Front lights

[Gencion]

Spark has very weak front light. I compared with my I-miev and they are much better.
So I read about some miracle LED bulbs and I bought few cheap bulbs from AliExpress. Dipped-beams are ok but main-beams almost do not exist. I made experiment while driving with main-beams turned on and the cars coming from the front never flashed lights indicating that my lights blind them.
What you use for the front lights? May be there is some king of conversion kit? In the beginning I thought to mount light bar but it is unusable while driving on public roads with normal traffic.

 

[Randy960]

Spark has very weak front light. I compared with my I-miev and they are much better.
So I read about some miracle LED bulbs and I bought few cheap bulbs from AliExpress. Dipped-beams are ok but main-beams almost do not exist. I made experiment while driving with main-beams turned on and the cars coming from the front never flashed lights indicating that my lights blind them.
What you use for the front lights? May be there is some king of conversion kit? In the beginning I thought to mount light bar but it is unusable while driving on public roads with normal traffic.

LED headlight bulbs are real hit or miss of quality, and I've come across a few that were assembled wrong that act like the ones you bought. The position of the LEDs for high and low beams have to be in a very specific spot to reflect correctly when they're in the housing. I think even the supposedly high quality Morimoto ones I have in my car were assembled upside down so that high and low beams were effectively reversed. I was able to flip mine around and glue them, but the best solution is probably sticking with factory style bulbs. I still like mine, but I'm not convinced they save any power.

 

[SmokeyPete]

I picked up the "Torchbeam T2 H13/9008 LED Bulbs Kit, 16000 Lumens 6500K Super Bright Replacement Bulbs, 400% Brightness Plug and Play with Fan 50,000 Hours Lifespan" on Amazon in May 2023". As I recall, they were between $30 and $40.

I only just installed them 2 month ago and was surprised how plug-n-play they were. They don't make my plastic lenses warm as did the OEM bulbs and are a MASSIVE improvement my original Halogen Bulbs. I really wish I had not waiting until 2024 to give them a shot. I read before that I needed to adjust the beam against a wall or something but that seemed unnecessary once I installed them. I used to turn my lights on for a while to discharge my battery when I got over 80% SOC but now they use so little power, I feel I can't do that anymore.

I did need to watch a youtube video to install them since I was born in the 1970s.. LOL

 

[Infinion]

I still like mine, but I'm not convinced they save any power.

They will save power. Flip through the 5 images I uploaded below for one of my LED headlights.
Voltage on left display, current on the right.

The halogen is using 3.5-4x more power per headlamp. You can see the 12V rated power on the Sylvania bulb body.
Total power for two headlights: 34W LED, 118.5W Halogen. Two hours of driving will consume 0.068 kWh for LED, 0.237 kWh for halogen. At a driving efficiency of 3.65 mi/kWh, this will consume 0.25 mi LED and 0.87 mi halogen over two hours.
Halogen efficacy: 24 lumens/watt = 2,844 lumens reflected in both housings before reflector losses
LED efficacy: anywhere from 100 - 190 lumens/watt. Samsung's LH181B CSP LED sits around 120 lumen/watt so just using those numbers at 85ºC, this bulb could be making 4,080 lumens in both housings.
The LED headlight here uses two pairs of 3x 3W CSP LEDs on both sides of the metal-core PCB to emulate the shape of coiled tungsten filaments in halogen bulbs.

When it comes to LED headlights, there are lots of poorly designed bulbs. My buying advice is this:

• Don't buy anything with a bigger footprint than a halogen's coiled filament. The reflector housing is designed for that one specific shape and beam angle. If you don't get the majority of the light in active area, you will have far poorer visibility than with a halogen, and the rest of the light will dimly flood out around the periphery, and blind oncoming traffic which seems to be the norm these days.
• The thermal design of the headlight must be scrutinized. LED headlights die when the active cooling dies. Designers don't often include thermal throttling in their products. If the fan has active cooling, and it is outside of the housing, dust and moisture can slow fan speeds down as friction increases. Discontinue use if you hear squealing, if you can, go passive cooling with a big heat sink or metal braid, or choose a design with the fan inside the reflector housing with the LEDs.
  • The other LED headlight imaged above started squealing, and I replaced it when the chips started flickering. However, when I did an autopsy, I found the motor bushing was dry. No lubricant was added from the factory. After adding a light oil such as sewing machine oil, the motor and fan worked as it should have, but it was not simple to reassemble. This is a quality issue.
• Like Randy and SmokeyPete said above, alignment is critical. If the LED headlight is adjustable, you'll be able to install without modifying your headlight or housing, and get your lumens where they're supposed to be.