by John F. Katz
LEDs?Light Emitting Diodes?are revolutionizing automotive lighting at the
OEM level, and rapidly advancing into the hot rod and restoration aftermarket. And
we don?t use the word revolutionizing lightly.
In early October, shortly after we began research for this article, the Nobel Committee
for Physics announced that the 2014 Prize for Physics would be shared by Shuji Nakamura,
Hiroshi Amano, and Isamu Akasaki?co-inventors of the blue LED. Red and green LEDs
had been available for decades. Blue completed the spectrum, making white LED light
possible. And white LED lighting is that significant.
To understand the importance of this achievement?and its potential impact on automotive
lighting, some perspective is necessary. The familiar sealed beam headlamps, which
were standard equipment on every car sold in the U.S. from 1940 through 1984, were
simply incandescent bulbs manufactured to a particular specification. And incandescent
bulbs haven?t changed in principle since Thomas Edison?s bright idea of 1879: An
electric current heats a filament, causing it to glow; while a glass bulb filled
with relatively inert gas (e.g. nitrogen) keeps the hot filament from oxidizing.
Composite halogen headlamps, which first appeared on some European cars in the late
1950s, are just better incandescent lights, with more sophisticated (and more expensive)
permanent lenses and reflectors, and replaceable bulbs in which a gas from the halogen
column of the periodic table (usually iodine) allows the filament to glow brighter.
Adding utterly inert xenon gas to a halogen light produces an even brighter, whiter
light. HID (for High Intensity Discharge) headlamps eliminate the filament; instead,
vaporized metal inside a pressurized xenon atmosphere emits light when it is ionized
by an electric arc.
LED lights, on the other hand, are entirely solid-state. As an electric current
displaces electrical charges inside a semi-conductor, as some electrons drop back
to lower orbits within their atoms they release energy as light. This is why the
first LEDs worked best at the lower-energy red end of the visual spectrum. Dropping
an electron far enough to release high-energy blue light was much harder, but the
development of gallium-nitride semiconductors made it possible.
Freed from the need for a glass bulb, LEDs can be made much smaller than any other
light source. They are also enormously more energy-efficient, producing as much
as 300 lumens per watt, compared to just 16 lumens per watt for incandescent bulbs.
The implications should be obvious, not only for global energy consumption but also
for drastically reduced current draw on an automotive electrical system.
Bogdan Durian, of Delta Tech Industries in Ontario, California, kindly provides
us with some specific numbers. A sealed beam low beam requires 35 watts or about
3 amps on a 12-volt system. Halogen bulbs are brighter but require 55 watts on low
beam, or 4.6 amps. More efficient HIDs can produce four times the light of halogen
lamps for the same 35-watt consumption as a sealed beam. But an LED low beam requires
only 25 watts, or 2 amps, to produce as much or slightly more light than an HID,
at a color temperature more friendly to human eyes.
?They are so efficient in converting electricity to lumens,? observes Sheldon Lippke,
lead electrician at Bennett Coachworks LLC in Milwaukee, ?that it requires little
more than a signal wire to provide enough juice to power them.?
?At the 2,000-lumen level,? adds Durian, ?you are very comfortable, you have the
road illuminated evenly. And you are not blinding anyone.?
Another advantage to LEDs is that they light up nearly the very instant that current
is turned on; nothing has to warm up, as in the other light sources we?ve mentioned.
HIDs actually represented a step backward in this respect, requiring as long as
20 seconds to reach full output. ?That?s why, in the beginning,? says Durian, ?you
see a little flicker and delay.?
But LEDs also illuminate significantly faster than incandescent bulbs. The difference
is most significant when applied to brake lights, where, according to Ann-Marie
Hines, senior marketing manager for Philips Automotive North America in Farmington
Hills, Michigan, ?braking distances from 75 mph can be reduced by up to 20 feet.?
Moreover, LEDs can theoretically last up to 100,000 hours, or about 100 times as
long as an incandescent bulb. According to Lippke, the life of an LED lamp is limited
mostly by the quality of the circuit board behind it.
