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Opinions on LED's

27K views 70 replies 25 participants last post by  Trooper49 
#1 ·
Advice needed on replacing the H11, 9005, and PSX26W fog lamp on my 4500. Looking for which brands are good ones and ones to stay away from. Price isn't a concern-longivity and light output are.
Alla seems to be the only USA manufactured units but open to any.
 
#2 ·
Morimoto are good!
Cougar Motor are decent

Go to www.retrofitsource.com


FYI: Retrofit website, has HID conversion(s), for HIGH, LOW, and even fog lamps
 
#4 · (Edited)
The retrofit source is a great place for lighting and they have good support. I have also had good luck with LED bulbs from amazon in the 30-40$ range. Find one with thousands of reviews and youll be fine. Ive run these amazon bulbs for a couple years now in my old truck and they were still working fine when it got traded in (highs, lows, fogs, turns, DRL, all amazon LED's).

LED's are a lot more robust then people like to think, as long as your no buying garbage, most of the LED stuff out there will work for a very long time with good output, even if its cheep Chinese stuff. The technology is very simple, so it can be made well even at a low price point.
 
#6 ·
Whatever you do, buy a purpose-built headlight assembly (morimoto, etc) versus a LED bulb assembly. I’m not sure what vintage truck you have but if it doesn’t have projectors or LED from the factory, installing LED bulb assemblies are outright dangerous. They blind the hell out of oncoming traffic. The factory headlights are specially designed for halogen bulb assemblies and NOT the LED light dispersal. It’s illegal too (headlight assembly is no longer in DOT compliance) but I have yet to hear about enforcement.


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#11 · (Edited)
The danger comes from using a bulb with a non OEM focal point. If the light source is at the same position in the housing as the factory bulb then the reflector housing will work as designed by the manufacture with higher light output. It is when you put a bulb with a shorter or longer focal point in the housing that light begins to go places it was not intended to because it is hitting different parts of the reflector at different angles then designed.

so something like this (assuming they got the focal distance right) would be safe to use since the LED cobs are close together so the light comes from a single source and will scatter less.




where as something like this is likely to run people off the road. In this case the focal point is basically the entire bulb, so there is no singular point for the light to come from and you will get light rays coming off it at all angles from all positions. This is when you get scatter.




This is basically what the cross section of a headlight looks like with the lines put in to show the path of light from the focal point. Were you to move that focal point the light would begin to leave the housing at angles that are less parallel to the road.


 
#7 ·
Good point. Truck is a 2019 4500HD.
 
#9 ·
I went with Heartland led for headlights
diode dynamics for fogs
and many many superbrightlites for back up lites and cargo ..
superbright lights on my trailers also always had good luck
 
#10 ·
Check out Headlight Revolution videos where they test bulbs in actual headlight housings. The biggest issue with LED bulbs is the cheap Chinese knockoffs that put out horrible beam patterns. The quality more expensive bulbs have beam patterns that match factory but are much brighter.

 
#12 ·
Those first bulbs look like Supernova V.4 and those tested very well. On Headlight Revolution YouTube page they show those bulbs in headlight housings and the beam pattern was very good. I am thinking about putting them in my 2003 GMC.
 
#14 ·
I agree and highly recommend checking out Headlight Revolution before buying any bulbs. I just put the S-V.4 in my 2005. Beam pattern is spot on, output is excellent, color is crisp and clean. I did have to cut and notch the headlight support to clear the heat sinks.

I had the Opt7 in there for both low and high. Low beam gave out after only 14 months (fan still worked but had the epileptic light show going on)...never touching them again.
 
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#13 ·
Diode Dynamics is easily one of the best in the business when it comes to automotive LEDs. As far as I know they are the only company that makes an LED specifically designed for reflector housings by maintaining the same focal point as the factory incandescent bulb. That is the only LED I would recommend for use in a reflector housing.
 
#18 ·
Some departments have purpose built inspection equipment that determines angle and output. It’s not just the LED folks either, it’s the HIR and HID folks too that slap these aftermarket lights into legacy headlight assemblies. The Morimoto projectors aren’t that expensive BUT the labor seems ridiculous to convert an assembly.

New DOT approved assemblies must be quite expensive. LED plow lights from boss are $700 a pair!!!!


