# LED headlights in the country
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 2, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943 "2017-06-02T16:49:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/1 "2017-06-02T16:49:59Z")
Back when I lived in rural Wisconsin, it got pretty dark on the highways at night. The old-school sealed beam headlights were marginal at best. You couldn’t see very far ahead, nor were the ditches illuminated very well.
When halogen bulbs came out, it was like night and day (heh heh). Suddenly, I could see all those deer standing off the road, and avoid them.
Now that many cars have LED headlights, and in such weird shapes, how well do they work? I neither own a car with strings of LEDs for headlights, nor drive in the rural lands after dark anymore, so I don’t have a clue.
Do anyone have them in the country? How well do you see, compared to halogen sealed beams? Are they good, or a giant step backwards in the name of fashion?
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/2 "2017-06-02T16:53:38Z")
If I may tag along… I don’t have them, but wonder about their lack of heat. A regular or halogen bulb will melt off and keep snow and ice off your headlight lenses.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/3 "2017-06-02T17:02:33Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> If I may tag along… I don’t have them, but wonder about their lack of heat. A regular or halogen bulb will melt off and keep snow and ice off your headlight lenses.
LEDs will heat up quite nicely. I don’t know how much in an automotive environment but my [bicycle lights](https://cygolite.com/product/expilion-800-usb/) will get uncomfortably warm very quickly if I’m not moving.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/4 "2017-06-02T17:08:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> LEDs will heat up quite nicely. I don’t know how much in an automotive environment but my [bicycle lights](https://cygolite.com/product/expilion-800-usb/) will get uncomfortably warm very quickly if I’m not moving.
I assume that depends on exactly how the bulb is set up. When we first started getting LED stop lights in Wisconsin (at least where I am) we had a huge problem. Every time it snowed, the stop lights would get [covered in snow](http://a.abcnews.com/images/GMA/ht_traffic_light_100107_wmain.jpg) and the lights didn’t generate enough heat to melt it.
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/5 "2017-06-02T17:25:53Z")
> [@running\_coach](#):
>
> LEDs will heat up quite nicely. I don’t know how much in an automotive environment but my [bicycle lights](https://cygolite.com/product/expilion-800-usb/) will get uncomfortably warm very quickly if I’m not moving.
Maybe those lights are fine, but a lot of LEDs don’t get that hot.
> [@](#):
>
> John Wolf, senior manager for traffic operations at the City of Windsor, said city officials have been unable to come up with a workable solution to the snow build-up.
>
> “LEDs do not put off any heat. The old heads were just 150 watt, so basically [stoplights] had a 150-watt light bulb in them, so they generated heat and anything on them melted,” Wolf explained.
>
> Wolf said for the time being, when snow builds up on a traffic light, city work crews have to clean the lights off by hand, and that takes a lot of time.
> **[LED traffic lights trouble in winter because they don't melt snow | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/led-traffic-lights-trouble-in-winter-because-they-don-t-melt-snow-1.3465301)**
>
> New LED bulbs don't generate the same amount of heat the old incandescent bulbs did, so they don't melt the snow that builds up on traffic lights.
> [@](#):
>
> Are we ready to add another negative to the list of switching from old technology to LEDs? In wintery conditions, when snow covers stop lights, LEDs do not burn hot enough to melt the snow. A recent report out of Japan cites local police, who have discovered problems with the lights. When covered with snow, drivers can not tell which color the light is, or when they switch. As snow accumulates, driving conditions become more dangerous.
>
> Currently in Japan, the snow has to be removed manually from the stop lights during winter blizzards. Having city workers driving around throughout the winter removing snow reduces the benefits of switching to LED, resulting in increased power consumption (through more driving) and even greater maintenance costs.
[http://www.topbulb.com/blog/how-snow-can-cripple-an-led-stop-light/](http://www.topbulb.com/blog/how-snow-can-cripple-an-led-stop-light/)
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/6 "2017-06-03T13:28:23Z")
It’s been overnight - any opinions on how they illuminate the rural darkness? 🙂
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/led-headlights-in-the-country/787943/7 "2017-06-03T13:55:34Z")
I found [a YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHpKpM5LDIM) about the 2016 Prius headlights.
By the way, the “string of LED lights” you see on many cars are not headlights. They are daytime running lights. Their purpose is to be seen, not to illuminate the road. On many cars, the actual headlights are halogen or xenon, surrounded by LED daytime running lights. Very few car models have actual LED headlights. And actual LED headlights look more like xenon headlights (a few small lenses, not a long row of many LEDs).