Led Fog Lamps

SteveAvery · July 8, 2015

I want to change the original front fog lights on my SC430 to a strip of LEDs, but do not know whether they would be bright enough. What is the LED wattage or brightness equivalent to give the same brightness as the original 55-Watt H3 bulb, please?

(Forgive me if this is a stupid question. I know nothing about wattage and the various types of bulbs.)

ColinBarber · July 8, 2015

Power consumption isn't a great way to determine how bright it will be, even for bulbs of a similar category such as halogen. A 55 Watt H3 bulb would have a light output in the range of 1,100 to 1,500 lumens depending on the quality of the bulb. To get that equivalent using high efficiency LED bulbs, that would probably total around 15 Watts in power consumption but again the quality of LED lights varies greatly so you may need over 20 Watts using less efficient LEDs.

SteveAvery · July 8, 2015

Thanks for the clear answer.

I've already bought two at 6W each = 12W. I'll find another at 8W, and combine all three to produce 20W each side.

TigerFish · July 9, 2015

Are you making up your own array of LEDs?

I've converted my Corrado VR6 onto LED headlamp bulb (H4 bulbs) and they are great. Been trying to find a compact enough H3 solution for the main beams, but not found one yet. There are a lot on the market that are designed for Fog lamps, but I think more from a colour temp perspective than actual usefulness in fog. For those that like having the front fogs on all the time, so they match the HID bulb colour better. The whiter the light, the worse it performs in fog, so not something I'd looked at doing for the fog lamps.

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