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#22 ·
Considering the media coverage and general whining from people around me regarding being blinded by LED’s (OE and aftermarket), I guarantee you that there will be some sort of response. I consider some of the aftermarket LED firms attempts to match the incandescent light dispersal to be a valiant effort for compliance. All it takes is a simple ordinance to allow LEO’s to really rake in the cash. $200 is out of my price point as I’d rather spend $100 on a LED bar connected to my high beams via simple relay and have somewhat of a legal setup.
Check this out — I dealt with a Trooper that insisted that each little LED module in those long LED lightbars counts as an individual light. The Michigan Motor Vehicle Code only allows for a maximum of four headlights on at any given time. So high & low plus fog mod plus 108-led bar = 114 headlights per his interpretation. Maybe overcome it with installing a translucent lense?
The Cadillac headlights in the Escalades have like 12 LED headlight bulb modules. I’d like to see how it interprets that. Regardless, just because the DOT approves it doesn’t mean that the state shall allow it. Legal matters like this can get quite expensive for the driver. All the law enforcement office gets out of it is overtime earnings.


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#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Considering the media coverage and general whining from people around me regarding being blinded by LED’s (OE and aftermarket), I guarantee you that there will be some sort of response. I consider some of the aftermarket LED firms attempts to match the incandescent light dispersal to be a valiant effort for compliance. All it takes is a simple ordinance to allow LEO’s to really rake in the cash. $200 is out of my price point as I’d rather spend $100 on a LED bar connected to my high beams via simple relay and have somewhat of a legal setup.
Check this out — I dealt with a Trooper that insisted that each little LED module in those long LED lightbars counts as an individual light. The Michigan Motor Vehicle Code only allows for a maximum of four headlights on at any given time. So high & low plus fog mod plus 108-led bar = 114 headlights per his interpretation. Maybe overcome it with installing a translucent lense?
The Cadillac headlights in the Escalades have like 12 LED headlight bulb modules. I’d like to see how it interprets that. Regardless, just because the DOT approves it doesn’t mean that the state shall allow it. Legal matters like this can get quite expensive for the driver. All the law enforcement office gets out of it is overtime earnings.

You are going to waste more time/money screwing around installing some ugly cheap lightbar that will probably have a short lifespan. Spend the extra $50-$100 on a quality set of bulbs that are plug/play with an OEM beam pattern. Then make sure your headlights are aimed properly and you are done.
 
#23 ·
No amount of claim will change the dynamics of the two.

Halogen reflectors bend and shape a 360* dispersal into a focused forward beam. Installing a strictly directional beam (LEDs) into a housing designed to bend and fold a 360, still results in a trip down clown glare lane.

Claiming the cob position is the same as the center of the halogen element...just weird science.
One's still directional, one is not.

In Texas, they finally got rid of the HID crap, failing yearly inspections if they weren't installed in a projector housing. Nice.

Now we have the LED crap to deal with at night.
Sux is back in style. omG!

But my 4800 lumens 9011s win the glare-off battle every time. :wink2:
 
#26 ·
Did you watch any of the videos ? They test LED bulbs in actual headlight housings showing that the beam pattern in fact can be duplicated. The problem is there is very few companies who are spending the $$$ on R&D to put out a quality bulb that duplicates the OEM beam pattern. As with most things quality comes with a price but so many people buy the cheap junk that puts out nothing but blinding glare.
 
#28 ·
Did you watch any of the videos ?
Honestly, no. I know what I know and didn't want to waste the bandwidth. :teehee

Maybe they've come close......but they're probably all 6000k which is far from the optimum color for distance vision of the human eye at night. The correct color is too costly to produce, it seems.
 
#29 ·
I use to be the same way when it came to LED bulbs thanks to all the people that bought the cheap glare junk. Then I started to watch all these test videos where they go in depth and talk about beam patterns, build quality, heat sink, R&D, color, lux/lumen, clocking of bulbs, etc and learned a lot.
 
#30 ·
I drive 130 miles r/t for work on a 55MPH rural highway that is quite busy and I’m absolutely sick of the crappy LED’s. That goes for certain OEM’s too. I think the worst of the worst are the dudes that put a 10” lift on their ‘07+ GMT900 and then install horrible LED bulbs. It’s like a double whammy. I’m legally blind for about a minute when those dillweeds drive past me. I digress...


