Excerpt from the document:

“The objective side of the relevant administrative offense can only occur in the event of a simultaneous discrepancy between the color of the lights and the operating mode of such devices with the requirements specified by the manufacturer in the operational documentation, and in cases where additional lighting devices are installed.”

“However, if only the color or operating mode of the light devices installed on the vehicle does not comply with the above requirements, driving such a vehicle may be qualified under Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.”

Have you noticed how LEDs have smoothly and imperceptibly entered our lives? They are everywhere. They are everywhere. But just a few years ago, LED optics seemed fantastic. Especially in the auto industry. True, now, every year, more and more automakers are installing LED headlights on their cars instead of standard halogen or xenon optics. This became possible due to the fact that the cost of LED lamps has dropped significantly.

As a result, a widespread fashion for LEDs came into the world and immediately a demand for LED optics appeared in the auto world. But not everyone can afford to buy a new car with LED headlights. Therefore, many companies realized that the time has come to produce LED lamps for low and high beams, which can replace conventional halogen and xenon lamps in headlights. Naturally, many car enthusiasts decided to purchase similar lamps for themselves and install them on their cars. But is it legal? And is there any liability for installing non-factory LED optics? Let's figure it out.

Technologies of the 21st century are increasingly taking over our world. Every year more and more incredible innovative ideas appear, and yesterday’s fantastic technologies are becoming a reality today. The progress of the digital age has not spared the auto industry. Especially car lighting devices, which have undergone significant changes over the past decades.

Moreover, progress in auto lighting technology over the past few years has become more significant than over the past 50 years. As a result, we saw how xenon optics first appeared in the automotive industry. Then, LED. Now - laser light illumination.

But today we are not talking about that. As we have already said, all over the world (including in our country) LED lamps that are installed in car headlights are currently becoming extremely popular.

In recent years, more and more drivers are beginning to think about replacing halogen and xenon headlights with LED ones. How effective is it, etc. you can find out from our review article.

But there is one main question that worries many. Is it possible to install new-fangled LED lamps in conventional headlights designed for halogen or xenon lamps? Is there liability in Russia for installing LED lamps in front optics?

Unfortunately, many car owners think that liability does not exist. After all, these are not xenon lamps, which are prohibited from being installed in halogen headlights. But that's not true. Responsibility actually exists and is very strict. For example, for illegally installing LED low-beam or high-beam lamps in the front optics, the driver may lose his driver's license. Surprised? Here are the details.

Why do many drivers believe that there is no responsibility for installing LED lamps?

Indeed, an interesting paradox has developed in our country. For example, most drivers know that in Russia there is liability for installing xenon lamps in halogen headlights in the form of deprivation of a driver's license. That is why we no longer see a lot of cars on the road with “collective farm” xenon. After all, you must agree, it’s very harsh.

But why then, every year, more and more cars with LED lamps appear on Russian roads, which are usually installed by vehicle owners themselves?

The fact is that a very large number of car enthusiasts believe that LED lamps can be installed in front optics. Especially considering that many sellers of LED low and high beam lamps provide a large number of different certificates and permits, assuring buyers that LED lamps with halogen or xenon optics available for sale are indeed permitted in our country for use and sale.

But in fact, it turns out that most certificates for such lamps at the time of sale are either no longer valid or have been suspended.

Also, do not forget that if the sale of LED lamps is allowed and there are valid permits and certificates, this does not mean that every car owner has the right to install them in the headlights of his car.

Therefore, the presence of certification of LED lamps in Russia does not mean that you have the right to install them in your car. Yes, you can buy it. But no more than that if your headlights are strictly designed to work only with xenon or halogen lamps.

That is, the situation is exactly the same as with xenon lamps, the installation of which is strictly prohibited in cars equipped with front optics designed for halogen incandescent lamps.

Accordingly, by installing low and high beam LED lamps in your halogen or xenon headlights, you will grossly violate current Russian legislation, namely:

Article 12.5 Part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

3. Driving a vehicle with red lights or red reflective devices installed on the front part of it, as well as lighting devices, the color of the lights and the operating mode of which do not comply with the requirements of the Basic Provisions on the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, -

entails deprivation of the right to drive vehicles for a period of six months to one year with confiscation of the specified instruments and devices.