Even manufacturing cost is reduced compared to other light sources. ?From what I?ve
come to understand, the higher prices we?re seeing are more for the prestige of
the product rather than the actual cost to produce it,? Lippke notes.
Perhaps the most important consideration, he adds, is that ?the surface area required
to produce this amount of light is minute. LEDs don?t require the huge reflectors
that came on our classic cars, which makes them versatile in their application.
We will notice this more as new cars hit the market with headlamps integrated into
the body, almost defying our classic image of what a car ?should? look like.?
The News in Lights
All of the major lighting manufacturers?not just the few quoted here?offer plug-in
composite-lamp replacements for old-style sealed beam headlights. And, as Fred Snow,
vice president of U.S. aftermarket for Hella Inc. in Peachtree City, Georgia, points
out, once composite lamps are in place, they ?open up the possibility of putting
any bulb desired into the housing??including the latest LED units.
Hella supplies the Matrix Beam LED headlamp system for the Audi A8, which relies
on a camera to detect oncoming vehicles as well as vehicles in the lane ahead?as
far away as 1,300 feet?and selectively dims elements within the lamps to ?shine
around? those vehicles without blinding their drivers.
Matrix provides broader illumination as well, lighting up more of the area to the
sides of the road?helping the driver, for example, spot a deer or other wildlife
before it enters the roadway. In all situations, Matrix also provides about 100
feet of additional forward visibility, giving drivers more critical seconds to react
to any potential hazard.
With its unique lamps, camera and processor, a Matrix system would be challenging
(but not impossible) to retrofit into an older vehicle. But also new from Hella?and
probably more relevant to hot rod and custom-car builders?is a line of LED headlamps
that plug into existing 90mm halogen and xenon lighting modules (which would, of
course, require some fabrication to install in older vehicles). Both ?single function?
and bi-LED (with integrated high and low beam) versions are available.
Even easier to install would be Hella?s new and smaller versions of its Rallye 4000
accessory lights?the Rallye 4000 Compact and Rallye 4000X.
?These are easy to mount to any vehicle,? says Snow, ?using a single mounting bolt.
In general, LED off-road lamps provide excellent light output with color temperature
closer to daylight, use less power, and last longer than other sources. However,
one issue with conventional designs is that they don?t offer a long pattern to see
far into the distance. Hella?s rearward-facing LED technology solves this issue.
The LEDs are fired backwards into a very specifically designed reflector to create
an excellent long beam pattern.?
Philips? newest lighting product, says Hines, is the Vision LED line, ?designed
as direct replacements for interior and exterior vehicle lighting. Vision LEDs can
be used on both new and older vehicles to replace brake lights, taillights, side
markers and back-up lights; plus interior dome, glove compartment and trunk lights.?
Philips also offers upgraded halogen bulbs in its Vision, VisionPlus, and X-treme
Vision lines, which provide 30-, 60- and 100-percent more light than stock halogen
bulbs, respectively.
Delta Tech offers LED conversion kits for specific vehicles??all the lights, front
to back,? notes Durian, including the interior as well as exterior. ?We have kits
for Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge, 1950-1970.?
Delta Tech also offers plug-in LED replacements for 7-inch round, 5-3/4-inch round,
and 200mm rectangular sealed beams. Durian emphasizes the modular construction of
all Delta Tech headlamps.
?If you break the glass, you can just replace the glass. If something goes wrong
with the driver that delivers the current, you can just replace the driver. It?s
all serviceable.?
Awesome Applications
LEDs can be used to achieve dramatic lighting effects, such as the wall-to-wall
taillights featured on Bennett?s limited-production Corvette ZX-1.
More subtle is ?one of our current projects,? says Lippke, ?a 1969 Mustang Boss
429 tribute car. Every light source on it is a custom-wired-and-mounted LED, from
the headlights to the sequential taillights. But if you?re imagining a UFO with
dots of light coming from every corner of the car, or the cheesy under-glow of a
1990s street racer, you?re mistaken.?
Instead, Bennett has applied LED technology to achieve ?a factory upgraded look.
