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which bulbs are brightest
- Thread starter nazamin
- Start date
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
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
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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
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).
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).
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