ruby roost
hi, i'm looking for some powerful LED replacements for the backup light and the front fog lights in my car, because the stock ones in my car are so weak i might as well use candles. do you know of any good ones?
the fog lights are H11, idk the name of the backup light but it's one of those round bulbs like the ones for the indicators
thank you so much in advance, everything i've found so far looked like a scam
plain skiff
Lots of conversations about LED as of late, all where the owner failed to do research before buying cheap China stuff. They can melt the housing, or destroy the beam pattern to the point of being nothing but a hazard to oncoming drivers.
The jest is that unless you are willing to fork over serious cash on something like the Sylvania (even those are questionable at $100/pair as there is no guarantee your housing will not melt), you are better off staying with an H11 halogen, and upgrade to something like the Sylvania H11 SilverStar ULTRA.
My 2 cents...
ruby roost
Lots of conversations about LED as of late, all where the owner failed to do res...
wouldn't those draw more power than stock headlights? it's not like Fiat is known for oversizing their wiring harnesses, and i'm running very close to the alternator's max output
the main reason why i wanted leds was the lower power consumption
plain skiff
??? Does your car bog down when you turn on your headlights?
Bulbs aint the fix for that!
ruby roost
for now there is no issue, but i'm afraid that i might run into some issues if i use bulbs that need more power, especially for the backup light since it has the original wiring harness and those wires are very thin
also i'm going to test my theory as sono as i can but i should only have 50w left to spare before the battery stops charging
scenic coral
wouldn't those draw more power than stock headlights? it's not like Fiat is know...
No they wont draw any more current. LED brightness can also be deceptive because the light is not focused properly in a halogen housing. Foglights are not supposed to be bright anyway. They are supposed to be low mount lower intensity light source for situations when the fog is so intense to use low beam. If you are concerned with power draw simply turn the fog lights off.
scenic coral
also i'm going to test my theory as sono as i can but i should only have 50w lef...
How have you calculated this?
ruby roost
3.5h to charge the battery on a 50 ah battery before i added the fog lights, but to make sure i'm planning to connect resistors to the battery until the battery light turns on
scenic coral
??
Im sorry but you have a flawed understanding of electricity and how a cars electrical system works.
scenic coral
Fair enough.
How did you measure the battery state of charge and are there any other symptoms?
ruby roost
i assumed it was dead because the volt meter said 10v and assumed it was charged when it said 13v (highest voltage it can reach, it's not new)
scenic coral
Is this with the engine running?
Does the battery terminals read 13-14v with the engine running?
ruby roost
it's somewhere around 14.5v with the engine running
i measured with the engine turned off and after waiting 10 minutes (if i check immediately the number is higher)
also now the battery caps out at 11.8v because it's ben 2 years since i measured and idk how old this battery is but at least pre-covid
scenic coral
Since its at the proper voltage when running the alternator is not the bottle neck.
I suspect you have a bad battery that is not holding on the power as it should or a parasitic draw.
ruby roost
i'm sure it's bad now, didn't know it was bad then but at this point i've push started my car more times than i can count because it dies if i keep the lights on for more than 20 minutes with the engine off
how do i check if there's a parasitic load? i'm assuming one doesn't esclude the other
scenic coral
Sounds like your battery is garbo
lights on for more than 20 minutes
Bruh. Dont do that lol
Even a good battery cant keep all the lights on for more than an hour.
ruby roost
> lights on for more than 20 minutes
Bruh. Dont do that lol
it usually happens by accident, mostly on long road trips when i stop to rest and forget to turn then off, and it happened once on the side of the road with hazard lights
but a couple years ago it would be fine even after 2-3 hours
also about the parasitic load, if i leave the car sitting there for a week and it still starts does that mean i don't have one?
scenic coral
You forgetting to turn of the lights is not something we can help you with lol. Most cars have the ability to only turn on the markers for one side in situations where you want the car to be visible and last for over 48h.
A car battery will loose capacity if its empty. If it gets low enough to need a push/jumpstart more than like 5 times the battery is damaged. I would not worry about parasitic draw yet, get a new battery and remember to turn off the lights.
ruby roost
thanks, i'll definitely do that
but about the backup light i was still hoping to get a bit more light and i'm not sure if the wiring harness can handle the extra draw
my car only has a single light and it's about as bright as an indicator light, if i have passengers i've literally had to ask them to hold a flashlight from the window so i could see
scenic coral
The backup light is a marker light for alerting that you are reversing. It is not supposed to light up the enviroment.
ruby roost
it kind of is tho, otherwise how are you supposed to see where you're going in reverse?
plain skiff
The backup light is a marker light for alerting that you are reversing. It is no...
I'd have to disagree with that.
scenic coral
It’s not the primary function at least
plain skiff
Sorry, but we disagree again...
No biggie...
ruby roost
well the primary function the manufacturer cares about is to comply with regulations, and the panda 169 tends to run as close to the bare minimum on these things
scenic coral
Never seen a car where the reverse light is bright enough to make a difference.
ruby roost
i have
literally any car i've driven that wasn't a citycar
and i am including a 1993 transit RV in this list
the reverse lights on that are almost as bright as the low beams
scenic coral
Brake lights are quite bright and you could use those. Learn to remember your surroundings and navigate using spacial awareness when reversing in the dark.
ruby roost
yeah that's a great solution for parking in reverse and other basic maneuvers but it's not that uncommon over here to be forced to drive half a kilometer in reverse
and it's not impossibile to do with this wimpy light either, it's just that reversing uphill at 2-3 km/h sucks because it means i can't fully let go of the clutch which i'm pretty sure isn't good
also, sometimes people walk behind cars and if i see them with my brake lights it's probably too late
plain skiff
While I cant recall if all of my past cars (20+) had these lights, all that did have them were effective for night vision.
BTW, I tried a red backup light on my Jag, and the color red simply does not reflect off anything. Branch, earth and stone were near invisible.
Put the white unit back in within weeks.
ruby roost
ruby roost
well, i guess i'll have to risk it
scenic coral
https://www.osram.it/ecat/LEDriving%20SL%20P21W%20WHITE-LEDriving%20SL%20P21W-LE...
High quality bulb and is your best bet for a decent pattern. But its still not road legal. You are better off getting a LED spotlight and hanging it on the rear bumper.
one of thease
ruby roost
High quality bulb and is your best bet for a decent pattern. But its still not r...
wouldn't that be illegal too but also very obvious?
scenic coral
As long you can switch it off individually its legal.
ruby roost
cool, that would definitely be a better option and i even have one at home
maybe i should check my locale regulations, italian regulations tend to be very strict
scenic coral
I still dont completely understand the issue but ¯_(ツ)_/¯
scenic coral
maybe i should check my locale regulations, italian regulations tend to be very ...
If you can deactive it from the drivers seat you can claim its for off road use and should not be an issue. Same with lightbars upfront. Swedish regulations are quite harsh as well.
ruby roost
yeah, i just don't want to risk it with italian cops and the current government, especially because i have long hair and an old car, so if it's legal i'm going with the spotlight but if it's a gray area i'd rather not