In the past, high power LED lighting has been one of the technical revolutions. Filament lamps have reigned supreme for something like a century, are now being replaced by LEDs.

But using high power LEDs has never been as simple as using filament lamps - what with the need to control current by a dropping resistor or a DC:DC converter. for example, take the replacement of an interior car light. By the time you source a LED of sufficient intensity and organize and position a dropping resistor, it's a project that very rapidly loses appeal!

Recently, a new LED-based bulb is coming. It costs AUD$21 and it's been developed to replace the power-hungry miniature MR16 halogen lights that are widely used in shop and domestic installations. In fact, electrically and physically, it's a direct drop-in replacement. That means it will work off the 12V power supply in a car. You don't even have to worry about polarity – just wire it straight in. The light draws only about 100 milliamps at 12V and 170 milliamps at 13.8V – very low current consumption indeed. In fact, as a comparison, that’s only about one-third the power draw of a typical interior light bulb. But does that make it really dim? Nope – in fact the LED bulb is far brighter.