What is the responsibility for installing LED lamps in halogen or xenon headlights?

Installing LED low or high beam sources in the front halogen or xenon headlights is equivalent to equipping the car with red special signals. Accordingly, according to the current traffic rules and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, if a driver illegally and unauthorizedly installs LED lamps in headlights intended for halogen or xenon lamps, he faces liability in the form of deprivation of his driver’s license for up to 1 year.

Agree that this is a very strict measure. Also, do not forget that ignorance of the laws does not exempt you from responsibility. Therefore, under no circumstances should you install LED bulbs on your car in headlights that are not designed for this purpose according to the factory specifications.

Someone might think that the above link to Article 12.5 Part 3 does not directly prohibit the installation of LED lamps in halogen or xenon headlights. But that's not true.

Article 12.5 Part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation refers us to the provision on the basic requirements for the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, for violations of which the driver may be held administratively liable.

So, in particular, according to paragraph 3 of the regulations on the basic requirements for the admission of vehicles to operation and the duties of officials to ensure road safety, the technical condition and equipment of vehicles involved in road traffic, insofar as they relate to road safety and environmental protection environment, must meet the requirements of relevant standards, rules and guidelines for their technical operation.

Accordingly, if a vehicle does not meet the relevant standards, its operation on public roads is prohibited.

What is the liability for installing LED headlights on a car equipped with halogen or xenon headlights?

In principle, none. Yes, of course there is also responsibility for this. But it is very difficult to prove your guilt.

Formally, if instead of halogen headlights you install LED optics on your car from a more expensive configuration of your model, then the maximum you will face is a fine of 500 rubles.

But according to the law, even if instead of xenon or halogen headlights you install on your car LED optics from your same model, but with a richer configuration, you are still required to formalize changes to the design of your car. The truth is that holding you accountable for this will be impossible and unlikely. After all, a traffic police officer will check the markings of the headlights and make sure that the lighting lamps installed in them correspond to the type of use of the optics. And the traffic police officer is unlikely to know that you are using headlights from a different version of the car.

In the era of Zeus and Hercules, every earthly day began with the goddess of the dawn Eos going to heaven. She was carried by two immortal horses - Phaeton and... Lamp. Note that there was definitely no horse named LED on Olympus. However, humanity has decided to abandon incandescent lamps and gas-discharge analogues in favor of more economical and durable semiconductor light sources. Today they are installed in the headlights of even relatively inexpensive cars.

Down with the halogens!

At the beginning of their career, automotive LEDs ruined their reputation: the aftermarket was flooded with outright “leftists”. As a rule, the light source for the head optics was a dozen tiny LEDs shining in different directions—correct light distribution was not worth even dreaming about. However, the Philips LED headlight soon appeared, in which narrow strips of LEDs exactly corresponded to the location of the filament in a conventional light bulb. And soon many Chinese manufactories began to produce similar designs.

In fact, LEDs cannot be installed in headlights homologated for halogens, and we have talked about this more than once. But eastern manufacturers stubbornly write H4 or H7 on the packaging of their products! Illegal? Undoubtedly. However, let’s leave the legal side of the issue for now. Our main task is to test LEDs for professional suitability. For this purpose, we purchased five kits for installation in headlights designed to work with H4 lamps. Please note that all purchased LEDs are capable of operating at voltages of both 12 V and 24 V. This indicates that they use high-quality power stabilization units - the so-called drivers.

The differences between a lamp trying to be correct (top photo) and a completely unsuitable one: the correct lamp has separate lines of LEDs for high and low beam. These rulers are similar in size and location to the filament coil in a regular lamp. The correct lamp has a screen covering the lower hemisphere of the low beam luminous element. In addition, the correct lamp is equipped with a driver that allows operation at a voltage of 12–24 V, as well as a cooling radiator.

The differences between a lamp trying to be correct (top photo) and a completely unsuitable one: the correct lamp has separate lines of LEDs for high and low beam. These rulers are similar in size and location to the filament coil in a regular lamp. The correct lamp has a screen covering the lower hemisphere of the low beam luminous element. In addition, the correct lamp is equipped with a driver that allows operation at a voltage of 12–24 V, as well as a cooling radiator.

