24v to 13.8v converters

[Jim Blackwood]

Good optics are not a happy accident. Much time and effort goes into engineering a good reflector and lens, and if the location of the hot spot  in the element moves by even a very small fraction of an inch, the optics become garbage.

Now look at how the emitters are made and compare the hot spot of an incadescent, a halogen, and an LED. The LED emitter is very different and is spread over a much larger area. So the light is not going to come from the same place and it isn't going to be reflected the same. The pattern will be off and it will have a lot more spread and the cutoff, if it exists at all will be much higher than it should be. The bright light will be out of bounds and will blind oncoming drivers.

A proper reflector and lens for an LED light has to be designed for the LED emitter in the first place in order to work the way it should.

Jim

[chessie4905]

Some of the leds can be rotated in their sockets if the pattern isn't correct. Get the bulbs through Amazon. If the pattern causes every car you encounter to run off the road, crash and go up in flames, then return the bulbs. The good leds don't cause the issues that the Walmart ones do. Besides, the idiots that buy the cheap ones so their cars look cool. They have no clue about patterns or adjustments. Proper time spent after installation to adjust pattern will give good results.

[richard5933]

The final connector arrived today - got everything installed and I'm impressed. Maybe not as much light as LEDs, but certainly a huge improvement over what we had before. I'm calling this project a success.

I did order some properly colored & striped wire, and I plan to rewire between the panel and the headlights sometime this summer to increase the wire size. After that I can reconsider my options for improved lighting moving forward.

[richard5933]

Just a quick update after a few days of driving with the new setup...

The new setup did away with the DRLs, so I've been running with lights on most of the time. Headlights are noticeably brighter and much more useful. Converters run cool to the touch with no sign of heat building up.

For now I'm calling this project complete and successful (but subject to future upgrades.)