Move over JLC! I got my own crees!

theMerchant said:
great work on getting these setup. Any chance on getting some that will fit the reverse lights? 921/906
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I can literally get anything I want from these people. It's unreal. Different sizes, mix/match bases with led layouts, base colors, finishes, lens types.

I almost feel like I engineered the black cree bulb myself - although it was obviously more them than me.
 
I want to use the tower bulbs as DTRL's in the turn signal reflector housing since I did the DTRL/TURN Swap already and want to be sure that we try them in that location as well because if they run too hot I don't want to go through the melting of the reflector housing again like I did when I tried to run with both filaments of the OE DTRL bulbs lit when my CREE's failed.
lights001.jpg
 

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that's exactly what happened to mine too damn but mine's are worst
i now have a hole in em and melted down worst.....TT do you think we can get
em replaced under the warranty that they had for 2003 -07 i think?
or would the dealer say that it can't be covered.....TT
 
ok i do not think mines were ever replaced... how should i go about telling them
as to how it happened....? be truthful that i used dual filament trick? or change
everything back to noraml and just play dumb.... just noticed..... like that?
 
MTN FX said:
I want to use the tower bulbs as DTRL's in the turn signal reflector housing since I did the DTRL/TURN Swap already and want to be sure that we try them in that location as well because if they run too hot I don't want to go through the melting of the reflector housing again like I did when I tried to run with both filaments of the OE DTRL bulbs lit when my CREE's failed.
Click to expand...

So I did some research as I figure I might as well make myself more knowledgeable on the subject if I'm to do these bulbs justice.
As a disclaimer, please take everything I say below with a grain of salt as it's based on about 30 minutes of online research - I may be completely wrong and those knowledgeable in the field, please correct me if that's the case.

So we know that bulb input/output is measured in watts. Now, watts can be pretty easily converted into heat, or rather we can establish roughly how many watts are dissipated are dissipated as heat vs how many are actually light energy (but still dissipated as heat, just a "bright" version of it :) ). Typical DRL bulbs for our cars operate on 25W/5W filaments (some may argue that it's 21W/5W or 25W/6W but it's all the same, just different regulations and testing setups). What you did resulted in somewhere between 25W and 30W in your turn signal housing, which not only is designed for a max 25W bulb, but it's not designed to have that bulb constantly on, thus the heat doesn't build up.

Next, I've learned that incandescent bulbs operate at a 2.1% efficiency. This means you were getting about .5 - .8 watts of light (running both filaments in tandem) with the rest being nothing but heat output. Halogen lights are slightly more efficient at about 3.5%. LEDs on the other hand, are about 80%. These towers have 4 x 1.5W LEDs on a dual circuit - 6W/3W. At 80% efficiency (which is actually a low estimate for superflux leds such as these), you're getting 4.8W/2.4W of actual light energy - with the rest being heat. This equals brighter, but not as hot.

So basically, if I've done my research correctly - there's really no way an LED bulb can melt a housing designed for an incandescent bulb (even a flashing bulb) as it doesn't output anywhere near the amount of heat a filament bulb does. The reason yours melted is because you were running a bulb at ~30W in a housing designed for a single-filament 25W bulb which flashes and is not constantly on. My guess is that you probably would've melted the housing even if you hadn't put the circuits together. Would've just taken a long 5 or 6hr drive to heat the assembly up to the same melting point.

In conclusion, I wouldn't do the dtrl-turn signal swap with anything but an LED, but even with LEDs - would proceed with caution as you're still running a bulb constantly in an area that wasn't engineered for that.

Side-note: we all know the JLC crees had heat issues and they ran hot and basically committed suicide as a result. As hot as they were, they were nowhere near as hot as an incandescent bulb running off the same current.
 
Well done you seem to have a very good knowledge on the subject when you give the go ahead on these bulbs I'm in for a set of tower 7443 DTRL bulbs.

