(OPINION!) LED Replacement Headlamp Bulbs

SCVJeff wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
H1 LED

THIS is what I'm using in the Explorer. Same lamp, different mount

Yeah, well, they "work" for YOU but not so much for the poor sap coming towards you..

I wish I had bookmarked it but either For Truck Enthusiasts (FTE) or The Diesel Stop website someone did a pattern test on some of this style of LED "bulbs"..

The result was the LEDs had more scatter than the correct incadescent bulb..

MOST folks who have tried this style of LED retrofit end up going back to the standard incadescent bulb due to highly mixed results..

One side of the LED lights for low beam and the other side for for high beam.. This messes with the pattern considerably creating uneven lighting and a poorly focused light leading to a lot of the light directed at other motorists and even the sky!

Yes, I really want to try these but my "common sense" tells me not to waste money or time on these, they are not ready for prime time..

I don't wish to be one of those jerks that are constantly blinding OTHERS every day of my morning commute.

I also am not a fan of the 6,000K color temps, that is simply to high of a color, pretty much blue which also is not a good color for night vision..

As noted by someone else, HIDs are much lower on the color spectrum (4,300K-5,000K) which is more inline with good vision resulting in less scatter and potential blinding of other motorists.

I looked carefully at the Explorer lights and they are better focused and lay on the ground better than the OEM filaments. As for the Hi Beams, who cares? I don't drive oncoming traffic with them on anyway. I used to run Cessna landing lights on the high beams and still would if the lamps were round. "Prime time"? Look around... a very large number of new vehicles are now 100% LED, and none are below 6k. Those above that really sick out of the pack and are too blue for the eye to resolve.

BTW- 6k is NOT Blue, anything above it is tho. Mine closely match the HID temp coming off the headlights (and I was very picky about them matching). The Halogens were 4K, if that. Besides, color temp appearance is only what your eye is white balanced to. Are they blue against an old tungsten?, yep. Not so much against HID, if at all.

PS- Your comment on mixed results was with people doing HID retrofits where the arc would move around in the vessel depending on heat and distort the beam pattern across the reflector. That's why I didn't go with HID. LED is completely different since it never moves around. The coach DL's now has a real pattern with a clear cutoff even over the Halogen it replaced. Good engineering on their part

OK, I knew this was going to go off the rails :R

The problem is The LEDs are not able to be placed in the EXACT FOCAL POINT of the reflectors. If you were to examine the filament placement of a incadescent you would notice that it is in the EXACT CENTER of the bulb.

LEDs on the other hand are not able to be placed IN THE EXACT CENTER.. Instead they are placed or OFFSET by 1/8"-1/4" past where a filament would be, which means the light is no longer in the proper place to bounce off the reflector..

The reflector design is a parabola which requires considerable complex algebra computations to make it work correctly..

IF you have ever delt with focal points on a satellite dish then you should have some sort of grasp as to WHY the offset of the LEDs will mess up the focus since sat dishes use a similar technique to focusing..

On a sat dish you have a VERY SMALL "SWEET SPOT", headlight reflectors ARE THE SAME WAY, there is not much "tolerance" for focusing errors.

By the way, vehicles that ARE outfitted with OEM LEDS HAVE REFLECTORS DESIGNED EXCLUSIVELY FOR LEDS.. The auto manufacturers do not simply drop in a LED bulb like you have into a reflector designed for incadescent..

Just like OEM HIDs use there own purpose made headlight assembly OEM LED Headlights have their own LED reflectors..

Automakers must PROVE that their headlight designs will pass all Federal regulations concerning headlight glare.

As far as your Explorer, well you WILL see a brighter "pool" of light on the ground, the problem however is the light that is not hitting the reflector correctly is SCATTERING way past where it should be..

That can be UP and TO THE SIDES, this now makes MORE GLARE for the oncoming traffic and even when you are following someone.

As far as color goes, well 6,000K IS MUCH BLUER than 4,300K-5,000K and that IS A FACT.. Do a search for color temperature charts, 5,000K is bluer than 4,300K and 6,000K is even bluer than 5,000K.

Do you realize that the old fashioned outdoor mercury vapor bulbs are 6,800K?

That means 6,000K LEDs are not much different in color from a mercury vapor bulb and those bulbs looked horrible and not really a good light to see by..

But hey, sorry to burst your bubble but those are the facts.