Regloskop listens

Let's start with a simple check - perhaps that's where it all ends. We are going to the service station to see an old friend of the magazine, Anatoly Vaisman, to test the LEDs directly on the car. We took the popular Kia Rio as a carrier. This car was also chosen because. By the way, many people install LEDs instead of halogens solely in order to change lamps less often, because on some cars this operation is labor-intensive (for example, you have to remove the bumper) and, accordingly, expensive.

The car service technician drives the car onto the site and installs a regloscope in front of the headlight - this device is used to check lighting equipment during a mandatory technical inspection. We start with a standard halogen lamp. Everything is okay! Now let's see what kind of light distribution luminous semiconductors will give.

Three out of five products failed: instead of the exemplary “tick”, something resembling a UFO from a television horror story appeared on the screen. But two subjects - Philips LED headlight and G7 Head light conversion kit - gave an acceptable picture. And if during the technical inspection the inspector does not carefully look through the transparent headlight cover to see what kind of lamp is installed in it, then, in theory, he should not have any complaints. In addition, in headlights with a diffuser or lensed optics, you will not be able to see the light bulb from the outside! In general, the probability of missing a technical inspection is very high.

It turns out that some LEDs can still be installed (at least from a technical point of view) in headlights? To get accurate confirmation, we turned to the “highest court” - the testing center of STC AE LLC, where we conducted control tests of LED sources for compliance with the requirements of UNECE Regulation No. 112–00 regarding low beam.

approximate price 2000 rub. Current consumption is 1.37 A (standard “halogen” consumes approximately 4.16 A). The regloskop immediately caught the light on the left in the headlight. Laboratory measurements confirmed: at point B50L the light intensity is 2.0 cd instead of the permissible 0.6 cd. In zone III - seven times the luminous intensity. The only advantage is that Kia managed to close the cover on the headlight.		approximate price 4650 rub. Current consumption is 1.57 A. The Kia headlight cover is closed. The lamp allows you to adjust the angular position relative to the holder. A check in a garage gave the green light to the product: I liked the light distribution. However, more careful measurements at the testing center still revealed deviations from the norm: at point B50L it turned out to be 0.8 cd instead of 0.6 cd, in zone III - 1.6 cd instead of 1.0 cd. It's a pity, but it doesn't meet the standards.
approximate price 10,000 rub. Current consumption is 1.65 A. The description honestly says that free space is required: 70 mm behind the headlight and 60 mm in diameter. The lamp allows you to adjust the angular position relative to the holder. The lid on the Kia did not close due to the huge driver unit. The light distribution along the regloscope made the product a leader. However, at the same points, experts identified deviations from the tolerance: 2.0 cd instead of 0.6 cd at point B50L and 2.82 cd instead of 1.0 cd in zone III. In general, these lamps shine better than other tested ones, but you cannot drive on public roads with them.	approximate price 2300 rub. Current consumption is 1.35 A. The Kia headlight cover is closed. But the parameters are nowhere worse. Deviations were noted at points B50L, 75R and in zone III (as much as 13.2 times!). Verdict: refuse!		approximate price 4500 rub. The current consumption is 1.48 A. The Kia headlight cover was closed. The mount wobbles a lot. Light distribution does not correspond to the norm at point B50L and zone III, many times exceeding the permissible limit. Can we expect anything different from a lamp whose LEDs are shaped like thick circles that do not in any way resemble spirals? Verdict: don't buy.

Refuse!

Semiconductors...failed. The whole crowd. All LED lights, placed one by one by the testing laboratory staff in the GAZelle headlight, blinded the oncoming driver, and the cheapest ones, in addition, refused to properly illuminate the right side of the road. Naturally, the ones that looked better than the others were those that showed a normal picture on the regoscope - Philips LED headlight and G7 Head light conversion kit. By the way, their luminous intensity is amazing: for example, Philips at the 50R point produced 100 cd (candela is a unit of measurement of luminous intensity), exceeding the standard tenfold. But they also turned out to be illegal, the results are in the table.

