12 Volt LED Headlights
 

Found these today:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...A|GRP2044_____

And then I looked at these:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web..._6250370-P_x_x

EDIT:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5563/...84e5f0db_o.jpgPackaged LED Headlights by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
LED Lights are slowly becoming more widely available. Last year, I started a similar thread, but the product was only available via ali-baba , from an Asian company. Now we have Advance Auto Parts to choose from.

How many riders do you know that have a 12V lights?

None, but you could throw a car battery on the rear rack. :D

I have 12V lighting, and I'm not alone. It's great for me as it makes the lights themselves cheaper, and it's only one battery (a big one for me, as a commuter, 10 amp-hours) and all I do is plug in when I get home at night and unplug in the morning. Most 12V bike lights are DIY I think, so you find the descriptions in the total geekiness thread instead of here.

For headlights, I prefer MR-16 bulbs over direct automotive use as shown in the links as the current draw on the automotive ones is usually too much for me, even in LED headlights.

Well, what I've got is a Human Powered Vehicle. It's got a Fairing, and there was unused space under the Fairing, so I stuck a pair of 12 volt batteries in there.

It is getting dark earlier each day, at this date, here in the Northern Hemisphere, so I will be using this Vehicle more. Also, the center of gravity is low, which is good, since the roads can get slippery. And the Fairing helps beat the wind chill factor.

Thanks for contributing to this thread, Wilbur,

I am using two 12 volt batteries, but one is 7 amp-hours, and the other is twelve amp-hours. The front rack is "welded" to the head tube, so the fairing does not turn with the handlebars. In fact, I can remove the Fairing and carry a passenger on the rack. Extra weight actually improves the handling, but the average cyclist has never tried riding a "Low Gravity Bike" . It is totally different than carrying weight in a handlebar mounted basket (which would swing with each turn of the bars).

I too am using an Halogen MR-16 bulb for the headlight.

I also have LED tail lights and amber marker lights, on account they are now available in the local auto parts store. I also use an inverter to power a radio, a big, kitchen table, 5 band radio.

You might want to keep in mind that bike lights are usually optimized for efficiency to get the most light and life from a limited size battery. Motor vehicles don't have that limitation so lights designed for them may not necessarily be as efficient.

Well, I've converted to LED 12V headlights after finally finding a warm color temperature narrow bulb I liked in the 5W-6W range, although it took me a few tries. So, I run a 24 degree bulb almost straight ahead and down as a "see me" light, and then a 15 degree bulb almost horizontal but slightly to the right so that I can see several seconds ahead on a dark and rainy morning. Unlike most higher power LED MR16 bulbs, these fit in the Optronix metal housings without modification to the housing.

I also run an automotive taillight plus a 12V xenon strobe for my "blinky"

Working on a 12V electroluminescent flashing panel (bumper sticker size) that I'll mount on a 7 foot mast as an additional see me, but haven't found a way I like yet to protect it from the elements.

I don't know about the efficiency, but its been my experience that most automotive headlights like the ones linked tend to start at about 50 watts, and it creates too much drain for the battery I'm willing to carry. Lots of light, but probably more than I need. As a cyclist, I don't have the need to see as far ahead at 15-20mph as a motorist might at 60-70mph.

You should read the reviewers (presumably owners) comments before you get excited about these lights. It sounds like most regret buying them.

That would be true for real automotive headlights. But the lights linked in the OP don't qualify. According to the answers provided in the links, the lights shown have a current draw of 0.1 and 0.15 A respectively, or wattages of 1.2W and 1.8W. So not much of a battery drain at all, but also not likely to be putting out a whole lot of light. At under 2W, I'd rather be looking at something like the Planet Bike Blaze which runs on a couple NiMH AA cells.

LOL, but you're not doing the arithmetic. 0.15 amp per "diode" x 21 diodes per light x 2 lights x 12 volts = 75 watts

Overall, the efficiency of LED's is like 98%, no matter what they are used for.

On a pickup truck or a car, they got negative reviews, but also one guy installed them on the highway bars of his motorcycle and liked them. Another review said they worked fine on his Daughter's Power Wheels machine.

