Solid State Lighting | Colliers Research

February 22, 2018 by CRGNow

Best LED Headlights

Best LED Headlights on the Market

We have done research on LED vs. Halogen headlights and reviewed customer feedback from some of the top LED headlights. We are able to break up the transition to LED headlights into three categories; Vehicle Compatibility, Installation and Temperature Management. The lights that work for one vehicle do not work for all. So all things considered what are the Best LED Headlights?

Before we get to that lets first consider why to consider switching to LED headlights…

Aftermarket Headlights

Why Switch From Halogen to LED?

Halogen headlights are essentially incandescent filaments with halogen atmosphere which increases brightness and filament lifetime.
Most LED’s headlight products are now brighter for a given power. This is mostly because LED technology converts more of its available electrical power into visible light. LEDs are semiconductor chips which emit light when a voltage is applied.
- Another way of saying this is that halogen headlights wastes a lot of electricity as heat. This heat over time can discolor the glass material on your car’s head lamps.
- Think luminous efficiency in lumens per watt (lm/W), a good number for LED headlights is 120 lm/W. Whereas incandescent (visible light) lumens per watt is in the 15-20 lm/W range.
Less electrical demand on the engine to produce more and whiter light is a win-win-win.
LED headlights are a higher color temperature meaning there are more blues and less red wavelengths within the white light that is produced. This is considered to be advantageous for night time driving.
Another great article on this topic.

Vehicle Compatibility

Before considering switching your vehicle over to LED headlights, save yourself some time by considering vehicle compatibility. Not all vehicles are compatible with the new LED headlights.

Amazon has a great tool developed for users to determine vehicle compatibility. I’m sure there are other ways to do this but I found that Amazon’s Your Garage tool about as fast and simple as it gets Click here:

You May Need a Conversion Kit

My vehicle (a 2003 Corolla) was not compatible with the best LED headlights but I did find a conversion kit. This conversion kit did have the polarity issue for the electrical leads mentioned above. But a simple 180 degree rotation of the electrical leads resolves it.

LED Headlight Installation

Installation ease is a factor depending on your level of car-tinkering skills. But if you’ve ever swapped out head lights before its not much more difficult. Remember some LED conversion kits have wiring polarity requirements which can be a pain for some people. If possible purchase simple plug and play which has polarity management. If you get plug in play the only tools that you may need are a flashlight and some gloves.

The bulb plugs into your vehicles head lamp housing as do most headlight bulbs. Then there is a dongle that plugs into your cars power supply for that light. This dongle has a power supply that manages the polarity and adjusts the voltage to whatever the LED’s need (likely 12V DC).

This dongle and power supply you may want to attach to the hood or tie strap it down.

Plug it in and drive away, it is that simple.

Temperature Management

Most LED bulbs have heat sinks with fans as a part f the bulb housing itself. LEDs do generate heat and this heat needs to be removed from the semiconductor chips. This is done with heat sinks and fans.

Make sure that the bulbes that you are getting will have enough room for the heat managmetn fins and fan, this is a big consideration for which bulb to purchase but the product will tell you wheter it is compatible with your vehicle or not.

Also check out what Audi is doing with LED headlights.

For now this is my recommendation for the best LED headlights.

Check out my article and recommendation for Best Laser Headlights (coming soon).

What has been your experience with LED headlights, comment below?

November 25, 2017 by CRGNow

Learn Laser Diode Basics

What is an RGB Laser Diode?

A Laser Diode is similar to an LED (light emitting diode) but its light is collimated and can be finely focused and controlled. However the light from an LED sprays out in all directions not unlike an incandescent light bulb. LEDs and laser diodes (LD) are of increasing interest to the lighting industry. Red, green and blue laser diodes are available in an increasing number of commercial packages.

White light can be created with these diodes by combining red, green, blue (RGB) in the right power ratios. Another way to make white light is to use a blue laser diode energy combined with phosphor material (often a YAG material).

The ability to create precise wavelength light and to deliver it within a collimated straight beam is impressive to me. Laser diodes bring a unique set of attributes to general illumination. Lasers enable light delivery in standard free-space configurations. They also can be easily coupled to optical fibers.

The p-n junction is the core mechanism of light generation within most laser diodes and it is a fascinating technological accomplishment. Wondering how lasers diodes work? Similar to light emitting diode (LED) which spray out light at many angles, but with added components. Watch the video below for some of the basics.

Please sign up for email updates, much more to come.

May 29, 2017 by CRGNow

Five New Ways to Use LEDs & Light Emitting Optical Fiber

Laser diode + optical fiber = The Future in Lighting

Laser diode based lighting is a powerful way to light our homes, offices and even apparel. With lasers and with optical fiber we can deliver light precisely where we want it in increasingly attractive ways.

LEDs and fiber coupled laser diodes are two lighting techniques that we can expect to see an uptick in demand.

Five Ways to Use LD and LED’s in Lighting

Christmas tree lights, whether it be a string of LED’s or a string of light diffusing fiber, both are available now to give a unique look to our holiday tree tradition.
Flash lights are increasingly being made with LED’s. LED’s are more easily controlled have color control and typically last longer than other means of lighting if made properly.
Lit ear-bud dongles. We can purchase ear bud dongles which plug into our phones and light up for an amazing experience. Using Corning’s Fibrance (R) fiber we can even sync our music to the laser light emission. The light can be made to pulse with our specific songs, check out and purchase GLOW headphones.
Lighted Apparel lights can be woven into apparel and has been for some time. Recently light emission has taken the form of a glass fibers which can be woven into apparel. Imagine a hoodie that lights up for nighttime running or your favorite sports team with a baseball hat which lights up in custom colors. Versalume LLC has done just this with their growing number of light scattering fiber applications. (see video at the end of this post).
Light pipes. Light pipes are rods or optical waveguide fibers which carry visible light from one location to another. They do not scatter the light, they deliver it wherever the light is needed. For example, I can use a plastic optical fiber as a light pipe to carry red light to my bed for night reading. I can deliver the light precisely where I want without disturbing anyone else in the room. I can easily control the laser with remote control and with USB power.

Learn some basics in laser diodes.