any drawbacks to enabling LED DRL's all the time?

datcipher

Hey everyone, I've seen threads where lots of people have been doing this. Thinking of ordering this kit:
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https://store.ijdmtoy.com/products/w...adapter-aa1250

My question is, are there drawbacks to doing this? I guess one would be reduced lifespan....I don't know what the lifespan of these things are. Looks like they're really expensive to replace?

Cyber370

The only downside is they may be too bright for night time driving. You’d be surprised at just how bright they are and you will probably piss off other drivers. I was about to do this mod on my Nismo and decided against it because there was no way to turn down the brightness of the DRLs for night time driving except tinting.

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datcipher

Hmm....I was wondering about that too... thought maybe since they aren't really "projecting" - and are low that it would be OK.....

I suppose that is why Nissan has them set to turn off.

cv129

Actually, it’s the fact that it’s not projecting that makes it no go for night use. The uncontrolled scattering of light is what blinds the other drivers. Doesn’t take high power light to do it. That’s why even fog lights needed to be aimed correctly with proper cutoff, which can be a problem when people switch from incandescent to led bulb.

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TacoSport10

I purchased that kit but ended up doing the other MOD mentioned in other threads on this forum.

I was worried about how bright they might be at night as well, so I orderd tint (like this https://www.amazon.com/VViViD-Air-Ti.../dp/B017MWRQY6) to apply over them. Definately reduced the light so not to blind people, but I still like the look of having them on.

SouthArk370Z

LEDs can run for 10s of thousands of hours. Couldn't find any lifespan figures for automotive use (didn't dig very deep), but, according to The Intertubes, LED bulbs for home use will last about 50,000 hours. Due to vibration, high temperature, etc, I'll guess that car LEDs will last about 10,000-20,000 hours - it's probably longer. You can find a better answer by googling "LED lifespan" and digging a little deeper than I did. Maybe try "automotive LED lifespan".

Turning LEDs on and off doesn't have the dramatic effect on lifespan that it does with incandescent, fluorescent, and some other types of lighting. For most consumer applications, you can ignore it. Electrical spikes from the alternator/regulator system may have a larger effect than on/off cycles.

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datcipher

Yeah...I did a search before posting, but couldn't find specific numbers, just estimates all over the place...and I don't have the expertise to evaluate. But...if we go with even your most conservative 10,000 hours estimate and say one would average at least 30km per hour (seems conservative with most of my type of driving), then that's still 300,000km. I also wondered about the on-off factor, so good to know that wouldn't be a big factor. Thanks.

datcipher

Thanks! Was thinking last night that I won't do it, because of the other-drivers factor (even though...I HATE other drivers lol). But then did a quick search in forum about tinting like Cyber mentioned and didn't see much.

This seems like it would be easy and reversible so maybe I'll go this route. I can even try putting it on first, to see if I like the look before doing the wiring!

Are they still pretty visible in daylight?

JARblue

Should be easy enough to wire in a switch so you can turn them off manually for night driving.

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TacoSport10

If you don’t like it, you can always take the tint off.

It’s still visible in the daytime, and not blinding at night. You can also get different darknesses of tint to your liking.

Here are a couple of photos. During the day and night.

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datcipher

Nice! Yeah...if I do this, I'll order some of that tint as well.

datcipher

...and those morimoto lights look good too!

370zBoyz

I wouldn't worry about it

I've seen cars with stock led headlights that are bright as crap

The Z hid headlights and leds at the bottom won't do anything to blind drivers

I have never been flashed at running this mod

nasm

When I bought my car, it was having the same from the previous owner. And I removed it immediately, because it is really bothering others especially at night time.

I don't recommend to do it.

Its called DRL (Day Running Light) so leave it for the day time only.

Regards,
Nasm


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