No, they are only 1.2 and 1.8 watts, respectfully. The arithmetic is Divide 0.15 by 21, which gives 0.07 amps per diode. Otherwise, you'd be looking at a very expensive product, with enough lumens to light up a football field.

And I am sticking with the Halogen MR-16. I want all the parts I use to be available at local stores. The LED MR-16 sounds nice, but it looks like I'd have to order it online.

The other day, I removed the 50 watt sealed beam (incandescent , but DOT Approved), and replaced it with the20 watt Halogen MR-16 (Just as bright, if not brighter, but lacking DOT approval).

The local auto parts store is NAPA , with the nearest Advance store being ten miles from here, but they don't have it in stock (I made a phone call) , meantime, I printed out the Product description and photo and took it to the NAPA store and showed it to the men at the counter, and they let me look at their catalog, which has some nice stuff, but they'd have to order it, "not in stock".

But the NAPA store has made an advance (no pun intended) in that they now have LED Marker Lights and Tail Lights. Which they did NOT have at this time last year. So the incandescent marker lights came off, and the LED marker lights went on. They are high quality, SignalStat brand, waterproof, made for the trucking industry.


This embedded video shows the Red LED Tail Lights at 0:40 seconds. I pan the camera around in tight quarters; the Tail Lights look yellow, because they are so bright (that is one drawback of digital cameras) but you can see the red glow cast on the wall behind the bike. It's a virtual tour of the Type Ten "Fiberglass Shark Bicycle". At 0:51 seconds , you can see the Chain Guard! Not too many bikes have Chain Guards anymore.
The Radio is playing the VHF Hi-Band , NOAA Weather Station.

Having seen those multi LED auto lights in operation, they're pretty weak. Actually, they're very weak...even for a bike.

But, there's some good news in automotive LED lighting. The new Prius uses LED bulbs in it's projectors, I'm sure other cars will follow eventually. It may eventually replace HID projectors.

http://www.goldenrider.com/wp-conten...-headlamps.jpg

Dedicated hybrid or electric cars like the Prius or the Volt often utilize the most energy efficient headlights available. The Volt uses HIDs, for example, which are much more efficient than halogens as did the Prius up until it's latest inception.

Unfortunately I don't know the Prius bulb's current draw. But if you want a 12V LED automotive lighting system, this would be it. I've custom built HID projector headlamps for several of my cars and others before, harvesting the projector from a Prius headlamp and mounting it to a bike probably wouldn't be any huge deal. Expensive though, likely.

But again though, being somewhat of an automotive lighting aficionado...stay far away from the cheap aftermarket lights. Especially the ones with 50 billion LED's plastered all over them. You could get the same amount of light from a $10 flashlight for a whole lot less money and weight.

BTW: LED driving lights aren't that new. I bought a set to try out from Advance Auto Parts four years ago I think. They were awful.
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But the answers given don't say .15A per diode; they say .15A per light (.1A/light for the smaller version). And several of the reviewers also state that these are fine for show but totally inadequate as far as lighting the road. One said he was going to turn them around so they'd light his pickup truck bed since they might be ok for that. Another talked about using them on his daughter's toy 'Power Wheels' car. These lights aren't anything like a real car headlight.

The efficiency of LEDs varies considerably and doesn't get anywhere near 98%. Otherwise the high-power bike lights wouldn't need all those heat-shedding fins and other design features to keep them cool. There's still lots of energy being wasted as heat, although not nearly as much as from equivalently bright incandescent lights.

Okay, maybe I didn't state my intended goal(s).

I want low power draw, so the Bike stays lit all night. The LED Red and Amber lights are doing fine, and I am happy with them. But they did not appear in the local NAPA auto parts store until 6 or 7 months ago. I want to use stuff that's off-the-shelf, and available at brick-and-mortar retail stores.

I don't know about high power LEDS, with heat-sinks. They can't be 98% efficient if they need heat-sinks.

I want to use the 20 watt halogen MR-16 as the High-Beam , and these other new lights are a possibility for a Low-Beam, but I haven't decided yet.

