LED Headlight Bulbs

I'm about to buy a set of these to try in my car.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-80W-CREE...ash=item4af4e71543:g:SBcAAOSw8-tWXbu7&vxp=mtr

Everyone knows about the HID craze right now, but I'm very curious about LEDs. I love LEDs and the technology behind them is great. Instant on to full brightness and amazing brightness out of such a small chip.

Anyone actually try these yet? How are they working?

 

[colintrax]

80 watts!? I hope that's the high beam. Did I miss the low beam wattage?

Btw there's a discrepancy in there, $10 extra for certain bulbs. Not sure which car you're putting these in?

 

[DjDom]

80 watts!? I hope that's the high beam. Did I miss the low beam wattage?

Btw there's a discrepancy in there, $10 extra for certain bulbs. Not sure which car you're putting these in?

Yeah 80 watts. Those things sound like they'll beam down anything, lol.
I'd put them in high beams probably, but I have daytime running lights which run off the high beam, so I don't want those on all day.

Since the Explorer is gone, they would be going in the BMW, H7. Only High/Low bulbs like 9007/9004/9003 are +$10.

 

[colintrax]

Your DRL use the high beam? Anyways I'm subbed to see what you/anyone else has to say about these.

Oh and free bump

 

[DjDom]

Your DRL use the high beam?

Yeah, all my cars used/use high beams for daytime running lights.

What it does is sends a lower voltage to the high beam bulb.
This makes the bulb look veryyyy yellow since they're running at half power.

The explorer used the high beam filament in the 9007 bulb, both my nissan and bmw use the separate high beam bulb.

I'm going to probably get them disabled in the BMW though, I don't like DRLs.

 

[4FordFamily]

Honestly, 80 watts of LED in anything but a housing designed for them will be bright but produce little usable light. This will also melt your headlight plug much as the 60-70 watt "xenon" (blue coated halogens with higher wattage) bulbs did in the early 2000s that everyone and every rice burner tried.

The '16 explorer with LED bulbs is very specifically designed to be able to project more of the light on to the road from the side of the housing reflected back. This is because LED light scatters exponentially more than HID light. 80 watts of LED would also produce less lumens than 35 watt HID, in addition to the scattering problem.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

LED's have less light output then HID's. Also keep in mind with living in Canada, that you want some sort of heater for the headlights, the LED bulbs don't produce enough heat to melt snow and ice off the head light housings. once again they can be really good but you need to have the correct housing and equipment for them to work the best.

 

[DjDom]

Honestly, 80 watts of LED in anything but a housing designed for them will be bright but produce little usable light. This will also melt your headlight plug much as the 60-70 watt "xenon" (blue coated halogens with higher wattage) bulbs did in the early 2000s that everyone and every rice burner tried.

The '16 explorer with LED bulbs is very specifically designed to be able to project more of the light on to the road from the side of the housing reflected back. This is because LED light scatters exponentially more than HID light. 80 watts of LED would also produce less lumens than 35 watt HID, in addition to the scattering problem.

Fully agree with this, trying to just see if anyone's tried them.
Every video I've seen of them shows how crappy they are. Light output is ok, sure they look good since they're so white but they produce barely as much light as a halogen bulb. Approx the same amount of lumens.

LED's have less light output then HID's. Also keep in mind with living in Canada, that you want some sort of heater for the headlights, the LED bulbs don't produce enough heat to melt snow and ice off the head light housings. once again they can be really good but you need to have the correct housing and equipment for them to work the best.

Sounds like most people are preferring HIDs to LEDs for headlights. Makes sense. Probably just going to stick to that.
Yes, I know, put HIDs in only HID housings. In fact, the Maxima I own I changed the headlights to the newer ones since they are factory HID.

 

[4FordFamily]

Fully agree with this, trying to just see if anyone's tried them.
Every video I've seen of them shows how crappy they are. Light output is ok, sure they look good since they're so white but they produce barely as much light as a halogen bulb. Approx the same amount of lumens.



Sounds like most people are preferring HIDs to LEDs for headlights. Makes sense. Probably just going to stick to that.
Yes, I know, put HIDs in only HID housings. In fact, the Maxima I own I changed the headlights to the newer ones since they are factory HID.

I'm very happy with the LEDS in my 16 explorer headlight housing. The housing must be why I am happy. Because LED scatters badly. I've had HIDs for a decade or more in multiple cars and I am spoiled. These LED are more than sufficient. Same with the LED fog lights on my '-6 X sport.

 

[DjDom]

I'm very happy with the LEDS in my 16 explorer headlight housing. The housing must be why I am happy. Because LED scatters badly. I've had HIDs for a decade or more in multiple cars and I am spoiled. These LED are more than sufficient. Same with the LED fog lights on my '-6 X sport.

