[DeTomaso] LED question

[shawkins777 at comcast.net]

The main upside to switching to LED's is that it reduces the amperage way down and reduces heat and stress on 40 year old wiring. 

Steve 

----- Original Message -----
From: "MikeLDrew" <MikeLDrew at aol.com> 
To: chrisvkimball at msn.com, "forum, Pantera" <detomaso at poca.com> 
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2013 2:56:41 PM 
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] LED question 


In a message dated 5/5/13 11 07 21, chrisvkimball at msn.com writes: 


> I have a question, and am sure I'll get multiple responses, so here goes! 
> 
> Years ago my wife bought me an LED light kit, which I really like. During 
> some of the drives during the fun rally, though, some people commented 
> that my brake lights and especially rear turn signal lights were very faint 
> and hard to see. Do you think a replacement LED bulb kit from a regular auto 
> parts store would be better, or is there some sort of specialty LED bulbs 
> I can get? 
> 

>>>I have always been a strong critic of the various LED light kits that 
were sold in the past. I think the folks who put them together were 
well-meaning, but they were very much missing the point. 

The purpose of the bulb is not to create illumination in and of itself. 
The purpose of the bulb is to light up the reflector in the light housing, 
and THAT then sends the light out in the appropriate direction, to be viewed 
by other motorists. 

The LED lights that were being offered were, truthfully, brighter than 
conventional bulbs. But they were unidirectional, and significantly, they were 
shining in the wrong direction. The bulbs just shine straight to the 
rear, leaving the reflector completely unlit. As a result, the various lamps 
are LESS bright and less visible to other motorists than with a conventional 
bulb. This is a very bad thing. Intalling one of those kits involved 
time, money, and resulted in a significant step backwards in terms of actual 
performance. 

It's sort of like pulling your old cast-iron 351C and replacing it with a 
modern, fancy, fuel-injected two-liter four cylinder Ford Focus engine. 
Yes, it's modern and sophisticated and has all sorts of things going for it. 
But at the end of the day, you're going much slower than you were before--so 
why exactly would you bother? 

I remember running behind Charlie McCall when he had the first-generation 
Space City Panteras LED setup installed in his car--during the daytime it was 
all but impossible to see his brake lights or turn signals, and at night, 
his car issued a dim, feeble glow from the taillights, grossly insufficient 
for safety. 

Over time, the Space City kits have become better, and now they might even 
be as good as conventional bulbs. Recently, Ron DeMaderios from PCNC 
showed off various components of an LED lighting kit that he would like to offer 
to compete with the long-established kits. Significantly, the LEDs are 
omnidirectional--they shine not only to the rear, but also to the sides and 
front. They do a FANTASTIC job of illuminating the lens housing--in fact they 
are arguably a bit TOO bright. His taillights are so bright that it looks 
as though he is stepping on the brake at all times, which is 
counterproductive, so he will have to dial those back a bit. 

The lights themselves were very cheap--something like $5-10 each at the 
Goodguys swap meet. Once he figures out the appropriate wattages for the 
various lamps, he hopes to offer a complete kit that would cost substantially 
less than the ones available now. However, there are still important 
technical details to be worked out--getting the turn signal flasher to work, for 
instance. 

Personally, I am fond of the conventional bulbs. Especially with Gr4 
taillights, they are absolutely perfect--no more or less bright than they need 
to be. I see no upside to switching to LED lights of any description. 

Mike 
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