LED lighting technology
While we are still arguing over whether xenon headlamps should be legal or not, the whole world has moved on with the latest in automotive lighting technology – LEDs. Some cars already have LED tail lamps – the most affordable one locally bein the Perodua Myvi. But Audi has been pioneering the use of LEDs for frontal lighting.
Audi has already made LED lighting a daytime running light option for some of it’s cars – the R8, A5, S5, S6 and the A8. LEDs can also be used as turn signals, but something new is clusters of LED lights used for low beam and high beam lights.
An LED headlamp from Audi uses a cluster of 54 LED light sources grouped together as a single light source. A single LED head lamp assembly consists of a few modules. The low-beam headlight module uses an array of four LEDs for each of the upper and lower reflector shells with range and light/dark boundary via the plastic lens from three arrays of two LEDs.
The high-beam headlight reflectors use one array of four LEDs per reflector shell, the turn signals use 8 yellow high-performance LEDs, and finally the daytime running light strips: 24 white Advanced Power TopLEDs with optical fibers for homogeneous illumination. The headlamps also have two cooling fans built into them, but they are not to cool the LEDs, instead they push the heat from the LED forwards to melt ice or snow stuck onto the lense.
Advantages that LED technology has over halogen or xenon bulbs are smaller size, increased durability, increased lifespan and low energy consumption. LEDs are also more flexible in the sense that the arrays can be configured in such a way that the classic headlamp shape is no longer necessary, thus giving the designers abit more room for creativity. Audi is confident that LED lighting will take over as the primary light source in vehicles in the future.
August 14, 2007 @ 12:54 am
Oh man, when can i see these technology in Malaysian Proton company.. Even myvi rear light has it? LED are more better then convectional bulb, and i agree that cars should have day light, just like the motorcycle doing it now on the roads..
August 14, 2007 @ 2:57 am
Just the fact that LED can never blow out won my vote already. Hope Audi won’t sell too expensively. This should be the future of headlamps.
August 14, 2007 @ 7:22 am
Low cost should come out after mass production.
August 14, 2007 @ 8:04 am
just wonder what is the brightness can LED achieves?
same or better than HID or xenon or even conventional hologen bulb?
the second concern will be the price as previous post.
good thing dont come cheap
August 14, 2007 @ 8:44 am
some lorry/trailer already use LED.
proton when?
August 14, 2007 @ 8:45 am
Durability/ Reliability may still be one of the things that manufacturers are concerned abt.
How long could it last?
When one LED is burnt out for example, could that particular piece be replaced easily? I have seen some Merc’s tail lights sporting LEDs, but with one or two LEDs burnt/unlit. When change, it have to be the whole cluster?
Same goes to the Traffic lights using LEDs. This big LEDs by phillips seems not to last. You can see a few of the LEDs not lit.
August 14, 2007 @ 9:36 am
hohoho i predict next 5 years baru our beloved protonG put LED as lights. when ABS, EBD and others current safety tech…….are obselete, baru diaorang put into their model as standard features……hohoho
August 14, 2007 @ 9:53 am
hehehe.. even traffic light used LED. Proton…. blue lip lap lip lap the one sell at KEDAI ABANG.
August 14, 2007 @ 10:10 am
yeah…LED is nice looking too, but once broken, i think its a bit expensive. But im prefer LED back light for my future Proton Sedan..:)
August 14, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Apathy said,
August 14, 2007 @ 9:36 am
hohoho i predict next 5 years baru our beloved protonG put LED as lights. when ABS, EBD and others current safety tech…….are obselete, baru diaorang put into their model as standard features……hohoho
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ABS, EBD etc. still not obsolute! It still can found in today’s luxury cars and in the future. The thing is that most car manufacturers equiped those safety features as standard much earlier than the Proton.
August 14, 2007 @ 11:27 am
What are you guys talking about? ABS EBD obsolete? It will obsolete only when all of us use helicopter as transport, even aeroplane also need ABS EBD
And whats up with the pointlesss proton bashing here? Whats the matter if they dont use LED? I bet if proton use LED in their new sedan people will also say they copy other maker and pretend hightech.
