LED bulb brightness vs. voltage question.

Yep, but probably not as much as you might imagine.  Why not buy a couple of the 24V bulbs and see how they work.  If you like them, problem solved.  Running LED's over current does seriously impact their lifetime.

Thanks John!  That’s exactly what I did...

Tom

John, what's your thought on PWM dimmers? Do they work? Will they shorten the life of the LEDs with the rapid on-off cycling?

George

PWM is a widely used dimming method, I use PWM in my Super-Chuffer to dim the headlight and also to run the smoke motor. 

There is no degradation for using PWM as long as the average and peak currents stay within the LED ratings.  Little known is a 20ma rated LED can withstand a lot more current in a brief pulse as long as the average current doesn't exceed 20ma over the time period.  There are also maximum pulse current ratings, usually two to four times the average current rating.

Here's a typical Lite-On white LED max ratings.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

PWM is a widely used dimming method, I use PWM in my Super-Chuffer to dim the headlight and also to run the smoke motor. 

There is no degradation for using PWM as long as the average and peak currents stay within the LED ratings.  Little known is a 20ma rated LED can withstand a lot more current in a brief pulse as long as the average current doesn't exceed 20ma over the time period.  There are also maximum pulse current ratings, usually two to four times the average current rating.

Here's a typical Lite-On white LED max ratings.

Thank you. I might try one of these dimmers to reduce my LED brightness on my rope lights. I'll see if I can find those ratings.

George

John,

What is your thoughts on adding a PWM circuit to the aftermarket red LED rear marker lights on a tender?  As is, they are overly bright.

Thanks,

I'd just add resistors, no real need for PWM for such a simple task.