Arturius said:
So I did some research as I figure I might as well make myself more knowledgeable on the subject if I'm to do these bulbs justice.
As a disclaimer, please take everything I say below with a grain of salt as it's based on about 30 minutes of online research - I may be completely wrong and those knowledgeable in the field, please correct me if that's the case.

So we know that bulb input/output is measured in watts. Now, watts can be pretty easily converted into heat, or rather we can establish roughly how many watts are dissipated are dissipated as heat vs how many are actually light energy (but still dissipated as heat, just a "bright" version of it :) ). Typical DRL bulbs for our cars operate on 25W/5W filaments (some may argue that it's 21W/5W or 25W/6W but it's all the same, just different regulations and testing setups). What you did resulted in somewhere between 25W and 30W in your turn signal housing, which not only is designed for a max 25W bulb, but it's not designed to have that bulb constantly on, thus the heat doesn't build up.

Next, I've learned that incandescent bulbs operate at a 2.1% efficiency. This means you were getting about .5 - .8 watts of light (running both filaments in tandem) with the rest being nothing but heat output. Halogen lights are slightly more efficient at about 3.5%. LEDs on the other hand, are about 80%. These towers have 4 x 1.5W LEDs on a dual circuit - 6W/3W. At 80% efficiency (which is actually a low estimate for superflux leds such as these), you're getting 4.8W/2.4W of actual light energy - with the rest being heat. This equals brighter, but not as hot.

So basically, if I've done my research correctly - there's really no way an LED bulb can melt a housing designed for an incandescent bulb (even a flashing bulb) as it doesn't output anywhere near the amount of heat a filament bulb does. The reason yours melted is because you were running a bulb at ~30W in a housing designed for a single-filament 25W bulb which flashes and is not constantly on. My guess is that you probably would've melted the housing even if you hadn't put the circuits together. Would've just taken a long 5 or 6hr drive to heat the assembly up to the same melting point.

In conclusion, I wouldn't do the dtrl-turn signal swap with anything but an LED, but even with LEDs - would proceed with caution as you're still running a bulb constantly in an area that wasn't engineered for that.

Side-note: we all know the JLC crees had heat issues and they ran hot and basically committed suicide as a result. As hot as they were, they were nowhere near as hot as an incandescent bulb running off the same current.
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---------- Post added at 10:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 AM ----------

It may depend on your Dealership some are more willing to work with you I would just call and first make sure you are eligable for the free replacement and if so just schedule it and don't say anything unless they say something.
angryfx said:
ok i do not think mines were ever replaced... how should i go about telling them
as to how it happened....? be truthful that i used dual filament trick? or change
everything back to noraml and just play dumb.... just noticed..... like that?
Click to expand...
 
Shot a quick video. Man they look really blue on my phone but in reality they are 6000k. They also look brighter in the video when shot from a distance, but look dimmer in the video when shot up close.

LOL, so basically this video doesn't look anything like real life - oh well I'll post it anyway.

Tower LED walk around - YouTube

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

and yeah I know - shouldda held my phone sideways. Will make another one with a proper camera on the weekend.
 
shit I am sol just called the dealer to find out it was done.....on 2007
they wouldnt lie about that right?
 
la_fx35 said:
Hey Art, how's the testing going with these bulbs?
Click to expand...

So far so good! The tower bulbs worked flawlessly for a full week. Just popped the crees in yesterday - will give those a week as a test as well.

On another note, I wanted to show you guys some day pics. The previous pics might've exaggerated the intensity of the lights - as most phone cameras will do. Here are shots during the day, one with tower, one with cree. Night shots with crees installed to follow today or tomorrow.

And no, haven't tried them in the turn signal housing yet - haven't had the time to get into the wiring.

TOWER
tower-day.JPG


CREES
cree-day.JPG


---------- Post added at 03:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------

guess the image tags aren't working on the new forum theme yet...

as you can see from those pics though, they're not all that bright during the day (mind you this is 2pm, direct sunlight). I just don't want people thinking these things are HIDs. lol.
 
