Audi dealers - led lights

CountingCrows

Was going by the Audi center in Ballsbridge last night and noticed all the cars in the showroom had their led lights on. I know led lights use less power but surely doing this over an extended period without the cars actually running can't be good for the lights or the battery?

JoeA3

I've seen them do this in Audi Galway too... the car is hooked up to an external battery.

lau1247

it looks good and those lights sells.. what's a few batteries if they sell lots of cars..

punisher5112

See you noticed so that's what they want and have to say a very good way for the car's to stand out. Some are not even led as they are a tube type(gas filled).

mitosis

Personally I think LEDs look hideous on a car, as do those gas rings, but whatever gets them noticed is good marketing!

ToxicPaddy

It's very common in continental Europe, I've seen it in various countries over the last year or so.

I was in Germany recently and I must have passed over a dozen dealerships all one one street one evening, every one had the lights of the showroom dimmed and all of the cars have their LED lights on.
Looked amazing tbh if a little distracting when driving by.

Maybe that's the idea, get distracted, turn to look that, crash your car and then have to go in a purchase a new one :pac::D

ofcork

The new s class is totally led`s,not one normal bulb.

ironclaw

CountingCrows wrote: »

Was going by the Audi center in Ballsbridge last night and noticed all the cars in the showroom had their led lights on. I know led lights use less power but surely doing this over an extended period without the cars actually running can't be good for the lights or the battery?

LEDs don't experience the wear of normal bulbs. You could run them flat out for thousands of hours and never notice any wear or reduction in illumination. The batteries are well able to take it as the current draw is negligible by comparison to other systems.

I'm all for LEDs. Less wear out, less likely to blow and far easier for the joe soap motorist to notice.

pippip

If one of the LEDs in headlight goes in these modern cars is it a DIY job to replace?

darragh o meara

pippip wrote: »

If one of the LEDs in headlight goes in these modern cars is it a DIY job to replace?

Yep. Remove headlamp, buy a new one and replace.

colm_mcm

It'd be like a dead pixel on a monitor I'd say.

SleeperService

colm_mcm wrote: »

It'd be like a dead pixel on a monitor I'd say.

Doubt it, dont think (must look it up) the likes of seats/audi r8/merc s class headlights would be made of hundreds of small leds like a fleabay filament replacer. A small number, maybe just 1 per lamp, of very expensive high power leds.
If they could be replaced it would be more like replacing a computer processor than replacing a bulb. (guess work here). Most likely, going on current trends, sealed unit with only full replacement of headlamp unit as a fix for damage/failure.

Have a few lamps for the pedal bike, bright and efficient for what they are, but a car equivalent would be a serious amount of lumens more. Expensive kit.

mickdw

pippip wrote: »

If one of the LEDs in headlight goes in these modern cars is it a DIY job to replace?

Its a diy alright but you do need a new headlight on my car at least. They are not known to be troublesome though.

colm_mcm

SleeperService wrote: »

Doubt it, dont think (must look it up) the likes of seats/audi r8/merc s class headlights would be made of hundreds of small leds like a fleabay filament replacer. A small number, maybe just 1 per lamp, of very expensive high power leds.
If they could be replaced it would be more like replacing a computer processor than replacing a bulb. (guess work here). Most likely, going on current trends, sealed unit with only full replacement of headlamp unit as a fix for damage/failure.

Have a few lamps for the pedal bike, bright and efficient for what they are, but a car equivalent would be a serious amount of lumens more. Expensive kit.

Audi A8 high beam has 25 LEDs and the new gen osram ones have 78.

Don't know many the Lexus ones have but they generate a lot of heat and have cooling fans to stop them overheating.

NuckingFacker

colm_mcm wrote: »

Audi A8 high beam has 25 LEDs and the new gen osram ones have 78.

Don't know many the Lexus ones have but they generate a lot of heat and have cooling fans to stop them overheating.

Yup, you gotta laugh though because when leds came out they were sold as not generating heat -I was an early adopter, using them as loading bay lights in warehouses as a 10w led replaced a 1000w halogen and saved a lot of energy for big companies but at €120 a pop they were not cheap or an easy sell compared to a €15 halogen. They also all have a dirty great heat-sink to absorb the heat.... and they die - they do not last forever, but they do give good service. Not user servicable though, dead = full replacement.

darragh o meara

The thing is, newer type high output LEDs are all surface mounted to a board or strip. Even if you could get to it, you'd have a serious job soldering one off and a new one on.

As regards fans on the Lexus headlamps.. Are they a full LED affair?? I'd love to drive a CSR with full LED headlamps to see how they compare to halogen or Hid units.