And I haven't decided one, two, or both, maybe I will use ONE of these cheap , $24.99 lights, instead of both of them, 1.2 watts times two is 2.4 watts, and 1.8 watts times two is 3.6 watts. ?
That's $24.99 a pair.

But I think after watching the market, that LED Lights are just now reaching store shelves, where you can look, and touch the product before buying, rather than having to buy online. And if someone asks me where I bought it, I can tell them "go to such and such store"...

Yes , I want something like this as a Low-Beam.

But I will also look at the local Electrical Supply House for the LED version of the MR-16 , per Wilbur Bud's suggestion.

The LED Lighting Field is growing exponentially at this point in time, and a new product could appear at any time!!!

Wilbur,

I took your suggestion and retrofitted an LED version of the MR-16 into my headlight.

I bought it over-the-counter at Greenvale Electrical Supply House, on Glen Cove Road, in Greenvale, Long Island.

The make is Toshiba, and the price was $11.10 + $0.96 state sales tax = $12.06

It has three diodes , it is warm white, and is rated at 6.7 watts. It looks as bright as the 20 watt halogen, but I can't wait for it to get dark. OK , it's dusk right now, I'm getting ready for a test ride.

Only one guy other than myself, I saw his bike chained to a post last night, and made a video:


I see this guy around town quite a bit. But this time I had my camera, but he wasn't there (to turn the lights on).

I am trying to convince the man that he should convert to LED, but his native language is Spanish, and I'm not sure he understands much English.

He has a battery rack welded to the seat tube, or the seat post.

So I started a complete thread here pretty much outlining my adventure into automotive 12V LED driving lights and got over 500 views but very little real interest. I personally doubt its because of the voltage. Realistically, very few people pick a voltage - they just buy a light and get stuck with whatever voltage battery the manufacturer decided to use.

And I doubt it was because of lack of results or limited runtimes or too large a size because the output quality, quantity and runtimes I got pretty much embarrased any other system I've tried - and I work in the bicycle industry.

Nope! I personally think that people are just too interested in buying 1,300 lumen flShlights from China for $20 to be anywhere near interested in anything that costs over $100, regardless of how well it works or how long it lasts.

You must mean this thread:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...r-s-experiment

Yeah, I have to check out other beam patterns. The idea of using lenses sounds novel. I thought usually, you'd just have to shop around for bulbs with different pattern, and that is indeed a PITA.

I'm thinking of simply adding a second MR-16 bulb, but I need a fixture to mount it in. The one I'm using was purchased at an IKEA store, and I thought I had more of them, but I don't see any lying around (I think my Mom cleaned out the garage).

Can you tell me more about those "2 by 2" bulbs you are using? They looked good in the photos. How many watts are they? Did you buy them online?

These have actually been out for a while now. You can find details here: http://m.alibaba.com/product-free/10...uctdetail.html

or on the Vision X website. They're retailed by a number of Vision X off-road dealers and have been re-branded for sale by Twisted Throttle as Denali lighting kits. As per the Vision X site the Denalis are all first generation of what Vision X is currently offerring. In any case I had immediate warranty issues with two of the Denali pods and would only deal directly with Vision X in the future.

There is also a seller operating out of Hong Kong offering spmething dimilar but perspnally only interested in an eliptical lens configuration.

The beamshot I posted might be a little deceptive because I used only a one second exposure wheras the MTBR normally posts beam shots of most lights with a 4 second exposure. Regardless of lightput, most LED lights and flashlights have such a narrow beam that you couldn't safely drive a car with them. The output from the 15/45 is different and if you stuck 4 of these on the front of any car - you could turn off the headlights.

Could just do it properly..
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/dymotec.asp

B&M Dymotec S12: Price: $ 315.00, Bottle dynamo ..
Lumotec Oval Plus 12 (12 volt) headlight and bracket Price: $ 82.00,
$ 17.00 spare bulb, is 5 watt (12 volt)
[ its halogen , so an LED substitute is also needing to be a 5W load.]

taillights: $ 68.00, a rack mount, or $ 52.00, rear of mudguard mount..