wes8398

iTrader: (2)

I've been doing a lot of LED conversions on my car and thanks to Fuzzy and a bunch of others around here, am very happy with my current lighting situation. One of the bulbs I converted were the fogs. For these, I got the "latest and greatest" (for this minute, anyway) in a CREE xb-d 16 chip 80w bulb. I really like 'em...which brings me to my qestion.

My wife's headlight just burnt out in her Mazda3 and I'm tempted to replace with the H7 version of the fog I have in my car. I wonder, though, if even though I'm happy with the bulb as a fog, it might not be bright enough or disperse light properly for use as a headlight. To add to my concerns, it would also be placed behind a "projector" lens that her car is factory equipped with, and would also have to operate at a lower voltage daytime running light too (the DRL runs off the low-beam headlight).

Any thoughts or experiences?

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

The projector lens would be ideal for a wide dispersion of light like that of an LED, however, I can't speak for its brightness or compatibility with varying voltages. Sounds like you may have to test this one out.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

From what I can tell with my fog bulbs, these things are BRIGHT. But that's a completely different housing/lens that they're behind, and the light doesn't really compete with my headlight (fog is aimed much lower, obviously), so I can't tell if one is brighter than the other.
One thing I wonder about is a projector lens (on the bulb itself) being behind another projector lens (in the headlight of the car). I'm not sure what effect this would have, if any...
I've built a bit of a rapport with this vendor over the last few months, so I'm fairly confident that if the bulbs didn't work out, they'd take 'em back. So I might go ahead and give 'em a shot. I'll post up if I do. Just wondered if anyone else had given this a try before I did.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

Well let us know if it works out. Is it a cost effective replacement option? I've never looked into them.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

The vendor I've gotten familliar with is a little more expensive than the ones that ship from overseas; but still not bad. I like that it ships within a week (usually less), and it comes from the States. I think the bulbs referenced above were about $50 a set. More than most halogens, but *should* last significantly longer. My wife's car has never gotten more than a year out of any "quality" halogen bulb. She drives it a LOT.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

Ha, my passenger bulb has been flickering for 3 years. I don't do a ton of driving at night and always had bigger fish to fry with this car, so I haven't touched it. When it goes I'd definitely consider that route.

FuzzyLog1c

iTrader: (4)

Short answer: no, you shouldn't try to use those 80W LEDs as headlights.

They're advertised as putting out 1380 lumens. Philips 4300K 35W Xenon HIDs put out 3100-3400 lumens, and 55W versions easily exceed 5000 lumens.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

Ah, Fuzzy...I knew you'd chime in. Thanks. I hadn't investigated enough to even compare the luminous output between the halogens and these. I swear my fogs seem far brighter than the Silverstar Ultras I had in there previously though...wish I had taken a pic of one bulb in each side for comparison's sake.

I'm also thinking that the body of the LED bulb might be too large to fit into the Mazda's housing too. It's a bit of a moot point with the brightness/lumen issue anyway though. Thanks for the tip Fuzzy.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

Here are a few quick snaps of the 80w Cree xb-d fog bulbs I'm running. I'm new to linking with dropbox, so sorry if they don't work...

FuzzyLog1c

iTrader: (4)

SilverStar Ultras are rated for 1000/1350 lumens (the latter number is at 55 watts). So, depending on the output voltage of the high beam circuit, you're either correct or you're seeing things.

There are two ways to post images:

1. Click the little photo button (yellow/mountain button) above the white text box when you're writing your post. When the dialog box pops up, paste the URL for your image into it and hit okay.
   
2. All that Method #1 does is add (img) and (/img) (but with square brackets, not parenthesis) before and after the URL. If you're a control freak, you can just type those in and it'll work fine.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

I'm having a hard time getting luminous (?) output ratings for the bulbs I usually put in her car, but I'm not looking to put an HID kit in there. If these 80w LED's are as good or better than the "Eurolite" H7's that I've put in there for the last few years, then i'd like to give 'em a shot. Gotta see how much room there is behind the projector lens though...the LED's might be too big.