Project scrapped

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
1

Well, I feel kind of bad about the whole thing, but I am going to scrap the project. It has caused some controversy on the home front, once my wife realized what I was going to do. She's a stickler about "the law", any law, every law, while I am... well.... OK, I don't mind bending the rules sometimes if I feel it won't hurt anyone or if I justify it in my own mind. Hey, that's just the truth. Anyhow, since I don't bite the hand that feeds me, then I will be scrapping the project.

I should have never started it, sorry guys...

I had to replace the H4/2006 low beams in my 2003 Corolla. I did not want to buy the stock bulbs, but I really did not want to pay for the Silverstars or for the better LED bulbs out, with cooling fans.

So, you know how it goes...

20061a

I thought maybe I could do something with the stock bulbs. Maybe build something by removing the bulb and keep the housing, so it will still fit into the car like it should.

20061b

So, I cut the bulb off, right at the base, leaving the section of metal housing that is molded into the plastic holder. I will clean off the sharp edges later. I just used a fine toothed hacksaw for the cuts.

20061c

I also decided to remove part of the back side, to give a flat surface for a heat sink to set against. I used the natural parting line already there, from the molding of the holder. I marked it with a marker and cut it with a hacksaw.

20061d

Plastic is easy to cut.

20061e

Then I trimmed off the elbow section and used a file and sandpaper to make a nice flat end.

20061f

I used a file to clean up the front a little.

20061g

The opening in front is now about 10mmx7mm, so I am thinking about cutting a piece from this copper bar. It's 7mm thick and I just need to cut strips off it. This would be where I solder the center pads to the Four XM-L2 leds and it would take heat out to a fan cooled heat sink.

20061h

I figure I can go 30-32mm length of the copper bar and that's plenty for adding four XM-L2 leds.

20061i

I am fairly lucky with the amount of room I have. I think one of the heatsink fans below will work. I'm figuring four XM-L2 neutral white to warm white wired series, so I can go DD to the stock harness and the fan is also 12V, so everything should work.

20061j

20061k

You know, I just gotta try!Laughing

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The more I think about this, the more I hesitate to buy anything for it. I have a box of PC parts, so I think I will just use a heat sink and fan I already have. I also have several used XM-L leds, although they are cool white, but I would at least know if I wanted to take it further and spend the money, or not. I can make up one light and really get to see the difference between it and the stock bulb.

I think that's a more economical idea. -----------------------------------------

2

I am thinking that the "brightest" Sylvania bulbs are about 3100 lumens and about 4000K, so I figure four XM-L or Xm-L2 at about 4000-4500K ought to put out just a little more than the Sylvania bulbs do. All I have to do is find a real good price on 8 of them.Undecided

No place to go shoot beam shots at 1AM, without waking someone, so I just did it in the garage. At least when I put in the mod, I can do a mouseover. These are the stock low beams.

toy1

1 second shutter

toy2

1/4 second shutter

What I am most interested in is how the cut off will be affected.

3

oh man, i cant wait to see how this will turn out… very very interesting. please dont forget the beam shots…too bad you didnt take beam shots of your old headlights for comparison

4

The copper might be able to go clear to the tip even if you don’t use the last 10 mm.

5

If you get a fairly decent beam, will it be road legal?

6

+1 surely this is just going to flood everything infront of you. Not ideal for a low beam?

7

No matter how good it looks it won't be road "legal" unless it passes and is approved by the DOT. For example, most if not all aftermarket headlights and modifications are not DOT approved and therefore not street legal.

