we know what specs to look for when shopping for cars low mileage high MPG horsepower and
torque but what about your headlights what are the most important specs for
LED headlights this is the most frequently Asked question by customers who are shopping
for LED headlights as a manufacturer this is also the most important question we keep in
mind when we design manufacture test and make improvements to our LED headlights
these are the top five specs that you should look for when shopping for LED headlights brightness
beam pattern
color temperature fitment
and lifespan
question one what factors affect brightness brightness for LED headlights does not just
refer to how much light a bolt gives off but how much of that total light contributes to safer
driving there are two common units used to measure brightness total lumens and Lux you can imagine
lumens as the total weight of a table and Lux as the weight left on the single spot under one
of its many legs question two how can we find the number of total lumens and Lux for LED headlight
bulbs total lumens is widely used by manufacturers during the LED bulb design and is often measured
by an integrating sphere after the bulb has been made we can also get the total lumens
even before the bulb was made during its design by using this formula total lumens is equal to
light efficacy times power what is light efficacy light efficacy is lumens per watt light efficacy
is one of the most important ratings for Led chips think of it as a factor like MPG in your car the
most efficient and price friendly LED lamps have an efficacy of 200 lumens per watt however when
it comes to LED headlights it's not just about total brightness there is a unique Factor called
beam pattern that makes this industry different and hard to move forward without cutting edge
LED technology there are many different LED chips with a highlight efficacy so why don't
headlight bulbs just use a 200 lumens per watt high efficacy LED chips most of them cannot be
used on LED headlights due to road illumination safety concerns which is regulated by the dot
we will cover this in detail in the beam pattern section of this video then what is the efficacy
commonly used in LED headlight bulbs lots of LED headlights on the market use LED chips with an
efficacy of less than 100 lumens per watt the highest efficacy headlight bulb in our product
line is up to 138.8 lumens per watt so how do you figure out the total lumens for an LED bulb let's
make it Sim simple if we start with an efficacy of 100 lumens per watt and you have an LED headlight
bulb consuming 40 Watts then 4000 lumens can be expected question three why not add more power
to a bulb to increase the brightness it's simple LED chips do not withstand heat well the average
power consumption for an LED headlight bulb is very limited usually from 15 watts to 45 Watts
before it gets too hot and burns out now with this knowledge you cannot be fooled by an ad like this
630 000 lumens which is over 10 times a typical LED headlight bulbs lumens divided by the 4200
Watts which is 100 times higher for a typical LED headlight bulb equals 150 lumens per watt which is
a very good efficacy however it is uncommon on low end LED headlights question four why not make LED
headlights with a more powerful heat dissipation system to handle more power because the large
heat sink will not fit most Vehicles which we'll talk about later in fitment now we can test these
theories in the lab Lux is light intensity at any single spot you measured compared to Total lumens
Lux can easily be tested with a portable light meter we use a cyclonic meter in most of our tests
to Consumers Lux provides more information than total lumens because you want to know how much
light will be directed in front while driving and don't want to waste a lot of light spilling into
higher spots and causing blinding or losing light with lots of dark spots just like a very strong
Boxer can only win if he punches in the right spot with the right intensity so a high value
of Lux that is measured at lower spots with light being spread evenly in front of the vehicle helps
increase driving visibility and safety what to look for when shopping LED headlight regarding
brightness like we said you can get different looks from the same bulb measuring from different
spots it's important to know how far how high and how close to the center the meter is but the
total lumens from an LED headlight is set when it was designed and manufactured that's why you
see lumens instead of Lux on ratings and marketing spots keep in mind total lumens is how much light
an LED headlight can produce Lux is the reality of how good your night Driving Experience would be
spec 2 beam pattern what is beam pattern beam pattern is the angle of the light coming from
your LED headlight the SAE regulates this correct angle which can be concluded in one word safe safe
for both you and other drivers for you you want the road in front of you to be seen clearly that's
usually where you want to set a lux meter for other drivers SE guidelines don't allow the light
to exceed a certain angle that would be blinding to other drivers what angle should my headlight
