Electrical loads

[GasSavers_Ryland]

I've seen a few people hint at this, but nothing concreat said, so maybe tomarow I'll take the multi meter out and run some tests.
electrical loads seem like they should be a very real load on the gas engine, and those loads should be minumalized and eleminated when possible, 1 watts = 0.00134102209 hp, that might not seem like alot, but turning your cars mecanical energy in to electricity is said to be around 60% efficent.
I've noticed that my vent fan on high makes my idle drop almost as much as my headlights being turned on.
my head lights are 55/60 watts each, 1157 bulbs that are used for running lights, and brake light combinations are 5/25 watt for low/high, normal running lights are 5 watts each, two lisence plate lights at 8 watts each, handfuls of small 1.5 watt indicator and dash lights hide all over the place.
I've been impressed with my LED lights, altho with this car the back up lights, and two brake lights are all that easly fit, and I've been running my fan on the lowest setting, insted of #2 or #3, leaving the sun roof open while parked in the summer helps alot for keeping it cool of course, and an ice scraper insted of fixing the rear defrost seems to work prety well.
but are there any other tips for reducing electrical loads?

[Matt Timion]

I was going to experiment with this but never got around to it. DieMaster replaced all of his lights (except for the headlights) with LEDs. It ended up costing him around $100 for the whole car (taillights, interior lights, etc.)

I am fairly certain it cuts your electrical load in half, but that's just based on something I read once.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

less then half, my brightest LED 1157 bulb replacment draw less then one watt at full out put, so that is 1/25th, I'll try to remember to pull a few out and dubble check with the amp meter and a power supply, but I think my figures were that if my battery went dead in 12 hours from leaving my dome light on with a 25 watt bulb, it would over a month with LED's in the dome light.
my LED bulb replacment that screws in to a normal household light socket draws less then 2 watts (1 watt LED and a little extra for voltage regulator) and it's light out put is suposed to be simaler to a 30 watt bulb.

[Compaq888]

I wish I had some electrical knowledge because I knew from a couple of years back if you switch to LEDs you will save power.

I won't do this on my car but my next car I'll make sure everything is LED except the headlights.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by Compaq888

I wish I had some electrical knowledge because I knew from a couple of years back if you switch to LEDs you will save power.

I won't do this on my car but my next car I'll make sure everything is LED except the headlights.

I'm not sure what electrical knowledge you really need for this. They make LED replacements for this exact application. It's just like replacing a light normally.

[rh77]

I agree Matt, but I'm hoping that new blinker LEDs pull the same amount of Voltage, or the signal relay will think a bulb is out and blink quickly. I haven't looked into this for a while, tho...

RH77

[JanGeo]

The blinker relies on heating a bi-metal snap spring heated by the current flowing through it to the light bulbs to make it bend and break the connection - then cool and make the connection and then heat etc. making the bulbs blink - the reduced current of LED bulbs would not heat it enough for them to stay off very long if at all and the bulb (led) would just stay on all the time. A heavy duty blinker uses a different blinking process - digital timer I think and a relay or solid state switch / power transistor to blink the lights and is not sensitive to load - thus they should work with the LED lamps at a light load. There may also be LED Blinker modules available too.

Also since the LED lights up in about 0.00001 seconds compared to a incandecent bulb that takes 0.1 seconds or so then you have a quicker RED brake light so you save about 8.8 feet reaction time at 60mph. Enough to save your rear bumper.

Be careful with the red LED for a brake light because the red lens in the tail light may be a slightly different red frequency and filter out the red LED color - you may need a clear lense or a white LED.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

Be careful with the red LED for a brake light because the red lens in the tail light may be a slightly different red frequency and filter out the red LED color - you may need a clear lense or a white LED.

It's my understanding that most people use clear LED's for this very reason.

[Compaq888]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

I'm not sure what electrical knowledge you really need for this. They make LED replacements for this exact application. It's just like replacing a light normally.

Do you have a link where I can buy some???

[rh77]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

The blinker relies on heating a bi-metal snap spring heated by the current flowing through it to the light bulbs to make it bend and break the connection - then cool and make the connection and then heat etc. making the bulbs blink - the reduced current of LED bulbs would not heat it enough for them to stay off very long if at all and the bulb (led) would just stay on all the time. A heavy duty blinker uses a different blinking process - digital timer I think and a relay or solid state switch / power transistor to blink the lights and is not sensitive to load - thus they should work with the LED lamps at a light load. There may also be LED Blinker modules available too.

Also since the LED lights up in about 0.00001 seconds compared to a incandecent bulb that takes 0.1 seconds or so then you have a quicker RED brake light so you save about 8.8 feet reaction time at 60mph. Enough to save your rear bumper.

Be careful with the red LED for a brake light because the red lens in the tail light may be a slightly different red frequency and filter out the red LED color - you may need a clear lense or a white LED.

I was fooling with it many hours one weekend trying to get it to work. But for the front, since the lens was clear, I had yellow LEDs viewable at 270-degrees, and I customized the incandescents in the rear with stock lenses (not much for that "Altezza", bolt-on look). Since the incandescent bulb reflects and refracts in near 360-degrees, it's tough to duplicate that look. I'd probably try to find something like that for the brakes and see how they work, and work-out a timed blinker system. Really it's for safety and looks both. If at all, the high-mount stop light could be the best for safety, like the Taurus and other models: LEDs for the high-mount brake light which lights up before the traditional brakes. As far as where you buy them, it's just a shop-around kinda thing. I'm sure it's more popular than 4 years ago when I had them.

RH77