(OPINION!) LED Replacement Headlamp Bulbs

Jeez, this quibbling reminds me of an ex-president who had the gall to spew "It depends on the meaning of the word 'is'"

Common sense is common sense. "Afraid to flash bright lights approaching?" I have not only the 2 LED headlamps but a 300 watt LED light bar. At around 300' if a car obviously has stupidly dazzling headlights I will zot a split-second of hi-beams, if they still don't dim, I do not re-flash. Danger of blinding them and a head-on.

But I toot "Shave And A Haircut" on the horn as they pass. Very offensive in Mexico. Can be translated to "Up Your's With A Steel Bristle Wire Brush".

That's the nice thing about LEDs. Instant flash. Milliseconds. When I am forced to do it I have NEVER been "horned" as they pass.

I am beginning to wonder with these descriptions, just how many drivers would be able to pass an alcohol and drug test up there?

"Oh man, what was I going to say? Oh yeah, like you know I got this terminal case of the munchie.............KRASH!"

Gdetrailer wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
I also have installed what works, its not bothering oncoming drivers, so personally I also could care less about opinions of others here that have no clue how MY system performs. I ain't changing it.

:h

Not sure HOW you "determined" your lights don't "bother" others..

There is no REAL way to properly focus a LED in a reflector made for a incadescent filament, just not possible to eliminate the scatter since most of the light coming from that LED is OUTSIDE the focal point of said reflector. Oh, folks have tried with very limited success and there is others who don't give a hoot about anyone else and call it good.

Your post pretty much sums up just how SELFISH and UNCARING towards OTHERS now days folks have gotten. Puts you in the same category as folks texting and driving.. A real sad state of affairs.

I HOPE that YOU never find yourself blinded by another selfish and uncaring motorist using LEDs coming towards you.. All the while a fast moving deer decides to insert it's body into YOUR path..

Sometimes I think this forum needs renamed to the "SELFISH RVrs net"..

Bla Bla
You know ZERO about my installation, and even less about the difference between a parabola used for RF vs. simple focused headlight. Do a little homework before you show up as the resident authority. Thanks for taking this thread south

pconroy328 wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

Effort should be made to correct idiots who drive around with mis aligned headlights.

I suspect ours are misaligned - too high. Probably fine when the chassis left Ford. But in between Morryde and Jayco, and 22,000 pounds, they're too high.

I spent 15 mins crawling in, under and around.
I'll be dogged if I can find a way to adjust them.
Everything is blocked.

The adjustment screws mentioned in the manual - aren't where they're supposed to be.

So - this idiot tried...

What year Ford?.
And, thanks for posting, it reminds me that I need to lower and aim my driver's side headlight. I know it's a tad bit high. I'll do it when I have the 600lbs of tools and boxes out of the truck bed but I may be in for another adjustment when towing the Starcraft.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

Effort should be made to correct idiots who drive around with mis aligned headlights.

I suspect ours are misaligned - too high. Probably fine when the chassis left Ford. But in between Morryde and Jayco, and 22,000 pounds, they're too high.

I spent 15 mins crawling in, under and around.
I'll be dogged if I can find a way to adjust them.
Everything is blocked.

The adjustment screws mentioned in the manual - aren't where they're supposed to be.

So - this idiot tried...

landyacht318 wrote:
d these days, a lack of people flashing their high beams at offending glare does not mean they are not dazzled, but perhaps fearful that the other driver has another 1500 lumens available on their highbeams to completely blind them and send them carreening off into a ditch. I know I think twice when I am dazzled byu oncoming glare and want to return the favor, for fear that it is their low Beams, not their highs.

I'll keep driving knowing I will have to often hold up a hand to shield my eyes from offending glare coming from oncoming vehicles, and let off the gas, while looking at the white lines on the side of the road. I am perhaps a little to comtemptuous of the masses who simply believe that no matter what, a LED bulb in a Halogen reflector is an improvement, when in most cases the exact opposite is true.

Excellent point about the flashing. There are so many too-bright vehicles on the road today that I don't bother anymore. I just drive with my left hand up until they pass.

Headlights have been an arms race where nobody wins. I'm all for better technology super bright high beams, but low beams should go back to being dim, yellowish sealed beams of yesteryear. Let your pupils do their job in low light when there are oncoming "victims."

I've seen people dim their brights where the change was so little they needn't bother.

It's called a DIMMER SWITCH

Oncoming drivers do not like your lights?

WACKO! You get flashed down. One test subject is not a viable sample. But 500+ oncoming drivers cannot ALL be wrong can they?

This all boils down to (UN?) common sense. Install the bulbs. Can you see better? Great! Start driving. Do you get flashed down on low beam? Not so great.

