LED headlight conversion

Less light is better more often than not, let your eyes work like they're intended.

Turn off that cell phone and GPS screen, dim the interior lights to minimum. When facing on coming traffic divert your gaze to the fog line.

Like a previous poster pointed out, if you're having trouble seeing in the dark, consider avoiding night time driving.

GordonThree wrote:
I always curse you guys running hid or led in a reflector style headlights. Very unfriendly move towards your fellow drivers. I don't flash, not worth getting in a headlight pissing contest.

Check a scrapper for the factory projection headlight assembly if you want to join the hid / led club. Alternately retrofit projector lenses can be had for most trucks.

Actually it is not HIDs or LEDs in THOSE folks lights..

They are the cheapo incadescent bulbs which are TINTED BLUE to make their lights LOOK LIKE HIDs!

Those blue tinted bulbs are not DOT approved for ON ROAD USE and often do not have the filament in the correct place to focus the light correctly..

The blue tint adds to the SCATTER of the light making it even worse for the motorist in front or approaching a vehicle with those junk blue tinted cheapo wannabe be "HIDs"..

The current crop of LED retrofit lights are hit or miss on getting proper focus AND good ones that do work are not cheap.

Not to mention ALL of those LED conversions are at 6000K color temp, I would consider LEDs IF they made them at a more reasonable 4000K-4500K (that color temp is the range of HIDs not 6000K).

OP should check the voltage at the light bulbs, typically the light ga wiring the vehicle manufacturers use will end up dropping nearly 2V by the time it gets to the bulbs (I HAVE measured this with my vehicles)!

The fix is to add in a headlight relay kit.. A relay kit uses a heavy ga wire that goes directly to the battery.. The result will be about 20% or better brighter lights..

I would skip the LED conversions at this time, they are a "work in progress" and still have a lot of short comings at this time with proper focus, unreliable thermal (heat) management (IE a fan on the back of the light) and electronic "driver" circuits which CAN emit enough RFI that your TPMS and even ABS systems can be affected.

Your money and your time, do with as you wish..

Gdetrailer wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
I always curse you guys running hid or led in a reflector style headlights. Very unfriendly move towards your fellow drivers. I don't flash, not worth getting in a headlight pissing contest.

Check a scrapper for the factory projection headlight assembly if you want to join the hid / led club. Alternately retrofit projector lenses can be had for most trucks.

Actually it is not HIDs or LEDs in THOSE folks lights..

They are the cheapo incadescent bulbs which are TINTED BLUE to make their lights LOOK LIKE HIDs!

Those blue tinted bulbs are not DOT approved for ON ROAD USE and often do not have the filament in the correct place to focus the light correctly..

The blue tint adds to the SCATTER of the light making it even worse for the motorist in front or approaching a vehicle with those junk blue tinted cheapo wannabe be "HIDs"..

That's a good theory, it could be part of the problem!

My neighbor's kid is very proud of the 100 watt "15000K" HIDs he put in his beater F250. They're not bluish, they're pure purple. He was bragging about how he got them from e-bay for $25 and claimed they snapped right in. I doubt the power rating, but they're definitely scatter-shot "no aim" type lights, just blasting purple out in every direction.

GordonThree wrote:


My neighbor's kid is very proud of the 100 watt "15000K" HIDs he put in his beater F250. They're not bluish, they're pure purple. He was bragging about how he got them from e-bay for $25 and claimed they snapped right in.

Seething contempt for the ignorance, arrogance, and sheer narcissism of humanity.....rising.

I hope LEOs start enforcing vehicle lighting laws. First on the chopping blocks would be the blue/purple light queens.

Shame that Auto manufacturers stock headlights are so poor, but a bigger shame that drop in HID and LED replacements are available that allow the placebo effect to allow the purchaser of such light toys think they can actually see better, or that whiter light is somehow brighter.

How many people will ever spend money on something, spend time installing it, and not allow their brains to perceive an improvement?

Humans are so poor at determining how well they can see.

