[ben72227]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/9777070/?GT1=7128

It seems a Vanderbilt Graduate student was messing with LED lights (you know those red and blue laser lights, they use them in Deville taillights I think...) and he did something that was thought to be impossible - he made an LED light shine white light. This is VERY good because LED's are much brighter than regular lights, don't produce heat, and consume much less energy than normal lights. We could seriously see lightbulbs phased out in less than 10 years because of this; thats how big of a deal it is...

 

[powerglide]

Oh yeah, this is HUGE news man.
Scientists have spent millions and years trying to make it happen.

 

[[email protected]]

I'm puzzled, white LEDs have been avaiable for ages, I saw pictures of a cluster of them designed to replace house bulbs a couple of years ago:

 

[Playdrv4me]

Ya, white LEDs have been around for a while, my Sony plasma TV has the logo lit up with them.

 

[davesdeville]

Better than bulbs
Until the last decade, LEDs could only produce green, red, and yellow light, which limited their use. Then came blue LEDs, which have since been altered to emit white light with a light-blue hue.

There has never been a real white LED, they were all blue LEDs that could almost do white, but there was always a blue tint to the light.

 

[Kdirk]

Yeah, what he said. I am surprised by the pace of LED development the last several years, we are in for some big changes. Bear in mind that LED's were initially developed in the 1960's, the first color was red and most were not of very high brightness (relative to some available now). Next came green in the late 70's and then yellow then orange.

It's funny that not much happened other than two new colors for the first 25+ years of LED technology, then in the 90's - BOOM - things started to change. I remember the first blue LED's, I thought this was an incredible breakthrough as I had done some heavy reading on the subject and know of the technical struggle to acheive this.

Then came the 4 chip LED, that could product almost full visible spectrum light - red, green, blue, yellow, purple, composite white, and many shades in between by varying supply voltage to the 4 different chips in one package (1 red, 1 green, 2 blue) and then finally the pseudo white LED's that have been around now for a few years.

I for one have been looking forward to the day when covnentional light bulbs could be obsoleted by this technology. Think of the implications - virtually never having repalce to a household lamp or a headlamp. The resulting reduction in waste, the energy savings and the improved safety (LED's make no heat, reducing the risk of burns and fires from the lamp contacting flammable materials) are major developments.

A change in lighting technology seems insignificant in the big picture because lighting is ubiquitos, but this is going to be a major development. Now if they can get the cost down and make LED lamps that are dimmable they will have solved all the obstacles preventing a large scale rollout.

KDirk

 

[[email protected]]

I remember blue LED's coming out.
They were £13 each at the time when red/green/orange ones were pennies.

The only problem I have with LEDs as rear lights on cars is that it's not apparent if they are running with sidelights on or are braking (because for braking they just light up a few more in teh cluster).
A friend of mine fitted them to his car but after a few near misses with drivers almsot running into the back of him he refitted the original twin filament regular bulbs.

 

[mccombie_5]

I remember blue LED's coming out.
They were £13 each at the time when red/green/orange ones were pennies.

The only problem I have with LEDs as rear lights on cars is that it's not apparent if they are running with sidelights on or are braking (because for braking they just light up a few more in teh cluster).
A friend of mine fitted them to his car but after a few near misses with drivers almsot running into the back of him he refitted the original twin filament regular bulbs.

What type of car was it?

 

[Spyder]

Yea, I've always been rather impressed with LED brakelights that I've seen...they seem much more noticeable to me. Did he use some aftermarket ones that maybe were of poor quality?

 

[Jesda]

It would be nice to have my white reverse tail light actually showing whats behind me.

 

[PAW 47]

The only down side is failure of the LED. Say a few go out after your 36K mile warranty goes out are you going to spend 400 bucks for a new rear light assy. No way..and no thank you, I'd rather pay a 1.50 for a new blub, then say 400.00

 

[[email protected]]

It was on a Ford Focus which has those high positioned tail lamps.

They use a dual filament bulb to show sidelight/brake light.

You can get them in several popular fitments.

 

[ElDawgg 2G]

Hello...

It would be nice to have my white reverse tail light actually showing whats behind me.

Jesda- you should check out the back-up light on the 2006 DTS...BLINDING!

 

[Stoneage_Caddy]

i refitted my rears with LED stuff , there is one 1157 30 segement in each side and one 1157 24 segment , then 4 sets of four seperate segments that line down the sides of the lamp houseing for brake and turn...then 2 7 led segemnts for the 3rd brake light ....basicly there is 70 leds per tailight (not counting the bottom section wich has a 4 led 194 series bulb so technicly 74 per side)

belive me , folks know when i hit the brakes ....i have half the useable area as a 2000-2005 deville and im produceing roughly the same ammount fo light ...

the only issue right now is a socket issue that just needs a cleaning and adjusting , one bulb got burned pretty bad when the stock sockets went bad

 

[turbojimmy]

The only problem I have with LEDs as rear lights on cars is that it's not apparent if they are running with sidelights on or are braking (because for braking they just light up a few more in teh cluster).

The Devilles light up a thin bar of red LEDs on the outside of the lens for tail lamp purposes. It's cool because they follow the lines of the body down to the bumper. When you brake or hit the turn signals the rest of the lamp lights up. It's very obvious and very bright.

I've noticed on some newer cars the tail light assemblies are made up of bigger LEDs. I like the look of lots of little ones that make up an assembly rather than a small number of larger ones (like on the Infiniti G35s - don't like 'em).

I'm not sure about the longevity of an LED versus a filament bulb, but I thought I read somewhere that the life of an LED is well beyond the useful life of any vehicle. It's only when they get hit (or submerged in muddy water) that they fail. Mine were $100 each (new GM overstock).

Jim