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- #61
My personal experience trumps their marketing nonesense.
Lighting upgrade
- Thread starter Spike555
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My personal experience trumps their marketing nonesense.
I'd love to see it. Thanks.
- Thread starter
- #63
I don't think I'm explaining this very well, I never said the color of the light makes it brighter, I said the color makes it easier for me, my wife, my mother and my father to see at night.
The lumens are what makes them brighter, the OPT7's are 3500 lumens per bulb verse a standard halogen of 1000 lumens.
Again, it's NOT the color that makes it brighter.
The lumens are what makes them brighter, the OPT7's are 3500 lumens per bulb verse a standard halogen of 1000 lumens.
Again, it's NOT the color that makes it brighter.
Without the proper housing the 3500 lumens are not projected effectively. You get brighter light but it doesn't project a proper light beam. You get a much better pattern and therefore better lighting from halogen bulb. This isn't opinion, it is simple science.
I bought LED lights with the same thought pattern you did and I intended to use them. When I performed a comparison, photographed the outcome and reviewed the photos it varified what my eyes were seeing live. Compared against a new halogen bulb I found LEDs to be ineffective. If you like that whiter light (like I did), buy a set of the PIAA bright white halogen lights. They are great and work effectively.
There is nothing wrong with LED lights when used in the proper application. Your headlights are not the proper application.
Not to be snarky but this is a 100 sub forum after all, TexasJack, and if you did your testing in an 80 series, then your results will be different from anyone who did the same in a 100 series. Your testing may be relevant, but it's not sufficient or adequate data for LED performance in the stock 100 housing. Doesn't matter that both reflectors were designed for halogen, they ARE different. So I'll do some testing in the 100 series halogen housing in both low beam and high beam and I'll post pictures and let you guys decide which one gives the best visibility, without revealing the bulb type in each picture. I'll do the standard halogen that i have right now. If you tell me exactly which PIAA bulbs to buy I'll get those and post pics. And finally, i bought 9005 and 9006 35w, 3900 lumen LED kits from XenonPro at less than the cost of the FluxbeamX from OPT7. XenonPro has excellent customer service, and a LIFETIME (not just 2 year) warranty on every component. I sent emails to OPT7 AND XenonPro at the same time yesterday. I still haven't heard from OPT7 but I've already had email and a long live chat with XenonPro. They gave me a 10% off code.
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Did you take any pictures comparing the two?
Pretty sure that you can't return anything to Amazon after 30 days, so even though that would help with any initial problems what about a bulb dying at 14 months, or after the 2 year warranty?
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Nevermind, i see the link for the lights you bought. I'm already very skeptical of these lights because as an engineer i really hate it when someone allows a marketing person to put this kind of gibberish on a package
"
- 51=115 watt (provides 115 watts of light using 51 watts of power)"
Um... That's not how physics work.
Regardless, at $60 per pair, your in for just your headlights, not counting the 520's, for $120. That's DANG expensive for filament headlights that will burn out eventually. How often will those need to be replaced do you think?
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Can you post any of the photos you used to verify the outcome? Even if they are in an 80 series they would be useful for all of us as a comparison, though not sufficient since, as i said above, the 100 housing is designed slightly different.
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To demonstrate the output difference between shoving the wrong bulb in a stock housing vs a proper retrofit.
My previous 2000 toyota land cruiser with morimoto HID H1 bulbs with 35 watt ballasts in factory housings with glass lenses. Glare everywhere, but you still see the two oval hotspots on the wall.
The same morimoto H1 bulbs and morimoto 35 watt ballasts in Morimoto MiniH1 projectors (in my '04 2500HD, but the housing is irrelevant when comparing the projector output. also the passenger side was aimed too high as I was adjusting them) Almost same distance, same garage
I cannot fina LED at the same distance threw a lot of light on the foreground, but not at distance which is why they are great for fogs, but not for headlights. When you are driving on the interstate doing 70, you are not needing foreground light but output down the road.
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The same morimoto H1 bulbs and morimoto 35 watt ballasts in Morimoto MiniH1 projectors (in my '04 2500HD, but the housing is irrelevant when comparing the projector output. also the passenger side was aimed too high as I was adjusting them) Almost same distance, same garage
a LED at the same distance threw a lot of light on the foreground, but not at distance which is why they are great for fogs, but not for headlights. When you are driving on the interstate doing 70, you are needed foreground light but down the road.
Just to confirm the 2500HD is a Chevy Silverado?
