SMD high-brightness white bulbs
Side small turn signals -> 4-SMD white bulbs (behind original amber lens)
Boot light -> 4-SMD white festoon bulb
(+ secondary OEM boot light on the other side, another 4-SMD white festoon bulb)

 

[nazamin]

Changed mine like this:

Dome light -> VW Passat W8 dome light with 4 x 4-SMD white bulbs
Dome lights behind sun visors -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Door puddle lights -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Rear dome lights -> 4-SMD white festoon bulbs
Glovebox light -> 3-SMD white festoon bulb
Number plate -> 3-SMD white festoon bulbs
Front sidelights -> 1-SMD high-brightness white bulbs

cheers mate

 

[nathan_20vt]

I've got a 2002 leon cupra. Do the led bulbs have to be canbus ready?

 

[nathan_20vt]

Thanks mate. So these should be ok? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-5-LED...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item43a92a253f

 

[nathan_20vt]

Thanks mate. What other led bulbs can you get and what ones are they? I've got some number plate LEDs coming

 

[nathan_20vt]

What's the difference between SMD and LED. Sorry if its a dopey question lol

 

[nathan_20vt]

Thanks for that, looks helpful. Can you get all them bulbs in led form then? Don't think I've seen anyone with dipped and main beam LEDs

 

[nd-photo.nl]

In order of brightness

LED (the small bulby ones) > SMD > Cree

I currently have LED bulbs for
-All interior bulbs
-Door lights
-Reverse lights (white Cree)
-Fog lights rear (red Cree bulbs)
-Brake lights (Powerflux LED)

Bought them all from eBay

 

[nathan_20vt]

Most people replace high beam and low beam with HIDs

Yea I know but won't go through mot with hids will it? Just wondered if the headlight led bulbs were any good and if anyone has tried them. Just hate the standard halogen bulbs after having xenons on my previous car

 

[Nautilus]

There are some types of LED bulbs which can provide barely-acceptable light for front foglights.

Problem is, filament H3 55W bulbs should give 1200-1500 lumens (1450 average) and yellow light has much better visibility in fog compared to pure white.

While LED bulbs are barely adequate (7.5W -> 300 lm, 10W -> 360 lm, 11W -> 400 lm) and their bright white light reflects back from fog, which means they decrease the alternator load, but they sacrifice most of the light for it.

However, there are the H3 motorcycle bulbs from Drag Specialties (in practice, they are made by Au-Lite) which are rated for 35W / 820 lm.

Tested a pair of H3 35W bulbs together with H3 55W.

Bulb -------------------------------- Amps, engine off, 13,17 volts ----- Amps, engine on, 14,4 volts

Philips Premium +30% 55W -------------------- 4,07 ----------------------------------- 4,26
Drag Specialties 35W---------------------------- 2,80 ----------------------------------- 3,00

The light from the 35W bulb is more yellow, slightly less powerful (the dual lens on the Leon foglight concentrate light well enough to compensate for the lesser brightness) but adequate.

So by replacing the 55W bulbs with 35W bulbs we can get a slight advantage in alternator load.

The advantage was minor for the 120 amps Leon alternator, but I had to test them to fit a second pair on my VW Bug foglights (the 47 years old, 30 amps dynamo is fiercely taxed by headlights + foglights together).