Thread: Cool White HP3 LED's

I had a previous mini-review on the HP3's in red as seen here.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...Diode-Dynamics

I ended up ordering some cool white one's as well. Well the color is not bluish white like the SMD2's that are offered by Diode Dynamics. We will get more to that in the photos.


This is the reason I replaced the the rears. The one on the passenger side had one LED that was blinking and on it's way out.



This is how they look in the package



Here is a comparison between the HP3's and the SMD's







Here are few photos comparing the two in color and in light output.

SMD2 in Cool White



HP3 in Cool White



Another angle

SMD2 (Cool White)



HP3 (Cool White)



SMD2 (without cover)



HP3 (without cover)



SMD2 (without cover straight shot)



HP3 (without cover straight shot). You can see how well they disperse light out radially compared to the SMD2 in the previous photo.





The overall light output on these is very good. They are brighter than the SMD2. They provide better light output radially. I have an email to Diode Dynamics regarding the color of the HP3's. I was expecting them to be more bluish white like the SMD2. These almost look to be warm white. I like to have all of my LED's be the same color and not have to have different colors. Hopefully Nick can chime in.



Here is another color reference.

SMD12 LED board (Cool White)



HP3 (Cool White)



This is not the best shot since it was on my phone but you can see how bright they are on the headliner.

Got confirmation on the color differences from Diode Dynamics customer service. See below:

The HP3 does appear to be the correct color, as we did design these chips to be at a tested 6000k color! The SMD12 and SMD2 pieces can be slightly different, as we have seen these to come out slightly more blue than our newer HP3 and HP5 bulbs. Each bulb will project the light differently, which can cause a difference in color as well, as we are still working on a way to have every bulb, no matter how it projects in different housings to still appear the same. If you do have any questions, though, please let us know and we are glad to help.

Thank you for posting pictures and a review, I hope the posted response from our customer service team answers the question regarding color

The HP3-HP5's will have less color to them than the older SMD models

Nick C.

Thanks Nick. The light output of these is ridiculous. The customer service response answered my question. I got my answer very quickly. As always Diode Dynamics has great customer service.

Nick in your opinion if I wanted to swap the SMD12 dome lights down the road at some point to warm white, would they match the color of the HP3's better? Curious to hear your thoughts on this.

I'd swap HP5's over the SMD12 dome lights (if it's a 194)

Then it would match perfectly and have similar output to the board

Nick C.

Unfortunately my 99 has the 212-2 (festoon) type bulbs in the map lights.

Hopefully there will be a similar style bulb to match in this style sometime in the future.

Thanks Nick.

Originally Posted by The Guz

Unfortunately my 99 has the 212-2 (festoon) type bulbs in the map lights.

Hopefully there will be a similar style bulb to match in this style sometime in the future.

Thanks Nick.

We have something new in the works, more details on that coming soon!

Nick C.

So I had a couple more of the LEDs that I got from ebay go out on me. The link for the write up can be seen here http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...20#post1306920

I ended up swapping in the Diode Dynamics HP3 cool white LEDs into the cluster. This is how they look.

They don't have the bluish white appearance like the one's I previously had. See up above for Diode Dynamics response as to the reason why.

Here is how they look in the cluster.





For Comparison Purposes

Stock (Incandescent bulb)



White 5-SMD 5050 (6000K LEDs)

They really do work well in gauges IMO

I can't imagine how the HP5's would look in there, (same fitment, just 2x brighter lol)

Thanks for posting pictures

Nick C.

Had a couple left over. Installed them under the dash and one in the license plate light.

They are perfect for the license plate location IMO, just the right amount of output and the perfect shade of white

Thanks again for your support!

Nick C.