Our Mustang has backlit custom gauges, and all interior lights, all exterior marker
lights and signals are upgraded with plug-in replacement-style LEDs. The courtesy
lights are LEDs. Even the lamps to light the backside of the radio and heater controls?every
single lamp is going to be an LED.?
Most of the lights look stock until they are turned on?then the additional brightness
of the LEDs is readily apparent. (And Mustangs, of course, didn?t come with sequential
taillights.) The one exception involves the ?69?s quad headlights, where each of
the obviously more modern lenses is divided vertically by a thin strip of bright
trim.
?It?s a styling thing,? says Lippke, ?like the tri-bar headlights that were popular
in the ?90s, only more like the modern luxury cars that come with LEDs.?
Also, Lippke notes, LED lamps can appear slightly yellow when they are off, ?and
the chrome bar disguises that.?
?Normally we look for the best appearance when the lights are off,? says Tim Allen,
manager of Miranda Built Inc. in Palm City, Florida. ?It?s all about appearance.
Whether you have a $10,000 hot rod or a $500,000 work of art, newer lighting makes
everything look better. So we generally head into the LED family, especially for
older cars where voltage and amperage limits play a big part.?
Allen favors lamps and components from Speaker Engineered Lighting Systems and Truck-Lite.
?They look really nice and produce amazing lighting.?
?We use a lot of LED lighting in the vehicles we build,? adds Blake Meaux, owner
of Mo? Muscle Cars in Conroe, Texas, ?with most receiving LEDs to light-up the interior
at night, or to lend a showroom touch to a beautiful engine bay. For instance, we
recently used red LEDs to light-up the interior of a ?69 Cougar.?
The Mo? Muscle Cougar is black with red accents, inside and out. The wheels are
painted black. Even the taillights appear black until illuminated red by sequential
LEDs.
?The red LED lighting complements the red stitching on the black leather seats,?
Meaux continues, ?as well as the red stripes on the hood scoop and on the side of
the car. We even had red LEDs built into the custom gauges we installed. The LEDs
combined with the red accents on the car really give the vehicle a sinister look
that demands respect.?
(You can watch a video of the car by searching for ?Mo? Muscle Cougar? on YouTube.)
Glenn See, owner of The Garaj Mahal in South Greenback, Tennessee, recently installed
color-changing halo lights on a ?71 Camaro Super Sport.
?It?s Marina Blue with white Rallye stripes, and otherwise appearing pretty doggone
stock,? See says. ?The customer does plan to put Cragars on it and some engine dress-up
items. Hey, if I had been a high-school kid in the ?70s, what would I have done
with this car??
The halo lights are controlled via a handheld remote. ?You can program them to change
from red to green to blue, or you can program them to automatically change every
few seconds, if you are sitting at a show and want to catch people?s eyes.?
Delta Tech offers both HID and LED headlamps with halo accents.
?They are a daytime running light that turns on automatically with your ignition,?
says Durian, ?but then you can leave them on at a show, because they don?t draw
much current.?
Interior & Accent Lighting
?Ninety-nine percent of our business is restoration,? See reports, ?whether it?s
a muscle car or a classic Hudson or Packard. But a small number of clients who drive
their cars want better lighting. So we have installed LED headlights on a few cars.?
See has also found it to be ?real popular to enhance the interior lighting, to mimic
the mood lighting that you see in a Mercedes, Lincoln or Cadillac these days with
ambient LED lighting hidden behind a strip of wood, or underneath the door handles,
or along the bottom of the dash.? And if the owners show the car where it?s judged
for authenticity, ?they don?t turn those lights on, and no one can see them.?
According to See, it?s all part of a familiar trend. ?A majority of our customers
are retirement age or getting close to it. They?ve saved their pennies, and now
they want the car they had in high school, or the car they wished they had in high
school. But they also want that car to match the convenience of the Lexus sitting
next to it in their garage. When they go out in the Lexus, it sure is convenient
to have that ambient interior lighting, or a map light, and all the other things
we take for granted in a modern car.?