In addition, some light sources do not sit tightly on the workplace and rotate slightly around their longitudinal axis. It is clear that when moving, the light distribution picture will be confused. And the operating temperature of the various cooling radiators is such that we even feared for the safety of the plastic headlight casing.

We also note that in most cases the rear cover of the Rio headlight can be closed when installing LED bulbs - only the huge Philips lamp block simply did not fit under the cover. The headlight of the GAZelle, on which bench tests were carried out, turned out to be less hospitable. How to drive without a cover? The headlight will quickly turn into a waste basket.

LIGHT DISTRIBUTION ON THE SCREEN OF THE REGLOSCOPE

And further. Any automaker recommends using only a certain type of lamp in its cars - in our case we are talking about H4 halogen. Light sources of other types and designs have not been homologated and therefore cannot be installed by law. For this reason, replacing halogen light sources with LEDs is illegal, for which the car manufacturer is not responsible. But the current Rules prohibit the operation of such machines.

As for the statements of manufacturers of LED light sources about full compliance with their original, as well as the H4 inscriptions on the boxes, this is an outright deception. Only the letter L should be used to designate LEDs, and only the vehicle manufacturer or manufacturer has the right to approve their installation instead of halogen lamps.

By the way, Philips representatives officially responded to our request that you should not drive on public roads with such a light. These lamps are intended primarily for ATVs, snowmobiles and other off-road equipment. However, sellers of oriental lamps care about all these subtleties, excuse the pun. Is it shining? Is the connector suitable? Enjoy it for your health!

In general, it is no coincidence that there was no LED horse in the Olympic stables. The gods preferred to use the services of the faithful Lamp... Which we advise you too!

TEST RESULTS FOR HEADLAMPS WITH LED LIGHT SOURCES

Checkpoints	Normalized value of luminous intensity, cd	Actual luminous intensity value, cd
		Clearlight Flex LED				V16 Turbo LED
B50L	≤ 0,4 (0,6)*	2,0	0,8	2,0	0,6	4,0
	≥ 12 (9,6)	34,6	27,0	50,0	4,4	33,4
	≥ 12 (9,6)	55,0	36,0	100,0	12,4	47,6
	≥ 6, 0 (4,8)	42,22	24,0	66,0		45,6
Zone III**	≤ 0,7 (1,0)	7,0

Have you ever held a huge LED in your hands, the size of a human fist? Of course not, because they don't exist. I'll show you how to make such an original thing with your own hands. This LED will be exactly like its smaller brother, except that its brightness will be many times greater.

Will need

• Plastic bottle.
• The board is textolite, foil-coated.
• Thick wire.
• A piece of LED strip.
• Resistor 5-10 Ohm.
• Epoxy resin with hardener.

Making a large LED

So, let’s first figure out what an LED consists of. The first is two pins that go into the body of the LED. Next you can see two pads, one smaller is the anode, and the other larger is the cathode. On the cathode there is a platform with a reflector and a semiconductor crystal. Above all this there is a lens, which is a monolith with an LED body.

First, let's make an imitation of a large semiconductor crystal with a reflector. We take the LED strip and solder the chip elements from it. If you don’t have a hairdryer, heat it up with a soldering iron.

Let's cut out such a board from a piece of foil PCB.

We tin it and solder the LED chip onto it.

We also solder the contact and the current-extinguishing resistor.

Let's check the power supply. The crystal is ready.

For greater visual similarity, we will cut out the cathode and anode from PCB.

The elements are located at the bottom of the body.

We take a thick wire and make contacts from it. We solder them to the pads.

Next, we coat the light module with hot glue and glue it perpendicularly to the largest area - the cathode.

Solder the pins to the board.

Next we need to prepare a mold for pouring epoxy resin. A plastic bottle will serve us for this purpose.

Let's cut it in the middle and put the top part on the bottom.

There is an empty area in the lid area where the epoxy will be poured. In order not to waste extra material, we fill the voids of the neck with foil.

Strictly according to the instructions, mix the hardener with the resin and mix well.

We fix the insides with office clips so that they float in the air. Pour the composition into the mold.

We are waiting 24 hours. After drying, cut the bottle with a scalpel and remove parts of the bottle from the surface.