8

well hear is a heatsink you might be able to (has screw holes for mounting a standard 80mm computer fan (might need a shroud to keep stuff from getting into the fan and making it not spin)

http://www.fasttech.com/products/1506/10001927/1173705

I know it doesn’t help on the LED side

I have seen an image like that, they have 2 LED’s side by side on both top and bottom of the copper bar, maybe 4x of them in series will be able to handle the 12vdc of a standard automotive system

Found this one…if it gives you an idea, maybe drilling out that heatsink, pressing in the bar, the dielectric sits on the outside of the bar, direct heat bond down the middle (these only have one LED, the one I am looking for has two XM-L side by side


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1set-20w-cree-xml-led-chip-9006-led-headlight-cree-led-headlight-H8-H9-H11-9005/1761504865.html

How about some of those Nichia?? emitters

Beamshots of sorts

Oh…here is the double XM-L

Just to give you an idea of where to go if you haven’t already figured it out yet :wink:

9

I will take a beam shot of the low beams tonight. I just put in regular standard 2006 bulbs in and I will do some kind of a beam shot for comparison. I also need to read the voltage with the car running and the lights on.

10

Why would it flood everything? An incandescent bulb has no direction, it is omnidirectional, flooding light out at all angles. The reflector and position of the bulb in the reflecvtor is what controls the pattern of the beam in an incandescent light. If anything, the leds should not be as floody, or they may cause dark spots, because they are not omnidirectional and because there will be a center post that they are attached to. I do not believe they will be any more floody than the incandescent bulbs. Just my thoughts.

No, of course they will not be street legal. No more legal than all of the blue lights and HID conversions I see on the road every single night. I believe the color will be much of the key as to the problem of being too bright. If I can stay around 4000k, they should not be blinding. It's the cool white and neutral white lights that blind. Again, just my thoughts. Am I worried about being illegal? Well, truthfully, No. If I feel that they are too bright, then I will take them out. It's more of "can I do this mod", than "can I run with them". It's all in the doing, not the viewing for me.

11

These bulbs that you can buy in any store, the high powered replacement bulbs, that are "stronger and brighter" than stock, like the Silverstars, are DOT legal and from what I can gather, they are more like 65 watt, than 55 watt, so how do they get DOT approval? They are also more like 4000k than 3000k, so again, how are they able to get DOT approval? Even a stock bulb is 55 watt and yes, less efficient than a LED, so with four XM-L, maybe 40 watt, maybe less, but more lumens? Time will tell. I just want to see if I can do it and how they actually come out. I have seen bunches of photos, but until I see them myself, I don't know how they will look in a car.

12

I’ve been thinking of doing this for a long time, but I don’t have your magic. Plus my car has a system that monitors power consumption of each bulb (except one) to tell if one has burn…it is useful with bulb, but a pain in the ass if you want to replace with led lights…it can detect the difference between a 3W and a 5W bulb :weary:

I am looking forward to what you’ll accomplish this time :beer:

13

It wouldn’t take much to fool that circuit, all it’s doing is monitoring resistance, figure out the resistance of each bulb and add a few resistors and that would be solved.

14

The more I think about this, the more I hesitate to buy anything for it. I have a box of PC parts, so I think I will just use a heat sink and fan I already have. I also have several used XM-L leds, although they are cool white, but I would at least know if I wanted to take it further and spend the money, or not. I can make up one light and really get to see the difference between it and the stock bulb.

I think that's a more economical idea.

15

Just for thought. . HID kit 35w is only about $34/shipped and it’s 3500 lumens… I’m sure the cost of LEDs and the work involved modifying these bulbs is just not worth it :slight_smile:

16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyh-JpWdGmQ

17

I agree with you DayLighter. Almost every thing we do here is not “worth it”. Part of why I (and I bet you too) love it here.

Can’t wait to see the results. If the beam cuts off below the bottom of windshields, you probably won’t get any hassles from the Man.

18

Shh are you crazy?! Don’t distract him!

19

And put those in your stock housings and you will blind other drivers.

20

We’re all beam snobs here, let’s be honest. If you put HID bulbs in reflector housings, you will be disappointed.

Tbh, you’re probably going to have the same problem here. Automotive reflectors are actually quite complex in order to get the beam shape and light distribution needed.

If you really want to do a LED retrofit, bake the headlights apart in the oven, and get automotive grade TIRs and then you can have the most glorious DIY headlights ever.