Obviously, the projector housing does what it's designed to do, project an LED. And your pictures show clearly that a projector is far superior in putting an LED's output in the right place. It's very informative, but it doesn't answer the fundamental question for me. As an aside, as far as i can tell, there is no commercial off the shelf, "COTS", option for retrofitting the 100 headlight housings with a projector on any business website other than eBay. Though that option does exist for the 80 series...
Back to the topic of bulbs, I don't think anyone is arguing that an LED in a reflector housing is going to be better or even parity with an LED in a projector housing.
The fundamental questions, for me at least, seem to me to be:
"Do aftermarket LED 9005 and 9006 bulbs provide greater driver visibility than basic halogen bulbs in the stock reflector housing?"
And:
"Do aftermarket high end halogen 9005 and 9006 bulbs provide greater driver visibility than basic halogen bulbs in the stock reflector housing?"
If the answer to both questions is "yes", then they are both upgrades from basic halogen bulbs and the next question is:
"When considering cost, performance and longevity, does the analysis favor LEDs or high-end halogen bulbs?"
I can't make a determination yet personally because i haven't seen a compassion between LED and halogens in my hundy, and no one has provided a side by side picture comparison of the two bulbs in a STOCK 100 SERIES LAND CRUISER REFLECTOR HOUSING. I do feel like i can confidently say that i would highly favor a one time expense of $110 per pair of LED headlights vs $62 per pair for high end halogens, every 2-4 years, UNLESS the LED lights yield vastly inferior results compared high-end halogens, provided that the LEDs are a significant improvement over basic halogens.
In other news, buyer beware with XenonPro.com. I tried to find them on BBB yesterday with no results. Today i found them and it appears they have gone to great lengths to disguise the fact that they are the same company as "HID Conversion Kits". Even so far as possibly astroturfing the reviews on "ShopperApproved.com" which feeds Google reviews in shopping results...
So i might be cancelling that order today, before i give them the chance to ransom my cash over a warranty claim down the road.
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Not quite. Those pictures are of HID bulbs placed in stock housings and in a proper projector to show the massive difference of properly upgrading lighting. LED bulbs do not have the throw of Halogen or HID bulbs, especially in a halogen housing. Upgrade your bulbs to better halogens with increased output to actual more lumens down the road. LED is not going to do that.
Ryan's guide to: Halogen bulbs - HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum
The aftermarket headlight with "projectors" are all very poorly designed optically and have terrible output. Why spend the money on something that will not give you anywhere near the output of a proper retrofit?
If you can operate an oven, then you can easily retrofit a quality projector in the factory headlight housing.
How To: HID+Projector Retrofit on a 100 Series.
No. Foreground light provided by LEDs are good for fogs, not headlights.
No and yes.
No that 9005/9006 bulbs tinted with coatings to appear whiter have reduced output due to the coating. Several manufacturers are being sued due to false claims about "greater visibility".
Yes, that the 9005/9006 can easily be upgraded to 9011/9012 bulbs with almost double the output. This was referred to as HIR bulbs for a long time on forums and is one of the easiest upgrades available for stock halogen housings. The stock housing were designed for the halogen bulbs.
Ryan's guide to: Halogen bulbs - HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum
Since the answer to both is not yes, I will go to the second point. Stock Phillips halogen bulbs are $15. The LEDs are roughly $100. You are paying more for less usable light.
thereftrofitsource.com out of atlanta is considered to be the best source for headlight mods and 100 series guys have worked there in the past. They are the development team behind the morimoto products which are considered the best of the aftermarket stuff.
The Retrofit Source | The Best HID & LED Projector Headlight Upgrades
They sponsor the best facebook headlight page which will be a valuable source for your research. Most of the top retrofitters post there as well as
Forums - HiDplanet : The Official Automotive Lighting Forum
There you will find detailed output measurements of every conceivable aftermarket setup, including LEDs. I like LEDs and have them everywhere except the headlights on all my vehicle. Hope it genuinely helps. I'm not trying to criticize anyone's mods, but I have really bad night vision after a lasik surgery and have a spent a considerable amount of time on the subject and have been down that road before.
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- Thread starter
- #73
I've had OPT7's for 5yrs, zero problems. So warranty is not an issue for me.
Amazons return policy varies based on the seller, some do not offer any returns, others for upto 6mo.
Either way, OPT7 is the only one selling their product so you could return them directly to them if you had a problem in the warranty period.
But again, 5yrs for me using them, 3yrs for my wife, 6mo for both my mother and father, zero problems. Your results may vary.
- Thread starter
- #74
I posted pics last year when I did the bulb swap on my Cruiser, the links are broken. That was before I knew how to post pics on here properly.
So no, I do not have before and after pics.
Bamarock
My mistake i misunderstood that you had put in LED, buti see that you did HID.
