[UCBerzerkeley]

how much does the slee harness help in addition to HIR bulbs? I have the highs and lows installed, and damn, they are much better thank stock. Will the slee harness make a significant improvement? i have heard some bad stories about the harness (though forum seems to suggest the more recent ones have gotten better)

[RichElliott]

How many AH211917 did you need to purchase? (does this p/n come with 2 bulbs?)

I purchased 2 bulbs (John Deere part number AH211917) for $30 each. It cost me $66 in total with $6 added for shipping to the local JD store.

I have a stock wiring harness which seems fine. I might upgrade to the Slee harness, but since my passenger side headlight is a little foggy on the inside, I think I'm going to replace this with new stock first.

[NLXTACY]

This might help:
Installing Slee's new style headlight harness

Originally Posted by bpassmore

How many AH211917 did you need to purchase? (does this p/n come with 2 bulbs?)

Originally Posted by UCBerzerkeley

how much does the slee harness help in addition to HIR bulbs? I have the highs and lows installed, and damn, they are much better thank stock. Will the slee harness make a significant improvement? i have heard some bad stories about the harness (though forum seems to suggest the more recent ones have gotten better)

Originally Posted by RichElliott

I purchased 2 bulbs (John Deere part number AH211917) for $30 each. It cost me $66 in total with $6 added for shipping to the local JD store.

I have a stock wiring harness which seems fine. I might upgrade to the Slee harness, but since my passenger side headlight is a little foggy on the inside, I think I'm going to replace this with new stock first.

[RichElliott]

Joey,

Awesome write up man. Thanks!

Rich

[UCBerzerkeley]

Awesome NLX, I am gonna go dig through your thread now.

Rambling - are there some foglights out there that that will accept a 9005/6 bulb (foglights that you can buy without bulbs included?) I think throwing a set of HIR high beams (or maybe low beams? dunno) into a set of fog lights would be a good price-performance compromise.

[NLXTACY]

Originally Posted by RichElliott

Awesome write up man. Thanks!

Originally Posted by UCBerzerkeley

Awesome NLX, I am gonna go dig through your thread now.

Thanks guys!

[UCBerzerkeley]

great thread NLX, I book marked it in my 'to do' folder along the CDL, 7pin, spare tire mod and some other stuff lol.

now that you have had the harness for awhile, have you noticed any of reliability issues others have mentioned around here?

[NLXTACY]

Originally Posted by UCBerzerkeley

great thread NLX, I book marked it in my 'to do' folder along the CDL, 7pin, spare tire mod and some other stuff lol.

now that you have had the harness for awhile, have you noticed any of reliability issues others have mentioned around here?

To be honest the reliability issue was mainly with the first version from everything I've read. I have had no problems whatsoever with mine. I have helped a few people install theirs, either over the phone or in person and I have found an instance or two, don't remember now, where there was an assembly issue from the manufacturer but Slee took care of those to my knowledge. No issues I've heard of since.

[UCBerzerkeley]

Originally Posted by NLXTACY

To be honest the reliability issue was mainly with the first version from everything I've read. I have had no problems whatsoever with mine. I have helped a few people install theirs, either over the phone or in person and I have found an instance or two, don't remember now, where there was an assembly issue from the manufacturer but Slee took care of those to my knowledge. No issues I've heard of since.

Good to know. Sounds nice to pump out a few more lumens for 40 bucks. prolly leave the old wiring intact

[carlosfj80]

I was wondering if those headlamps use the stock 80 9006/9005 head lights? They look sweet and may want to get a pair.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by MiniPigg

This headlamp is ok for now. I am not happy with plastic lenses. But I will get the aftermarket plastic covers with hopes it will help keep them from scratching to much.

Now it has te high and lofe beams. You can see the Eagle Eye rings (these are eagle eye headlamps), and that lower center bulb is an extra driving lamp that uses the same bulb as the high beams. That round silver thing in the upper middle.. doesnt do anything and it not made for anything on these... but you could make it like others and put an amber bulb in that spot.

All in all they put out a decent pattern and are bright with regular bulbs. I am going to go ahead and do the HIR bulbs all around.

To bad they arent 12 bucks each like they were in the beginning of this post.

[firetruck41]

FYI- My original HIRs from post #1 are still going strong, it's been over two years now.

