LED spotlights

[sthilux]

Hi, I intend to replace my old pair of spotlights with LED ones. I haven't bought the new ones yet, but most of them come with a wiring kit. I was wondering if it is ok to re-use the existing wiring and just swap the lights over? I had a look at the existing wiring, but it all ends up in plastic conduits with a bunch of other cables, so I don't even know where the cables go to (i.e. where the relay is), which is why I thought just swapping the lights over might save me some work. Thank you for any ideas!

[Steveyb]

If it worked before perfectly fine and your LEDs are of equivalent or less wattage than the old ones and you aren't paranoid just reuse it. If you're going more lights and it's over change it on the basis that you can't ID The cable size.

[sthilux]

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I'll check tomorrow if I can find out the wattage of the existing lights. Then I can source LEDs with equal or less wattage.

[greid]

Don't let the existing wiring setup determine which LED lights to buy or not to buy; you should be buying the right lights for you, in my opinion (price, quality, spot/spread etc.). Especially when even if you're not anything special with electrics, the wiring harness is often included in the price

[sthilux]

I've had a closer look at the existing lights (Hella 34518) and they seem to take either 55W or 70W bulbs according to the Hella catalogue. Most of the replacement LED lights seem to come in a range of 3000-7500W. This seems to be quite a big step up, which would lead me to think I can't reuse the existing harness. Or am I missing something?

[Critter350]

Are you sure they are 3000-7500W? Sounds more like a colour temp or lumen to me, your alternator wouldn't keep up with that.


Cheers
Crit

[Critter350]

Here's an example spec (ironman)
48W is the power draw number on this one.



Cheers
Crit

[sthilux]

Thank you for taking the time to take that screenshot, that makes a lot more sense.
I just did a bit of Ebay-research, for example this one:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9-7650W-New- ... 1959820480

In their specs, it says: Led power: 7650W per pair (2x45pcs*85w high intensity CREE LEDS)

That does seem to compute number wise and most of the lights I found on Ebay have similar W-figures.

I'm happy to go with Ironman or similar though, if that means I can re-use the existing wiring.

[dabbler]

sthilux, you really, really want to know where things are fused and relayed. It's the only way you can do any minor running repairs. My Hellas are fused at the relay btw.

This should be uppermost in your plans.

[Critter350]

I'll start by saying I have (almost) no idea what I'm talking about, don't trust a word I say, I have no experience with LED's, but these numbers are not reasonable.
7650/12= 637A which is more than my winch and about 7x my alternators output. A hilux battery would last less than half an hour even with the engine running, and the supplied wiring harness doesn't look up to that spec either.
More likely: missing decimal point, 76.5W & 8.5W sounds more reasonable; or its an equivalency reference, as in 'as much light as a 7650W incandescent (popular in home lighting).


Cheers
Crit

[sthilux]

Thanks guys! I would indeed feel a lot more comfortable if I knew where the relay was. Maybe I'll get somebody to switch the lights on and off a couple of times and I can 'hear' where to look for the relay.

The wattage numbers are perplexing me, too. Something does seem to be wrong, but the vast majority of LED lights on ebay have similar figures. If anything, I thought LED should draw less than a halogen equivalent?

[Critter350]

For anyone still interested, I bought these:(BTW that’s the price for two pair, son’s Chrissy pres covered) installed and tonged at 19A at 13.2V which is ~250W for the pair, engine idling. Used seperate run of ‘4mm auto’ twin core for each light which is 1.84mm2, rated at 22A. A single run for both lights would be cutting it a bit fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[martynvella]

I still haven't seen a pair of led driving lights that give better range than a good quality set of halogen lights.

Short range they are brilliant.

[sa_lux]

G'Day Marty

The reason I went LED was because the salesman told me if you lose one LED you dont lose all of the light, aren't halogen just one 'bulb' ?

BTW - Has anyone lost just one LED & still had the rest still working ?