My eyesight does not like yellow or blue. I believe I myself and me has the ability of knowing when I can see better.

It's takes a genuine dim-bulb that encounters poorer lighting then does not switch back, rapidly. This is not a camshaft change. About as much involved as cleaning the windows.

Getting blinked down? How does a person spell s-t-u-p-i-d if a driver ignores irritated oncoming drivers? On the way to or from The Cocktail Lounge?

The PRIME DIRECTIVE for a government agency is to make it seem indispensable to a higher echelon that determines its fate. The make of toad I am driving should have been banned before achieving production. The tail and turn signals are far too dim. Other cars have rear lights so bright, they work well for drivers a half mile to their rear? This is intelligent government oversight?

Allow me an example of DOT schizophrenia. A section of US 395 near Lee Vining, CA. was the recipient of a trial grade of overlay. It REE TARDS to a temperature of 23F. For fifteen years there were no accidents on this stretch. CalTrans did the overlay and within a year two people died and there were a dozen accidents. Why? Because drivers evaluated the slipperiness of road surface and compensated speed and attention accordingly. This project was a direct order from the US Department of Transportation.

Agreed too many people cannot count past ten without unzipping their pants but DOT officials are paid a hundred grand a year out of taxpayer money. So when I hear "DOT Tested And Approved" I remember the idiocy I encountered.

School systems should be FORCED to encourage students to THINK AND ANALYZE and enable peer pressure to augment the end result. We are nurturing a society of idiots who prefer not to think - but rather lean on government to micromanage every facet of their decisions.

REMEMBER!

Miami, law states it is illegal to shoot ducks from a moving streetcar!

I don't think this is about people being selfish as much as it is about the very frustrating search for ANY lighting solution that is a possible upgrade to the awful headlights we have in our trucks now. And that Includes my 2013 F350, which I like very much overall.

SCVJeff wrote:
I also have installed what works, its not bothering oncoming drivers, so personally I also could care less about opinions of others here that have no clue how MY system performs. I ain't changing it.

:h

Not sure HOW you "determined" your lights don't "bother" others..

There is no REAL way to properly focus a LED in a reflector made for a incadescent filament, just not possible to eliminate the scatter since most of the light coming from that LED is OUTSIDE the focal point of said reflector. Oh, folks have tried with very limited success and there is others who don't give a hoot about anyone else and call it good.

Your post pretty much sums up just how SELFISH and UNCARING towards OTHERS now days folks have gotten. Puts you in the same category as folks texting and driving.. A real sad state of affairs.

I HOPE that YOU never find yourself blinded by another selfish and uncaring motorist using LEDs coming towards you.. All the while a fast moving deer decides to insert it's body into YOUR path..

Sometimes I think this forum needs renamed to the "SELFISH RVrs net"..

What made me realize the recent laws being passed were stupid, were gas cans made in this decade which require at several multiple motions to get them to open... and they wind up dumping half the fuel on the ground. To boot, because there is no vent, the can glugs when pouri9ng. Does that serve to protect the environment? The gasoline winding up in the air or on the ground is far more than what would wind up vented.

Then, there is the DEF/DPF diesel requirements. All this did was turn something that was iron-clad reliable into something with far more delicate parts that can fail, and fail in a way that can leave you stranded.

This isn't stating that pollution controls are useless, but there is a point where they do more harm than good, either by forcing car companies to engineer something slapdash to comply with hastily passed laws, passing both the price and cost to their buyers, or just like the US steel industry, forcing it to shut down entirely and having it only come from overseas.

As for LED lighting, whatever works. I like it over standard halogen bulbs because it uses less power, although on my current vehicle with headlights, I'm sticking with what is OEM or similar because I've had no complaints so far.

50% of my driving is at night. My experience with LED headlight bulbs put into my existing reflector housings designed for halogen bulbs was not a positive one. I found that at first i was immediately impressed by the brightness of the light, like WOW look how bright those puppies are on my garage door. But then once out on the highway i was unimpressed. The area around the front of my truck was exceptionally bright but they did not project light very far, and high beam seemed to not do a whole lot, maybe a bit brighter but still no actual projection of light down road. I attributed this to the way the stock reflector housings were designed and not so much the fault of the good quality LED lights i bought. I switched out for sylvania silverstar ultra halogens and although first 30feet in front of truck are not as bright as the LEDs i can see much further down road. I think if your driving is slower speed or city type driving maybe go with LED. If highway, go for good quality halogens unless your vehicle was designed to use LED from factory.

Side note, HID lighting is amazing, our Audi Q5 has them and best headlights of any vehicle i have driven.