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Thread: Save 25 Watts (or more) LED lights mod (brake, tail, side markers, plate, etc.)

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    Senior Member 3dplane's Avatar
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    Save 25 Watts (or more) LED lights mod (brake, tail, side markers, plate, etc.)

    Hi!

    You would think by now new cars would come equipped with LED lights everywhere. That's not the case and it beats me as to why?

    It can't be cheaper to make incandescent bulbs than LEDs by now.

    Today I tackled the two 5W bulbs per headlight and the two tag light bulbs in the back on the Mirage.

    I had some fleabay LEDs laying around ( I believe 3W max rated )

    With a 200 ohm resistor this LED draws 49mA (0.049A) with the engine off(12.X V), and 51mA or 0.051A with the engine running (14.X Volts).

    That is about 0.72W.

    Each factory bulb draws 380mA (0.38A)engine off and I have not tested engine on but I'm sure it's at least 400mA.

    You can buy this type of bulb's LED replacement (5w5,194 etc.)but I made my own using the LEDs I already had.

    Here is an image of the old bulb,LED,resistor and a piece of flat plastic strip I used for the bulb body.





    I cut the plastic strip to the width of the original bulb,cut two notches for the wire to bend around later,
    hot glue the LED to it , solder the resistor and the other wire,bend it around the bottom of the strip and done.

    (BTW the hot glue is not going to melt at the back of the LED because the current draw is way below the LEDs rating and it is not running warm. If I turn out to be wrong on this,I will come back to report)

    It is ugly but here it is:




    In the headlight: (also behind amber corner marker but that is not visible)




    Turned on in daylight:




    At night:






    Licence plate illumination:


    So as of now six 5 Watt incandescent bulbs or 30 Watts replaced by LEDs for a total draw of less than 5 Watts!

    I will probably do more like interior light,trunk/cargo light which btw comes on with the interior light, possibly tail lghts but that's a different kind of bulb.

    Can I measure the fuel savings? No but it is there. If you don't believe me,you never turned a hand cranked generator to feel the difference between lighting a 27W bulb and just free spinning with no electrical load.

    The engine has to do the same to turn that alternator. All the little things add up!

    Cheers!


    Attached Images Attached Images        
    Last edited by 3dplane; 11-24-2013 at 01:24 AM. Reason: typo

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 66.3 mpg (US) ... 28.2 km/L ... 3.5 L/100 km ... 79.7 mpg (Imp)


  2. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to 3dplane For This Useful Post:

    fifteenwindow (11-25-2013),Flange (12-23-2013),GrnBn (07-10-2014),laceygirl (08-25-2015),MetroMPG (11-24-2013),zefke (12-07-2013)

  3. #2
    Nice writeup - thanks.

    So the headlight replacement -- is that to replace the daytime running lights? Or just a parking light?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member 3dplane's Avatar
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    As far as I know this thing does not have DRLs so it is just parking lights that I use at dusk and of course they are on together with the headlights at night.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 66.3 mpg (US) ... 28.2 km/L ... 3.5 L/100 km ... 79.7 mpg (Imp)


  5. #4
    Aha - my mistake! We have DRL's on the Mirage in Canada.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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    maybe 25 watts is not a lot but during the life time of the car its a lot!
    and there are more!! what about the inside!!

    if y ou drive 2 hours a day that 50 watt per day savings and maybe 13.000 watt for a year

    one car one owner

    in a cuty with 40.000 cars they save 520.000 watts

    do this to every car on this planet!! and you see where the savings are and thats just for a few light bulbs

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    Senior Member 3dplane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    Aha - my mistake! We have DRL's on the Mirage in Canada.
    Ah no mistake man! When you asked I became hesitant to say it has no DRL because most cars do have them.



    Fortunately this one does not
    Attached Images Attached Images  

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 66.3 mpg (US) ... 28.2 km/L ... 3.5 L/100 km ... 79.7 mpg (Imp)


  8. #7
    Senior Member 3dplane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spacester View Post
    maybe 254watt is not a lot but during the life time of the car its a lot!
    and there are more!! what about the inside!!

    if y ou drive 2 hours a day that 50 watt per day savings and maybe 13.000 watt for a year

    one car one owner

    in a cuty with 40.000 cars they save 520.000 watts

    do this to every car on this planet!! and you see where the savings are and thats just for a few light bulbs
    Yes it adds up! Plus due to electrical efficiency/ resistance losses for every watt to be produced by the alternator,the engine has to crank out about two watts! Since nothing is 100% efficient.(belt,pulleys,friction losses,heat created in alternator,battery cables,in the battery itself etc.)

    I did the trunk light too! possibly dome light next.
    Attached Images Attached Images  

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 66.3 mpg (US) ... 28.2 km/L ... 3.5 L/100 km ... 79.7 mpg (Imp)


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    nice what type is that? feston?

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    Senior Member 3dplane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spacester View Post
    nice what type is that? feston?
    No just ebay 3W white led without heatsink. Last time I got 20 of them. I have been using them on my old car for years and had not had a failure! Although I run them at a fraction of their rating. If you push them to 3 Watts,you better have them on a heatsink!!!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 66.3 mpg (US) ... 28.2 km/L ... 3.5 L/100 km ... 79.7 mpg (Imp)


  11. #10
    Carmageddon m4v3r1ck's Avatar
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    use a T10 connector LED, even before delivered to me I already asked the dealer to fit in the LEDs. Check my garage.
    Next step is installing Xenon lamps, 35watts instead of 55 watts with more light. Had Xenon on my Galant, very happy!


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2013 Mirage 1.0 manual: 47.5 mpg (US) ... 20.2 km/L ... 5.0 L/100 km ... 57.0 mpg (Imp)


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