LED technology is moving fast so I'd imagine we will see a lot more of it pop up over the next few years.

SleeperService

colm_mcm wrote: »

Audi A8 high beam has 25 LEDs and the new gen osram ones have 78.

Don't know many the Lexus ones have but they generate a lot of heat and have cooling fans to stop them overheating.

Yikes, thought for heatsink purposes and simplicity of focusing the output that it would under 10 leds clipped to a heatsink with some thermal paste.

Yeah the bike ones I have need the power turned down if you are standing round, get very very hot and thats at about 3W. Guessing led 55w halogen replacement is at least 10w, probly 20w ish?

Just looked up the A8 system, the combined camera/software/adaptable lighting is a major nerd-gasm. Pretty cool.

colm_mcm

Laser headlights is the new thing anyway.

SleeperService

colm_mcm wrote: »

Laser headlights is the new thing anyway.

Coherent radiation emission lighting systems. Yummy. Wait for the nasty ass eBay clones/upgrades - "my eyes! the goggles, they do nothing!"

punisher5112

Cree type lamps give amazing light lumens. I would love on my VRs

ION08

colm_mcm wrote: »

Laser headlights is the new thing anyway.

Yeah like in BMW i8's.

And you still have people ordering new cars with standard Halogens!! There is nothing I hate seeing more than a brand spanking new Audi or BMW etc with gammy yellow halogens!

colm_mcm

Meh, it'd kill me to spend €800 or whatever extra on HIDs when they cost like €50 extra to make.

punisher5112

When spending €30k or more on a car that shouldn't bother you as you have the money and the extra light is a life saver and I mean that.

It's similar to compare cheap china tyres to good quality ones.

colm_mcm

Its nothing like having cheap chinese tyres. I've had HIDs on cars and yes they're class, but extras like them and stupid stuff like a colour screen for your MMI or dual climate control on a premium car - that should have this as standard.
No problem in having them on a used car!

punisher5112

colm_mcm wrote: »

Its nothing like having cheap chinese tyres. I've had HIDs on cars and yes they're class, but extras like them and stupid stuff like a colour screen for your MMI or dual climate control on a premium car - that should have this as standard.
No problem in having them on a used car!

It is as to compare like for like. The light difference and distance to see is so much better.

But I do agree with you.

They should be made standard especially with the serious cash been handed over.

mickdw

I've xenon lights on my audi and I don't find them that great. Better than audi halogens but I wouldn't really rate them as fantastic when compared to Lights I've had on alfa 166 and most French cars also.

lomb

Ive Audi Xenons too and they aren't great. I changed the bulbs recently to some new Philips and they are better I heard they dim with age. The main problem is they are set too low even though they pass the NCT and as there is a sharp cutoff it is dark beyond the cutoff. There is a setting within VAG VCDS to raise the xenon height electrically slightly , I know this will sort them out as they are very bright.
They look fantastic versus halogen from the outside though and I would insist on them on future cars.

mickdw

lomb wrote: »

Ive Audi Xenons too and they aren't great. I changed the bulbs recently to some new Philips and they are better I heard they dim with age. The main problem is they are set too low even though they pass the NCT and as there is a sharp cutoff it is dark beyond the cutoff. There is a setting within VAG VCDS to raise the xenon height electrically slightly , I know this will sort them out as they are very bright.
They look fantastic versus halogen from the outside though and I would insist on them on future cars.

Ive had mine from new so dimming with age is not the issue.
There is a very sharp cut off for sure but that is only a good thing. id be wary of adjusting them any great amount as I don't see my dips as being particularly low. Last thing id want is xenons that affect oncoming traffic.

lomb

Sure, there a limit to how high they should be raised but they are set dangerously low at the moment even though they passed the NCT last week.
I had the same problem on a brand new MKIV golf with halogens set too low from the factory even with the manual height adjuster inside on full up. In fact for the first couple of thousand miles I had to drive on full headlamps as I couldn't see anything and still remember trucks flashing me on motorways (dipping not so critical). I got my friendly MOT test station in the UK to sort the problem after I had a go with an allen key (dealer was far away and too much hassle to go to) it passed its MOTs 4 or 5 times after at that setting and passed the NCT here too. They were very safe after they adjusted them never felt them low. The current xenons don't feel that low as they are much brighter than halogens but I would say they are set at the factory same as the MKIV I had.

lomb

mickdw wrote: »

I've xenon lights on my audi and I don't find them that great. Better than audi halogens but I wouldn't really rate them as fantastic when compared to Lights I've had on alfa 166 and most French cars also.

Raise them and they will light the world. They are I think twice the output of halogens with less beam loss.