LED headlight bulb replacements

[troyboy162]

I saw this on pirate the other day. Its pretty interesting. The price is in line with a cheap HID. I suspect the same glare issues would be present with leds in halogen lenses, but its pretty damn cool. I've seen some Chinese ones in the past where they just used some the same set up as the LED turn signals with a christmas tree of low powered SMD leds. Those were obviously not going to give out acceptable amounts of light. These are using high power LED's. fleabay shows there are a few more making these too. Some have active fans on the heatsinks so I dont think they are a good idea in our dirty environment.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/lighting-electronics/1484977-led-replacement-headlights-sor-only-99-99-a.html

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/lighting-electronics/1067681d1381577747-led-replacement-headlights-sor-only-99-99-img_81600481241703.jpeg

[Seanz0rz]

Eh, spend the 300 on the retrofit source drop in projectors. You won't be disappointed.

[troyboy162]

too much money for too little improvement IMO, but you know I'm cheap with my money :) I would of course run them with a smile on my face if I got them plug and play them for~$100. The 80/100 bulbs I bought solved my 96 light output problems for $14 each while still using the appropriate lens for halogen. My truck needed a upgraded harness since the stock one was all hacked up anyhow so in my case it made sence, but would be a ~$60 total investment for someone else. Led's will be nice some day for the low amp draw and a burn life longer then the vehicle.

I researched more and this style above seems to have a extremely hard cut off that looks good on a garage aiming test, but lacks any upward spill to illuminate overhead highway signs at a distance. While it sounds like theres a chance it would not be irritating to oncoming traffic, no overhead sign illumination seems like a pretty big draw back for a road driven truck. There are double LED styles out there but they use a small fan for active cooling. I really think cheap little brushless heatsink fans would not live long in the dust/water we have in our engine bays.


not the above LED bulbs but a similar style and output. The review is less then positive for quite a few valid points.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=831061#post831061

Double donger meant for motorcycles and they are $170 proud of them so thats a little crazy for Chinese junk. Also these are the fan cooled style, but possibly better compatibility with halogen reflectors.
http://www.parts4powertoys.com/en/products/details/17--25
http://www.parts4powertoys.com/images/images/p4pt_20130719063758.jpg

Edit:
As suspected the double donger style is generic Chinese available for $120 on fleabay. There is nothing I hate more then re-sellers of Chinese junk asking huge mark ups. Looks like the second LED is activated on high beams so low beam profile is still suspect.
http://youtu.be/kJgAhMzy5vo

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-H10-1800LM-6000K-CREE-1512-LED-Head-light-Waterproof-12V-24V-50W-Bulb-H066-/331049551573?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d141746d5&vxp=mtr

[Seanz0rz]

I need to properly aim my projectors, they are too low (a limit of the housing and possibly of my install).

When we were out doing that first part of the whole bernardino run, I really didn't bother with my lightforce lights, I just switched between low and high beam on my projectors. The amount of light is just insane, and really shows up the stock lights for just how horrible they are, even in 99+ form.

[4x4mike]

Sean, I was really impressed with your retrofit at Pismo. Thanks a lot by the way.

I'd like to do the same one day.

[Seanz0rz]

I should do a write up on it one of these days.

I am curious about the LED's. I really like the 7" sealed beam LED's I have seen on Jeeps. I was thinking about a set of those for my VW.

[troyboy162]

definitely do a write up with pictures of the cutting part.

[Seanz0rz]

The only "cutting" you have to do is remove the bulb shroud after peeling the glass lenses out of the housings, and grinding down two locating nubs on the inside of the housing. From there, you drop in the projector with all the washers and locating rings, and tighten down. SUPER easy!

[troyboy162]

The humvees have gone to those multi LED headlights. I haven't driven with them yet though but they seem brighter when I see them pass by. the standard humvee headlights were nothing too special though so a increase wouldn't have been hard. I'm looking forward to LED's becoming the norm, but its sure not happening fast.

The last how to I read for the projectors had quite a bit of cutting and drilling but that was for 99+ housings. Seemed that getting it right would pretty important to have them aim well. You should definitely post up if you found a easy way to do it.

[Seanz0rz]

I will do my own thread some day, but here is this short bit just to clear up some stuff.

You need to use 99+ housings. They are identical to the 96-98 except the glass is clear. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT!

Since both of my headlights were broken, I had no problem replacing them with some TYC OEM-alikes. They were 40 each from Amazon, I have seen them even cheaper since, and there are always the other horrible knock off brands, but I don't recommend.

