Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
What power LED would provide enough light for an automotive headlamp?
LED devices are available at 10W, 50W, 100W etc. I am interested in designing a headlamp and possibly building a prototype. I don't want to use one that is more light than necessary because of the extra heat and extra cost. Is there a lighting engineer that knows what size LED with today's technology would be needed for an automotive headlamp?
1 Answer
- JoeLv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
Remember that there are federal standards that have to be met before you can use your headlight on the road. But if you want to play around with models and prototypes, go right ahead.
Having said that: Incandescent and halogen headlamps are usually 50 - 60 Watts. Figuring that LEDs are about five times as energy efficient, a LED lamp that consumes 10 Watts is probably the right size.
Note that "consumes 10 Watts" is not the same as "equivalent to a 10 Watt incandescent bulb" as a package label.
Good luck. I think that your greatest challenge will be in designing a reflector that can produce a good, tight headlamp beam from the rather diffuse LED light source.