be shining at according to SAE guidelines if the height of the vehicle's headlight Center is less
than 36 inches above the ground the reference point should be at the same height as the optical
center if the optical center is more than 36 inches the reference point should be two inches
below the headlamp optical center how can you install a bulb properly to get a good beam pattern
it depends on what type of LED headlight and what type of headlight housing you have people ask are
LEDs safe for automotive use the answer is yes and no there is nothing wrong with LED technology
itself as long as the light is designed properly for the headlight housing you're installing it in
you can even get a bad beam pattern from a poorly designed halogen bulb just like your
engine can run smoothly with the right type of engine oil from different brands but will not
work properly with wrong formula oil even from an oem oil manufacturer what's wrong with lots
of LED headlights in order to have a replacement light source work as well as the stock bulb and
get a good clear beam pattern we need to design the replacement light as close as original as
possible let's look at some examples this is the reason we mentioned earlier that although
there are a lot of high power High efficacy LED chips available only a few of them can qualify
to be used in LED headlights and often we choose to design and customize LED chips to ensure the
design is as close to the stock bulbs as possible our LED headlights better for reflector housing or
projector housing first let's break down the different housings for those headlights with
the wrong LED chips or are designed improperly or inefficiently the lens in a projector house will
be able to correct the direction of most of the light from an improperly designed LED headlight
but you will still get a lot of dark spots due to the design differences from the halogen light
a reflector housing is less forgiving with the light from an improperly designed bulb spilling
everywhere except the road in front of you if the light source is designed properly according to
its radiation characteristics and the housing adjusting the LED light to be vertical will
optimize the beam pattern what to look for when shopping for LED headlights regarding beam pattern
keep in mind not all LED chips are qualified to be used on LED headlights because of its
shape and size look for headlights with a proper lighting design that is as close to the original
stock halogen bulb including both the shape of the LED chip and depth of the chip into the housing
after being installed finally an adjustable bulb will help you optimize the beam pattern Spec 3
color temperature what is color temperature for the automotive lighting industry one of
the important ratings of light quality is color temperature a higher color temperature like 10
000 Kelvin appears blue and looks cool which is very popular in off-road use in trade shows a
lower color temperature like 3000 Kelvin appears yellow this color has a very long light wavelength
this color is ideal for driving an inclement or foggy weather 6000 Kelvin is white and is suitable
for normal driving which color temperature white is best 5000 Kelvin white 6000 Kelvin white or
7000 Kelvin white color temperature over 6000 Kelvin starts to turn blue there are two reasons
we strive for 6000 Kelvin in most of the LED headlights we manufacture first Maximum light
efficacy and efficiency can be reached at 6000 Kelvin in the automotive industry High efficacy
does not only mean environmentally friendly but also the ability to contribute brighter and safer
lighting Under The Limited power the tiny LED headlights can handle with all else being equal a
bulb with a color temperature of 6000 Kelvin will appear to be brighter than a bulb over or under
that 6000 Kelvin temperature second according to radiation curves 6000 Kelvin has the highest
light intensity before the color becomes blue that's why it is so important to run a spectrum
blue green and red report when manufacturing LED headlights and make adjustments accordingly if
you buy from a reputable company they will run several tests to dial in as close to 6000 Kelvin
as possible what to look for when shopping for an LED headlight regarding temperature
it will depend on your driving condition pick a 6000 Kelvin bulb for normal night driving a
3000 Kelvin bulb if you drive in a lot of foggy or rainy environments to ensure safety and a 10
000 Kelvin for entertainment and style spec for fitment what is fitment vehicle headlight
assemblies were manufactured for halogen bulbs so it is possible that an LED headlight bulb
will not fit a specific vehicle due to either shape or size differences is an LED headlight
going to fit my vehicle so far there is no such LED headlight bulb that can fit all housings even
if it is the correct bulb size and that's why we have different designs so which is for which if
your vehicle headlight assembly is equipped with a dust cover which is very common among European
and newer American cars check the clearance you have inside the dust cover try it to look for an
LED headlight bulb with a short heat sink or fan body we also have aftermarket dust covers to help