I used this guide:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/101725-bandit-runners-projector-headlights.html

and this kit:
http://www.theretrofitsource.com/product_info.php?products_id=227

I have yet to find a better source of HID's in terms of quality and customer support than TRS. Highly recommended from many of my friends.

If you don't feel like clicking links, basically you are buying some drop in projectors that lock into the bulb socket in the housing. You will have to remove the glass from the housing, which isn't that difficult. Afterwards, you remove the bulb shield in the housing and grind down the two small nubs. Everything else just screws together. Once everything is super tight, clean the projector lens (I managed to not clean one of mine very well, so I will have to take it apart some day) and reinstall the glass. Wiring is super simple, and the factory fuse box even has a clip on the side for the new fuse holder.

On mine, even with the adjusters maxed out, they are still too low due to the significant rake of the truck. I plan on stacking some washers behind the housings to help with this, sometime real soon. When I do that I might just take them all the way apart to fix some minor annoyances.

[Seanz0rz]

www.theretrofitsource.com is having a pretty darn good black friday sale.

10% off all orders $100 or less! Coupon = TRSgiving10
15% off any order $150 or more! Coupon = TRSgiving15
20% off any order $200 or more! Coupon = TRSgiving20
25% off any order $300 or more! Coupon = TRSgiving25

http://www.theretrofitsource.com/enewsletters/2013-thanksgiving/#.UpZ2veKnfyo

If you were thinking about doing the conversion, now might be a good time to buy!

[troyboy162]

new styles came out. kinda interesting to see them evolve. The prices are coming down too. The first one is the most interesting, but I dont quite see how low and high beam work.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-HB2-9003-CREE-LED-BULB-x1-HI-LO-REPLACE-CONVERSION-HEAD-LIGHT-KIT-6000K-WHITE-/111329498254

this one has a tunable base so you can turn it to get the best pattern from your housings. the 3600lm claim is a little outrageous of course
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-H4-9003-High-Power-COB-LED-3600lm-High-Low-HeadLight-40W-Light-Bulb-DRL-Xenon-/201068270348?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2ed09a530c&vxp=mtr

[4x4mike]

It is exciting to see these evolve and I'm glad they are. I was following review threads of a few guys who bough the V-LED versions as I was interested in buying some. In one write up the guy seemed to like this high beams a lot. Part of me thought that this was because they weren't bright enough but I chalked it up to him being a young guy that likes to drive around blinding people. He ended up blowing a ballast (I'm not well versed in the components) probably due to running them hot a lot. The was very impressed with V-LEDS customer service and they sent him a new part right away.

Another guy was having trouble sealing up the back of the housing. This is a bit of a deal breaker for me. For a long time I've had trouble keeping moisture and dust out of my stock housing. I could see this being a larger problem with these drop ins that don't allow the factory rubber boot to be installed. I think he ended up wrapping a Gore-Tex type material around the back of the housing and light fixture, no thanks.

The above models have heat sinks unlike the fans on the V-LEDS. I like the idea of the fans because they are always moving air across the fins. The down side is you always have a fan running. They look like little computer fans so who knows how long they would last with dust and water which my engine compartment sees. Heat sinks sound better but I think they won't allow you to install the rubber boot and they absorb the heat that is already in the engine compartment. It was 100* here yesterday and my UltraGauge reported my intake air temperature as high as 150*, granted this was during the day. I'd assume the heat sinks would be toasty but maybe I'm wrong and there is enough air flow behind the headlight.

I'm looking forward to what comes with these. The low price is nice but I'm thinking it might reflect quality.

[paddlenbike]

I'm not here to poo poo this since LED headlights are something I would love to have on the 4Runner. But I don't expect those to last very long due to the really tiny heatsink. Here's what an OEM LED headlight heatsink looks like: (Nissan Leaf)
http://jpx.responsejp.com/jpx/images/2011/05/11/156101_5.jpg

Valeo, the manufacturer of a lot of OEM lighting, says manufacturers are starting to spec LED headlights because "LEDs now exceed the brightness of HID systems while defining new levels of efficiency." Clearly LED headlights have evolved considerably in the past six months, and will continue to do-so. But I think I will wait for version 2.0.

[DHC6twinotter]

The new Corolla has LED headlights standard too, and I've been curious to see what it takes to mount some of them in the 4Runner.

[troyboy162]

I think they will be OK as is. I'm sure reliability will suffer some and LED lifespan will be cut from 50k hours to 20k hours. Living with filament bulbs that can die at anytime gives them a good hand up in reliability. The bridged heatsink design has been on flashlights in a more extreme form and proven itself although its not popular due to the small increase in beam pattern and designs limited wattage.