Allen adds that an ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System allows builders to offer ?dimmable
interior lights and time-delayed headlights and taillights?just like you would find
in mid-level and luxury vehicles today.?
?The most interesting lighting product right now is the projector puddle lamps that
mount at the bottom of a car door,? notes Garrett Lusk, service & parts manager
for Mo? Muscle Cars. ?They are simple to install, and you can get just about any
custom design made for them. For some they can be a little over the top, but when
they are done right, they really can add a cool custom touch to your ride.?
Durian suggests a wide range of applications, beginning with safety door lights.
?When you open the doors of an old two-door car, especially, you take up the whole
lane. When you open the doors of our Camaro show car, LED lights automatically light
up at edge of the door. And then soft blue LEDs in the door jamb illuminate your
path to get into the vehicle.?
Under-hood and trunk lights are also popular. ?And with LEDs, you can work on the
car all night and not kill the battery.?
Installation & Wiring style='font-size: 11.5pt;
Replacing a stock incandescent light with an LED lamp is pretty straightforward?usually.
?In many cases,? notes Mike Nixon, Mo? Muscle Cars? mechanical manager, ?LED lamps
can be installed into original light sockets. Complete taillight assemblies are
offered for many of the popular muscle cars and ?50s classics. And as newer technology
has been developed, the components needed to power the lights have gotten smaller,
making installing the systems simpler.?
Factory wiring in most cases is not an issue, either.
?However, when LED lamps are installed in a turn signal circuit, a ?dummy? load
or a special flasher relay must be installed to add the necessary amperage to function
correctly.?
Other issues can complicate installation as well.
?Since LED technology is still finding its place in the restoration market,? says
Lippke, ?we find a lot of our time is spent making modifications to both the new
parts and the original parts to create a seamless fit.?
The headlights on the Bennett Mustang, for example, rely on a finned heat dissipator
that doesn?t fit through the original bucket, ?so we had to clearance it out. And
we had to make some modifications to the backup light housings? to provide clearance
for the wiring. ?The lamps are supposed to be plug-and-play, but they can?t make
them universal to every car.?
And even when retaining a stock appearance, Lippke recommends replacing original
turn signal and taillight lenses that may have ?fogged? over the years with brand-new
units. Six-volt LED lamps are available for owners sufficiently devoted to strict
authenticity who want to retain a six-volt electrical system.
?We?ll put those in a car from the 1930s,? said Lippke, ?and they will provide actual
visibility while driving in the dark.?
When buying LEDs, especially, you do have to know your supplier?and the product.
?There are a lot of places selling cheap ones,? Lippke cautions, adding that the
LED lamps sold in some auto-supply chain stores ?look cool, but are actually dimmer
than the original bulbs. You need to find out how many lumens the lamps produce.
The good ones, from Delta Tech and other reputable suppliers, are much brighter
and safer.?
?Do your research,? Allen advises. ?Not all LED and lighting companies are the same.
If the price looks too good to be true, you might want to steer clear.?
Brightening Sales
The best sales strategies for new lighting are those well-proven for just about
all components: know your product, keep it in stock, and wherever practical allow
customers to see and touch it.
?The most effective method I use to sell lighting or any other upgrades,? says Lusk,
?is by having a vehicle at the shop that already has these upgrades installed. Show
the customer how the final result will look, and it almost guarantees the sale.?
?We have a display unit at trade shows,? says Durian, ?and we let people turn the
switch on, and they can?t believe it. ?You mean I am driving with that today, when
LED light could be so much better!???
?Having products that customers can look at, touch, feel, and turn on really helps,?
Snow agrees. ?And make sure your customers know that there are options to increase
lighting performance.?
?As lighting continues to improve,? adds Meaux, ?we look forward to installing the
latest and greatest that manufacturers have to offer. I personally am a fan of custom
lighting fixtures for vehicles and I look forward to incorporating more of them
into future builds. Those combined with LED and HID technology make for a cool setup
that can accent your favorite part of the car.?
?More light is a powerful selling tool,? Hines concludes. ?Put more light on the
road, and you?ll put more cash in your pocket.?