This is what happened:

Using a mechanical tool, we cut off the foil and polish the surface irregularities.

Sand with fine sandpaper, dipping it in water. This will remove all the smallest scratches.

It's time to polish. Polishing paste can be obtained from motorists. In extreme cases, toothpaste will do.

I don't really like formulas. Like any normal person :) They give me a headache and a desire to throw something at the wall. All my life I tried to stay away from them. And it did work. But then I became interested in LEDs and realized that there was no escape. To get the desired result, you need to understand how it works. Slowly, step by step, I began to wade through the jungle of lumens, candelas, and steradians. Gradually, a picture began to form in my head. And at the same time, regret - why was there no one to explain this in simple, accessible language? So much time wasted... I’ll try to save you from headaches and explain it as clearly as possible -. Well, at the same time I’ll explain a couple of laws of optics :)

The article is dedicated to those who are confused about watts-candelas-lumens-lux. And in general in LEDs. Written by an advanced teapot for beginner teapots :)

Regular LED

No matter how you look at it, you will first have to touch on the laws of ordinary electricity. In clear examples, of course :) We all know what 220 volts is - this is something that can seriously knock if you don’t take precautions. When you buy an electrical appliance, for example, an iron, the passport says what voltage it is designed for. Usually it is 220 volts. But in the same passport the following parameters are also indicated - alternating voltage with a frequency of 50 hertz. Why do manufacturers stubbornly indicate these parameters for you?

Pick up any technical data sheet for an electrical device and look - it states that the supply voltage should be ~ 220 volts, 50 Hz. Let's figure out what it is. The "~" sign means the voltage should be variable. In a car on-board network, for example, the voltage is constant. And with a AA battery it is constant. The difference is simple - direct voltage has a plus and minus, while alternating voltage does not. Why not? Everything is very simple. In a network with alternating voltage, plus and minus constantly change places. The same contact is sometimes a plus, sometimes a minus. How often? But for this there is another value - 50 Hz.

What is Hz? This is one vibration per second. That is, in our home network, plus changes with minus fifty times per second. And now - what is the practical use of this knowledge, what does it have to do with the LED?

Let's figure it out. Let's say you have a 220 volt 100 watt light bulb in your hands. If you plug it into the electrical network, it will light up at its full hundred watts. What if we don’t need these 100 watts? Do you need, say, 50? A DIODE will help us with this.

If we break the word “LED” into its components, we get “light” and “diode”. That is, this is an ordinary diode that also glows.

A diode is a device that is best compared, for example, to a valve or nipple in a car wheel. You can pump air in there, but the nipple won’t let you back in. An ordinary diode looks like a black barrel with two terminals - plus and minus. So we can use it for practical experiments, which help many to consolidate the material. Of course, it is dangerous to start experiments immediately with 220 volts, but with due care nothing terrible will happen. However, you conduct all experiments at your own peril and risk :)

We will need a 220V, 15 W refrigerator light bulb. For it you need to find a suitable cartridge and remove two wires from it. Then we will need any diode that can be obtained, for example, from any faulty TV or tape recorder. The larger it is, the better. There is no need to take very small ones - 220 volts after all. There is usually a triangle symbol next to it.

Then we need a power cord with a plug, a certain number of wires and. To get started, just connect the light bulb to the network and remember how it glows. Then disconnect and reassemble the circuit according to the diagram on the left.

Be sure to carefully insulate all connections with electrical tape. Plug in. As you can see, the light bulb shines much worse. This is not surprising - she now receives only half the voltage she needs - the diode does not allow the second. If your experiment was successful, and the diode is large enough, you can now make any of your light bulbs practically eternal.

For example, you have a 50-watt lamp in your hallway and it constantly burns out. Take a 100-watt one, turn it on through a diode - it will shine like 50 watts, but it won’t burn out. There is, however, one caveat - the diode must be rated for 220V and the current must be at least an ampere. It is best to buy one at a radio parts store.

Well, since we have figured out what a diode is, it makes sense to move on to the topic that interests us - the LED. The LED, as is now clear, also has a plus and a minus. That is, for its operation you need a constant voltage source - a battery, a battery, a power supply. The power supply must indicate that it produces constant voltage (DC). Usually there is a sticker with this content on the cover of the unit.