The fans will never win for our application in the dirt and water, but I've seen those brushless CPU fans live in some pretty horrible environments. We could run those fans too and just might have to replace them every so often... $2 items

Gonna have to keep watching how this plays out. The Chinese apparently want the drop in market and they will figure it out the best they can at a price point that makes sense. Can our reflectors make it worth while is the biggest question I have. Hids sure dont work well for 96-98 that I've seen. Maybe a little better in the 99-02, but still wasteful in the spread.
http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/OitrHB9SGKA/maxresdefault.jpg

[Seanz0rz]

Yeah, if you don't have a good reflector or projector, the best bulb in the world still throws trash.

[troyboy162]

yup. I think they have a better chance then the HID's since light spot is small and uniform in color. There have been some promising pictures on the web so far with other housings. All I know is young kids will snatch these up for the 6000k shade and we can see what they find out lol.

[4x4mike]

All I know is young kids will snatch these up for the 6000k shade and we can see what they find out lol.

That's what I'm hoping on. I was about to pull the trigger on the V-LED's twice but pretty glad I didn't.

[troyboy162]

I saw this review today. It looks like they are OK in the 99-02 housings. Not blowing stock headlights away, but a improvement and the pattern looks useable. I wonder how they would work in 96-98? Still lots of variables in construction/leds/amps to think about.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/159466-vled-2000lm-h4-install-review-2001-toyota-4runner.html

[paddlenbike]

I am working with a set of these right now:
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww254/funnytoe_album/silverado/fog%20lamps/20140212_135638_zpsf5a03c55.jpg

They are LED fog lights from the M-version of the BMW X5.

Here is the output, fog lights only:
http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww254/funnytoe_album/silverado/fog%20lamps/DSC_0078_zpsf4afaa73.png

The width looks comparable to that of my HID Hella Micro DEs.

It won't be long before HID is a thing of the past.

[paddlenbike]

The new Corolla has LED headlights standard too, and I've been curious to see what it takes to mount some of them in the 4Runner.

I just read a review on the new Corolla and the author specifically mentioned how bright the headlights are. As much of an LED fan as I am, I never thought we'd see LED as the main lighting on $13,000 cars by the year 2014.

[troyboy162]

Still watching the progress on LED drop in bulbs...The designs are changing to more fanless offerings, the price has dropped to the $60-80 range and the reports are mostly good. These could be a safe bet soon for higher output with close to proper spread. The bad thing right now is sifting through the marketing hype for the best one and the reviews are from 16 year old kids that are probably mostly happy with the 6k color more then anything.

[Kryptoroxx]

I am seriously looking at the Russian housings and an led combo. I know it might not work well but I still have the pre 99 housings too

[troyboy162]

I think you'd be in $400 after shipping for the setup.

[Kryptoroxx]

I think you'd be in $400 after shipping for the setup.
Yeah that's kinda what I figure as well. Shipping would be kinda steep but I really do like the design of the housings.

[Seanz0rz]

These popped up in my email this morning. The flexible heatsink looks promising. https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kits/led-headlight-kit-h4-led-headlight-bulbs-conversion-kit-with-flexible-tinned-copper-braid/2221/4993/

[4x4mike]

Interesting. I like the heatsink rather than a fan but those fins look a little weak. I guess the good thing is you could extend them to a heat sink where there is room.

[paddlenbike]

Based on what I have read, the ones with a fan are a no-go for an offroad vehicle. The heatsinks on all of these aftermarket ones likely can't carry enough heat for longterm reliability, but as a Cree stockholder who follows LED news, LEDs are getting more efficient and produce less heat than previous generations. In other words, less and less heatsink will be needed in the future.

For comparison, this is what the heatsink looks like on my Nissan's LED headlight:
http://jpx.responsejp.com/jpx/images/2011/05/11/156101_5.jpg

I will jump on the LED headlight bandwagon in another year or two as the product improves.

[troyboy162]

Man that one is pretty interesting. You wouldn't have to mod your bulb boot with that. I wonder how it stacks up against the other offerings since none of the heatsinks have very good thermal paths anyhow.

[Kryptoroxx]

I was going to say you could mod that heatsink fairly easily with some thermal paste. Maybe gluing it to a 4x4" piece of 1/4 aluminum would be enough surface area?? Probably still wouldn't be enough heat sink though. I like the idea of led headlights though.

[Seanz0rz]

I'll stick to my HIDs for a while longer. They are so much better than the halogen bulbs.