# LED Headlamps



## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

I had seen LED headlamps on a couple of cars at EVCCon and they looked pretty cool. They also are supposed to use less energy so I did a lot of research and came to the conclusion the the Phase 7 Trucklites were the best deal overall. The ones I got are a 7" round sealed beam arrangement that is DOT approved and fits the different standards. For me it was a drop in replacement that took less than half an hour to install and that was including time to take photos. The specs say they draw 1.8A on low beams and 3.6A on high beams. This sounds pretty good as it means you should only be drawing about 44 watts most of the time the lights are on.

I put a hobby watt meter in the line between the 12v accessory battery and the car to take my measurement.

5.86A for just the running lights.
10.91A for halogen low beams.
14.78A for halogen high beams.
8.77A for LED low beams.
12.35A for LED high beams.

Savings at high beams is 2.43A.
Savings at low beams is 2.14A.

This is not as much savings as I expected but then I never measured the original halogen bulbs.

The running lights are still mostly incandescent with the exception being the side markers which I have changed to LED's already. I do expect the running lights to eventually be down to a little less than 2 amps once I have replaced all the lamps with LED bulbs.

You can see the other pictures at the end of my picassa conversion album linked here. RX-7 EV converson Just scroll down to the bottom.


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## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

I have changed out all of the other lights in my S10 to LED already, but I haven't done the headlights.

I don't plan on doing a whole lot of night-time driving, although if the current lights go out, I will switch.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

How do you like the LED headlights? Light output / beam patern?
I'm not very impressed with the 7" round halogens in my 944.

The best price I've found is:
http://www.discountfleetsupply.com/tlc27270c-p.html

I'm in the process of changing all of my other lights to LED, but headlights will be done later on.


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## njloof (Nov 21, 2011)

Sounds like the original halogens were 30W/55W, which is common for factory lamps...


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## grip911 (Dec 14, 2011)

dougingraham said:


> I had seen LED headlamps on a couple of cars at EVCCon and they looked pretty cool. They also are supposed to use less energy so I did a lot of research and came to the conclusion the the Phase 7 Trucklites were the best deal overall. The ones I got are a 7" round sealed beam arrangement that is DOT approved and fits the different standards. For me it was a drop in replacement that took less than half an hour to install and that was including time to take photos. The specs say they draw 1.8A on low beams and 3.6A on high beams.
> 
> 
> I Just love mine.. You seem to have the 2nd generation with the mirrors as opposed to the arrays . I never did measure my power consumption, but it was supposed to be around 15watts a side full blast?


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

Hi
How much did the headlamps cost?
The ones I have seen were $200+ each!

I have just bought some H4 LED bulbs - ($13 each) - I'm not sure if they will give a useful beam pattern but for that price I thought I would give it a go


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

grip911 said:


> I Just love mine.. You seem to have the 2nd generation with the mirrors as opposed to the arrays . I never did measure my power consumption, but it was supposed to be around 15watts a side full blast?


Yes these are the 2nd gen Truck-lites which they call Phase 7 (model number 27270C.) These are 22 watts low beams and 44 watts high beams. It saved a little power but not as much as I was hoping for. I went for a drive tonight when I heard the fireworks going off and went to watch some. These are hands down the best headlights I have ever had. But then again they better be. They were a little over $400 for the pair.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Duncan said:


> Hi
> How much did the headlamps cost?
> The ones I have seen were $200+ each!
> 
> I have just bought some H4 LED bulbs - ($13 each) - I'm not sure if they will give a useful beam pattern but for that price I thought I would give it a go


Yes a little over $200 each. I will be interested to hear how these bulbs work out for you.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

rwaudio said:


> How do you like the LED headlights? Light output / beam patern?
> I'm not very impressed with the 7" round halogens in my 944.
> 
> The best price I've found is:
> ...


The light output is fantastic and the beam pattern is superior. Since most all of my driving is in town the low beams were the most important. And you get this nice even pattern of light. There are a couple of hot spots that form a V that is what I used to aim them but this hot spot is so far out that you don't notice it unless you are looking for it. The high beams are very good!

Once you replace all the other running lights you will have reduced your night time load probably by as much as 8 amps (around 100 watts) and you would get another 2 amps from the headlights for around 120watts total. A significant load for your DC-DC but not much for the traction pack.

A guy at work asked me how long the traction pack would drive those headlights and I did a quick calculation and said about 350 hours. If you think about it from that standpoint you can do something with your EV that you cant do with an ICE car. You would have to idle the ICE car to run the lights for that many hours and I think you would run out of gas before you could idle it for 350 hours (14.6 days).


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## nat_ster (Oct 19, 2012)

dougingraham said:


> A guy at work asked me how long the traction pack would drive those headlights and I did a quick calculation and said about 350 hours. If you think about it from that standpoint you can do something with your EV that you cant do with an ICE car. You would have to idle the ICE car to run the lights for that many hours and I think you would run out of gas before you could idle it for 350 hours (14.6 days).



I like your way of thinking. 

I would also like this thread to live on. Good info.

Nat


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## Williewilliams (Jan 2, 2013)

Caps18 said:


> I have changed out all of the other lights in my S10 to led bulb already, but I haven't done the headlights.
> 
> I don't plan on doing a whole lot of night-time driving, although if the current lights go out, I will switch.


I am thinking of adding led fog lights Can you tell me reliable source to purchase it?


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Williewilliams said:


> I am thinking of adding led fog lights Can you tell me reliable source to purchase it?


I've not specifically looked for fog lights but there is probably going to be a lot of them since they are not required to be DOT approved. I sort of remember seeing something from superbrightleds.com. You could check them out. I've gotten some of my other automotive LED bulbs from them. They seem to be an above board business.

This is one of those things you will probably want to research quite a lot before purchase.


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## Duncan (Dec 8, 2008)

dougingraham said:


> Yes a little over $200 each. I will be interested to hear how these bulbs work out for you.


The H4 bulbs I bought only work as a single filament - two of the terminals are connected together

No use as headlamp bulbs - could be OK as driving lights


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