[Vwdiesel] OFFTOPIC: LED lighting

[Tad]

My only automotive experience with LEDs is in my backup lights, where I
replaced the stock with aftermarket LEDs mounted on a small surface mount
board.  My experience is that the vibration/temp exposure makes them fail
prematurely... but that's cheapo chinese crap.  Your mileage may
(hopefully) vary.


On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 2:39 PM, Val Christian <val at mongo.mongobird.com>wrote:

> This is off topic, but diesel...
>
> I have a compact diesel tractor, which lives outside.  The rain, the snow,
> the bird poop.  Every 6 or 7 years I have to replace my lighting, because
> the rubber fixtures holding sealed beams rot out.  The fender mounted
> lights
> are not quite as helpful as I have a loader on the tractor.  The most the
> lighting is used is in the winter, and while I sometimes use the loader
> for clearing snow, 95% of the time, I am pushing with a blade reversed.
> So the most critical lighting is for backup, and since I am working in
> snow, the illumination level can be rather low.
>
> So looking for more permanent lighting, I have come up with a hodge-podge
> of partial solutions:
>
> -27W LED floods, intended for the front
> -10W LED floods, small size, intended for the rear
> -low wattage strip lights for marking the fenders when on the road (red)
> -low wattage strip lights for the front (low illumination, for snow work)
>
> The 27W LED floods subjectively put out more light than a halogen
> headlight.
> The color temp of all the lights is about 6000K, and does not shift with
> voltage.
> The lighting draw less than half of the previous lighting, and the lumen
> output will be much higher.  (eg the four 27W floods are 2010 lumens each)
> All fixtures are IP67 waterproofing.  All the gaskets are silicone rubber.
> Some of the internal power modulators need retrofit.  They are encased in
> a transparent packing tape, and on a high vibration platform like a
> tractor,
> I think they are likely to wear through, and short/fail.
>
> Has anyone else done this on their equipment/car?  It seems to me that LEDs
> are getting close to the point where they could replace HID lighting, with
> equivalent performance, and no warm-up times.
>
> Has anyone using LED lights encountered systemic problems, like them
> inductive spike failures?  I have heard that a welder had problems with
> them on his welding truck.
>
> Long post, sorry, but I welcome any observation or ideas.
>
>
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