Benefits of LED converstion

[Montego Murph]

Question:

I've seen a lot of people converting lights from incandescent to LED in various cars over the years. Every so often I wonder if I'd want to go through and swap out the bulbs all around, maybe starting with the interior.

Aside from the visual aspect, I was wondering if there are other benefits to be had. For example, I understand that they use significantly less energy than the old bulbs.

Would converting all bulbs to LED result in a significant increase in electrical efficiency leading to longer battery/alternator life, more power available for accessories, and so forth?

As I write that though, would any gained efficiency even matter since it's not like I'm replacing AA batteries all the time, the alternator just spins regardless.

Just thinking out loud I guess.

 

[The Yin]

I've got LEDs installed almost everywhere but my turn signals.
I'm not sure if there can be much of a benefit from the energy saved, unless you leave your doors open a lot, or keep your map/cabin lights on when the car is off.
I mostly changed mine for the looks. 5k (clean white) for the inside lights, and blue for the dash and AC lights.

However, there may be a benefit in the longevity of the lights. I'm not sure what the numbers are, but the LEDs should have a much long life expectancy.

 

[CXS]

While I'm not a fan I respect those that are and think the vast majority of folks will say it's 99% cosmetic. Nothing wrong with cosmetic mods but like off-road mods they rarely add any value.

 

[247christian]

nice i want to upgrade to led aswell.

 

[S p a r k y]

Not really any major benefit, you can see better in the car at night. Sometimes that can be a bad thing, it might be really messy.

I kind of look at it like teeth, sure yellow stained teeth still work just as good as bright shiny teeth. But which ones looks better to you and everyone else?

 

[mizak82]

Led interior done right to me add value. Esthetic wise. It updates an already dated interior. Makes it more like a Lexus.

Well at least you ain't losing much because it's like 50 bucks all in. And It looks infinitely better than orange lights..


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[808RUN]

Quality VS CHEAP

I started off changing my interiors first. That's the most simplist and cheapest option first hand. Once you do the exterior it starts to get expensive. The most painful difficult bulb to change would be the DRL. And second the blinker. Due to hyper flashing. The PWM system on the DRL is very difficult to find a compatible resistor. I suggest getting a good named brand like VLEDS or Morimoto resistors.
Blinker easy said. A good (non gold) resistor will be fine, 3 ohm or 6 depending on your set up. BUT, Them gold ones get very cooking hot.

But overall, LEDS are a good mod to do...agreed bulbs last longer and estetics is enhanced. Plus it is fun to do all the techy stuff...

Shuck idk what kind lexus u taking about...no pun intended but I had to still change bulbs in my Lexus to LEDs

 

[wc11]

Cosmetically it looks better yes. A bit more modern if you will.
Also, it consumes less power. It's most noticeable in the winter when your running things like heat, defrost, heated seats. I don't notice the headlights dimming from all the current draw.
They're brighter (cool whites vs warm) and they turn on instantaneously.
You'll notice this most on your blinkers. It's a quick off/on vs the slower glow on/off.

 

[iin10ded]

the real advantage imo to led bulbs is for interiors, i don't give a shit about hiw the light looks, i just want to be able to see at night in the car. and in older cars they tend to have fewer lights, so you need all the help you can get. i did the interiors of my 4r and my eve (terrible interior lights) and the difference is incredible. i would say that there is 3-5x more light in my interior, especially the trunk / cargo areas which were very poorly lit before. totally worthwhile from a functionality perspective. it's also nice they don't make any heat.

i also replaced the back up lights, and parking lights in the headlights with the brightest led's i could find. my driveway is dark and i needed some sort of aux backup light. the led's i got are increidbly bright and i no longer need to wire an aux light. same with the parking led's - they throw a lot of light on their own and are great as a drl.. so some advantages when chosen carefully.

re using less electricity is, in a car, really just a theoretical advantage imo (motorcyles it helps). unless you're adding a bunch of light bars, the gain in interior, turn, taillight, etc bulbs is negligible. our electircal systems have plenty of overhead.

the downside is that i've found the led bulbs much more fiddly and failure prone and certainly more expensive.

the other upside is faster response time, which is nice in a brake or turn signal bulb, but again mostly theoretical. as for headlights they are still far worse than a good hid or halogen projector, most of the led headlight bulbs are retrofit into reflectors designed for halogen emitters and are pretty compromised, they don't put as much light down the road.