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Has anyone replaced their car headlight bulbs with LEDs?
#1
On the beater Prius I had recently, the previous owner had replaced the halogens with LEDs. They appeared to be kind of low-end Fahren units, not the $200+ high-end LEDs, but they were still the best headlights I ever had in a car. (Obviously, I don't drive an expensive car with factory LEDs.) They had a good "hot spot" so they could be aimed without blinding other drivers.

I'm not in a hurry because the halogens on the C-Max I have now are pretty good, but certainly not as good as the LEDs I had on the Prius.
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#2
From what I've heard it can be hit or miss. Its also possible you'll be very happy and oncoming drivers will be miserable.

IMO this is the sort of thing that car model specific forums are awesome at. You want to find knowledgeable no-bs people talking about these things and follow their lead.
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#3
mattkime wrote:
IMO this is the sort of thing that car model specific forums are awesome at. You want to find knowledgeable no-bs people talking about these things and follow their lead.

I'm finding that there is little to no collective wisdom on esoteric topics out there for the C-Max. I guess there were relatively few of that model produced.
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#4
AllGold wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
IMO this is the sort of thing that car model specific forums are awesome at. You want to find knowledgeable no-bs people talking about these things and follow their lead.

I'm finding that there is little to no collective wisdom on esoteric topics out there for the C-Max. I guess there were relatively few of that model produced.
Are the headlights similar to other cars? Maybe there's a wider car 'platform' that would fit.

I guess it doesn't surprise me that some cars inspire these groups more than others.
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#5
Still stuck on HID's here, will graduate to LED's on the next car..... if there is one.... Cool

==
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#6
If my reverse bulbs ever go out, I'm getting these:

LED Bulbs for Back up Light [Super Bright] 6000K White
https://www.amazon.com/GloDrv-Reverse-Br...Q3ODctLSJ9&content-id=amzn1.sym.d739fed2-2619-4c04-871d-d96eff3ee80f%3Aamzn1.sym.d739fed2-2619-4c04-871d-d96eff3ee80f&crid=2ZNXTG9A5S73G&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Z5_EUaPaLYScGlfY5ClvG63mtWhKA585saJL33PD-eNmsSwyuutE5jbbRoBhBFGUs1-g5ablwd9U5JlqYG4d6Xgt8U9lQ7svCI3xhwuUdqrmp26T8TOhnlGa26VE4X5feEmOmrci6rN5TxtM_zkCPFn-vpqzB5oaTTgRmzHL2l40oBFBjGNGurUvGZVUX6BQpLO8oZPPggwCYxl6xQbV6stueVLOkqqvJI9cLjOYOgSCwVWI_VYuafYtbXsDs2jl0Bw73KIg4tjP523cinmbtCnLzU27z5OHcRRKGcK3rAI.sLoD3KcUMEoUbUEJVE8NCzoVe-UiE-GmRazQpAuCAxk&dib_tag=se&keywords=reverse%2Blight%2Bbulb%2Bled&pd_rd_r=d80f52b8-a13c-45c7-9107-8ef3af84fffc&pd_rd_w=OXPlw&pd_rd_wg=7Oz5e&pf_rd_p=d739fed2-2619-4c04-871d-d96eff3ee80f&pf_rd_r=HMH3QZZ645MKHFWESDHR&pid=f5dBo5T&qid=1719291323&sprefix=reverse%2Bligh%2Caps%2C115&sr=1-3-spons&vehicle=2015-80-2435-4329--18-6-5-18979-2017-1-1-4787--&vehicleName=2015%2BMazda%2B3&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
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#7
I just put LED headlights in my 1965 Austin Healey Sprite. The original lights were so dim that it was pretty hazardous driving at night. The difference is literally night and day. The ones I bought have the light distribution well matched to the reflectors so they have a sharp cutoff to avoid blinding oncoming cars. The complaints that you hear about are typically guys who just buy el cheap bulbs and then put them into casings with poorly matched reflectors.

I also changed out the tail, stop and turn signals for LEDs. It was expensive but both increases the brightness considerably and reduces the number of amps running through my ancient wiring harness and switches, thereby increasing safety and making the switches last longer.
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#8
davester wrote:
I also changed out the tail, stop and turn signals for LEDs.

If you're replacing dual-filament tail/stop lights, be sure to check how the LEDs look. I must have sent back a half dozen options from Amazon, because the LEDs were so bright that there wasn't enough contrast between the running light and the brake light (and I don't have the 3rd/center brake light). For that purpose, I went with something from https://www.vleds.com/ which cost 10x+ but was well worth it. But for everything else, I've managed to find something on Amazon, but I haven't tackled headlights yet.
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#9
I've replaced the incandescent headlight bulbs in both my bike and car with LEDs.

Key is having the emitters the same distance from the reflector as the factory bulb filament.

The high and low beam emitters should be staggered to provide good low and high beam performance.

Also key is having a flat top on the beam so as not to blind other drivers, yet have a long illuminated distance, or 'throw' in flashlight parlance.

This has been done by having a small shield on the low beam emitter.

Other designs may have made this unnecessary.



The bulbs I have give me that.

They required no adjusting on my part, which is pretty amazing.

Installation is pretty straight forward.

The bulb is a direct fit for the intended vehicle, but there is a small black box for each headlight bulb that needs to be secured.

The bulb plugs into the black box and the black box plugs into the factory headlight harness.

My only complaint is they're 6500K which is slightly bluish, but very close to cars I've seen with factory LEDs, and they not be available domestically.

Vehicles with four-headlight arrays will need separate LEDs (bulbs) for high and low beams, of course.


I've also replaced car's my front turn signal bulbs with LEDs and all those of my bike's.

My car is older so there's no CANBUS worry.

But in many vehicles, this means the near no-load of LEDs compared to incans results in rapid or 'hyper-flashing.

Old school is to add a resistor to each LED bulb, a waste of time and energy.

I replaced my flasher relay with a solid stated version designed for LEDs.

The down side is when an LED bulb fails, I won't get the rapid flashing that warns me of a failure.

I routinely check that all lights work so that's not a big deal for me.


The US is way behind in vehicle headlight tech, and without LEDs (or the brush with HID) we're overdriving headlight at 35-40MPH — driving faster than is safer for the distance we can see.

Good street lighting helps to some degree, but vehicles need better lighting.

NOTE: Most of these bulbs, regardless of name or brand, are manufactured in China.

They tend to be sold in runs of thousands, then are OOS, sometimes never to appear again.

Or there are newer versions from more reputable manufacturers.

Also, LEDs aren't as simple to engineer and executed has various incans are, so there are premature failures from time to time.

That's a risk I assume but have yet to experience.

Regarding backup bulbs, another word of caution.

Everybody knows that LEDs are not nearly as hot as incan bulbs.

But the LEDs' built-in drivers can get very hot, so 'super bright' bulbs for tail lights and backup lights pose a possible heat problem, depending on the bulb.

Some users have suffered damage to the sockets because of poorly designed bulbs that are overdriven so as to be 'super bright'.

Discreet backup, turn signal, and brake light bulbs should be at little risk, considering their duty cycle and short use, but I've read complaints.

YLMV.
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#10
Everything davester said.


because the LEDs were so bright that there wasn't enough contrast between the running light and the brake light (and I don't have the 3rd/center brake light)

This is definitely a concern when getting combination tail (running) and brake light bulbs.

I made sure this didn't happen with my bike's LED tail brake lights, but it's time to upgrade them to better illuminate the lens.

As bikes don't have a CHMSL/brake light, I've added a couple, because LED or incan, they're effective, though not a deflector shield.
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