Drop-in LEDs have BETTER light control because they ONLY fire light in directions that will make it to the road surface. The three remaining sides and “back wall” of the reflector bowl do all the work. Also the bulb shield, which blocks direct viewing of the filament, does not reflect anything useful back onto the reflector, either. The only light that should exit the lens of a reflector housing is reflected light. It is not useful to send direct light in these directions. Looking at a reflector housing from the viewpoint of crouching in front of a car, the “ceiling”, the “floor”, and the “window” (lens) of the housing can automatically be written off, because they do not collect light. Halogens and xenons, with 360 degrees of light, even in the most efficient reflector housing, lose most of that light. Have we considered the beam angle of the specific chips being used in these drop-ins? Would there be any noticeable improvement after completely changing the unit design to accommodate more facets for more chips? High end aftermarket LED companies have NO problem charging $150-200 a pair for bulbs ONLY.ģ.) Leaves us with the ability to control heat, and diminishing performance returns adding any more LED chips. Why do you surmise the LEDs for main beams have only a two-sided chip arrangement? Here’s my thought process:ġ.) It’s not manufacturing limitations - signal and marker bulbs across several manufacturers offer 360 degree arrangement of chips.Ģ.) It sure as hell isn’t cost. Drop in LEDs in my stuff? Not in the critical areas related to the safety of my family. When I'm looking to upgrade my lighting, I look for the best systems which are generally offered only by the higher end suppliers. The general result is that the aftermarket lights look cool, but don't perform, comply with standards or last as long as OEM. The OEMs on the other hand have to worry about compliance with government standards, warranty costs and reputation in addition to good looks. So what of the relatively few manufacturers that do offer complete headlight (and tail light) assemblies to (supposedly) create a proper lighting system as I mentioned above? Well, most of them are more interested in looks / cool features and low price than proper lighting pattern and longevity. Alas, this technique just doesn't work and that's why they don't do it. If it were as easy as just dropping a set of $25 Amazon / eBay bulbs in an existing housing to convert to LED lighting, why don't OEMs use this technique? Think of how much it costs to design, test and manufacture a new headlight housing? The savings would be huge. Although it's partially correct, the LEDs are still facing just two directions where the filament illuminate's in a full 360 degree orb. And don't let the folks with the marketing hype that they've solved this problem by matching the location of the LEDs with that of an incandescent filament. On the aftermarket side, 99.9% of the products you see are simply "drop in" bulbs that do a fairly poor job of compensating for the fact that the difference in the light source is a huge hurdle to overcome. This difference - at the heart of a lighting system - requires very different housings, reflectors and lenses in each system. Traditional incandescent bulbs use a filament that gives off an omnidirectional glow. Basically, you have a chip that lights up on its surface. (Note the emphasis.) The reason for this is that Light Emitting Diodes are a very different light source. On the OEM side, there has been a ton of research, design and development work dedicated to LED lighting systems. Speaking as one who has (consistently) come out against "drop in" LED and HID bulbs, believe it or not, I can agree with that statement. LED technology is where all the innovation is that is what direction I would go if I was considering upgrading my lights.
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