VW Type 3 Stop-, Tail- and Turn Signal Lights

One of the modifications I'm making to the car is to replace all of the red and amber lamps with LEDs. Here is a list of the bulbs and their power consumption:

(Peak/Typ.)

Location	Bulb	Qty.	Incandescent Power		LED Power (Peak/Typ.)
			Peak	Typical	Peak	Typical
Headlights	H4*	2	60W	55W	N/A
Front Parking/Turn Signals	1157	2	21W	5W	3W	0.4W
Brake Lights	1156	2	21W	0W	3W	0W
Rear Turn SIgnals	1156	2	21W	0W	3W	0W
Tail Lights	67	2	5W	5W	1W	1W
Total Wattage:			256W	130W	140W	114W
Total Current @12V:			21A	11A	12A	10A

While all of these wattages are miniscule compared to the traction pack capacity, my DC to DC converter is only 30A. If you add in the current draw of the heater blower motor, rear defrost, seat heaters, and other lighting, you pretty quickly approach or exceed its capacity, particularly at night with the high beams and flashers going. That said, with a full complement of LED bulbs running $150 (that's with the fancy 3W Luxeon bulbs for all the 1156es and 1157s), you could also upgrade the DC to DC at that price. But with a pair of conventional bulbs approaching $5, you only need to replace them 4 or 5 times to break even on bulb cost. Plus the lag between, say, applying the brakes and having the brake lights illuminated is all but eliminated.

*I replaced the stock sealed-beam lights with a pair of 7" round Hella H4 housings.