Input - ~220V 50HZ,

output - 12v, 0.5 A DC

This means that such a unit can produce a constant voltage of 12 volts and a current of 0.5 amperes.

Note that a charger for cell phones is also a power supply. It usually has parameters of 5-6 volts, 0.2-0.5 A. It is often very convenient to use for powering LEDs, because it stabilizes the current. But more on this later, in the following articles.

Two parameters are important to us - the operating voltage of the LED and the current. The operating voltage of an LED is also called "voltage drop". In essence, this term means that after the LED, the voltage in the circuit will be less by the size of this very drop. That is, if we supply power to an LED that has a voltage drop of 3 volts, then it will consume these three volts, and the device connected after it in the same circuit will receive 3 volts less. But the most important thing to understand is that LEDs care about current, not voltage. He will take as much voltage as he needs, but as much current as you give. That is, if your power supply can output 10 amperes, the LED will take current until it burns out. The logic here is simple - the connected LED consumes current and begins to heat up. The more it heats up, the more current can pass through it - it expands when heated. Along with the current, the voltage drop across the diode increases. And so on until it burns out completely - no one has limited the current. And this must be done using a limiting element.

Note that if the power source has an output voltage equal to the operating voltage of the LED, there is no need to limit the current. That is, if you have, for example, a white LED and a 3.6-volt battery from a cell phone, you can connect it directly to this battery - nothing will happen to the LED. He would be happy to grab more current, but there is not enough voltage. So a 3.6 V cell phone battery is an ideal power source for experimenting with white and blue LEDs. Why only with them - more on that in other articles.

In general, we need to put a tap in series with the LED and turn it to the value we need. Various devices can act as such a faucet. The simplest of them is a resistor.

Let's assume we have learned how to connect an LED and limit its current. The question arises - how much does it shine? Here we have to dive a little into optics.

Among the properties of LEDs, especially high-power ones, the type of light distribution is often indicated. Usually this is the so-called Lambertian LED. Further we will consider it as the most common. What does this term mean? The "Lambert" LED shines in all directions equally, regardless of direction. If the LED were a ball, it would shine equally in all directions - this is the essence of the Lambert diagram. To make it clear, the sun is a Lambertian source.

The standard LED design is a crystal, a thin plate that glows. Look through the transparent window of the LED - and you will see this crystal. There are thin wires of contacts going to it. If you use your imagination, you can imagine the light coming from the LED as a spherical cloud hanging above it. Light is made up of small particles called photons. This means that a ball filled with photons hangs above the LED. And the more light the LED emits, the larger the ball, the further the photons fly, pushing and displacing each other. Most of them fly upward perpendicular to the plane of the crystal, so the maximum luminous intensity of LEDs is 90 degrees relative to the plane of the crystal. I hope you now understand more clearly the diagrams provided by LED manufacturers :) To make it completely clear, let's look at an example.

Let's assume that there is an LED, at the top of which hangs a light sphere emitted by it with a diameter of 1 meter (a good LED! :)).

The lower scale is the number of percent of this meter, the upper one is the degree of radiation. According to this diagram, the most photons are at the top point with a degree of 0 and a range of 1 meter. It looks strange, but it is true. This begins to look less strange if we remember that light is a wave, and it’s not for nothing that the wavelength is indicated for the characteristics. Accordingly, our light sphere can be represented as an electromagnetic field with a certain density. But this is already a jungle - let's move on :)

Half Brightness Angle

The manufacturer usually indicates a parameter such as double half-brightness angle. What does this term mean? As we found out, the LED gives maximum light in the center and at the top, that is, the angle is zero. Accordingly, the further from the center, the less light. The half-brightness angle is when at “0” degrees the LED gives 100 conventional units of light, and, for example, at 30 degrees (relative to the “0” axis) - 50. half-brightness angle In the figure, I is the luminous intensity, Imax is the maximum luminous intensity. ImaxCos is half the luminous intensity. Why “double” - we multiply the degrees by two, but the LED shines symmetrically. As a result, we get a nice isosceles triangle of light. There is also light outside this triangle, we have a ball of light, but the reference point for the characteristics of the LED is a half angle.

