The amount of viral videos and advertisements for automotive LED bulbs promising astronomical numbers is immeasurable. The problem is that it is physically impossible for an automotive LED bulb to produce this much real light.

This is a long-standing battle of ours. We were pioneers in bringing this truth to light on the internet, which ended up becoming a benchmark for many honest professionals in the market. But there are still those who continue to work with lies…

To understand why these numbers are fake, first we need to talk about how light is measured.

The only equipment capable of measuring the real amount of lumens of a bulb is the spectrophotometer, an extremely high-cost industrial equipment. And there is an extremely important detail that many people ignore: this device is highly specific. For each type of LED, technology, and socket size, it is necessary to use a dedicated and calibrated measuring sphere.

If you place an LED inside a sphere calibrated for halogen bulbs, for example, the system will generate completely incorrect computerized data for that LED.

Since consumers had no way of verifying these data, and there was, and still practically is, no control or standardization on what can be placed on packaging, the automotive market began to inflate numbers to impress consumers and boost sales.

That’s when headlight LEDs began to appear with numbers comparable to football stadium lighting or aircraft landing gear.

And think about it: if an automotive LED really generated 15,000 real lumens, the working temperature would melt the entire headlight and instantly blind any driver on the road.

Another serious mistake the market made was using simple lux meters to “measure lumens”. A lux meter is not meant for this function, but it ended up becoming a tool of “proof”, sale, and demonstration for many professionals in the sector.

Exaggerating just to illustrate: it’s like measuring a fever with a drinking straw.

What really matters in LED lighting?

The true efficiency of an automotive LED is not found in inflated numbers, nor in the initial intensity of the light—since the moment of highest light output is usually right when the bulb starts—but rather in the precision of the product’s engineering.

Take note! A quality automotive LED needs to:

* Project light at the same angle as the original halogen filament, since your headlight was designed for halogens!

* Properly dissipate the heat generated, using a cooling fan (cooler) and also the metal body of the bulb itself, made of a high-quality metal alloy, so that it works to balance the equipment’s temperature and prevents it from burning out easily.

* Be capable of generating a beam cutoff, the famous “cutoff line”, to avoid blinding other vehicles.

* Have a well-calibrated color temperature. Avoid extremely blue or purplish models: besides blinding other drivers more, they usually illuminate less at a distance.

The ideal option is to choose ranges between 4300K, neutral yellows, up to a maximum of 8000K with a predominant white base and just a slight cool tone. Deep blue, never.

If you are looking for a real, safe lighting upgrade, developed in Brazil and for Brazil, TECH ONE offers solutions with real specifications, which have even been marketed in Europe for years: an extremely demanding market with rigorous quality parameters and mandatory certifications.

Ah, and to wrap things up: I don’t know if you follow our pages, but we recently launched a line of very high performance and high electronic complexity, which gained ground and climbed to the podium of the strongest LEDs in the market!

Done. Now you won’t fall for the “insane lumens” tale anymore.

Go follow Rê on Instagram @techonebrasil for more easy tips on automotive accessories and cars!