How to improve 2017 Ford 350 head light output? See Update.

[Chuck___]

Update 1-23-20 I wasn't trying to start a battle here by not respecting other drivers. I am 63 and have good eyesight. I don't get a rush or laughs by blinding oncoming traffic. Just thought of getting well aligned head lights with better lighting for country back roads while driving at night. This 2017 F-350 dually truck does have automatic dimmer sense for high beams and works very well and fast, sensing far down the road, for oncoming traffic to low beam. If I wanted to a inconsiderate fool I would put on my truck Air Craft Landing Lights at 1 million candle watt power. I don't plan on using this truck for The Baja One Thousand off road racing at daytime or at night.

I have a Ford 2017 350 dually and the headlights and truck at night are not all that great. I am retired 63 and don't do a lot of long night traveling anymore but would like to have better lighting a night. Some of the older LED head light bulbs like "Life Time LED's" cost a lot $150.00 and really do not put out the greatest patter or down the road light. Bought a set of the above brand several years ago and was very disappointed for my 99 dodge 2500.

Think of trying those high output replacement bulb Sylvania Silverstar Ultra at the auto parts store for around $50.00.
Heard that they are 100 percent brighter but have a much shorter life span.

Just maybe they are making newer LED replacement bulbs much better and low cost now days.

[wnjj]

Edd505 wrote:

Iraqvet05 wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:
LED or HID in a housing made for halogen lights are illegal in all states, and enforcement is sporadic. If you want to put these kind of lights on your truck and stay legal then you would need to spend the coin and buy housing made for these types of bulbs(i.e. projectors) that do not scatter the beam.

I'd really like to read this law from a legitimate source, not "the internet said". I work for a police department...it's not enforced at all here. I've also traveled at night in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Arkansas and passed many police vehicles and I've haven't been pulled over.

Washington state, and I did enforce the headlight height on these jacked up trucks and wrote fix it tickets for those way out of alignment.
http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/docs/equipmt/after_market_vehicle_equipment.pdf

I fixed your link above.

[Edd505]

Iraqvet05 wrote:

ShinerBock wrote:
LED or HID in a housing made for halogen lights are illegal in all states, and enforcement is sporadic. If you want to put these kind of lights on your truck and stay legal then you would need to spend the coin and buy housing made for these types of bulbs(i.e. projectors) that do not scatter the beam.

I'd really like to read this law from a legitimate source, not "the internet said". I work for a police department...it's not enforced at all here. I've also traveled at night in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Arkansas and passed many police vehicles and I've haven't been pulled over.

Washington state, and I did enforce the headlight height on these jacked up trucks and wrote fix it tickets for those way out of alignment.
http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/docs/equipmt/after_market_vehicle_equipment.pdf

[drsteve]

Scheinweiffermano wrote:
What is a DOT approved lamp??

https://www.bikersrights.com/nhtsa/notapproved.html

Funny... NHTSA says that DOT tests helmets for compliance with the applicable federal standards. As a lifelong rider, I've noticed that the anti-helmet crowd is not especially concerned with accuracy. In this case, their theory is that there are no DOT approved helmets, and indeed DOT asserts that they are not an approval agency, and therefore they can wear whatever headgear they wish and still be following helmet laws, because there's no such thing as a DOT approved helmet. Whatever...

In the case of lighting, DOT compliant means that the lighting meets section 108 requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). These standards regulate all automotive lighting, signaling, and reflective devices. The FMVSS are established and administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

[Scheinweifferma]

What is a DOT approved lamp??

https://www.bikersrights.com/nhtsa/notapproved.html

[BenK]

IMO...think they don't know the difference between what you are saying...vs...just popping in a lower cost bulb...non-dot approved for that headlamp assembly

Scatter has always been an issue and it has to do with the level of engineering and quality of materials/process/production


This is the engineering and geometry of a headlamp reflector and the source of light. The placement and the shape of the light source. Just matters on how the reflector and lens throw the light...just mud hen lamps, not E-Code lamps, which has much more complex reflectors/lens'

Click For Full-Size Image.



Aiming the beam requires a controlled beam, otherwise scatter will blind on coming drivers
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8exhp4C8l6k/maxresdefault.jpg



Projector types that Shiner talks about is even more sensitive to the bulb location, as there is more distance from the bulb to lens

Click For Full-Size Image.



All why designed system for DOT level vs just stuffing in a non-DOT assembly is just not going to cut it. LEOs who know could ticket. Either fix it, or fined...some country's can impound the vehicle on the spot (boot), but here in The US, not enforced enough or at all

To date, have not found any of the OEM DOT approved headlamps even come close to true E-Code headlamps. Though they are coming closer every year. There is way more scatter above the cut-off line than true E-Code

edit....here is a sample of what an E-Code specification diagram looks like...there is much more to this and again, just stuffing in a non-spec bulb might/will have more scatter to blind oncoming drivers

Click For Full-Size Image.


Here is that beam on a wall and notice the amount of scatter above the cut-off. Left-hand drive (USA)



Since LED headlamps in this discussion, where is an LED E-Code, but for right hand drive country's (England, Japan, etc)...the 'wing' is to light up road side signs/pedestrians/bicyclists/etc

Click For Full-Size Image.

