HL5 bulb upgrade

[prondzy 3,881]

So i have been working on my top secret custom the last couple weeks and i have been throwing around my lighting issues of modern vs traditional headlights, i have chosen HL5 's. I couldnt find a good comparison of filament vs led bulbs in the HL5 setup so i thought i would try some myself and share them with you. My main goals were brightness and low amp draw because there will be used on a pullstart motor and a small battery. I found these bulbs on fleabay i thought the led panel might be nicer than a bulb because of surface area they come with the interchangeable bases too.

They fit inside nicely I will have to wait on the longevity test till it gets nicer out

 

So here is the biggest perk, look at how small that amp draw is!

 

 Here are the light output comparisons the box is about 2 ft away across the bench

 

Standard Filament bulb 

 

LED panel bulbs

 

I hope this helps someone out if they are trying to decide to go to leds

[953 nut 55,089]

Those LEDs are great!

[dclarke 4,032]

They sure fit nice inside the housing, Mike. Can't beat LED's. 

[peter lena 8,583]

I agree with your how can I make this better ? thought.  thanks for the idea, pete

[Sarge 3,463]

There are also some short (H10/11?) fog light LED bulbs available that may actually fit into the original socket - I'd have to dig again to find them. One drawback with most LED's that are available is the color temperature - most are 6000k or higher. If you work in the dark around snow or fog - that color has far too much blue in it for most people and makes a harsh reflection. Lower color temps below 5000k are optimal, but not as easy to find. Some that are listed as "soft white", "natural white" and such are still around 5500k or higher - you have to look at the Kelvin color temperature rating on the lamp. Also, be aware that the spread of that panel will be huge since it is not using the reflector, but just shining outward at the limit of the led chips, which is usually around 170 degrees. Sort of like the standard sealed beam PAR 36 lamps that light up EVERYTHING, including the trees, lol. 

 

One major leap in technology on fog lamps lately has been the introduction of rear-firing LED chips. By using a higher wattage driven LED (5-10 watts) and aiming the chip to the rear to utilize the reflector to control the beam direction has made a huge difference. Now, they have a usable cutoff line and can be better focused to better utilize the light output. You may want to try doing this with your lamp upgrade - try firing an led towards the rear to the reflector - not straight out through the lens. There are also some really high output side-firing LED's designed for 1156 sockets - so keep those in mind as well. 

 

So far, looks interesting - like to see a night shot with it on the tractor to see what the light pattern looks like.

Sarge

[BOB ELLISON 2,980]

I bought the same lights for my camper three years ago.  I changed the overhead lights to those but I had to remove all 8 because they got to hot and melted the plastic around the socket. I think I have 15 of those that I haven't found a place to use them yet. They do get hot so watch the heat. I can say don't use them in a overhead light that doesn't have good ventilation. Might be great for headlights.