[83bj60]

firetruck41, have you noticed any reduction in output compared to when you first installed them? Can you compare with a fresh bulb? As for durabilitty, it's excellent! Of course OEMs can last many years, but this at least tells us the brightness increase is not made at the expense of durability...

As a side note, those bulbs are available in H4 format in 60/80W with both low and high beams HIR in the same bulb, for those who have combination setups such as the JDMs and older landcruisers, but the price is quite steep at between $50 and $60 a bulb in sets of 2...

As for myself I just installed standard type (halogen) overwattage H4 bulbs when one of my orginal Japanese bulbs failed and at 100W these replacements, which cost me only something like $10 a set when I got them on special from Princess Auto last year, are visibly better than the regular 55W bulbs and silverstars and work perfectly well in the standard wire harness and 15 amp fuse (which can sustain 15Ax14.4V or a bit more than 200W).

When installing replacement bulbs we often hear about the necessity to install relays, thicker wire.... But the limiting factor reducing voltage is NOT the wire gauge, but the cleanliness of the connections, and, what is often forgotten, the cleanliness of the reflector housing itself! In other words, the condition of the connections in the circuit and a clean reflector and lens is more improtant than upgrading your wires and installing relays...

[IdahoDoug]

I've put a fresh HIR bulb on one side and been unable to distinguish any output difference compared to the old one on the other side. Anyone know of good pricing online of these bulbs at the moment - the Toshiba version?

DougM

[83bj60]

Great! Certainly impressive, Doug! As I live in the boonies with a daily commute through a very rough stetch of road, my light bulbs usually don't last very long (neither do my springs and shock absorbers BTW) and dust and salt tends to get inside the housing... I'm at the point where I should take the lens apart for a good cleaning of the interior... I wish they were not glued on but used gaskets instead, would make my job much easier, instead I'll have to put the assembly in the oven to soften the glue prior to removal...

As for pricing, considering this is a hot item to all lighting afficionados, I don't think it'll be easy to get a better price!

[mot]

Originally Posted by 83bj60

As a side note, those bulbs are available in H4 format in 60/80W with both low and high beams HIR in the same bulb...

IIRC, the IPF's are not HIR's, or at least that's not what they say on their Japanese web site. Again, going from memory, so I'll try looking it up later...

That said, I've had their blue bulbs in my headlights for a while now and have been fairly happy with them. I've posted pics and stuff, but too lazy to look up the thread.

I think the JDM PS/US DS headlight in this picture is the IPF and the other side is the regular, no frills H4, fwiw.

I've used PIAA's for the JDM fog spots and one of them has burned out already (Put them in much later than the IPF's). I'm not knocking PIAA's, and it may not be a fair comparison since they were not used the same way and they were not in the same housings, etc...

Anyway, just my 2 yen...


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.


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[cary]

Originally Posted by 83bj60

firetruck41, have you noticed any reduction in output compared to when you first installed them? Can you compare with a fresh bulb? As for durabilitty, it's excellent! Of course OEMs can last many years, but this at least tells us the brightness increase is not made at the expense of durability...

As a side note, those bulbs are available in H4 format in 60/80W with both low and high beams HIR in the same bulb, for those who have combination setups such as the JDMs and older landcruisers, but the price is quite steep at between $50 and $60 a bulb in sets of 2...

The HIR's have the same life as a stock bulb, the GE versions were rated at a 1000 hour life expectancy (same as a standard 9006).


The bulbs you posted a link to are not a HIR bulb, they do not have the coating on them. If you have a truck that takes the H4 bulbs, there are now slight overwatt bulbs from Hella (Osram) that use a more efficient design and do not require wiring and harness upgrades. The bulbs are Hella Hyper bulbs:

65/70 watt 1350/2000 lumens
80/85 watt 1750/2400 lumens
55/60 watt- Standard 1000/1650 lumens
55/60 watt- high efficiency 1148/1895 lumens

For comparison the old overwatt H4 outputs are:

90/100 watt 1620/2400 lumens
100/130 watt 1820/3250 lumens

These big overwatt lamps should not be run in the 80, they will melt the housings.

The 65/70 and 80/85 bulbs are available from rallylights.com and daniel stern lighting. They run about $20 each.

Susquehanna MotorSports - Detail

[cary]

Originally Posted by 83bj60

When installing replacement bulbs we often hear about the necessity to install relays, thicker wire.... But the limiting factor reducing voltage is NOT the wire gauge, but the cleanliness of the connections, and, what is often forgotten, the cleanliness of the reflector housing itself! In other words, the condition of the connections in the circuit and a clean reflector and lens is more improtant than upgrading your wires and installing relays...