I wish I could have anything 2016. :

 

[4FordFamily]

I wish I could have anything 2016. :

Shoot man, I spent years with older cars. Everyone has to start somewhere. I'm 30 and at one point I even drove a 79 F150. Working hard AND working smart is where the money follows! I have a long way to go but working towards those two things has helped me thus far!

 

[DjDom]

Shoot man, I spent years with older cars. Everyone has to start somewhere. I'm 30 and at one point I even drove a 79 F150. Working hard AND working smart is where the money follows! I have a long way to go but working towards those two things has helped me thus far!

It's true, work hard to achieve what you want.

I'm still young and getting there. Thankfully I like older vehicles so I'm happy for now.

Back to the original topic though:

For the price of the LEDs, (Roughly $100 Canadian all shipped and delivered) I can order HID projectors and HIDs. Of course they won't be the best projectors on the market, but they'll get the job done better than halogen reflectors. And retrofitting them in the BMW is super simple since the entire front lens is clipped on, no glue.

 

[4FordFamily]

It's true, work hard to achieve what you want.

I'm still young and getting there. Thankfully I like older vehicles so I'm happy for now.

Back to the original topic though:

For the price of the LEDs, (Roughly $100 Canadian all shipped and delivered) I can order HID projectors and HIDs. Of course they won't be the best projectors on the market, but they'll get the job done better than halogen reflectors. And retrofitting them in the BMW is super simple since the entire front lens is clipped on, no glue.

The housings you buy with the led stuff and projectors are terrible I've never had a customer or peer happy with them the LEDs go out, the projectors suck both in performance and often adjustment, the housings leak water often, and they yellow very quickly.

I too don't mind some older cars. Stuff is stuff, who cares. More important things in life!

 

[BrianDye]

I don't have that particular brand/set, but don't. Go with HID or stay halogen. The LEDs are garbage. (Will post more info later, im on my way out the door now)

 

[DjDom]

The housings you buy with the led stuff and projectors are terrible I've never had a customer or peer happy with them the LEDs go out, the projectors suck both in performance and often adjustment, the housings leak water often, and they yellow very quickly.

I too don't mind some older cars. Stuff is stuff, who cares. More important things in life!

No no, not the aftermarket headlight assemblies. Actual projectors.
Something like this:

And like I said, you can take the front lens/plastic off a BMW headlight since it's just clipped on, no baking needed. So adding these is a breeze.

I don't have that particular brand/set, but don't. Go with HID or stay halogen. The LEDs are garbage. (Will post more info later, im on my way out the door now)

I'd love to see what they look like if you have a set.
I know LED light bars are amazing (thinking of mounting mine from the ex on the car), so I assumed maybe LED bulbs can get a chance.

 

[4FordFamily]

No no, not the aftermarket headlight assemblies. Actual projectors.
Something like this:

And like I said, you can take the front lens/plastic off a BMW headlight since it's just clipped on, no baking needed. So adding these is a breeze.



I'd love to see what they look like if you have a set.
I know LED light bars are amazing (thinking of mounting mine from the ex on the car), so I assumed maybe LED bulbs can get a chance.

That would be neat keep us posted!

 

[BrianDye]

I'd love to see what they look like if you have a set.
I know LED light bars are amazing (thinking of mounting mine from the ex on the car), so I assumed maybe LED bulbs can get a chance.

I don't have a picture handy, but I'll get you one by tomorrow afternoon when I get off work. The LED bars are amazing, but the aftermarket LED headlight bulbs are garbage.

I saw a link on Facebook for this page that sold the LED bulbs for headlights, never saw them before so I was curious, because I love LED technology. The stats looked amazing, so many more lumens "guaranteed" than stock (Usually 2000-6000 lumens per set they say) and anywhere from 40-90 watts per bulb, which in LED watts, is ALOT.

I didn't really trust the Facebook link I saw as the page was setup really corny like the cheap HID kit sellers that want $19.99 shipped for HIDs. I found a seller on Amazon that had the bulb I needed for the 4th gen fogs, for $69 or $79 IIRC, marked on "sale" from a normal price is $299.

The listing said 4000 lumens, guaranteed twice as bright as OEM halogen, farther beam, etc. fan and ballast built right into the end of the bulb which I also liked. I wanted HIDs for the dogs, but was dreading another installation with more ballasts. So I opted to give them a try. 25,000+ hours rated use, guaranteed no flickering and such as well.

I ordered mine in mid-November, installed towards the end of November, drive with my headlights on for probably a couple hours per week (Maybe 5-10?) and just yesterday was driving to work, and the drivers side bulb started flickering then went out. Wouldn't turn on if I turned the fogs off and back on either. Later on leaving work, it worked again then shortly after, went out so its dead to me. Amazons return window is like 30 (or 60? Days) so of course I'm SOL now.

Brightness/beam: I have slightly tinted fogs to match my iron man headlights, so I knew that would cut down visibility. But when I got them, I put one in my one-good fog light and tried them (I had one housing missing the plastic so I was waiting on my new set to arrive) and the output was "decent" nothing brighter than OEM. The light seemed a bit more "even/smooth" but definitely not brighter, I don't think they were as bright as OEM but it had been a minute since I saw the stock fogs output.

