Acree

iTrader: (29)

-ares

i thought that the whole idea of LED's is to make light the most efficient way possbile with the given current dra (no heat, all light). i thought that LED's didnt produce heat as a bi-product considering the electricity isnt heating anything. why do the 5W, coupled with the correct heatsink and maximum current output, create heat and why so much?

(Let LEDs 101 begin....)

ares

iTrader: (2)

ahhhh good question!

its a myth that LEDs create no heat. infact; all LEDs do; but in general its negligable. 20mA is the average current to most LEDs; and at that current its cool to the touch. if you ran a luxeon at 20mA it too would be cool.

luxeon really didnt do anything amazing actually. they simple made the die bigger to handle more current.

now dont let that be taken the wrong way. they did kinda cheat by just making it bigger; but their LEDs are also the most efficient. their making more and more advancements every day thought to get it even more efficient. but unfortuantly still when your pushing 100-1000mA through it; it generates heat.

ares

iTrader: (2)

oh also; theres a second component to heat; the resistors. for example in the parking lights; its a single LED at 3.4volts; but all we have is 14.4. so resistors have to drop the current. and as it works out; such a resistor needs to be rather stout; around 2w to take that load. a 2w resistor is about the size of the whole bulb. actually in my designs making the resistors work is 99% of my trouble. I had to find a specific brand of 1w ceramic resistors that were thin enough to cram 2 into each bulb to take the load.

anyone thats been waiting for bulbs lately knows Ive been very delayed; I ran out of these resistors and have been trying desperatly to find a replacement; unsuccesfully I might add. had to go to the source to finally find what I needed.

kamikaZ

iTrader: (19)

is the led you put behind the reflector the same as the one for the parking bulbs? Do you have to open headlight to switch the bulb? Thanks

ZISBAK

Yes, the led under the stripe is the same as the parking light that I'm using, they are the white led that I got from Ares. A lot brighter then the previous super white led that I got from some auto parts place.
No, you do not have to open the headlight in order to switch them out, but it will be a lot convienent to remove the whole headlight to get the one underneath the stripe, unless you open thru under the wheel wall.

This weekend, I will re-open my headlight again, and clean them up really nice this time. I think I will try to video tape the whole procedure, then edit it for host on the web. Hope that will help a lot of people that is trying to DIY.

ZISBAK

Well, this weekend when I re-open it, I will also try to paint the top portion where the turn signal is, if that is what your are refering to? And as far for the clue or Sealant, I'm still trying to find out myself. I talk to one of the Nissan Master trainer, he indicate it might be something that what the window sealant would use, but the stuff is in there, seems harder than those window sealant. I will look into it more, and let you guys know what I find out.

ZISBAK

Hey, Tim, thanks for the compliment! I can't wait to see what yours look like either! Yeah, I thought about the oven method, but I got chicken out. I was afraid I was going to burn something up, I was never good at cooking anything in the oven to began with

kamikaZ

iTrader: (19)

Damnn I just installed the parking bulbs if I had realized I woulda switched out those top ones at the same time Now I need to order a third pair for the rear plate. I should have just bought 8 of these things in the first place ares. O well it's worth it they look great.

ares

iTrader: (2)

I took them down off the website for now; I dont have any heatsinks and I havent been able to get any. hopefully I can sort it out quickly. ever insignificant part of the thing has become impossible to find; first the plastic base; then the resistors; now the heatsink. I have like a bajillion bases and resistors though.

mgl

iTrader: (10)

the sealant that i used did a good job. it was black to it blends in with the black plastic part of the headlight, so you can't even tell that i opened them.

heres the write-up i did awhile ago. it shows what kind of sealant i used.
https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....p&pagenumber=1

Blue Batmobile

iTrader: (22)

When are the clear strips gonna be available again?

Bat™

ares

iTrader: (2)

no idea right now; I told the guy to just keep making them; of course he still has 10 left in the original order... yeah he's SLOWWWW.

if ABS injection wasnt thousands Id have gone that route by now.

Blue Batmobile

iTrader: (22)

any other sources for these?

Bat™

juhko

Has there ever been an efficiently produced lighting system that involved a cooling design? It seems impractical to produce any sort of lighting system that requires some sort of cooling so it seems as though a design/technology change would have to be waited upon.

ares

iTrader: (2)

they sell them premounted on little metal wafers; called luxeon stars. of course their much larger; and all the heatsinks in the world wont do anything in a closed enviroment like a light housing. according to them you can run an LED at 350mA on a star in a normal open atmosphere without any heat issues.

you can run them hotter then they should; you can also over drive them. itll just shorten their lifespan. most all LED products do this; as the 100,000hour life is far beyond what youd keep almost any product for.

for myself; I dont really care to do this and find out; whoops, maybe that was too much; only lasted 2months.

you can also pulse the LEDs; Ive never done it; but supposedly you cant tell; but it reduces heat by abunch. the drivers to do that are somewhat bulky compared to the other components; and expensive. atleast pre-made.

ZISBAK

Well, I finally figure out why one of my HID light went out! I reopen the Driver side last night and straight out the stripe and re-seal again, all I can said is after you open it one time, make sure you get it done right the first time, because it is pain in the AZZ to re-seal especially the plastic has been all bent out of shape, but fortunately I was able to seal everything again. After I install the 6000k HID bulbs, I reallize the driver side one is not working again? So I open it up, and check everything. I finally find out that there were some water reside it in the HID system, the grey box that is located at the buttom of the headlight. There were water in the connector that connected to the system itself. So I unplug it and dry it out, also took the HID system (grey box) and shake all the water out, then use blow dryer to make sure everything is dry in there. So, for those of you that planning to do this mod, and you notice your headlight fog up, and the HID light went out. That would be the first place I would look for! I wish had taking a picture of it. But I ran out of time to do it. After I re-semble everything back together, test the HID light! Perfect!! It works again!!

Srivero297

iTrader: (2)

Hey ZISBAK... Couple questions for you about the reflector...
You know that hole near the top of the reflector? (underneath it I mean) I see that you have a light under there. The stock ones dont have a light under there, right? So did you have to mount anything to put that bulb there or was it simple? Other than that, what kind/size bulb was it because I like the way it looks and want to do it to mine. Thanks.

kamikaZ

iTrader: (19)

there is a bulb there stock...just need to switch it out for a led bulb if you want it to look like that

Srivero297

iTrader: (2)

oh that makes things much easier then. Thanks a lot for the knowledge.

Hazade

iTrader: (8)

looks nice man... good job. maybe i'll get myself to do this one day