LED Lighting Conversion

Hikari Philips. I suggest holding off for high beam use. Found an issue with the Hikari bulbs in high beam housings. In simple terms the wide tang of the lock mechanism is directly in line with the top of the light bulb. On our trucks the high beam wide opening for the wide tang is at 3 o'clock on driver side and 12 o'clock on passenger side. Insert bulb and rotate to lock. The bulbs are not vertical now and cannot be adjusted.
FIXED PASS SIDE BY REMOVING COLLAR, DRILL NEW HOLE 35 DEGREES FROM EXISTING IN COLLAR, INSTALLED SCREW, INSTALLED BULB. NOW IS VERTICAL.
The collar is fixed and cannot be adjusted. My bulbs are not completely vertical. The driver side bulb is at 4 o'clock and 10 o'clock. Passenger side is closer to 7 o'clock and 1 o'clock. Removed the bulbs. Removed the collar screws to rotate and align the bulbs. NO-GO. The screws pass through the 2 drilled rubber collar holes into the base in 2 fixed threaded holes. They should be set screws to lock the collar at any rotation. My low beams were perfectly 3 and 9 o'clock in the housings. After measuring the driver side is slightly off 11 degrees but the passenger side is a whopping 35 degrees off with both bulbs fully locked in the housings.

 

Uh oh...please let us know. A few of us are about to do this and already have product in hand...

 

I reworded my post to clarify the issues and the fix. Worked and aligned properly in low beam housings and now in high beams.

 

Dang. Thanks for the heads up!!

For others who have the Hikari's, can you guys confirm that these do not have the LEDs perfectly horizontal (pointing to the 3 & 9 o'clock positions)? If so, then it means that they are not working at their full potential.

That being said, it still looked like they perform quite well despite the imperfect positioning (which is impressive in itself).

 

Really disappointed. They work and look good in my lows. Look directly at your high beams from the front. You can clearly see the wide slot for lights to mount are different on each side. That means you must either use adjustable beam lights or exact fit made different for passenger and driver side. Wonder if auxbeams have a rotation adjustment.

 

This is a correct statement that they do not align perfectly horizontal. With that said they still preform way better over the stock Halogen bulbs. I actually have the first gen Hikari Cree in my highbeams and they work great.

@mrproduxn we all appreciate your reviews and tests, but try not to miss inform. Your correct about them not sitting right in the highbeam housing, but they still preform well and way better then stock halogen. This minor issue in my opinion is no reason for folks to hold off.

@jayrobot you will be just fine putting them in your highbeams. If you already have the light then just slap them in. It takes 5 minutes and see what you think for yourself.

 

So you are saying led manufacturer statements like the one in the Hikari manual are false and it doesn't matter what direction they face. I will take that into consideration. After considering it I say BS because all manufacturers state that they are designed to sit at 3 and 9 o'clock. Seems like one of you is talking out of their azz. I am sorry Parker but for $90 I expect better.

 

@commbubba19
Provide a link, cost, review and pics. Very interested in this.

 

I simply stated that “you are correct, they do not sit correctly in the housing.”

Yes they do preform better when sitting 100% correctly in the housing, but they still out perform the stock halogen bulbs even though the passenger side doesn’t sit perfect.

Based on what you said 2 members were discouraged from putting these in there high beams even though so many others have crearly had a significant increase in light performance. That’s all I was saying my friend. I wasn’t trying to be a dick

The work FANTASTIC in the low beam projectors and so for $90 that’s a great deal for a good light.

The fact that they do not sit perfectly at 3 & 9 in the high beam light in the Tacoma is just unfortunate. With that said they still have excellent throw and light output in the high beam housing.

So, I’m sorry if you thought I was being rude in anyway.

 

I understand what you are saying and sure the light output is better. I just expect them to be in the neighborhood of vertical. 35 degrees is pretty sorry to me. And after spending another $90 for the high beam pair I have the right to be a dick if they are not close to being aligned. Maybe its from being in the machinist field for many years or from being an inspector but I expect optimum performance for a premium price. I think it is fair for people to know prior to dishing out the money. Others may not share my opinion and others may not share your opinion. They just need to know what to expect. I am curious to see how Hikari responds to my 2 emails. No issue now. Fixed and aligned.

 

Agreed!! Let me just tell you though, $90 is on the low end still. Maybe not the lowest, but there are sets out there in the $200 range that are said to be out performed by these $90 lights.

You have to remember that these lights weren’t designed just for the new Tacoma’s but for a lot of other vehicles so they weren’t tailored to fit perfectly in our trucks. Maybe we blame Toyota idk lol

I definelty think it’s fair to let people know “hey these don’t fit 100% as they should sit as suggested by the manufacture in our trucks.”

The light still performs great and as far as “being a dick” be a dick to the makers of the bulbs lol not us members that have no control and are just trying to shed some light on an issue you brought up. I just didn’t want these guys that have them to be discouraged to us them based on how you worded your post after many others had great results.

I’ve actually mentioned on here before and to other members directly that these lights aren’t adjustable and don’t sit as they should in the housing.

 

I have stated that they are great in my lows. So I am a fan. I was mostly turned off by no adjustment. Depending on what Hikari says I may put them back in and actually test them in the dark. I do love them in my lows. Awesome color and cutoff. Fixed passenger alignment and now good.

 

Dude!! I’m telling you go out somewhere dark. Turn your halogens highs on and snap some photos from the bed of the truck.

Then pop the Hikari Philips leds in and snaps some more from the bed and compare. You won’t be disappointed anymore lol

 

I will do that and I really hope you are right. Still suspicious of that 35 degree angle on the passenger side bulb. Wasn't sweating the little bit on the driver side at all. Fixed. All good now.

 

35 degrees does seem like a lot. Toyota probably did it that way because they didn't care about the orientation of halogen bulbs (other than for ease of installation angles of the cables/connectors).

 

Here is my passenger side highbeam. I would think it matters more in the projector housing more than the high beam housing since the high beam is just a reflector. Idk though I’m not a specialist.

All I know is what I can see and for me these in the Highbeams work great.

 

Like Parker said, they are way better than the stock halogens. I'm the one who put the Hikari's in my lows/highs/fogs and they are leaps and bounds above the stock halogens!

 

Problem solved. Installed and dead nuts vertical now. 5 simple steps. First was most important
1-remove head from ass and regain machinist mentality
2-remove collar
3-drill hole 35 degrees from original hole
4-install screw and collar
5-install bulb in passenger side
Will test sometime tonight. That 35 degrees was just eating me up. Too damn simple to fix. Actually punched new hole by hand with a spring loaded punch.
Hard thinking when head not on shoulders.

 

Look up DMEX on aliexpress

Output is just like the rest. I’ll try to snap some output shots this week.

Notice how the ring can be adjusted. You’ll need that for the passenger side as Toyota doesn’t put the tabs like the drivers side allowing the led to sit level as it needs to. Referring to HB here. The LB sit level in both.

 

Oh and I have an extra set if someone wants them. $50 shipped.