LED Headlight Upgrade

[mikekaz1]

I dunno... :dunno:  seems I'm the minority here. I prefer standard sealed beams. I love my silverstars and relay harness. being in the north east, ive experienced way too many snowstorms where they ice up to ever want to experience it with something that produces effectively zero heat. 

[RescueDuck33]

I dunno... :dunno: seems I'm the minority here. I prefer standard sealed beams. I love my silverstars and relay harness. being in the north east, ive experienced way too many snowstorms where they ice up to ever want to experience it with something that produces effectively zero heat.

That is one thing to take into consideration if living in snow areas

In NC we don't see a lot and haven't had a real issue driving 100 mile commute on days it is snowing but again we don't get the snowfall that others get.

 

 

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[HOrnbrod]

Most all LED headlights have optional heating elements now but they cost a little more. Cost is the real reason folks don't buy them.

[JacobVS]

On 11/18/2016 at 12:21 PM, RescueDuck33 said:

 

 

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Where did you buy these? I love the look and they seem super bright.

[Eagle_SX4]

I have a pair of those that will never get put back on my truck. (They may be a knock off version). They are super bright but if you live in an snowy area they will get covered when snowing and all the light goes up and you can't see 10 feet in front of you. I prefer the Hella h4 conversion housing and a relay harness. If you still want more light out front add some fog lights.

[89 MJ]

Just now, Eagle_SX4 said:

I prefer the Hella h4 conversion housing and a relay harness.

I second this. They look period correct, yet have great light output without breaking the bank. 

[gogmorgo]

23 hours ago, JacobVS said:

Where did you buy these? I love the look and they seem super bright.

These look like the original Truck-lite LEDs to me. 

https://www.truck-lite.com/27490c.html

 

Truck-lite has moved away from these. I think the ECE (European spec) is the only one still available in this design. Double check if your jurisdiction allows them before running them.
These are one of the most counterfeited lights out there, so I'd be hesitant to buy them anywhere except Truck-lite themselves or a reputable Truck-lite dealer. Quality with the knock-offs is all over the map, so while you might end up with one that's sorta okay-ish you're equally likely to end up with something worse than a sealed beam in terms of light output, or something super bright that's aimed in completely the wrong direction and isn't useful to you while completely blinding everyone else on the road. All the counterfeits are probably why Truck-lite isn't really making these any more, they don't want to be associated with how bad the knock-offs are.
Honestly that's true for most of the cheap off-shore brand LEDs you'll find online. Headlights are a precision optical device, and a tiny build problem can translate to a terrible product. There's a reason quality lighting products from reputable brands cost as much as they do.

 

The LED bulb replacements are also getting much better than they were in even the recent past, so using something like a H4 housing and putting an LED bulb into it is a much better option than it was, assuming you're going with a high-quality bulb. The best ones out there now look like a flat board with a single diode or very small strip of diodes on each side, basically trying to replicate the filament of a halogen bulb. Because the light is mostly still perpendicular to the board it comes out in an hourglass sort of shape vs the 360º circle from a true incandescent filament, most of the good LED bulbs will let you rotate the board to put the hourglass in the most useful parts of the housing.
We've been using Phillips LED bulbs in some of our vehicles at work because a local parts store stocks them, and they seem alright for the most part. I'm still not sold on light colour temperatures above 5000K, but that may be down to personal preference anymore. I just find the super white lights make it harder to see in snow with all the white light reflecting back at me. The cooler yellower light seems to scatter better or something, it's much easier on the eyes.

https://www.philips.ca/c-p/11342XUX2/x-tremeultinon-led-car-headlight-bulb

Ironically while I was looking up the Phillips bulbs, I discovered they make an H6054 replacement that looks very much like the original Truck-lite. I've got no experience with them to recommend for or against, I just happen to know they're a thing that exists. I imagine similar caution in regards to counterfeits should be taken as with the Truck-lites.

https://www.philips.ca/c-p/L6054X1/led-integral-beam-lamp

[Spinnakerblue89]

FWIW I'll say what I've done recently. 

 

In my '89 MJ, I converted the cheapo LEDs the PO installed to IPF 820H H4 conversion assemblies. I added an upgraded harness and Sylvania SSUs. Couldn't be happier. 

 

Then in my '88 Ranger (and soon my '84 Bronco II), I changed it up just a little. But this still applies because both the RBVs and the Jeep XJ/MJs use 5x7 headlamps. I tried out the Philips Crystal Vision H4/9003s this time and while I think they just slightly less brighter than the SSUs, they are still very bright, scatter decently in the housing, and they're about half the cost. 

 

I have never put LEDs in a vehicle, not even in my 2015 Escape. I dunno, it seems that evert set I ever see tend to be cheap and never last long. My friend's XJ always looked like it was winking at me and having a stroke whenever he was following me, and the ones that came on my Pioneer would flicker a lot, and both vehicles had yellowed and foggy lenses too. When I removed my LED assemblies, there was rust in a few places. 

[gogmorgo]

Cheap junk is cheap junk. There’s a reason why decent LEDs cost what they do. I won’t disagree that if you don’t want to pay for high-end LEDs, your money is better spent on incandescents. 

[pizzaman09]

I've put LEDs into a couple different vehicles.  I did H4 7" round housings in my Austin Healey with some at the time Amazon LEDs, they are a phenomenal upgrade over the factory incandescent headlights.  That car didn't have a powerful enough generator to even run Halogens so the LEDs were great.

 

When I upgraded to LEDs in my old BMW I did DDM saber LEDs for the high beam, they are a phenomenal light and worth the high price.  

 

Someday I'll do an LED upgrade on the Comanche, will probably do Holley Retro Bright lights as they look fantastic, only slightly modern.  A friend out them on his 86 F150 and they look the part.

[gogmorgo]

Yeah, the Holleys in 3000k are so far the only ones that temp me. Although I think I’d prefer something closer to 4000k and could probably do with some heated lenses. But everything else just looks a bit too space-agey for an old brick of a truck, and I still don’t have any trouble seeing with my sealed beams on relays, either.