OG Wagon

I thought I would put a post here for LED headlight conversions, as there appears to be a lot of interest in these of late. LED headlight conversions are still very "new", and as of the date of this posting, there is very little info. on the net about them, and also many general mis-conceptions about their performance/specs. This appears to, mainly, be due to the DRL-type LED "headlight bulbs" that started appearing about a year ago on Ebay, promising upgraded performance.

**This thread applies to the newest, truly, stand-a-lone LED headlight conversion kits, that began being offered a few months ago on the net**

LED's I purchased are here

These are, indeed, a full plug-and-play "conversion" kit.

I don't pretend to be an expert on LED headlight conversions by any means, but here is what info. I have to offer/share at this time.

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1. Amperage used/required to operate an LED headlight kit is lower than that of what is needed to run standard halogen bulbs.

2. Output is slightly less than halogens. The difference is negligible though. The LED headlight bulbs that came out about a year ago on Ebay were low output units, and had output similar to DRL's. Once you start looking around, these units are easy to spot out. Once more info. comes out on these newer units, it will be more obvious that these new kits are suitable as stand-alone headlight bulbs. The key: look for the cooling fan unit at the back of the bulb. If it doesn't have this, it will not be a standalone headlight unit. . They kits with the fans are, of course, much more expensive than the DRL-type bulbs ($15 versus $80-100).

3. Output looks a lot "cooler"/modern than halogens

4. No projector is required. No need to "retro-fit" a projector, such as with xenons

5. Near instant turn on. No wait time for ballasts to fire, as with xenons

6. Wiring/Connections are simple. Not multiple connects as with ebay xenons. As a result, less potential connection issues. Blows Xentec connections/system away.

7. Military grade construction. So beautiful, they belong in a museum. Must see/hold to really appreciate. Pictures don't do these units justice. Thing of beauty, for real.

8. More expensive than (Ebay) HID's. Paid $80 versus $30 for a Xentec.

9. Prices appear to be rising, not lowering. So, hurry and get "on board" before this craze intensifies.

10. LED wattage ratings are lower than halogen, but equal higher. So, a 20W LED kit equals the output of a typical 55W halogen bulb. My kit ordered was 20W. However, this was discontinued, and a newer design that was a 30W set was sent to me. Now, same company offers 40W kits. I'd go for these, if I could.

11. Hi/Low, dual fitment bulb. One LED fires for low-beam. Flicking on high-beam activates the 2nd LED. The cutoff is also higher for the hi-beam. The design is very well engineered.

12. Color is a "cool white" w/ a hint of blue. About 5500K on the Kelvin scale. Think of a very pure, intense, Silverstar bulb. No glare, like a (non-focused/projected) xenon bulb.

13. Fans are built into the backside of the unit. These cool the LED's, as they run hot. Unsure at this point if the fans run all the time, or just intermittently when the bulbs reach a certain temperature.

14. My bulbs are "CREE-type" LED's. They are knockoffs, essentially, of the CREE bulbs. But, are supposed to be great quality.

15. Shipment time took about 10 days from China. Seller was very professional and was a great communicator.

So far, highly endorse them. A great way to get an upgraded look w/o having to (1) get a high-intensity halogen bulb with a low life ; or (2) Xenon "upgrade" that is temperamental at best, and looks terrible unless appropriate projectors are retrofitted.


PICTURES of my set-up:


Low Beam (one LED activated per bulb) + Nokya Hyper Yellow (H3) fog bulbs







Low Beams w/ NO fog lights on:





Hi Beams (two LED’s activated on each bulb)







** Please feel free to share your constructive thoughts, reviews, and input here as well! **

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

I actually came in here to reply to your other thread because I'm interested in this kind of stuff. Good info, keep it coming with more experience. Hopefully others chime in as well. This could be especially good for 96-00 Civics which tend to look terrible with projector retrofits.

Just a couple of nuggets to add:

- Here's another option with actual CREE leds (claimed):




- 14+ Corolla and some Prius' (Prii?) have led projector lights that may be ripe for retrofitting. There are a couple of threads about them on HID Planet, I don't feel like searching right now though. I'm sure the Euro stuff (BMW, Audi, etc) is way too complicated and expensive to be reasonable to move over to our 15-20 year old econoboxes here though.

- In 13, you mentioned cooling the Xenon. I think you meant the emitter bed. The beds of LEDs (especially the SHO stuff) get very hot, enough to self destruct things if not kept in check. There is no Xenon, or any gas, envelope involved.

- This thread is needs more pics to be of any use!

OG Wagon

^^ Fixed. Thanks! and thanks for sharing as well.

Yes, those lights you posted are nice, and stand-a-lone units as well (with fan). Good price.

However, it appears they have rather large ballasts that accompany them, and that there are several connectors involved.

Additionally, with the lights that I linked, the ballast is very small (think size of a box of Chicklets) and the wiring is much more streamlined/simplistic. My fans were also "built in" to my bulbs. NO additional parts to screw in. The bulb base clipped right where the traditional halogens were typically placed, and then the bulb/fan assembley twist-locked (not threaded screwed) into that. It was idiot-proof. Only thing I had to do was cut a slightly large hole in the rubber grommet that goes behind the bulb to allow the harness plus (chicklet-sized) "ballast" to come through.