With the tinted lens, the halogen bulb wasn't much darker, but the LED was dark as heck. Illuminated enough to be a puddle lamp basically at night entering/exiting my Explorer.

Another joyful part is the fact that you lose your FM reception when these are on, I confirmed it wasn't just me by searching and reading reviews from different brand led bulbs. I get crystal clear reception with fogs off, as soon as they come on, pure static.

I'm going back & fourth with Amazon right now about a special return since they are defective with so little time and they are letting me return them for a refund after they inspect them or something. Will definitely be going with a pair of HIDs.

 

[DjDom]

I don't have a picture handy, but I'll get you one by tomorrow afternoon when I get off work. The LED bars are amazing, but the aftermarket LED headlight bulbs are garbage.

I saw a link on Facebook for this page that sold the LED bulbs for headlights, never saw them before so I was curious, because I love LED technology. The stats looked amazing, so many more lumens "guaranteed" than stock (Usually 2000-6000 lumens per set they say) and anywhere from 40-90 watts per bulb, which in LED watts, is ALOT.

I didn't really trust the Facebook link I saw as the page was setup really corny like the cheap HID kit sellers that want $19.99 shipped for HIDs. I found a seller on Amazon that had the bulb I needed for the 4th gen fogs, for $69 or $79 IIRC, marked on "sale" from a normal price is $299.

The listing said 4000 lumens, guaranteed twice as bright as OEM halogen, farther beam, etc. fan and ballast built right into the end of the bulb which I also liked. I wanted HIDs for the dogs, but was dreading another installation with more ballasts. So I opted to give them a try. 25,000+ hours rated use, guaranteed no flickering and such as well.

I ordered mine in mid-November, installed towards the end of November, drive with my headlights on for probably a couple hours per week (Maybe 5-10?) and just yesterday was driving to work, and the drivers side bulb started flickering then went out. Wouldn't turn on if I turned the fogs off and back on either. Later on leaving work, it worked again then shortly after, went out so its dead to me. Amazons return window is like 30 (or 60? Days) so of course I'm SOL now.

Brightness/beam: I have slightly tinted fogs to match my iron man headlights, so I knew that would cut down visibility. But when I got them, I put one in my one-good fog light and tried them (I had one housing missing the plastic so I was waiting on my new set to arrive) and the output was "decent" nothing brighter than OEM. The light seemed a bit more "even/smooth" but definitely not brighter, I don't think they were as bright as OEM but it had been a minute since I saw the stock fogs output.

With the tinted lens, the halogen bulb wasn't much darker, but the LED was dark as heck. Illuminated enough to be a puddle lamp basically at night entering/exiting my Explorer.

Another joyful part is the fact that you lose your FM reception when these are on, I confirmed it wasn't just me by searching and reading reviews from different brand led bulbs. I get crystal clear reception with fogs off, as soon as they come on, pure static.

I'm going back & fourth with Amazon right now about a special return since they are defective with so little time and they are letting me return them for a refund after they inspect them or something. Will definitely be going with a pair of HIDs.

Wow, what a POS product you got.
I feel like they haven't gotten them right yet as it seems.

Just like HIDs a while ago, you could get $100 kits that would be junk. Fast forward a couple years, you can get a pretty good quality kit for $30.. Sure, it's made in China, but it works. I've seen them outlast factory kits in German cars.

 

[1996BLKBauer]

It does appear that the LED bulbs work with the reflection type of headlight housing rather then the projector. So if you use them in your stock housings you might be fine, I am assuming the bulbs have one or more LED's and the face backwards. My Friend just bought some realy expensive LED headlights for his girlfriends XJ, and it's just a normal looking housing that reflects back to the chrome plated housing, then out, what is cool with those is that there is a top and bottom section for high and low beams, so maybe give them a try, just remember that they don't heat up so keep them clear when it snows.

 

[BrianDye]

Yeah, I agree DJ, the technology is out there (as you can see in some of the vehicles with LED headlights, but it's not really in the consumers aftermarket-market yet. The Acura MDX(?) that comes to mind which is the first vehicle I saw with LED headlights, has like 6 or 8 individual LEDs to put out enough light, not one or two. (Some of the variants have one led, others have two. My fog light style has two). I think I'm another year or so, the technology we can get in the aftermarket world (like HIDs did) will become a lot better, vs just a "high powered" LED to throw in and call it a day. I know "real" LEDs that people have made on here for puddle lamps, rock crawling lights etc have been such high power (which is way less power than these are rated) that they have to have a huge open area for the driver, fans to cool it, and the output is insane. Saw one member with puddle lamps in his mirrors that blew these led bulbs away and he only spent like $20 in materials making them and if he could aim them forward, were probably brighter than his headlights.