August 14, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
i’m agree too. this topic is about LED, but some one who is not intelligent enough simply come and put proton here to bash.what a sick mentality, which we can laugh back to the basher as it comes from some 85’s geek.
August 14, 2007 @ 1:13 pm
agree…. Lets continue LED topic.
Since G banned HID convertion, the LED still legal but still expensive in malaysia. Hope got local company who can produce and sell in cheaper price
August 14, 2007 @ 2:05 pm
“The headlamps also have two cooling fans built into them, but they are not to cool the LEDs, instead they push the heat from the LED forwards to melt ice or snow stuck onto the lense”
Cool! I think I can foresee our DIY enthusiasts rushing to buy plastic boards and lotsa LEDs for their personalised LED headlamps already :p
August 14, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
Thousand apologies to all as i was using my arse this morning to think.
August 14, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
I hope LED will get into mass market production so that cost will be reduced. As it is, ultra bright LED are so expensive. Perhaps the manufacturers are making a fast buck since only a few of them have the technology now. They should drop when China starts manufacturing.
August 14, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
still waiting.. right now i’m just using torch light with cheap LED.. it good for bright up the dark area.. but not good enough to reach distance.
August 14, 2007 @ 7:52 pm
LED rox !
August 14, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
i tot corolla_KE70 is from 85′ year model… ???
August 14, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
Toyota KE 70 if i’m not mistaken is around 80 or 82..any lights is okay as long as i can see clearly at night…I noticed some cars using extremely bright,almost white headlights, really irritates my eyes at night while driving..any info anyone?Not very sure of lights technologies…
August 15, 2007 @ 2:08 am
Cire said,
August 14, 2007 @ 8:45 am
When one LED is burnt out for example, could that particular piece be replaced easily?
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I dunno. But from my schooldays learning Kemahiran Hidup, soldering an LED onto a PCB was defintely easier than algerbra
August 15, 2007 @ 8:56 am
Guys, typical high power LEDs can last for up to 20,000hrs, very low heat generation, vibration resistant and instant on/off. And you can adopt a lot of creative design into your headlamp as well. At the moment, LEDs are only used as signalling lights, brake lights and daytime running lights. The approval of LEDs as main forward lighting by ECE standards is expected to become a reality only in 2008 (its still illegal! ).
Proton DID invest in LED lighting and was in fact going to introduce a prototype at the last Geneva Motorshow fitted into a “cutting edge vehicle electronics” proton car. However, LED headlamp was deemed to be too expensive by the management. So, the development of the headlamp is put on hold along with the new car.
Guys, Proton has a lot of new gadgets and cars but they cant introduce them to us just yet. The market is too small and it would be too expensive. You cant compare Proton to other global car manufacturers. They have a big market and they can introduce new technology at a lower price.
Proton needs to expand their market first and they need our support.
Happy 50th Merdeka guys!
August 15, 2007 @ 11:10 am
haha.. corolla_KE70 is from 80’s to 83’s if not mistaken.. let get to the topic again shall we?not heart feeling..
August 15, 2007 @ 11:14 am
mzfnd,
Hopefully next time if anything like that happens, we can simply cabut the panel and go to nearest electronic shop and buy a replacement LED. Then we solder it back on our own. Whoa, save the mechanic costs.
Haha.
I wonder how will LED high beam be. I am skeptical about its maximum intensity. It will suffice if we’re talking about ‘being seen in the dark’, but what about ’seeing in the dark’?
August 15, 2007 @ 11:24 am
if really LED will be the future of car lighting then someone might developing one that can be “plug and play” type…
whenever there a burned LED, owner can change by their own or by their SC…… just “plug and play”…… change LED by LED…. or just a panel change which house few LED together rather than whole Headlight…
should be under development…..
August 16, 2007 @ 2:42 am
Come to think of it, how would it looks like when we arrange a cluster of white LEDs to form the headlights? Glittering diamonds? Paint your car gold and you got yourself one heck of a bling-bling.
August 31, 2007 @ 12:58 am
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