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#37 ·
I put LEDs in as well, dont remember the brand they were middle of the road and good reviews with a adjustable focal point. I adjusted them one at a time as i changed them and left the stock bulb on the other side to start with so I could actually get about the same pattern but whiter. In the earlier days i used to run the LE's bulbs which were just more wattage, not sure if the cruisers run different bulbs than everyday citizen cars now though. Running a light bar while driving will get you a ticket every time in my county though, heaven help you if it causes a wreck. I would imagine if your lights are adjusted wrong or to bright if your in a accident and its caught you will be at fault. Any accident with a fatality is investigated thoroughly and its all checked.
 
#38 ·
Just some info on what I did to the truck after reading all the much needed information and opinions from all of you. I decided that seeing as how this truck spends a lot of its day bouncing thru rough fields and back country roads, I wanted to try some less expensive lamps first just to get my feet wet so to speak. Here is what I installed:
Fog light: I used ones made by ALLA, 80w for the pair, 6000K xenon white.
H11: Beamtech 25W 6500K 8K lumens
9005: 25W 6500K 8K lumens.
I was concerned about the beam patterns( mainly because I was made aware of them here) so I performed a small test which is absolutely non-scientific.
I pulled the truck level in front of the barn(with big wide white doors) at about 30 feet away. I taped the patterns for the originals, installed the new ones and did the same. The high beams are almost dead on, and the lows are a tad wider but the same height. Output is quite a bit more and the fogs are perfect-- wider and way more light for the ditches around here.
All in about 150.00.
Never had any oncoming flash at me with the new ones, but since the truck sits pretty high, I had that happen before so expect it now. I don't think they will be as irritating as the blinding blue projector lights I see on a lot of vehicles.

I thank all of you for your comments-- helped an old man kinda figure this out. If these survive, I'll get a better grade system.
 
#40 ·
I just don't get people wanting extreme bright LED lamps. (Just keep feeding the Chinese Army) The factory lamps in vehicles today r many x as bright of vehicles of 20+ years ago and they worked just fine. And then a lot of owners jack their truck up with lift kits,oversize wheel and tires and blind every other driver while not even considering to have headlamps readjusted to comply with highway safety or courtesy towards other drivers. R U people all going blind and think u need a airport runway lighting to see? And the other stupid part also is that u don't light up that much further down the highway to justify anything. Unless u enjoy other drivers squinting or flashing brights back at ya. Sorry for the rant.
 
#45 ·
Well the lights I have in Moby are Made in USA and do not blind people. The low beams light up farther down the road than the factory high beam halogens without blinding. I drive on what most people would consider remote roads for 100's of miles dodging black cows, deer, elk, bison, moose, lion, tigers, bears, possibly even people taking a nap on the white line, plus a whole host of other objects. Having that extreme bright LED (high beam) light that is properly aligned has been very helpful to me. Unfortunately the mass majority of people choose to buy bulbs with poor optics and not aim them properly. Maybe we should just ban headlights all together ?
 
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#41 ·
I went with JDMs on advice and love them. high\low and fogs.

Fairly priced, great white light with no adapters.
 
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#42 ·
Sorry for the rant.
Yep, hot spot up close and you're eyes get lazy and don't focus out just beyond the fade as before, where you'd have enough time to react before you hit something.

Also, Halogens lumens output dwindles with age. Replace with new cheapo plain janes and you'll see the same dramatic results in a brighter view without spending extra on the Blue this or Silver that new and improved.
 
#46 ·
I have used JDM A-Star led bulbs with great success. Especially when even the high end halogens burn out every 6 months. I get the leds on amazon. Spend somewhere around the 60$ mark and the quality is good stuff.
 
#47 ·
Sorry for the rant.[/QUOTE]

I think the reason I use the brightest bulb I can find is mainly safety. I dont try to blind anyone. I live in a rural area, with National forest always in my travels. I've hit many deer, one elk, dodged a few Bears as well as moo cows (Open Range). To top this off I ride a motorcycle at times which I try not to ride after dark due to animals. My Bike has a extremely bright bulb almost able to see into the other dimension, got those stupid deer alerts too. If I can get any extra reaction time over stock equipment its a win win for me.
I do buy the bulbs in which are adjustable and spend a little time getting them adjusted. The brightest light I have ever seen is a train headlight. Have a buddy that uses one as a High beam on a springer, he had to upgrade his charging system just to run the dang thing. I must say when its on you can see forever.

As quality goes JDM's are top of the line in my book.
 
#48 ·
In this particular test the JDM bulbs did not make the top 10. They do not appear to be a bad bulb but there are better choices available from a variety of brands.

 
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