Arturius said:
So I did some research as I figure I might as well make myself more knowledgeable on the subject if I'm to do these bulbs justice.
As a disclaimer, please take everything I say below with a grain of salt as it's based on about 30 minutes of online research - I may be completely wrong and those knowledgeable in the field, please correct me if that's the case.

So we know that bulb input/output is measured in watts. Now, watts can be pretty easily converted into heat, or rather we can establish roughly how many watts are dissipated are dissipated as heat vs how many are actually light energy (but still dissipated as heat, just a "bright" version of it :) ). Typical DRL bulbs for our cars operate on 25W/5W filaments (some may argue that it's 21W/5W or 25W/6W but it's all the same, just different regulations and testing setups). What you did resulted in somewhere between 25W and 30W in your turn signal housing, which not only is designed for a max 25W bulb, but it's not designed to have that bulb constantly on, thus the heat doesn't build up.

Next, I've learned that incandescent bulbs operate at a 2.1% efficiency. This means you were getting about .5 - .8 watts of light (running both filaments in tandem) with the rest being nothing but heat output. Halogen lights are slightly more efficient at about 3.5%. LEDs on the other hand, are about 80%. These towers have 4 x 1.5W LEDs on a dual circuit - 6W/3W. At 80% efficiency (which is actually a low estimate for superflux leds such as these), you're getting 4.8W/2.4W of actual light energy - with the rest being heat. This equals brighter, but not as hot.

So basically, if I've done my research correctly - there's really no way an LED bulb can melt a housing designed for an incandescent bulb (even a flashing bulb) as it doesn't output anywhere near the amount of heat a filament bulb does. The reason yours melted is because you were running a bulb at ~30W in a housing designed for a single-filament 25W bulb which flashes and is not constantly on. My guess is that you probably would've melted the housing even if you hadn't put the circuits together. Would've just taken a long 5 or 6hr drive to heat the assembly up to the same melting point.

In conclusion, I wouldn't do the dtrl-turn signal swap with anything but an LED, but even with LEDs - would proceed with caution as you're still running a bulb constantly in an area that wasn't engineered for that.

Side-note: we all know the JLC crees had heat issues and they ran hot and basically committed suicide as a result. As hot as they were, they were nowhere near as hot as an incandescent bulb running off the same current.
Click to expand...

WOW! This all makes so much sense!

---------- Post added at 11:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 PM ----------
Arturius said:
Shot a quick video. Man they look really blue on my phone but in reality they are 6000k. They also look brighter in the video when shot from a distance, but look dimmer in the video when shot up close.

LOL, so basically this video doesn't look anything like real life - oh well I'll post it anyway.

Tower LED walk around - YouTube

---------- Post added at 02:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

and yeah I know - shouldda held my phone sideways. Will make another one with a proper camera on the weekend.
Click to expand...

I have the same setup as you. Stock HID headlights with an LED dtrl bulb. Do you have any pics or video of how it will look with the headlights and foglights on? I want to see how the two lights look together.
 
g0ldm4g3 said:
I have the same setup as you. Stock HID headlights with an LED dtrl bulb. Do you have any pics or video of how it will look with the headlights and foglights on? I want to see how the two lights look together.
Click to expand...

Any picture I try to take on my iPhone cam over-emphasizes the light output. So I've stopped trying.

The LEDs are a cool white (6000k - 7000k). They look ok with my oem Philips bulbs (4300k), but I'm sure would look better with some 6000k HIDs. I also have the clear lens FX-R swap so my projectors muffle less light and are thus slightly yellow-er than stock lenses.

You'll all have some nice pics to work from soon, I promise.

At this point, the lights pass all my tests, but just to be sure - getting a fellow iS member to test these as well. He'll chime in eventually on this thread (but feel free to guess for now).

Once he gives an ok and hopefully positively reviews the lights, we're in business. I figure a tentative GB start date would be the week of the 24th.
 
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