those with extremely shallow housing space if you have an off-center housing look for LED headlights
with a slim heat sink or fan body what to look for when shopping for LED headlights regarding fitment
first inspect your vehicle headlight housing check how much space is available for an LED
headlight heatsink look for an LED headlight that will fit what you need finally don't forget to
get the dimensions of the external LED driver it is especially important if your headlamp uses H1
or H7 bulb sizes and has a dust cover so that you can fit everything inside spec 5 lifespan what is
lifespan lifespan is the only spec you cannot see but it is also very important in regards to safety
to have one or both headlights frequently burn out during night driving can be dangerous plus
it is frustrating and time consuming to replace a burnout out headlight bulb especially if a
lot of Labor is involved like removing the front bumper what affects the lifespan of LED headlights
despite the small chance that electric components like constant current Regulators compactors and
Transformers might fail the major killer for LED headlights is still heat how much heat can
an LED chip handle it depends on the LED chip itself some Led chips have a higher Junction
temperature and some lower Junction temperature is the highest operating temperature of the
actual Semiconductor in an electronic device how do you keep an LED chip from burning or reaching
its Junction temperature keeping an LEDs working temperatures below its Junction temperature is not
a simple task it involves three major parts of an LED headlight One Design heat balance
a lot of tests are involved when we design and heat balance our LED headlights what does
this report mean from spot 3 we can get the temperature closest to the LED chips working
temperature we also want the other spots to have temperatures close to spot 3 which means
heat has been dissipated very efficiently why do manufacturers need to do this you can imagine
this as the flow of a Waterway to dissipate heat efficiently we want to ensure each section of the
Waterway is not too narrow and water in this case heat can flow freely and rapidly two LED
driver are the LED driver and HID Ballast the same no the HID Ballast is a Transformer the
LED driver is the think tank to help LED chips avoid overheating imagine it as the person who
controls the valve at the start of a Waterway to ensure a full flow but without overflowing
to design a good and efficient LED driver involves more time material and labor but is
worth it to ensure the longest lifespan possible for your LED bulb 3. heat dissipation system
finally this is how wide and deep your Waterway is starting from the material contacting with
the LED chip directly all the way to the heat sink with a larger surface area of dissipation
versus smaller or a dual ball bearing high RPM fan versus a single ball bearing fan the cost
of fans varies from one cent to four dollars as a manufacturer it is so important to spend the
money to have an extremely reliable fan built into the bowl the fan should have a much longer
life span than the LED itself what to look for when shopping LED headlights regarding lifespan
in most cases you do not know the quality of an LED bulb until it runs for a long time one tip is
to check if any warranty is provided and be sure to check if there's a contact number you can reach
to claim that warranty if you're worried about all this doing business with a reputable company is a
good idea with over 99 million different options for LED headlights knowing what to look for can
be confusing and overwhelming if you are remember these five things when shopping for LED headlights
you can rest assured that you've made the best choice for you and your vehicle one know what
brightness you're looking for by using the formula for total lumens light efficacy times Watts you
can know exactly how bright your bulb could reach but beware the bulb with the highest total lumens
might not be the best bulb because of our second thing to look for beam pattern your bulb might
be the brightest made in terms of total lumens but if it is poorly designed your beam pattern
will suffer and you'll be wasting a lot of that light so be sure that your replacement bulb is
designed to fit in your car's housing as close to the stock bulb as possible three color temperature
pick the color that will suit your driving needs the best 3000 Kelvin for Fog rain and snow 10 000
Kelvin for style and fun and six thousand Kelvin for the optimal light color for night driving 4.
be sure it fits there are several different styles and sizes to fit almost anything on Wheels take
the time to inspect what will fit your vehicle before you buy five and finally the lifespan while
there is no real good test to know how long your bulb will last buying from a reputable company
that will stand behind their products long after the sale is made is a great place to start if you
have any questions or if you want us to cover any other topics please let us know in the comments
section below thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe for more videos like this