On 11/2/06, Mike Hord <mike.hord@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > If I had a headlight with a significant number of LEDs in it, and I
> found
> > out that I had to replace the whole thing because ONE blew, I'd be
> pissed.
>
> No, you (being who you are) would crack it open, pull the LED, and replace
> it from one purchased at Digikey.  As would (I hope) most of us.


This could end up like toner carts, with embedded uPs working to prohibit
such a repair, or a hardware solution that fries all the other leds.

I agree that it is kind of stupid- to me, part of the point of using a
> multi-LED
> bank is redundancy against failure.  I'd say it should be designed with a
> couple of extra LEDs (??? how many are we talking about, here?) which
> kick in upon failures to keep the light level up, but below a certain
> point,
> the whole thing dies.


Yeah, that's how I'd do it.. In a smart car, the headlight could in theory
communicate it's status, and warn that it's run out of spare LEDs, or
something like that.
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