Hi All,

I have just installed these blue LED globes into my SE TS and am wondering if this is going to cause issues with too much battery drain using LED globes?

http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/album.php?albumid=281

I had read somewhere here that this could be an issue. I just don't want to get in the car of a morning to find a flat battery from this.

Any information on this will be helpful, as you can see i installed first before actually asking the question!

Thanks

Dougs

as long as they turn off when you want them too it shouldn't be an issue I believe

As far as I know, LED's consume a tiny fraction of the power compared to normal bulbs. Even if you use the LED strips with multiple LEDs, I doubt you would draw more power than a couple/few incandescent bulbs.

Don't know the power-consumption of the T10 LED bulbs you are likely to have used in the car ........

- but here's a "household" comparison:

I have bought these uber-cool (well, I think so) colour-changing bulbs with an Edison-Screw base they give as much light as a 25W bulb, or maybe a 40W bulb. They draw how much power? 1.5W is all (that's one-and-a-half watts only). Am sure the ratio of light-output for power consumed would be similar in the automotive LED bulbs.

Hi Phil,

Great! Thank you that is a huge relief!

You are right they are T10 LED bulbs.

Now knowing that these LEDs wont cause battery issues then i am going to get some more. Not over doing it just enough for my own preference.

I guess that considering LED's seem to draw less power then incandescent bulbs that it might be an idea to look at using them in the indicator light fittings?
If anyone has done so before it would be great to know what bulbs were used and how they did so. I am hoping to get some clear side indicators that this might go well together.

Dougs

Hi again,

Phil: What are the make of the "uber cool" edison-screw colour changing bulbs you mentioned? Sound pretty cool might check them out.

Dougs

Hi again,

Phil: What are the make of the "uber cool" edison-screw colour changing bulbs you mentioned? Sound pretty cool might check them out.

Dougs

Pretty sure that's for the house dude.

LED's don't draw current fromt the battery unless they are on. if they are off, Its not getting power - not drawing curent.

Its when things stay on when they shouldnt like a boot light is when they drain the battery.
No need to go change all your bulbs to LED to save power, it makes stuff all difference the globes in your car use next to nothing from the battery anyway, and in saying that, your battery is only bused to start the car really, everything else is done off the alternator from there forth.

each t10 led is using about 20mA when on (0.02A) i know which one i'd prefer to be on all night if i left a door or the boot open

Hi TuffTR,

Yep i got that he meant house lights.
However having said that i spend more time in and around my car than in my house! Ha!

Re :- LEDs
I am hearing that the bulbs last quite a bit longer by comparison to other types of bulbs. I don't intend on replacing all my bulbs with LED's but would like to use LED's in the indicators if thats possible. Any ideas what to get and where they can be found for this type of application?

Thanks

Dougs

@ Dougal.

The "uber-cool" colour-changing household lamps are made by Philips and are called "Deco LED Light" - seem to be marketed as "party light" replacement for those strings of coloured large bulbs. ie: the bulbs which are standard household size, not "xmas lights". They cost about $4- each.

I saw them first in a Bunnings store (Mudgee NSW) and bought the last 4 they had (all colour changers, all ES base). Went to my local Bunnings (Tamworth NSW) and was basically told they don't exist and I must be on drugs to think that they do (my local Bunnings seems dedicated to selling nothing and "for goodness sakes, lets not help anyone").

Just a few days ago was in another town (Dubbo NSW) and bought one more colour-changer (also ES base - lucky I have several lamps from Ikea).
At this store, they also had ONE bulb with Bayonet base, which was a smaller bulb - closer to the "fancy round" size..... I snapped this up - for all of $0-50 !! This one is not a colour-changer, but is LED fixed Blue colour. Its power rating is 1W, wherease the colour-morph ones are 1.5W.

The colour-change bulbs shift gradually from one colour to next : red, pale blue, green, mauve, intense blue - staying a couple seconds on each colour (and with slight variations in colour as one LED fades down and next fades up - very briefly there is an almost-white phase, for instance).

I quote from the package: "low maintenance (weatherproof, shatter resistant, UV resistant polycarbonate bulb, useful life up to 20,000hrs). the Deco LED replaces the low wattage (15-20W) incandescent Party Light".

They are best seen in a very pale shade, or a white/translucent glass shade.

i noticed that my local MALZ had a colour changing led wedge bulb.... but it was a monza.... even the name sounds cheap

Forgot to add - Search the Forums for "LED" and you will find lots of threads about LED in parker lamps, indicators etc. In modern cars (def the 380, if memory serves) the use of LED bulbs can confuse the car's electronics and cause incorrect indicators of "bulb blown" etc. Also, if used as blinker bulbs, in some cars (maybe all?) you will also require a specialised flasher can designed to deal with LED bulbs.

Another thing about LEDs - they have greatest benefit of extended life when NOT switched on-off a lot...... bit like compact-fluoro's in the house, the best life and greatest energy saving is from lights which tend to be turned-on and left on for extended periods. So - for instance - the light in the loo might not last as long as maybe the kitchen light. In the car, a footwell lamp may last longer than a blinker bulb. Also, if parkers are sited within the headlamp reflector (as Magna's are) the heat from Halogen bulbs may adversely affect the life-span of the LED.

Oh, and forget about LED's in foglights for anything other than pose-value - the light output is crap.... you will find E_bay littered with sites selling LED bulbs as replacement of H3 Fogs.

Thanks Phil!

Theres a Bunnings store round the corner (Artarmon) from me which is **** huge, so i would think they should have them. I will look on the shelves myself as opposed to asking someone to show me where they are. The last time i went in i was there for 1.5 hours looking for a plumbing tool that should have taken 5 mins to find!!!

My fiance will love these colour changing bulbs as she is into "uber-cool" lighting that is more Eco-friendly than conventional lighting. Very handy tip thanks

Plus maybe by getting some of these bulbs she will forgive me for all the time i spend working on my car or on this forum finding out more about how to work on my car! Anyway thats getting way of the topic.

Thanks for the information mate.

Cheers

Dougs

As Phil said, there's a high probability that LED's in the indicators will cause issues, namely that you'll get a 10x faster flash rate. Most flash circuits of the 2nd-gen era (and prior) rely on the resistance of the bulbs to form part of the flash circuit, so when you chuck something in with much less resistance it goes at 100mph. The solution can be as simple as putting in an inline resistance system, but it kinda defeats the purpose.
Of course, ANY LED running on a 12V system has to have resistors (or other) either built-in or external, but blinkers need to be tuned more. Buggered if I know what the "correct" system is though, and can't be bothered searching.
You can always tell when someone's either blown a bulb or just chucked in LEDs without proper research by the uber-fast flash rate.

Personally, the parkers are the big one for me, as if you leave your lights on it drops down to parkers, so if you have LEDs installed you have a hell of a lot less drain happening. That said, I never got around to installing them in the tail, just fronts, also gives you a much cleaner white light if you are trying to match "white" headlight bulbs.

I used LED's in my 2nd gen, Loved them..

I used really want to get LED lights for everything.... I too realised the problem with the indicators blinking too fast as the LED's did not use enough current.

I have seen some LED lights for indicators with incorporated resistors, but they were super expensive, and as a result you loose the power saving benifits... so no point UNLESS you really want the INSTANT ON/OFF Blink of the LED (as opposed to the slight fade glow the normal bulbs have.

EDIT: I remeber now what you can do you fix the timing issue with using LED lights for indicators, you can replace the "flasher cans" http://www.ledshoponline.com/electronic_flasher_cans.htm

However I do not know where these install or if they're even compatible with the Magna

Under the dash where your right foot is where the flasher can goes...