Candela

Now we can consider what Candela is. Candela is, in the old way, a “candle”. Remember, they used to say - a chandelier or a lamp with a hundred candles? In the old days, some kind of reference point was needed. We agreed to take a candle of the required thickness, light it and consider it a standard, this same candela. Nowadays, of course, they think differently. I won’t explain in detail how, this is beyond the scope of the article. There is simply a unit for measuring luminous intensity, and it is called Candela. Its main feature is the use of directional sources to measure the light intensity. This is why for 5 mm LEDs the values ​​are indicated in candelas, more precisely millicandelas (1 cd = 1000 mcd).

It's time to figure out how 5 mm LEDs or any others in a plastic case differ from powerful ones.

Design features of 5 mm indicator LEDs

As mentioned above, an LED is a light-emitting crystal. Let's consider the design of an LED in a 5 mm plastic housing. Upon closer inspection we discover two important things - a lens and a reflector. An LED crystal is placed in the LED reflector device. This reflector sets the initial scattering angle. The light then passes through the epoxy resin housing. It reaches the lens - and then it begins to scatter on the sides at an angle depending on the design of the lens. In practice - from 5 to 160 degrees LED diagram.

The candela is used to indicate the luminous intensity of such LEDs. Directional LEDs emit light within a certain solid angle. To understand what a solid angle is, it is enough to imagine the following picture. You take the flashlight, turn it on and place it in the fire bucket at the very bottom, then close the lid. The light inside, accordingly, has the shape of a cone in the shape of our bucket. This cone, limited by the lid, is the solid angle.

I'll try to explain the meaning of light distribution in a simpler way. Let's say the luminous intensity of our flashlight is 1 candela, that is, 1000 microcandelas (to be more figurative, we can consider microcandelas as photons :)) If we continue by analogy, we have a full bucket of microcandelas. The volume of the bucket can be calculated if desired - welcome to geometry :) Accordingly, if we take a bucket twice as large, the microcandelas will be evenly distributed throughout it, that is, there will be no more of them :) In all these explanations you can find the answer to the sacred question - how many you need LEDs to replace a hundred-watt light bulb. More on this later.

Unlike indicator LEDs, high-power ones are not only a device, but also a marketing product. Today, there is a real race for lumens between major manufacturers - who has more? And no one cares that these lumens still need to be applied. Let's go in order.

The main difference between a high-power LED and an indicator LED in its pure form is the minimization of any obstacles to the light exiting the LED housing. Therefore, high-power LEDs have a Lambertian diagram. What does this lead to in practice? You turn on the LED and get a nice little ball of light above it. So what should we do next? How can they illuminate the surface you need? You have to use different optics or reflectors, which inevitably leads to losses, and therefore a decrease in luminous flux. Therefore, if, having bought a powerful LED, you have not acquired good optics, moreover, designed specifically for its design, rejoice early - the headache is still ahead.

Getting the lumens you need to the surface you want to illuminate is no easy task.

Lumen

As you already understand, candelas are not suitable for assessing the luminous intensity of high-power LEDs. There are lumens for this - this is the total amount of light that an LED can produce when connected with given current and voltage values. Remember the fire bucket analogy? It fits here too. Let's assume that if the LED has a light intensity of 100 lumens, then there will be 100 lumens in our bucket.

An ordinary 100 W light bulb is also a Lambertian source. The average light output of this bulb is 10-15 lumens per watt. That is, 100 watts of incandescent lamp will give us, say, 1000 lumens. This means that to replace a 100 W lamp with LEDs, you need 10 pieces of 100 lumens. Is it that simple? No Unfortunately. We come to such a term as LUX.

Lux

Lux is the ratio of the number of lumens to the illuminated area. 1 lux is 1 lumen per square meter. Let's say we have a square surface with an area of ​​one meter. The whole of it is uniformly illuminated by a light bulb located at some distance vertically from above. For this light bulb, the manufacturer stated an illumination of 100 lux. We take a device that measures the intensity of light and measure it at any point in our square, we should get 100 lumens. If this is so, the manufacturer did not deceive us.