Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My 2013 miata has difficult to reach lights (compact packing density) and I'm thinking ahead for when one bulb ultimately fails. would have wanted longer lasting LED.
There are actually some good LED headlamps for replacing the old sealed beam round or square headlights. There is a lot of made in china junk. But there are a few good companies that have those types of bulbs.
I’m actually looking at removing my composite headlights on my trucks and replacing them with the work truck square headlamps so I can get the good LED bulb/housings
Yep, many of them are terrible. Some are absolutely blinding in the rearview mirrors as well.
All depends on the light spectrum. The ones with a blue tint are the worst to the human eye, but the ones that are similar in color to "daylight" aren't as harmful. The blue tint LED is common on TV/computer, cellphone, and table screens. Some new computer screens are designed to block the blue tint, and people who are watching screens all day long at work can now request eyewear that blocks the harmful light.
just following up on this one. I *thought* the led bulbs had a better cut off when testing them in the garage, but getting them out at night was totally different. The brightness has alot of bleed and though the hot spot is brighter and at the same height as halogen, the fuzzy brightness bleeds higher, illuminating more street signs than the halogen did so it's almost as high as when the brights are on.
I may have to downgrade back to halogen because they are too bright.
just following up on this one. I *thought* the led bulbs had a better cut off when testing them in the garage, but getting them out at night was totally different. The brightness has alot of bleed and though the hot spot is brighter and at the same height as halogen, the fuzzy brightness bleeds higher, illuminating more street signs than the halogen did so it's almost as high as when the brights are on.
I may have to downgrade back to halogen because they are too bright.
Or take the middle road and retrofit whatever you have to HID. Not new tech, but effective and well-understood. I did that couple years ago and wish I'd thought of it five years earlier, to my Tacoma, using only the existing housings and whatever parts they chose to salvage. They retrofit everything, to 6K in my case (a bit on the blue side). I "think" about 4.8K is optimal for the human eye, but what I heck I figured.
Dealing with ancient bulbs on ancient garbage 20th Century halogen tech for years was exhausting, never knew what to get and they'd blow every year to to eighteen months, plus put out garbage light. Take the plunge, talk to local retrofitters. Wouldn't buy any on eBay.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,271 posts, read 53,985,563 times
Reputation: 40551
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlaskaErik
Don't just throw LED bulbs in your current halogen housing. Replace the entire headlight assembly if you want lights that have the proper beam pattern.
I haven't kept up with many things, is there aftermarket availability of headlight housings designed for different bulbs or are you pretty much limited to OEM housings from different model years?
BTW, I completely agree with your comment about unintended consequences in another post. .
I haven't kept up with many things, is there aftermarket availability of headlight housings designed for different bulbs or are you pretty much limited to OEM housings from different model years?
BTW, I completely agree with your comment about unintended consequences in another post. .
Depends on the car. Some car may have halogen reflector in a base model, but the higher trims may have halogen projectors, or HIDs, maybe even LED projectors or prisms/diffusers(like new escalades and Acuras). The two lowest Explorer trims use an LED headlight, but the higher trims use either a HID or LED projector housing. Then there're retrofitting your lights, which with places like TheRetrofitSource has made it easier to do so, than back in HID infancy of splitting, cutting, jb welding and RTVing your lights to get some set of Acura or Nissan HIDs to work. There are aftermarket headlight housings for just about every car that have projectors in them of varying quality and price.
LED headlights blind me even when equipped from the factory.
This.
I'm not much of one for yet another regulation, but the LED problem is a serious one that's just as dangerous as a lot of other issues on the road.
There really seems to be little benefit over a halogen bulb other than maybe a longer life, but at what cost?
I never had problems seeing at night with old bulbs as long as they were at least halfway decent, which the solid majority were.
I absolutely hate driving at night anymore because of LED's.
It would be nice for once if we could just admit we failed to build a better mousetrap.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
