powering down the alternator

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by kit352

i actually found a site that sells the whole led kit for my car. its a bit more than 100 bucks but includes everythign thats practical. saves me a bit of running around too.

My main word of caution with any LED "kit" (much less a "complete car kit") is to make sure you are either going to get satisfying results (because enough technical detail about light levels/angle is provided before you buy the kit), or that you can return the "kit" if you don't like the results. Because the problem with many LED kits, is that all too many of them (in an effort to trim costs) cut corners on brightness and/or viewing angle, resulting in lights that don't work as well as stock bulbs.

Which is part of the reason I did my conversion over time, as it let me try various modules, and only buy more of the ones that I liked the results from. And the main thing I discovered (after some failed attempts at "penny pinching"), was that it really did seem "worth it" to get the brighter LED modules even if/when (as was often the case) those weren't the cheapest modules available for a given "bulb" replacement. In fact, some earlier attempts to save money, actually ended up costing me more, as I found that some of the cheaper modules just weren't bright enough (and ended up replacing them with the brighter, more expensive, modules anyway).

OTOH when I tried to buy modules on specs (i.e. went for the brightest and widest viewing angle modules), I found that it's now possible to get LED modules that work BETTER (have more effective light where you want/need it) than stock bulbs! So by going with some of the brighter LED modules, I actually got both the power savings AND lights that are easier for others to see (a win-win IMHO, but it did require me to spend a little more initially on the LED modules I bought).

i.e. I'm all for saving power and money. However, with car lights you generally don't want to go with a significantly dimmer than stock "bulb" (or one that has a narrower viewing angle), as doing so will just make it that much harder for you to be seen by other drivers. And sadly, all too many LED modules are currently being sold without any light level specs (which makes you wonder what the makers of those modules are hiding). But if you hunt around (and carefully choose which modules to buy), you can now get the power savings of LEDs, while also getting an upgrade to your effective lighting. So while a proper choice of LED modules will actually make your car easier for other drivers to see, a poor choice of LED modules (which is what you will get, if/when you just buy on price alone) will make your car harder for other cars to see.

BTW: Most of my LED modules have been purchased from http://www.superbrightleds.com (which I have no financial connection with, I'm just one of their customers). I picked them as my main place to buy LED modules for the family cars (after my Dad showed me their web site), as they have a very wide selection of pre-fabricated (direct "bulb replacement") LED modules (making the "upgrade" almost as easy as replacing car bulbs), and their prices are reasonably competitive (compared to other web sites selling similar stuff). And unlike a lot of car LED "bulb" merchants, SuperBrightLeds.com actually posts the light specs of their LED modules directly on their web site (which makes it a lot easier to see what light performance you can expect from each module, vs having to blindly guess if a given LED "bulb" is bright enough to provide satisfying results).