All of it matters, including wiring. Small wires cause more voltage drop than big wires, and incandescent bulbs are very sensitive to voltage drop, a 10% drop in voltage leads to an approximately 33% drop in output. When you go to higher wattage draw bulbs, you may see an increase in brightness using the stock harness, but not near what they can put out as the voltage drop is increased by as you try to draw more current through the stock wires.

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

[83bj60]

Originally Posted by cary

The HIR's have the same life as a stock bulb, the GE versions were rated at a 1000 hour life expectancy (same as a standard 9006).


The bulbs you posted a link to are not a HIR bulb, they do not have the coating on them.

Good to know, in any case that's not what the OP of that thread believed it was. I guess the globular shape is quite deceptive then.

Originally Posted by cary

If you have a truck that takes the H4 bulbs, there are now slight overwatt bulbs from Hella (Osram) that use a more efficient design and do not require wiring and harness upgrades. The bulbs are Hella Hyper bulbs:

65/70 watt 1350/2000 lumens
80/85 watt 1750/2400 lumens
55/60 watt- Standard 1000/1650 lumens
55/60 watt- high efficiency 1148/1895 lumens

For comparison the old overwatt H4 outputs are:

90/100 watt 1620/2400 lumens
100/130 watt 1820/3250 lumens

These big overwatt lamps should not be run in the 80, they will melt the housings.

I'm running the 90/100W 'old overwatt H4s' and didn't notice any problems. Of course, it's winter, and I haven't run them for hours on end. As a matter of fact, the housings still have frozen droplets of water in them from last week, when I literally had to 'ford' rivers of meltwater accumulating in between snowbanks from the recent thaw. i was surprised to find that ther are no drain holes in the lamps, as these headlights aren't really sealed (however, I believe it should be fairly simple to design some sort of rubber boot around the connector that could fit on the rear housing hole lip, and a self-sealing weeping tube at the low part to evacuate any infiltration)

Anyway thanks for the heads up, I'll monitor the situation closely.

Originally Posted by cary

The 65/70 and 80/85 bulbs are available from rallylights.com and daniel stern lighting. They run about $20 each.

Susquehanna MotorSports - Detail

Good to know! I'll check it out.

[83bj60]

Originally Posted by cary

The 65/70 and 80/85 bulbs are available from rallylights.com and daniel stern lighting. They run about $20 each.

Susquehanna MotorSports - Detail

Unfortunatley, the 80/85w at least, are not street legal. My 90/100s are, presumably because they have a lumen output that is within legal limits. (Anyone know what it is?)

[83bj60]

Originally Posted by cary

All of it matters, including wiring. Small wires cause more voltage drop than big wires, and incandescent bulbs are very sensitive to voltage drop, a 10% drop in voltage leads to an approximately 33% drop in output. When you go to higher wattage draw bulbs, you may see an increase in brightness using the stock harness, but not near what they can put out as the voltage drop is increased by as you try to draw more current through the stock wires.

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

Assuming the stock wiring is 16 gauge, which has a resistance of 0.00473 ohms per foot, and a length of cable of 6 feet, an amperage draw at 100 watts under 14.4 volts of 100/14/4 of 6.9 A, we get a total voltage drop in the wire of 6x0.00473x6.9 which is 0.19V or approximately 1.3%, not nearly as close to the 10% you quote.

Even assuming 18 gauge you still don't get above 2% drop in voltage, which translates to a drop of no more than 1.02^2 or 1.04 which means a 4% drop in luminous output (output is pretty much proportional to square of voltage).

IMO it's more important to make sure your voltage supply is proprerly regulated for the light bulb type you are using (standard running voltage is 14.4V, voltage with engone stopped is around 12V, depending on load), and that the connectors aren't corroded and well protected. That menas every connection between the battery and the light socket. Granted, if you measure voltage at the socket you will probably see a significant drop in use, on the order of one volt or so.

Using gold connectors and spotwelds between wire and connector, with dielectric lubricant, would ceratinly help make the connections truly low loss.

My JDM still has shiny brass surfaces visible in the connectors. Not too shabby after 17.5 years...

Anyway I'm going to measure these voltage drops tonight, check housing temperature and come back with real life figures.