LED Headlights

Is this your company? That is a pretty convincing video but I would love to see a picture of the beam pattern against a wall at the distance specified in the service bulletins for focusing headlights. I saw the one picture against the garage door but it's hard to tell that close.

I really don't want to blind oncoming drivers as I hate when it's done to me.

Correctly focusable LED headlights are very exciting. Looking forward to hearing more about this.
 
Despite the video and their declarations they do not focus the correct beam pattern.

The off-axis output is extremely evident if a luminary device, in this case the headlamp assembly looks extremely bright from above and to the side, just as shown in their video.

If you don't mind blinding oncoming traffic with a D.O.T. illegal beam pattern then buy!
 
ryanheacox said:
Is this your company? That is a pretty convincing video but I would love to see a picture of the beam pattern against a wall at the distance specified in the service bulletins for focusing headlights. I saw the one picture against the garage door but it's hard to tell that close.

I really don't want to blind oncoming drivers as I hate when it's done to me.

Correctly focusable LED headlights are very exciting. Looking forward to hearing more about this.
Click to expand...
Not my company, but I do work for Logo Lites.


The LED emitters were painstakingly designed to be in the exact same location as the two incandescent filament in the original bulb. Moving the LED bulb in and out has the exact same effect as they do on an incandescent since they emit from the same location.


I don't have the exact proper setup to do the Ford prescribed focusing, but will see what I can do to show the focused output this weekend.


Keep in mind, with a correctly focused factory reflector and an original 21/21 CP bulb, if you could take those bulbs up to a few thousand CP without changing anything else, your eye would see a slightly different pattern.


Also, the Logo Lites LED Headlight bulb puts out the same lumens as other DOT approved modern halogens.



-Kyle
 
Lumens comparisons mean nothing if the output goes in the wrong direction.

The holy grail for any aftermarket headlamp is D.O.T. approval of the beam pattern. So far there are many claims but no actual approvals for any aftermarket emitter in a Ford spec parabolic reflector behind a McKee patent spec "Twolite" lens.

When that occurs as well as product that has both a realistic color temperature in the 3400-4300K range that matches well with human spectral response at night, combined with a true calculated color rendering index not less than 85 we will have a winner.
 
We first built these with 4300K and, although brighter, they looked just as bad as the original bulbs. Regarding D.O.T. approval, I like what Snyder's says on their website:
When your Model T or Model A was delivered the headlight bulbs were 21-21 cp. If you wanted a brighter light you used the 21-32 but kept a lookout for the cops because those bright bulbs were illegal. Now we want as bright a light as we can get and use the 32-32 or 32-50.
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Nobody seems to sell the D.O.T. approved, factory specified 21-21 bulbs anymore, and I for one, would not want them.
 
How is "high beam" and "low beam" handled with these lights?

The photos online seem to show 8 LED elements on one side, perhaps both sides (hard to tell from the photos). Are they wired such that all 16 LEDs come on for High and only the upper 8 come on for Low? Something needs to dip the beam down when on Low.

.
 
The bottom line for me; I am lot more comfortable driving at night with my LED head lights.
The original bulbs with Brattons new reflectors were still scary out there with all of the bright DOT approved headlights.
 
406CID said:
Not my company, but I do work for Logo Lites.


The LED emitters were painstakingly designed to be in the exact same location as the two incandescent filament in the original bulb. Moving the LED bulb in and out has the exact same effect as they do on an incandescent since they emit from the same location.


I don't have the exact proper setup to do the Ford prescribed focusing, but will see what I can do to show the focused output this weekend.


Keep in mind, with a correctly focused factory reflector and an original 21/21 CP bulb, if you could take those bulbs up to a few thousand CP without changing anything else, your eye would see a slightly different pattern.


Also, the Logo Lites LED Headlight bulb puts out the same lumens as other DOT approved modern halogens.



-Kyle
Click to expand...

While I’m sure it won’t be perfectly the same the photo attached shows what the beam pattern should look like at 25 feet. For the price I think it’s probably worth it for me to buy a pair and do some testing of my own.
 

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Just a point of clarity- "D.O.T." approval refers to specific combinations of reflectors/lenses and bulbs, NOT exactly bulbs or LED's themselves. That's why there are so many modern bases that are not interchangeable. As soon as you take ANY bulb/LED that has a specific base and D.O.T. 'approval' then retro-fit it to a reflector/ lens combo that was not originally evaluated by D.O.T. you no longer have an assembly that produces an approved beam pattern, period. Good or bad then becomes an ugly mess of testimonials and pictures that show what someone wants you to see, not what actual D.O.T. specs would report.

On a historical note, D.O.T. did not exist in the Model A era, only a competing and conflicting hundred plus state and local motor vehicle lighting regulations. No 21/21cp, 21/32cp, or 32/50cp BA10 bulb was ever D.O.T. evaluated for performance in an A reflector behind a Twolite lens.

I'm all for as much driving beam as I can get but if the off-axis and out of pattern spill blinds other traffic to the point where they can no longer accurately discern my turn signals or (gasp) the edge or center of the road that puts me in extreme danger.
 
Here are pictures of original bulbs, at 6 volts, the beam has good cutoff, quite defined edges of the beam, without the lens the round "spotlight " beam, sharp defined edge , not much light outside (scatter) of the beam

When I put in halogen bulbs with curved filament (originally V shape) the edges get a little less defined, still with good cutoff, much brighter, and very little scatter

One of my tests for scatter is to stand in line with the edge of the fenders about 4 feet in front, looking at the headlights they look "on", but all you see is a glow of light, not bright to look at, but if you move into the beam you are blinded

So that the pictures of led focus are comparable these are at 1 car length--- time to show off your lights
 

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So what is the expected life span of these? At $30 each I would hope I need not buy them every other year.
--------------------------------------------
Handle by base or aluminum
housing only. Touching the LEDs
drastically shortens their life span.
Normally, the mark on the LED bulb should
be up. If high and low beams are backwards,
reverse the bulb so the mark is down.
 
$7.45 for shipping two small bulbs is a little rich.
Hint: You want to sell more...offer free shipping
 
All modern cars lights blind me if i look straight at them, its because they are brighter. You really dont need to be a mechanical engineer to own a model a. Try them out, if you see better they are good. I will try them and I dont drive at night in my car hardly any.
 
Jim/TX/GA said:
How is "high beam" and "low beam" handled with these lights?

The photos online seem to show 8 LED elements on one side, perhaps both sides (hard to tell from the photos). Are they wired such that all 16 LEDs come on for High and only the upper 8 come on for Low? Something needs to dip the beam down when on Low.
Click to expand...
I was concerned about this early in the design too. It was pointed out to me that the 21/21 - 32/50 bulbs emit like an isotropic emitter (light in all directions). It is brighter up and down than side to side, but light is emitted in all directions from the original bulbs. This means on your incandescents and original reflectors, light goes down to the bottom of the parabolic reflector and reflects up somewhat. When you add the high beam, you simply add more light as the two filaments emit from the same location (not two very different locations like a modern day halogen). Most of the bulbs investigated even had a common point on one side, so the filaments were colocated.

The LED headlight was painstakingly designed to emulate what is available for us to use as a bulb now (except brighter and whiter). So, like the bulb, all 16 emitters are active at the same time, in the same place as the filaments. When you switch from low to high, it goes from reduced output to maximum output to emulate the incandescent bulb.
 
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