Are these called ballasts? Or for LED's, are they like a resistor box, or some other fancy lingo?

Yes, more pics are needed.

** All, please feel free to share. **

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

Yes this topic is a great one and i can def chime in because i am dealing with these types of products now.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

Not ballasts, per se, that's not how an led works. Probably a resistor block, but I'm not familiar enough with these to know. Here's your chance to chime in, LowTEC SaiMike

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

The ballast is used for regulating power that is coming in to a current state that the bulb can handle. It is also used for resistance yes

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

I sold an H4 Kit to a Honda and while testing these , the H4 set will light only 1/2 the LED during normal operating low beams to avoid glare. When high beams are used . Both LEDs will light up to provide maximum output . I highly recommend them to my customers.

OG Wagon

^^ Correct. It's a very slick set up. There are two Cree-type LED's on my bulb.

Low beam actuates one of the LED's (at full power/strength).

Hi Beam actuates both of the LED's.

Again, instant on, no time to "power up". Although, that was a pretty cool thing to watch on xenons

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

Too bad i haven't seen an CREE brand rated over 1800 lumens

OG Wagon

I'm sure they will come soon. Asia is very good at meeting a demand with updated technology. As the interest in these increase, so will the tech from companies like CREE. I also bet a competitor to CREE enters this market soon...

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

The language is tricky though. I'm noticing that most of the ones that are rated higher are rated by pair while the lower ones are rated by bulb, i.e. the ones I posted above:

OG Wagon

Very interesting. Honestly, I'd love to find a way to by-pass the relay on my OEM fogs so that I could run them simultaneously with the highs.

My highs are nice and bright, but not as bright as halogen highs.

My lows, I think, will work more efficiently for me once I have an opportunity to re-aim the headlights. Work has just been crazy of late. Haven't yet had a chance.

I'll try to get some pics up on this thread once I have the time to aim them and snap some.

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

Yep. The language that is conveyed from the manufacture to us maybe screwed a little. The seller should rewrite the wording for customers . I hope you didn't pull that from my site . if so , ill reword it right away

I just checked and i can get ones from CREE rated at 2800 lumens

OG Wagon

Bump. Added pics to my original post.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

But technically, that's an incorrect configuration. Fog lights are supposed to be low and wide, and the name implies they are for use in foggy environments... where you wouldn't run the highs.

Someone has to have done an LED conversion with correct optics. I'm not satisfied with the reflector housing setups so far.

OG,

You should shoot those at a wall. It's kind of counter intuitive, but lighting up an open area in photos doesn't really show the characteristics of the lighting at all.

OG Wagon

^^ Agreed on all accounts sir.

I just haven't had a chance to get to a wall one evening to take a picture. That was just a quick shoot to get some (very general) pictures up. I'll update with some wall pics asap. May be a week or so though...

Without projectors, there is no special cutoff etc. With my setup currently, they are just (more efficient) halogen lamps, but with a whiter/cooler color.

As for the fogs, my reasoning is to get the max output of the LED's (on high, both LED's are on/firing) with my fogs as well. The "high" output of the LED's is somewhere in-between the output of a good halogen bulbs low and high. At the high setting, the output is nice, won't blind other drivers, AND I would have my fogs as well, for extra visibility and safety (when you drive an EG hatchback, anything you can do to help others see you is good for you and them).

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

Jimmy

iTrader: (5)

Glad I came across this thread... I'm actually in the market for a LED headlight setup for my integra, but my buddy was explaining the difference of the reflector housing and the projector housing.. In a '94 Integra (9006 bulb) would I need a led setup that emits light from the sides or from the vey end of the bulb... I'm not sure I completely understand the concept because I don't know if integra projectors have any reflectors in them.

Could you link me to a kit that would be decent for my integra?

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

Jimmy

For the Integra , they use a projector to guide the light in the correct pattern . So any kit would work, but the best would be any LED kit that would emit light 360*. You can inspect the bulb to see if they have the LED diodes on both sides of the bulb.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

The bulb itself tells you everything you need to know:

Hawkze_2.3

That light output does not look very good. Please do post some cutoff pics so we can see what's really going on...

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

I think the is talking about on the LED headlight bulbs

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

I know. My point was that looking at the stock bulb would tell him what type of LED he would need to use as a replacement.

LowTEC SaiMike

iTrader: (7)

i believe that all stock halogen bulbs shines 360*

Freemananana

iTrader: (3)

I need some 9006 Replacements for my Low Beams. Are there bulbs floating around with just 1 LED? My low/highs are separate. I'll do some searching on the link. I'll post back what I find.

2400 Lumens per bulb? Similar packaging.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-New-40W-4800-Lm-Cree-LED-Headlight-Kit-Bulb-9005-9006-H8-H11-H4-H7-/131224044422?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e8d900386&vxp=mtr
Or the cheap stuff
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291230620569?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Seems weird. Time to do some google research.