New LED headlights terrible light output

Glad to hear that you did that...makes me feel better knowing I am doing it right from the start. How is the output on your lights now?

Coot

 

You will like the mini H1's. Here is how mine perform w/ Morimoto 5K bulbs.

 

Thanks for the photo. Im excited to get these installed in a week or so.

Coot

 

Took me a few weekends to figure out how to install them. Light output is much brighter than stock, and I like the rainbow effect with the clear lens.

 

Im hoping it shouldn't take me too long to install as all I need to do is swap out the projectors.

Coot

 

Not a simple swap unfortunately. The holes do not line up with Spyder/Spec-D mounting. You will have to figure out how to do your own mounts.

What I did was take a dremel to the original projectors. I cut off most of the reflector bowl, leaving just a bit for some structural integrity (the metal they used is very soft!). I then drilled holes that matched up with the Mini H1 projector holes (these holes are for mounting the shroud, unnecessary for our application). The holes I drilled are smaller than the machine screws I used, which allowed the machine screws to make their own thread in the old projector (possible due to the very soft metal). The net result was solid mounting that allowed me to use the original projector's adjustments. It also sat ~2 inches forward in the housing, which necessitated taking the dremel to the housing to make enough room at the front. It worked, and the dremel work is not noticeable. In terms of actual work time, it took me about a full weekend to do, but figuring out what to do next was the long part.

 

A dremel is a must for some retrofits. But usually under $15 at most pawn shops if you don't want to buy new.

 

I saw the OPT7's mentioned a time or 2 for possible purchase but no comments from anyone that had tried them. I have been running the OPT7 H4 in factory housings now for about 2 years with 0 issues. 7,000 lumen 3500 each and they come with a 2 year warranty. 6000K Good White light no real Blue tint at all. I had Silvania Halogens in place of the factory bulbs. No comparison. The OPT7's blow them away. My wife's new Lexus with HID's doesn't even come close either. Best $99 I ever spent on Amazon even got Free shipping.

 

Previous posts have the right idea to run projector retrofits. OPT7s should not be run in the factory housings, as those LEDs do not have glare guards, meaning you are blinding oncoming drivers with your scatter.

 

I see a lot of cars/trucks running LED's in reflective housings and its like driving with brights on all the time. Blinding in both lanes from the front and even the rear view, it's ridiculous.

 

Yes. And the drivers just think their lights are "super bright", but have no regard to the beam pattern or optics.

 

Possibly true. I do get flashed now and then but no more than I did with the Halogen's. I always equated it to being lifted to above stock ride height. And as far as beam pattern or optics go. All I know is is in real world trials "driving" And that's how much better they perform. But hey, may just be my assessment.

 

As Daniel Stern says, unless you know what to look for, the human eye is a very poor judge of headlight visibility.

 

He "Daniel" has many things to say including this about HID's



And This about Both HID and LED So I guess If we want to be correct its original OEM or drive during the day.

 

Also to add to this...if you buy some cool aftermarket headlights WITH projectors in them, unless they were custom built plan on replacing the projectors if you want any sort of quality light out of them. This means unscrewing everything and then baking your headlight to remove the clear front to retrofit it. If not, then go for a retrofit premade...ask me how I know.

Coot

 

OK I'll bite......How do you know?

 

I'm doing a retro fit next week and if you search online most aftermarket headlight assemblies with projectors in them are built with the cheapest stuff out there. It's not expensive to get good projectors, just having to install them is what freaks many out due to having to fire up the oven. I know with my vipmotoz lights they are horrible for their projectors with regular halogen or morimoto hids in them. I would def search and ask around before buying any aftermarket if they have decent quality projectors if you don't plan to do a retrofit.

Coot

 

Thanks for the heads up. As of now I really don't plan on changing out my stock housings. I do have the OPT7 LED Bulbs as I said above. But the main reason I changed them was for the color. I have the X-Runner or XSP or whatever you want to call them daytime running lights at about 5000-6000K. I also have the ZLED Switchback Daytime running/Turn signal bulbs that burn White again 5-6K when the Truck is running then turn Amber when flashing. (It's hard to see a white turn signal in the daytime sometimes) And my fog lamps are LED 5000-6000K.
Cranking up those 3500-4000K Halogen headlights just didn't look good at night. Looked like a Yellow T-shirt in the White's laundry basket..

 

You shouldn't have white turn signals, period.

Also, quite clearly cheap vanity is more important to you than proper safety. You can do a projector retrofit in your stock housings; in fact, the Mini H1 and Mini D2S are designed for exactly that. There are also members here and vendors online that do retrofit services if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself. There are also Rigid LED fog light pods that are DOT compliant, which your LEDs in stock housing won't be and won't give proper lighting. You shouldn't be driving with your fog lights on in clear weather anyways, it impairs your long range vision with too much foreground light.

 

Yea I agree that my main reason for changing out my headlight bulbs was for matching colors. "I sound like my wife"
So snowbrdd? No vanity mods cheap or otherwise to your Tacoma? Just asking... Seems replacing a DOT approved OEM light housing, Wheel- tire combo, or other fully functional part is vanity. But that's just my opinion.

White or Amber turn signals are 100% compliant in my state.
I want to know how many TW users love those Amber daytime running lights? I hated mine so I changed them. But at the time there were no Switchbacks that worked with the 3 wire Tacoma harness. That was the only reason I had White Turn signals. As soon as I found Switchback's that worked out the door they went.

And by the way with all the Bambie's standing on the side of the Interstate I drive each morning at 5:00 am /70 mph I need all the help in front of me and beside of me I can get including my fog lights.