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2004 - 2008 Ford F150 General discussion on the 2004 - 2008 Ford F150 truck.

HID or LED?

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Old Dec 2, 2016 | 11:24 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Martian
It's not the bulb, it's the reflector. The stock reflectors are built to reflect an omnidirectional halogen bulb, not an LED which is only lit on two sides and in different places. Changing the bulb from one LED to another won't do much if the reflector still isn't built for it. Unless there's some bulb I don't know about that fits into the stock halogen housing and does well. My experience wasn't great.
Is this not and omnidirectional bulb?




It is a 360 spherical diode with cutoff shield. I have 3 sets of these in 3 different reflector style housings (07 F150, 07 Expedition, 02 Grand Prix GT) and have much improved visibility in all 3. No other drivers flash me, they shine down the road better than halogen and are much more pleasing to the eye than dim halogens. I have tried numerous halogens, retrofit and led's, these take the cake.
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Old Dec 3, 2016 | 10:46 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Summers22
Is this not and omnidirectional bulb?



Not technically, no. LEDs are directional by their very nature. The diode itself requires it, at the very most, to be a 180 degree light emission. Only problem with that is the diode itself, once de-domed, is right around 130 degrees.

Electrical gas discharge lamps are the only true omnidirectional bulbs (incandescent, halogen, HID) because the filament or electrodes release photons in a sphere around the electrically charged components.

Now, several LEDs are quite good at making themselves appear to be omnidirectional, and if we're reflecting upwards into the bowl of a halogen reflector, with a cutoff shield, it tends to make for a decent enough output using LEDs.

Not all LEDs are designed equally. Anyhow, I'm not going to continue waxing poetic about lighting technology.
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Old Dec 3, 2016 | 10:53 PM
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Originally Posted by elricfate
Not technically, no. LEDs are directional by their very nature. The diode itself requires it, at the very most, to be a 180 degree light emission. Only problem with that is the diode itself, once de-domed, is right around 130 degrees.

Electrical gas discharge lamps are the only true omnidirectional bulbs (incandescent, halogen, HID) because the filament or electrodes release photons in a sphere around the electrically charged components.

Now, several LEDs are quite good at making themselves appear to be omnidirectional, and if we're reflecting upwards into the bowl of a halogen reflector, with a cutoff shield, it tends to make for a decent enough output using LEDs.

Not all LEDs are designed equally. Anyhow, I'm not going to continue waxing poetic about lighting technology.
Well then they are 260 in this case, which is good enough for my lighting needs.
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