[teaston]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Common misconception.

Watts is Watts is Watts, regardless of Halogen or LED.

A 16W LED is ample for brake lights. Halogen brake lights are 21W. If you go for more than 21W, you will be pulling more current than the loom was designed for. Heat IS an issue with LEDs, they need heatsinking otherwise they die. It's for this reason the bulbs are made of Aluminium.

You don't need to worry about it for brake, reverse or turn signal bulbs as they're on for such a short time. Headlight, tail light & fogs are a different matter of course.

[963mw]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Part #s from Horizon:

Rear brake: BAY9S
Rear turn signal: 1156/BA15S/P21W
Front turn signal: they sent me the wrong one so I am waiting but I may just get the Bimmian one.

I have the bimmian one, trust me go for it! It's amazing! And thank you so much for your help. Emailed Zain but waiting for a reply

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Common misconception.

Watts is Watts is Watts, regardless of Halogen or LED.

A 16W LED is ample for brake lights. Halogen brake lights are 21W. If you go for more than 21W, you will be pulling more current than the loom was designed for. Heat IS an issue with LEDs, they need heatsinking otherwise they die. It's for this reason the bulbs are made of Aluminium.

Ok going back to my engineering classes from long ago...

P (watts) = I x V
V = I x R
so P = I^2 x R

LEDs have high resistance right? Higher than bulbs so to get the same wattage less current is actually used.

Did I do that right?? Amazed if I did. There is a reason why I did mechanical engineering instead of electrical.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by nickhelou

I have the bimmian one, trust me go for it! It's amazing! And thank you so much for your help. Emailed Zain but waiting for a reply

Already ordered it! Arriving Sat. Looking forward to installing.

[963mw]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Ok going back to my engineering classes from long ago...

P (watts) = I x V
V = I x R
so P = I^2 x R

LEDs have high resistance right? Higher than bulbs so to get the same wattage less current is actually used.

Did I do that right?? Amazed if I did. There is a reason why I did mechanical engineering instead of electrical.

Taking electric circuits right now in University, actually just finished studying a chapter of it. If the resistance is higher, then yes your electrical knowledge is right

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by teaston

You don't need to worry about it for brake, reverse or turn signal bulbs as they're on for such a short time. Headlight, tail light & fogs are a different matter of course.

I would worry about it for brake on my auto, I would imagine most people in autos sit on the brakes in traffic and at lights etc.

Originally Posted by tboooe

Ok going back to my engineering classes from long ago...

P (watts) = I x V
V = I x R
so P = I^2 x R

LEDs have high resistance right? Higher than bulbs so to get the same wattage less current is actually used.

Did I do that right?? Amazed if I did. There is a reason why I did mechanical engineering instead of electrical.

Formula is correct, but not really relevant tbh.

LEDs have very little resistance which is why you need a resistor in series with one most of the time to reduce the current which could kill it. The current is then dissipated as heat. The higher the wattage of the LED, the smaller the value of the resistor. I would imagine anything higher than the 21W load the car expects to see would have a tiny resistor whereas the lower wattages would have a higher value

At a given voltage (e.g. 12V) the amount of current is the same for a given wattage of LED or Halogen. I assume the wattage value of LED bulbs we buy is the value of the LEDs only, so the actual value the car sees will be slightly higher, how much so, I'm not sure, but a 21W LED bulb is likely to pull more current than a 21W Halogen bulb. Probably not enough to worry about mind. It's the high wattages like 30, 50 etc that I would be concerned about. A 16W LED is already going to be a lot brighter than a 21W Halogen so I can't see the need to go higher.

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

A 16W LED is already going to be a lot brighter than a 21W Halogen so I can't see the need to go higher.

Its really not. Scott helped my put in my LEDs today. The 25W LED is virtually identical to the 21W Halogen. No extra brightness. Now the 50W turn signals, they're brighter.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Its really not. Scott helped my put in my LEDs today. The 25W LED is virtually identical to the 21W Halogen. No extra brightness. Now the 50W turn signals, they're brighter.

You are referring to the outer brake light?

