Fan Vs Fanless LED Headlights: Why Fanless Wins?
What is the difference between a fan and a fanless LED headlight? Car manufacturers are upgrading their halogen bulbs with LED, but these lights produce heat that needs a medium to evaporate heat.
That’s why car owners mostly use fan and fanless LEDs. But what makes this two fan vs fanless LED headlights different from each other? Both LED gives brighter lightning and can evaporate heat successfully.
Despite these similarities, they have some dissimilarities that you should know before buying one of them. We’ll share some key differences between these two components with some product recommendations in our following discussion.
The Basic Comparison Between Fan Vs Fanless LED Headlights
| Kay Point | Fan LED Headlights | Fanless LED Headlights |
| Appearance | The structure of these headlights is simple | It has an intricate design than Fan LED |
| Brightness | Provide sufficient brightness | The brightness level is higher than Fan LED |
| Power | Consume high power to operate due to fan | These headlights consume low power |
| Heat Elimination | Can eliminate heat faster than Fanless LED | The heat elimination process is slower than Fan LED |
| Operation | Operates faster than Fanless LED Headlights | Not as fast as fan LED |
| Noise Level | Produces loud noise | Operates quietly |
| Maintenance | Need frequent maintenance | Doesn’t require much maintenance |
| Lifespan | It has a short lifespan compared to Fanless LED Headlights | Has a long lifespan |
Now, jump on to the head to head comparison of these two for better idea.
Heating Releasing System Of Fan and Fanless LED Headlights
Do LED headlights need ventilation? Yes, they do. LED headlights generate heat, and they need to release the heat to stay optimal and perform best.
Excessive heat can damage LEDs, lenses, connectors, wires, and circuit borders, eventually leading to LED headlight failure. Therefore, LEDs need an active cooling method.
Fan LED headlights come with an equipped fan, and it operates as an active colling mechanism. These type of headlights doesn’t have any additional external cooling source as the fan reduces the heat of the LED headlight. Moreover, it can release heat a lot faster and more efficiently.
In contrast, fanless also doesn’t have any external cooling method or fan to reduce the heat. It uses air or heat sink to eliminate the heat from LEDs naturally. The heat releasing process may not be as fast as fan LED headlights, but Fanless LED headlights can also reduce heat efficiently.
Note: You need to check the heat sinking consistently for cooling efficiency.
Both Fan and Fanless LED Headlights Have Different Operation Systems
The fan LED headlights are LEDs that use fans to reduce the heat from the lights and operate functionally. Due to the fact that the fan is installed inside the assembly, the process of eliminating heat becomes quicker and easier.
Besides, the structure of these LED headlights is simple, thanks to the design of integrated heat dissipation. You can also easily install these LED headlights in your car as they don’t need a lot of space.
However, fan LED headlights draw additional power from the battery to operate the lights as brightly as possible.
On the other hand, fanless LED headlights are waterproof and don’t require much electricity to operate functionally, which improves the operating performance and increases the service life of these LEDs by about 70000 hours.
The construction structure of a fanless LED headlight is different, and a bit complicated compared to the fan LED headlights. But a fanless LED headlight can give you more brightness than fan LEDs.
Noise Production of Fan and Fanless LED Headlights
If your vehicle has fan LEDs, then you may hear LED headlight light fan noise. As we mentioned above, a fan LED headlight uses the fan rotation as a heat elimination source and requires additional power and energy from the battery to evaporate the heat.
Therefore, when the LEDs become extremely heat, the fan needs more power to rotate at high speed, and that’s when you hear the noise of the fan.
In contrast, the fanless LED headlight is noiseless. The first reason is that these LEDs release heat through the heat sink and the last reason is, that these lights don’t require extra power and energy to operate.
Therefore, fanless LED headlights can operate without making noise and improve performance efficiency.
The Lifespan Of Both LED Headlights
Generally, the LED headlights produce heat when they’re on for a longer time. And the components of LED headlights are delicate to overheating; therefore, LEDs can burn out quicker than usual.
Fan LED headlights are mostly made of aluminum that can burn out prematurely due to overheating. On the other hand, you may experience fan LED headlight fan failure once they reach 50,000 hours.
On the contrary, the fanless LED headlight doesn’t need extra power to brighten the light, which increases the lifespan of fanless LEDs and makes them last above 70,000 hours.
Which One is Easy to Maintain Between Both LED Headlights?
Fan LED headlight attracts dust as air with dust passes through the fan blade’s leading edge and sticks there. Therefore, it can affect the performance of the fan. To keep the performance of the fan LED headlight, you need to clean the dust from the fan once a week.
On the other hand, a fanless LED headlight doesn’t attract dust. Therefore, these LEDs don’t need frequent maintenance, which makes them less damaging than fan LED headlights.
Price Can Be A Matter of Discussion Between Fan and Fanless LED Headlights
When it comes to the price of the fanless and fan LED headlights, both are expensive, but fanless LEDs are more costly than fan LEDs. Fan LED headlights have a straightforward structure that makes them less costly than fanless.
In contrast, fanless LED headlights have an advanced structure for heat evaporation, water resistance, minimal power and energy, and quiet operation features that make them expensive and better than fan LEDs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why do LED headlights have fans?
When the LED headlights stay on for a longer time, the light produces heat and needs a medium to release the heat. Therefore, LED headlights have fans that rotate to keep the air cold inside the light and evaporate heat quickly when needed.
Are fanless LED headlights good?
Yes, fanless LED headlights are good to purchase. Some benefits of using fanless LED headlights are that they are quiet, run on less power, need low maintenance, and last longer than fan LEDs.
Do fanless LED headlights overheat?
The only drawback of fanless LED headlights is overheating issue. Fanless LEDs don’t have a fan to release the heat quickly. It uses a heat sink or nature air to dissipate the heat; therefore, it takes a long time to release the existing heat, and consequently, LEDs get overheated.
Do LED lights need cooling?
LED headlights tend to get heated as they need to brighten the lights using power. And if the produced heat remains inside the light, it can damage the light chip, lense, and damage the light. Therefore, it’s necessary for LEDs to have a cooling and heat dissipate medium.
Final Verdict
So you now know the key differences between the fan vs fanless LED headlights. Both of these LEDs operate best according to their price.
If you want a LED headlight for your car that doesn’t consume much power from the battery, is long-lasting, quiet, and doesn’t get damaged easily by water and dust, the fanless LED headlights are good to go.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for pocket-friendly, but good-quality LED headlights and don’t mind the fan’s noise, you can trust the fan LED headlight. But if you choose fan LEDs, ensure you clean the fans often for optimal performance.
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D Conroy
Meet our senior writer and content manager of Automasterx. He has worked in several mechanical garages and mastered different vehicle diagnoses and parts repair. He never stops until finding out the ultimate solutions for any vehicle fault code. However, ensuring the only solid solutions for each vehicle malfunction is his core part of the duty, alongside analyzing fault codes and signals.