I read through that mod thread and there are a couple of observations I'd like to make. First is that the mod is written based on a 2000 100 series and the headlights are glass and different shape than what's in my 2007. I'm not sure what year this was implemented, but my headlight assembly is a single piece that includes a low beam bulb, high beam bulb and side turn light, and the whole thing is polycarbonate/plastic.
Second, that modification is MUCH more complex than simply "operating an oven". Did you do that modification to your headlight assembly? If so, do you have a glass light or plastic? How long did it take you? Are your headlights still waterproof?
The lights i ordered shipped today from XenonPro.com and Amazon. I'll post pictures for everyone to see. In the meantime I'll read up on those forums you recommended.
My mistake i misunderstood that you had put in LED, buti see that you did HID.
I read through that mod thread and there are a couple of observations I'd like to make. First is that the mod is written based on a 2000 100 series and the headlights are glass and different shape than what's in my 2007. I'm not sure what year this was implemented, but my headlight assembly is a single piece that includes a low beam bulb, high beam bulb and side turn light, and the whole thing is polycarbonate/plastic.
Second, that modification is MUCH more complex than simply "operating an oven". Did you do that modification to your headlight assembly? If so, do you have a glass light or plastic? How long did it take you? Are your headlights still waterproof?
The lights i ordered shipped today from XenonPro.com and Amazon. I'll post pictures for everyone to see. In the meantime I'll read up on those forums you recommended.
I put H1 LEDs in the stock projectors in my current '04 LX470, and the output was horrid. I dont have a pic as they were pulled right back out and the morimoto H1 4500k HID bulbs were put in. The out put at 25 ft is significantly better, but admittedly limited by the flawed design of the stock projector which will be replaced soon.
The main difference between the '98-05 headlight which used glass until '03 and the '06-'07 which was plastic was the movement of the Hi/Lo bulb positions from being stacked to being side by side as toyota integrated the previous two piece side marker/headlight combo into one unit. The principle of the optic design of the headlight reflector being designed only for halogen bulbs did not change. The '06-'07 headlight is actually easier to retrofit a projector into because it has more room and doesn't require trimming of the headlight housing at the top to fit the projector shroud as the '98-05 housing does.
It really is that simple. The lense comes off, pop in the projector in the light hole and it screws on the back. The '00 LC I had had glass lenses. I have done the same to a chevy silverado, 7x6 headlights with plastic lenses for a YJ wrangler, and a 7" round headlight for a CJ7. It takes about 30 minutes and they are waterproof if you take precaution when sealing them back up.
I'm glad to help in anyway if I can. In the end, it's your vehicle and you decide what is best for you.
Ok that seems a good bit easier than i was gathering from that mod thread.
I decided to call the retrofit source, they are almost local to me in Atlanta, and spoke with Austin. He was VERY helpful. The cost of the Morimoto mini H1 kit is $270 off the shelf for everything, including the bulbs. I chose 5500K bulbs, though they all have a five year warranty when bought with the kit. Add some rubber sealant to ensure proper weatherproofing during the resealing of the headlight acrylic for $12.
The Retrofit Source | The Best HID & LED Projector Headlight Upgrades
Since the headlight will be open and because i think it will look cool, i added a 70mm switch back "halo/angel eyes" light that will be white until the turn signal is activated then blink yellow, $50.
Halos: Morimoto XSB 3.0
I decided to add the tap turn relay for $60.
The Original TapTurn LED Flasher Relay
My subtotal was $398 before tax. They have a special running through July 5th, gets me out the door delivered for a VERY attractive price. Without the TapTurn relay it would have been less than the off the shelf price of the retrofit kit by itself. The shipment will be here next week. I'll post pics of each one i try. If I'm satisfied with the PIAA or LED I'll just keep that and go no further. If i end up modding the headlight it's unlikely I'll go back.
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The guy (2000uzj100) who started the retrofit thread worked there and did a lot of retrofits for people. They just posted a huge discount codes on their facebook page. Their bulbs and ballasts are the best of the non-OEM stuff and they develop a lot of what they're selling. A lot of the ebay/amazon/ddmtuning stuff is poorly made and doesn't put out the rated 35w out of their ballasts. I made those mistakes.
I dropped by Retrofit today and picked up some new Halogens- OSRAM NBU 9005 and 9006 to replace my stock HB4 & HB3 lamps. I got the rundown on their Morimoto HID kits for the 100. Very nice looking stuff, but I'm not ready to pull the trigger to add HID to the stock reflector. Going to see how the improved halogens go.
Wow, no more cutting a hole in the the rear of the reflectors for the projector?