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Its really not. Scott helped my put in my LEDs today. The 25W LED is virtually identical to the 21W Halogen. No extra brightness. Now the 50W turn signals, they're brighter.

Then something is wrong with your "25W" LEDs

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Then something is wrong with your "25W" LEDs

Could be. They're from Horizon. We've heard others say the same thing about them though, so I doubt it.

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by tboooe

You are referring to the outer brake light?

Yep. The one under the turn signals.

[smithf80]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Its really not. Scott helped my put in my LEDs today. The 25W LED is virtually identical to the 21W Halogen. No extra brightness. Now the 50W turn signals, they're brighter.

Could possibly also be the design of the F34 tails, as the bulb is pretty far back since the tails are sort of "deep" if I am remembering right, does that make sense? The turn signals are awesome tho.

[Mike_L]

Could be. I emailed Horizon about 50W ones.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Could be. I emailed Horizon about 50W ones.

Waiting for Zain on these as well.

Found some on ebay which I may get if Zain cant pull through soon.

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Waiting for Zain on these as well.

Found some on ebay which I may get if Zain cant pull through soon.

If he can't get them I may just do the Weisslicht. After the ridiculous shipping from the UK, they really aren't that much more expensive.

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

If he can't get them I may just do the Weisslicht. After the ridiculous shipping from the UK, they really aren't that much more expensive.

Unfortunately, I do not have this option for the F32/F36 as Weisslicht does not offer a red BAY9s bulb.

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by tboooe

Unfortunately, I do not have this option for the F32/F36 as Weisslicht does not offer a red BAY9s bulb.

BAY9S? Are you sure? RealOEM shows the same bulbs as the F34 uses for the brake lights, which are H21W (which I see they don't have in red either, just white. Doh!).

Whoops, nevermind. Same bulb. H21W is BAY9S.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

Could be. They're from Horizon. We've heard others say the same thing about them though, so I doubt it.

If a 23W residential CCFL is as bright as a 100W incandescent, and a 12W LED is just as bright (if not brighter), then does it not strike you as being a bit odd that a 25W LED is as bright as a 21W incandesent? a 25W LED should be blinding compared to the 21W incandescent. It should be roughly twice as bright as a residential 100W bulb!

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

If a 23W residential CCFL is as bright as a 100W incandescent, and a 12W LED is just as bright (if not brighter), then does it not strike you as being a bit odd that a 25W LED is as bright as a 21W incandesent? a 25W LED should be blinding compared to the 21W incandescent. It should be roughly twice as bright as a residential 100W bulb!

I never took electrical engineering, so I could be totally off base, but I think it probably has something to to with the amperage or the AC/DC difference.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

I never took electrical engineering, so I could be totally off base, but I think it probably has something to to with the amperage or the AC/DC difference.

nope, nothing like that, it's essentially design and quality. At equal quality and design levels, for the same wattage, an LED will output far more light than an incandesent bulb. Having said that, I've seen Horizon LEDs mention in one of their posts that the LEDs they sell are sold with the equivalent wattage of incandescents, but that doesn't make sense when they have previously stated the quantity and wattage of the individual LEDs they use, which then add up to their "equivalent" rating.

For example, they may have a 30W LED and say that it is 30W equivalent to 30W incandescent (which should mean the actual wattage of the "bulb" is around 4W and would then pull 0.33A instead of the 2.5A a real 30W bulb would pull), but then state that it has x number of 1W LEDs and x number of 3W LEDs, which oddly, adds up to the same number as the "equivalent" wattage.

It's all very misleading.

[963mw]

Originally Posted by Mike_L

BAY9S? Are you sure? RealOEM shows the same bulbs as the F34 uses for the brake lights, which are H21W (which I see they don't have in red either, just white. Doh!).

Whoops, nevermind. Same bulb. H21W is BAY9S.

Check HorizonLed's now, I can't seem to find any 50W's anymore, they got replaced with a new one (25W only).

[tboooe]

Originally Posted by nickhelou

Check HorizonLed's now, I can't seem to find any 50W's anymore, they got replaced with a new one (25W only).

They never had the BAY9s in 50w. They had BA9 only before.