ShinerBock wrote:
I find it very difficult to understand how someone can spend $40k on a new truck yet cannot spend an additional $400-$600 on aftermarket projector headlight assemblies so they can run brighter LED/HID bulbs without blinding other drivers. You are basically telling others on the road that you do not have enough respect for them and they have to suffer being blinded just because you are too cheap and do not want to spend the extra money to do it right.

[RoyJ]

ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, my 2014 F-150 has the factory HID headlights. They are much brighter than anything that I have ever owned. I was concerned about getting flashed, but I never have been. With a bed full of stuff, including my generator, and my trailer connected, I was sure that someone would flash me. I went basically from Oregon to Maine, to South Carolina, and back to Oregon. Over 13,000 miles and for 3 1/2 months, never got flashed.

And THAT is the difference between a DOT certified, OEM engineered solution vs. aftermarket bulb.

Even with the best aftermarket LED, ask yourself, if there's truly no light scatter - why didn't bother getting it DOT certified and therefore capture a HUGE market, but advertising themselves as the ONLY DOT-approved solution?

Because they can't...

[Grit_dog]

Retired JSO wrote:
I have a 2018 f350 DRW FX4 lariat non LED which has excellent head lights. It didn’t have good lighting until my cataracts were removed.

Best response of the thread!

[Retired_JSO]

I have a 2018 f350 DRW FX4 lariat non LED which has excellent head lights. It didn’t have good lighting until my cataracts were removed.

[Scheinweifferma]

Those Silverstar bulbs are trash. Much better bulbs available for less money.

[FishOnOne]

Around my area most cars/trucks are new and most have factory LED lights which I find a bit bright but you get used to it.

[drsteve]

Judging the brightness/annoyance factor of your own lights by counting the number of people who flash you isn't really conclusive any more. I seldom bother flashing anyone these days, because I find that half the time I'm looking at low beams anyway, either newer factory versions or aftermarket.

[ACZL]

Robertsunrus,

Between the sand, sled weight and hitch, probly have something like 2500 lbs at hitch point/axle area. If you've noticed tho, on Ford's SD trucks ('17 & '18) w/ reg Halogen bulbs, all the headlights are on even on low beam which can cause one to think you have high beams on when you don't. Are they in fact a tad high? Could be, never got them checked out.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

ACZL wrote:
I too am not a fan of the stock lights on my '17, but they do a decent job. While I did remove the upper brackets for the aux springs to lesson the BANG when encountering bumps w/ the 5er, back end didn't change much as far as drop was concerned. Really no problems at night being flashed w/ the 5er attached. Now come winter, I tossed in about 1200 lbs of tube sand and towing a 4 place V-nose snowmobile trailer w/2 sleds in front, 1 in back, yes I did get flashed several times. FWIW, trailer was level due in part to B&W adjustable hitch (AWESOME BTW!).

Now even w/o the sled trailer in tow, I've gotten flashed at. IMO, I feel it's due in part to all the headlights on at same time from factory. Same goes when I don't have sand in truck or towing anything. I've seen many GM's come at me w/ low beams on, yet have fog lights on and those things are killers to oncoming traffic-----yet legal. Would like to hear from the Ford camp owners who actually have either HID or LED lights from the factory what they are experiencing as far as seeing down the road and wether or not they get flashed.

🙂 Hi, my 2014 F-150 has the factory HID headlights. They are much brighter than anything that I have ever owned. I was concerned about getting flashed, but I never have been. With a bed full of stuff, including my generator, and my trailer connected, I was sure that someone would flash me. I went basically from Oregon to Maine, to South Carolina, and back to Oregon. Over 13,000 miles and for 3 1/2 months, never got flashed.

[FishOnOne]

ShinerBock wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:
Here's a video from Headlight Revolution on installing LED lights. As you can see later in the video at around 3:47 the quality of the beam pattern is very similar to a standard bulb. If installed and adjusted properly the light quality is excellent while not blinding others.

Link

And yet none of them are and they end up blinding others on the road all because they don't want to spend another $400-$600 on projectors.

I have absolutely no idea what your trying to say. But for the naysayer lets watch a video on LED headlights on glare and why's its important to choose the right LED and when properly installed it produces excellent results. I have my passenger light slightly higher than the drivers side to illuminate the ditch a littler further out to better spot deer.

Link

[ACZL]

I too am not a fan of the stock lights on my '17, but they do a decent job. While I did remove the upper brackets for the aux springs to lesson the BANG when encountering bumps w/ the 5er, back end didn't change much as far as drop was concerned. Really no problems at night being flashed w/ the 5er attached. Now come winter, I tossed in about 1200 lbs of tube sand and towing a 4 place V-nose snowmobile trailer w/2 sleds in front, 1 in back, yes I did get flashed several times. FWIW, trailer was level due in part to B&W adjustable hitch (AWESOME BTW!).

Now even w/o the sled trailer in tow, I've gotten flashed at. IMO, I feel it's due in part to all the headlights on at same time from factory. Same goes when I don't have sand in truck or towing anything. I've seen many GM's come at me w/ low beams on, yet have fog lights on and those things are killers to oncoming traffic-----yet legal. Would like to hear from the Ford camp owners who actually have either HID or LED lights from the factory what they are experiencing as far as seeing down the road and wether or not they get flashed.