I have input on so many of these headlight threads that I've got a upgrade tiered checklist in my mind now.
The base line is stock sealed beam halogen which are relatively low wattage and a very inefficient light pattern.
First mod from cost and complexity
1. Replace the stock sealed beams with a Ecode (Left hand drive European spec pattern) halogen housing. IPF, Hella, Cibie, Koito etc all offer options here and are all significantly better than the stock sealed beam units even if you run a standard H4 50/60 watt bulb.
- 20 minutes to swap and aim
- Works with stock wiring
- won't affect the high beam indicator
- The light pattern is what is the win here. Much cleaner and more efficient with a clear low beam and high beam cutoff.
Cons:
- Your stock wiring may be old an brittle and resulting in a significant voltage drop to the bulbs which will decrease output and can load the charging system more....dim lights on idle that perk up with revs is one sign of a problem
2. Do #1 and either rebuild the light portion of your stock harness with newer and heavier wires and all new connectors to reduce line losses or install an aftermarket or aftermarket custom built harness.
- Uses stock wiring to trigger a new harness whose sole purpose is to power the lights and minimize voltage drops.
- If not properly accounted for you may have troubles with getting the high beam indicator to work properly
- This is more expensive than just going to a better housing but it does help get the most out of modern headlight design.
3. LED bulb inserts in H4 housing: Once you have done #1 you can now play around with all sorts of bulbs including LED insert bulbs. The caveat here is that if you run a high wattage H4 bulb you really need to do #2 as well as the stock harness will likely have issues with the high wattage bulbs.
- LED inserts vary in price and quality.
- H4 Bulbs are so standardized that they wont affect your light pattern but will just output different levels of brightness.
- Poorly designed LED's can place the light improperly in the housing resulting in improper Hi and Lo beam orientation.
4. Full LED Housing retofit - you get what you pay for here
- Requires a conversion harness to work with an Fj60 or 62
- May not trigger your high beam indicator
- Prices vary greatly as does quality, patter, light output, offensiveness to oncoming drivers etc.
- Do your homework and if money is an issue you are probably better off with the above options instead of buying some cheapo LED housings.
One more note on LED's. LED's are rated in temperature Kelvin (K) which indicates the spectrum or basically the color of light. This is a great chart which illustrates the colors and shows that you don't want to go lower than 4000k or higher than 8000K. Personally I've always found that the lower end of the spectrum is less harsh on my eyes especially on the way that road signs reflect back at me at night.
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