Diode Dynamic LED, anybody tried ?

[Asanka]

Right... there is going to be no substitute for going with something like this where you do a full blown retro fit of the housing and everything. I had originally planned to go that route at some point in the future, but I have been impressed with the SL1s thus far and really don't see a need to go that extra step.

Now the caveat to that is, the SL1s are $130ish (depending on sales and whatnot) in the first place. That is about 1/2 the price of everything needed for the full retrofit if I remember correctly. So if you have the ability and time for the truck to be down while you bake the lenses OR you get spares to do it in, then it is kinda a no brainer. So it all depends on what your expectations are.

I do have SL1s, happy with the brightness but light pattern/cutoff. Just got to know about alignment/adjustment. will try, thanks.

One negative point is the fan. It's a moving part, may stop working due to dust, water. That will kill those quickly.

Btw, I have replaced both headlights during 4 years of ownership because of rock chips on Houston highways. Keep in mind, any given time, you may lose all the effort and time of retrofitting projectors.

 

[gregnash]

I do have SL1s, happy with the brightness but light pattern/cutoff. Just got to know about alignment/adjustment. will try, thanks.

One negative point is the fan. It's a moving part, may stop working due to dust, water. That will kill those quickly.

Btw, I have replaced both headlights during 4 years of ownership because of rock chips on Houston highways. Keep in mind, any given time, you may lose all the effort and time of retrofitting projectors.

Right... I get that the moving parts of the fan is a bit of a buzz kill and one other part to fail, but they come with like a 3 or 5 yr warranty. At that point if they die after then, I will likely go with the 03+ Depot 1 piece units and do a retrofit for HID/LED ballasts with Projectors.

 

[archerwolf]

SL1 bulbs in the low beam and foglight spots.

SL1 bulbs in low beam only.

 

[kpecks]

SL1 bulbs in the low beam and foglight spots.
View attachment 2385911

SL1 bulbs in low beam only.
View attachment 2385912

those look pretty darn good to me.

 

[jerryb]

I'm trying to see what makes them better than the 2 strokes, at a higher listed price. I have no preference, just wondering.

 

[gregnash]

I'm trying to see what makes them better than the 2 strokes, at a higher listed price. I have no preference, just wondering.

I don't know that the 2-stroke are necessarily "compatible" with a reflector housing. I had been looking at them as well but what drew me to the DD's is that they claimed (and showed in videos) that they were specifically built to replicate the light pattern for a halogen bulb in an LED format. This made them "legal" for reflector housings and would not scatter the light all over when placed a reflector housing like 99% of the other ones out there (e.g. Ebay/Amazon ones).

And there in lies the largest problem.... lots of companies will say they are "legit" reflector housing compatible but when placed in said housing the light output is nasty and scattered with a random hotspot. If you go back in my build you can see where I have a comparison of the two bulbs (halogen vs. SL1) against' my garage and the light pattern, cutoff, etc. is almost spot on to the Halogen so I am not driving down the road randomly blinding oncoming traffic or the person in front of me.

However, I am a bit more sensitive to this because I do have nighttime driving light sensitivity, so when some douche canoe in his lifted F250/2500/RAM comes down the road with his super bright LEDs that are not aimed properly let alone made for a reflector housing and is scattering light all over the road as well as blinding others, I get a little heated.

 

[jerryb]

I could get behind that. Led's aren't legal for any headlights in the usa, at all. But I can see the blade profile is different. Soo there must be something going on there other than a heat sink.
I don't know how someone accounts for different makers reflectors and different hi and low reflectors, But I get that it's different.
This is the 2 stroke high beams only in an LC reflector. 20 feet out from the door.
I'm not saying it's better or worse. I don't have any high beams at the moment. Just pointing it out.

 

[gregnash]

Yeah I am not sure on how things work legally but if you go watch some of the videos by Diode Dynamics, RetroFit Source or Headlight Revolution they explain the "needs" one has to take into consideration when adapting an LED bulb to a reflector housing. Very broken down version is side of LED must match the filament of the halogen to get proper light patterns.

High Beams are a different story as their purpose is not to illuminate a specific section or road, rather to have high output that specifically scatters light to the ditches and further down the road to help illuminate MORE things. This does not take into account the "blinding" factor for other drivers.

 

[Asanka]

Yeah I am not sure on how things work legally...

Here is the explanation. Expensive way to buy halogens lol. They are selling different model 9005 and 9006 LEDs now but offering halogens for the affected customers

 

[gregnash]

Here is the explanation. Expensive way to buy halogens lol. They are selling different model 9005 and 9006 LEDs now but offering halogens for the affected customers

View attachment 2509615

Interesting... I haven't received anything in the mail?!