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Lighting upgrades

vinny-socom1

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Ocala, Florida
I would love to run those headlamps but for that price I just seem to find something else on the truck to do first. I must say they do look good!!

Vinny
 

ETHOS

New member
176
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Location
Michigan
i would love them but the price is too high.....

maybee 150 a set, if i blow too many of the 24 v bulbs i will swap in some 12 v bulbs in series that may work..or use my 12 v alternator to power a pair....
 
I'm both stupid and cheap-why in the HELL do they cost so much?
Your not stupid....maybe a little slow.:wink:

LED technology is more expensive mainly because it is newer technology. The LED drivers are being improved daily and because the lamps are not commonly available, because they cost so much, supply and demand keeps the price high. Every day the cost of LED components are dropping, but this will be seen in the consumer markets sooner than the military markets.
 

Yaivenov

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Colorado
LED technology is more expensive mainly because it is newer technology. The LED drivers are being improved daily and because the lamps are not commonly available, because they cost so much, supply and demand keeps the price high. Every day the cost of LED components are dropping, but this will be seen in the consumer markets sooner than the military markets.
Diodes in general are actually rather old technology dating back to the late 1800's and while they have seen new use with improved light emissions, the infrastructure for production is already well in place. I would venture that the price is rather more artificially inflated by the suppliers in order to protect a profit margin that would drop like a stone should they sell those things at production cost. Imagine, they were selling lightbulbs that only lasted 2000 hours for a few bucks. Every 2000 hours or so you came back to buy more. Now though you have Light Emitting Diodes that last for over 100,000 hours. You aren't goinng to be coming back to buy very many more of those any time soon, so they have to charge you an ammount to make up for the lost future revenue.
 
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Diodes in general are actually rather old technology dating back to the late 1800's and while they have seen new use with improved light emissions, the infrastructure for production is already well in place. I would venture that the price is rather more artificially inflated by the suppliers in order to protect a profit margin that would drop like a stone should they sell those things at production cost. Imagine, they were selling lightbulbs that only lasted 2000 hours for a few bucks. Every 2000 hours or so you came back to buy more. Now though you have Light Emitting Diodes that last for over 100,000 hours. You aren't goinng to be coming back to buy very many more of those any time soon, so they have to charge you an ammount to make up for the lost future revenue.
I was refering to LEDs being newer technology in the lighting industry. As to the conspiracy of artificially inflated prices, I think you are off base. Since the lighting components and assemblies are made by many companies in many countries price fixing would be rather dificult. In fact the drivers for the LEDs are what is keeping the prices up, driver technology is changing daily, and as in any product, development cost are considerable. As for LED headlights lasting 100,000 hours, I don't think you will find any manufacturer that would claim nearly that. All new products take time to stabilize in the market, if vehicle manufacturers switch to this product it will move into line with conventional headlights.
 

OPCOM

Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
3,657
27
48
Location
Dallas, Texas
What is the current draw in Amperes? That would be interesting to know. Very nice, but for the price today i'll keep the old G.E.'s
 

Yaivenov

New member
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Location
Colorado
I was refering to LEDs being newer technology in the lighting industry. As to the conspiracy of artificially inflated prices, I think you are off base. Since the lighting components and assemblies are made by many companies in many countries price fixing would be rather dificult. In fact the drivers for the LEDs are what is keeping the prices up, driver technology is changing daily, and as in any product, development cost are considerable. As for LED headlights lasting 100,000 hours, I don't think you will find any manufacturer that would claim nearly that. All new products take time to stabilize in the market, if vehicle manufacturers switch to this product it will move into line with conventional headlights.
Looks like I overestimated grossly on the standard lightbulb, which seems to be estimated at 400 hours, not 2000. That would make the LED claimed life to be 10,000 hours.

Truck-Lite 7" 12v LED Headlamp

"Offers as much as 50x longer life (10,000 hrs vs 400 hrs)"

Oh, and no one ever mentioned a conspiracy. If you have a set sized market to sell to, and you are selling a product that will last substantially longer than what it replaces, it only makes business sense to sell it for more.
 

frodobaggins

Active member
2,861
16
38
Location
Ruston, La
The LEDs bright enough to combine for headlights are pretty new. The ones bright enough to combine for use in tail lights have been around for years. They should be dirt cheap.
 
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