LED door and side marker lights

[NightFlyer]

Just placed my order for the door light kit only - price was $105 though, not $80. I don't mind paying for quality, just wanted others to know that it would appear that the price went up.

Looking forward to getting these and installing them!

[Tomcio]

Did the price go up $25 (USD)?

Yes, unfortunately I had to raise the price to $105 for a set.
I did my initial calculation in May and since then my costs have gone up. The price for the IC (controls the current for LEDs) went up by 25%, shipping costs have gone up by 50%! and the exchange rate has changed. US Dollar value is dropping fast! I wanted to keep my promise for those that backed my project from the beginning but I just can't keep the price below my costs. So, after the first week, when the sales died down I had to bring the price up. I hope you will understand my decision.

[NightFlyer]

Yes, unfortunately I had to raise the price to $105 for a set.
I did my initial calculation in May and since then my costs have gone up. The price for the IC (controls the current for LEDs) went up by 25%, shipping costs have gone up by 50%! and the exchange rate has changed. US Dollar value is dropping fast! I wanted to keep my promise for those that backed my project from the beginning but I just can't keep the price below my costs. So, after the first week, when the sales died down I had to bring the price up. I hope you will understand my decision.

Completely understand - no problem at all for me anyway. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a paypal glitch or something like that.

I look forward to getting and installing the kit!

[rdarlington]

I really like your product but it doesn't make any financial sense when compared to the $15 LED kit from delorean.com. I too am an electronics designer and understand what goes into product development. I really like these but not for $105. Then again, that $25k car in my garage didn't make any sense either.

-Bob

[Tomcio]

Completely understand - no problem at all for me anyway. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't a paypal glitch or something like that.

Josh,
No, it wasn't a glitch as you can see the prices on my site
Anyway, I would like to offer you a deal. Since you placed your order before I had a chance to post to the forum I would like to split the price increase in half with you. So, I'll send you $12.50 with your order. How's that ?

I really like your product but it doesn't make any financial sense when compared to the $15 LED kit from delorean.com. I too am an electronics designer and understand what goes into product development. I really like these but not for $105. Then again, that $25k car in my garage didn't make any sense either.

Bob,
This project definitely does not make any financial sense. Things like this never do. This is more of a contribution to the DeLorean community than a way to make a living. I've spent many hours assembling the boards for the fun of it. I could have hired a company to do the assembly for me but the quote for using a pick-n-place machine literally frightened me. So, I did all the assembly myself. This is a small quantity project and those are expensive. If we were to make 100,000 boards the price would be a lot lower.
You can't really compare my kit with the DMCH kit as they are completely different. It's cheap because of several reasons:
1. It's made in huge numbers
2. It's made in China
3. It's made of just three components - a few LEDs, a single resistor and a simple housing.
4. It's not DeLorean specific! They have flooded the world with those cheap lights... any car, any make, any model
Yes, they work. Yes, they use LEDs. Yes, they use a lot less power. But they give poor results in general (when something is good for everything it's usually good for nothing) and they burn out surprisingly quickly. I've got two LED bulbs of similar design for my parking lights (for my daily driver) and they lasted for about two weeks before burning out. A resistor can't control the current with voltage in a car.
There is no circuit board which is the main component of the final price, soldering is very simple with just a few leads bunched together and a simple resistor to control the current. In my design I wanted to make the best I could and not the cheapest as I can't beat Chinese prices but I can beat their quality. With my lights you get better light distribution, longer life due to stable current control and wide voltage operation. I guarantee 100% safe operation up to 30 volts.
This is a custom made, high quality product for one car and one application only.
I hope this explains the differences between the two products.

[NightFlyer]

Josh, No, it wasn't a glitch as you can see the prices on my site
Anyway, I would like to offer you a deal. Since you placed your order before I had a chance to post to the forum I would like to split the price increase in half with you. So, I'll send you $12.50 with your order. How's that ?

Sounds good - I appreciate that, even though it isn't necessary. The reason I purchased your lights was for the high quality. And I'm always more than happy to pay a fair price for a high quality product. I'll be sure to do a write-up review with pics and post here and on DMCToday.com

[Chris 16409]

Tom, I forgot to ask, will these still draw less power than incandescent bulbs and not drain the battery if the doors are left open? Thanks.

[NightFlyer]

Tom, I forgot to ask, will these still draw less power than incandescent bulbs and not drain the battery if the doors are left open? Thanks.

Not to step on Tom's feet at all, but I figured I'd help him out.

The stock/OEM incandescent bulbs are rated at 5W each x 3 in each door x 2 doors = 30 Watts

Tom's LEDs are rated at .67W each x 3 in each door x 2 doors = 4.02 Watts

So yes, by running Tom's LEDs, you can leave the doors open for several hours and not have to worry about excessive battery drain.

[Tomcio]

Tom, I forgot to ask, will these still draw less power than incandescent bulbs and not drain the battery if the doors are left open? Thanks.

Chris,

All the technical info is listed on my site but here are the basics.
Each OEM light bulb consumes 5W of power. If you open both doors you will have six door lights on consuming a total of 30 Watts. That is a significant amount of power!
Each of the LED lights of my design consumes 0.675W. For both doors (6 lights) the total power consumed is equal to just 4 Watts!
I short, all 6 lights consume less power than ONE OEM bulb!
With my LED lights installed you can safely leave both doors open for a whole day at a car show.

NightFlyer, You beat me to the finish line because I was on the phone
To run down a 65Ah battery OEM lights will need just 27 hours. My lights will run for over 200 hours.

[Michael]

That's a good looking product you have there! I like the way you package it too....very professional

I think the main difference between the two LED kits is not the current draw or the lifespan. I have had my DMC LED kit in my car for almost 5 years now, and I haven't had one go bad yet...and my doors stay open a lot. The thing about the socket LED's that superbrightleds and DMCH sell is the light distribution. The LED bulbs that I have, even though the SMDs are multi directional, only light up a small spot on the reflector. Yours however lights up the entire lamp housing...which looks nice. The spot doesn't really bother me though, not enough to change out the lamps.

What I really like is your LED side marker lamps....nice design.