Next time yoy are on an empty street, back away from a sewer hole cover until it is just barely visible in your low beams, then stop. Then turn on your fog lights, and magically it disappears.

GordonThree wrote:


Turn off that cell phone and GPS screen, dim the interior lights to minimum. When facing on coming traffic divert your gaze to the fog line.

I used to think that until I read an article that recommended against having the interior lights dimmed way down. His rationale was that with the cab at a very low light level your iris will open wider to admit more light. Then when a car approaches your iris is so open that you could be momentarily blinded by the much brighter light. Don't know if it's true, but does make sense. Who knows.

fj12ryder wrote:

GordonThree wrote:


Turn off that cell phone and GPS screen, dim the interior lights to minimum. When facing on coming traffic divert your gaze to the fog line.

I used to think that until I read an article that recommended against having the interior lights dimmed way down. His rationale was that with the cab at a very low light level your iris will open wider to admit more light. Then when a car approaches your iris is so open that you could be momentarily blinded by the much brighter light. Don't know if it's true, but does make sense. Who knows.

It definitely happens, especially when the oncoming traffic has poorly aimed lights. Once you develop the habit of diverting your gaze, it's not much of a problem. Now and then you'll get blinded by someone's glare, so you fire back with a few 100 watts of off road lights. (Joking)

Hmm... On the bridge of a ship, or the cockpit of an aircraft, it's all about Preserving the Night Vision. Low lighting, Red lighting...

Then again, the Rules of Nautical Road forbid turning your searchlight onto an approaching vessel. Wouldn't THAT be nice on the highway, if enforced...?

I think that all in all, headlights have improved. Sad part for me is how they yellow and become cataracts. WAIT! Maybe so many of US have Cataracts so we need better headlights.

Before headlights became part of the body lines, New York State required properly adjusted headlights as part of the yearly vehicle inspection. We had alignment devices that suctioned onto the sealed beam headlights. A few moments with a phillips head screwdriver and you were done. I think a lot of the blinding brightness today is due more to improper adjustment than the brighter bulbs. Headlight alignment checks should be an inspection requirement again.

Carl

Gdetrailer wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
I always curse you guys running hid or led in a reflector style headlights. Very unfriendly move towards your fellow drivers. I don't flash, not worth getting in a headlight pissing contest.

Check a scrapper for the factory projection headlight assembly if you want to join the hid / led club. Alternately retrofit projector lenses can be had for most trucks.

Actually it is not HIDs or LEDs in THOSE folks lights..

Sorry, but you're wrong. I can spot HID/LED retrofits in a halogen reflector housing quite consistently. The weird hot spots and scattered light are a dead giveaway. Although the blue tinted halogens are annoying, cheap HID/LED retrofits are worse.

DrewE wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:
I put LEDs in my 2013 CRV. They are great! No adjustment required. They put the hot spot on the road about 30 feet in front of the car.
They do not shine in the rear view mirror of the car in front of me. I went to a large commercial garage door at night to see the pattern. No out of place stray light.

Richard

A hot spot on the road 30 feet in front of the vehicle is not good. That tends to focus your attention there, much too close to be able to react to anything except at very slow speeds. That also makes the pupils in the eyes close a little and so reduces distance vision.

Having lots of light near the vehicle does make the lights look nice and bright and effective to the driver. It's an unfortunate irony that this is misleading and they are not actually as effective. (There does need to be some balance in things, of course. One doesn't need or want a black hole in front of the vehicle. Even illumination, perhaps with a bias towards farther distances, is ideal--with a good cutoff for the low beams.)

Installing bulbs other than the type specified makes the headlights no longer DOT approved and therefore at least technically illegal, for what it's worth. Unless egregiously bad I suspect you're not too likely to be fined or otherwise harassed.

OK, then tell us where the hot spot should be for low beam head lights. I'm sure you are a qualified/trained expert in the automotive lighting business. If you feel the need to condemn, then offer the documented correct answer.
And you might want to read this.

Richerd