LED Lighting

[djh3]

I am looking towards an LED headlight assy for the Victory. There are a few aftermarket jobs available that fall in my budget. I have allways thought that more watts means more light. Now looking at some of these lights I dunno how they get rated. The Lumins of them are all rite around like 3450 high beam 2800 low. But the watts run from 60w high to 40w high and 40w low down to 28. So what (lol) gives. Is lumins lumins and it dont matter how many watts anymore? OR do I stay with the old school more is better?

[Marcarl]

In my thinking,,,, watts is power consumed and and lumens is light output. Then there is a difference between reflectors and placement of light source in regards to the reflector. Further there is color temperature to be aware of, some color shines better and further than others. Put that altogether and you got me confused for sure.

[Kretz]

Watts measure energy (actually power input or output), Lumens have one of those long ISO definitions but in short Lumens measure brightness (ie the LIGHT output).

Basically a light may give out more Lumens but use more or less watts to do it than another light unit (efficiency, reflector design etc)

Many people put LED "bulbs" into their vehicles that have reflectors that were not designed for LED's & that's why many vehicles cause glare & scattered light. The reflectors weren't designed for the way in which an LED bulb distributes it's light.

When comparing bulbs always compare like with like Lumens to Lumens OR Watts to Watts

There are charts online that give "approximate" conversions but as stated above they can only be approximations depending upon the design of the unit.

Hope that helps.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Kretz

[Flyinfool]

One you tread into the world of LEDs, none of the old rules you thought you knew apply any more.

 

If bulb A is 2500 lumins and 60 W and bulb B is 2500 lumins at 40 W. That means that they will both output the exact same about of light but bulb B will do it using less electricity.

 

Watts has a direct mathematical relationship to amps, so if you take your 60W ÷ the bikes 14 volts running you get 4.29 amps. So watts is noting but the total amps that the light will draw from your electrical system. It has absolutely no bearing on light output. The difference in watts between 2 LEDs of the same brightness is in the efficiency of the driver circuits that are taking bike power and converting it to the power that the LED needs. Also some LED technologies will produce more light on less power that other technologies not even including the driver efficiency.

 

SO do I now have you totally cornfused?

[djh3]

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view5/2179547/wile-e-coyote-o.gifDaaaa you bet. So a 40w light that puts out 3400 on high beam should be better than one using 50w. The lights I am looking at are kind of like the daymaker jobs the HD guys have. Its a complete LED unit that bolts in. Len housing and heat sink.

Like this.