LED headlights upgrade worth?

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shroud

Member
Joined
Oct 10, 2018
Messages
18
Hi all,

I am wondering if replacing regular headlights bulbs on a Leaf 2015 with LEDs is worth the cost. Do you think LED lights reduce battery consumption?

Thanks!
 
You need to put the battery consumption in perspective.

LEAF can easily travel 4 miles per kilowatt-hour of power. That is 250 watt-hours per mile of travel.

A low-beam incandescent headlight bulb will consume about 50-60 watts of power; two headlights then is 100-120 watts.

So you can see that headlights on for over TWO FULL HOURS would only consume the power for 1 mile of range. LED will reclaim only a portion of that mile.

This is a fairly minor range impact. In my opinion, if this is your primary motivation for doing the conversion then it is not worth it. You can extend range much more effectively in other ways.
 
The reason I replaced my halogen bulbs with LED is because the Leaf does not maintain the 12V accesories at 14V like a ICE car does so the halogen headlights are not as bright as they should be. My LED lights have a working voltage of 8-32V so they are never dim.
 
LeftieBiker said:
There are several topics on this already. Mods, please merge.

I once tried to read the back threads on LED headlights. I found that almost every LED kit link on Amazon was a dead link. Since some kits are probably total junk, or don't work well with the Leaf, it seems like a better place would be a Wiki page listing the "current favorite" kits of the Leaf owner community.
 
specialgreen said:
I once tried to read the back threads on LED headlights. I found that almost every LED kit link on Amazon was a dead link. Since some kits are probably total junk, or don't work well with the Leaf, it seems like a better place would be a Wiki page listing the "current favorite" kits of the Leaf owner community.

With my ICE truck, I bought someone else's LED headlamps. Er, LED bulbs in halogen lenses. Big mistake. It's not necessarily a simple plug and play. Incandescent bulb mirrors work differently than LED reflectors. My LED lights gave me little "on the road" light and blinded everyone. I could sure read street signs but not see the pothole at the pole's base. I took the LEDs out and reinstalled my halogens.

If you proceed with an Amazon purchase, make sure your LED light kits are SAE compliant.
 
I already have the nissan LED low beams with tungsten high beams. I wanted brighter high beams so I put in double brightness LEDs that probably not DOT approved.
I didn't do it to save power.
I did it so I don't hit a deer, mule deer or a cow, you know like moooo cow because I live out in the country.
I figure not hitting a deer is better than saving a little power.
 
I've found that animal warning whistles - at least the larger ones - work well enough. I live in deer country too, and worked a shift for many years (20+) that had me driving both to and from work during deer "active" hours, usually in the country. I never hit anything larger than a mouse. My housemate's PIP got did get hit by a rutting deer, but it rammed her car from the rear side, so nothing would have prevented that. The Gen I Leaf's high beams truly were terrible. I put in Philip's "X-Treme" brighter halogens, but they only made a difference in unlit areas- like the country. If I had to stick with them I'd use auxiliary driving lights tied to the high beam circuit...
 
I have rewired the high beam circuit to be a slave for a relay and installed 100 watt high beams on other vehicles.
That has worked really well.
 
I popped in a pair of LEDs in place of my Halo bulbs, and I will say the increased difference just with one, much less both actually has done wonders, and yes before anyone says any thing about making sure they are aimed properly, I did re aim my lamps after the install and tested and verified with the help of a few friends and my neighbours (yes I know a bit excessive) to ensure that I am not being one of 'those drivers' with poorly aimed headlamps.


This is the set I used in my leaf.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098NS8VHL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
 
I just changed the h13 bulbs on my 2015 with some LEDs from AuxBeam, it is an great inprovement in visibility, I searched a lot and they provided me a good perspective about the position of the LEDs itself VS the position of the incandescent light, they match in depth, therefore light is reflected in the same way

Changed one at night and set the car in front of a wall, same light pattern and aiming, just a lot more brighter, went with the other one and now I can see a lot more at night

for me is a very good mod
 
I just upgraded the main and high beam headlights on my 2022 s Plus. It took all of 30 seconds per bulb. Its one of the easiest things to fix and DRAMATICALLY improves the illumination at night.. especially since the leaf 12V battery does not really run at 14.4V when being driven..
 
chennu said:
I just upgraded the main and high beam headlights on my 2022 s Plus. It took all of 30 seconds per bulb. Its one of the easiest things to fix and DRAMATICALLY improves the illumination at night.. especially since the leaf 12V battery does not really run at 14.4V when being driven..

I'd asume these would be the same as would fit a '21 S Plus? Which bulbs did you get, and about how spendy are they? I am also in the PDX area...so the headlights get some real usage, especially in the winter.

--Richard
 
These are the ones I got.

They are different for the main beam and high beam. Main beam ones have a built in fan (very faint whine) but those dont fit the high beam

Amazon links.
Main Beam
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BCYF1S2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

High Beam
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BZYKGWK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


If you need help, watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNMU1-wbkNo

Good luck.
Srinivas
 
most cars don't stay at 14.4 voltage....it depends on temperature and other factors....most of the time you will see ~13.6 volts. You would quickly boil the batteries dry driving around at 14.4 volts especially in summer time.
 
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