Idiot's FAQs about upgrading stock headlights

Roger that.

 

@crashnburn80 pwned the thread.

 

I seriously really do appreciate all this information. Thank you.

 

Yes sir those are the ones I was talking about! I will for sure be doing those especially if the heavier gauge jumper harness comes out. BTW have you heard any more news on that? Still in the works? Appreciate all the info and effort you put into this!

 

All the misinformation in this thread, he had to come in and clean it up

 

I completely understand what you are saying. But you’d actually be surprised at the amount of people who do pay attention. While the 3rd Gen thread is new, we’ve been doing this for years in the 2nd Gen and 1st Gen sections. As a result of people willing to listen and learn, TacomaWorld has some of the most grounded lighting advice from it's members of any automotive forum. I regularly get messaged by people that joined TacomaWorld specifically for lighting help because their forum could not match the content of TacomaWorld. They usually don't own a Tacoma, or even a Toyota. Some of the lighting threads have been reposted across many different forums from Tundras, to 4runners to Audis and Volkswagens and even referenced on sites for F150s. I'm sure there are many more that I am unaware of. It has landed me on the desk of small lighting companies and major lighting corporations alike. While the earlier Gen threads have had years to take root and develop a wide spread community understanding of lighting (vs marketing BS), the 3rd Gen thread isn't even a month old. To get these things to take root in the community takes repetition. Repetition is, well, repetitive. But at some point the information takes root with enough members in this community, that I am not needed for these discussions because the TW community collective understands the topic and is able to help guide the new members that don't.

The 3rd Gen thread is far later than the rest because I don't have a 3rd Gen. Somewhat difficult to do write-ups and examples for a vehicle you do not have. 1st and 2nd Gen are very similar with both using H4 reflector headlights. I've tried to help 3rd gen for a while, but the LED fan boys were far too great in numbers and too dense in LED belief for academic discussions. So I built a simulated 3rd gen, using OEM housings, built to 3rd gen TRD Pro height and width specs, powered by high quality linear power supplies, run at the measured OEM voltage of the headlight connector on a Tacoma, and put together the thread that is now commonly referenced for evaluating all headlight light sources:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

But to answer your question more frankly, it does get very repetitive. But if that's what it takes, so be it. The world needs to be reground in science, not sold on complete marketing BS.

Not a jumper harness, it will be a full HD relayed harness to the battery for increase output. But I think that's what you meant. Fairly certain this will happen with Headlight Services, which would be awesome since their product is by far second to none. I run the Headlight Services harness on my 2nd gen, and that should say plenty. The 1st and 2nd Gen community keep him pretty slammed with high demand. If you'd like to see why this product is so much better, check out post #1263:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...4-not-led-or-hid.398066/page-64#post-18455372

Not only is it better in every measurable way, it is also less expensive. I know the owner and builder, Mike, has a lot on his plate right now but he seems pretty excited to provide a solution to the 3rd Gens. Timing is still TBD.

It happens. Looking forward to the day when the community can take care of it without my help.

 

Nice! One more to add to the known list. That is very quick adoption of the 3rd Gen thread which is great to hear. All of these threads are operated at a personal financial loss with the sole purpose of providing people a real scientific education on lighting without a bias to sell them something. The more these threads are cross referenced, and referred to the better. Since I am not in this to make any money or even cover my expenses, I welcome all knowledge to be shared as much as possible to as many people as possible. Knowledge is power to the people.

 

Thank you for your efforts and for taking the time to respond to my post. It's pretty badass that you are using a portable spectrometer to measure the intensity from each bulb.

I wasn't expecting this volume or detail in replies to my original post, but I'm certainly glad to receive it!

Thanks again to @crashnburn80 and all the folks who put in their $0.02.

 

Again, big "THANK YOU!" to @crashnburn80 . I've actually re-read this thread three times over the course of a few months and finally getting a complete understanding. Yeah, I'm kind of slow. There is just so much information to absorb.

Looks like I'm going with the GE 130+ H11's once they become available again.

 

I think this site has them in stock and on sale currently: https://www.powerbulbs.com/us/product/ge-megalight-ultra-h11-twin

 

I'm about to swap this in.

 

Oh of course that is what I meant!! I think for now I’ll just order 4 H9’s. Do you recommend trimming the tab on the H9’s or getting the H11 to H9 adapter?

 

So if h9's are an option for h11 lowbeams, albeit with a shorter lifespan, would putting a basic sylvania h9 in the low beam fit the bill?

edit: Realizing that Sylvania buy their bulbs from OSRAM...

The Hella h9's are just of superior quality, lumens, cutoff?

 

HID for the win always.

 

@SgtPuddin, they sure look bright! Not sure if I'm ready to spend the dough on a kit though.

 

It’s expensive but my whole truck was expensive so that wasn’t an excuse in my eyes lol.

 

I like this site. Not sure how accurate the lux and output shots are but they've got alot of info.

https://bulbfacts.com/

For projector, they rated the hikari ultra led as being pretty good with high lux at the hot spot.

the output shot from the deautoLED in a reflector housing was decent as well.

 

Either one is easy, but it is really about convenience. You can mod the adapter once or the bulbs each time. The advantage of the adapter is that should you have a bulb failure somewhere you can pickup a standard h9 at an autoparts store and swap it in as plug and play. Of course you could have a spare set on hand that you have already modified as well. Ultimately I hope to have an HD harness that does the conversion for you to run the bulbs at higher voltage for even greater output.

Yes. But check out the thread. Sylvania’s parent company is Osram, which is the bulb that was used in the comparison. Nearly every manufacture makes standard H9s. The Hella H9s are made by Osram from their elite Hyper series bulbs. I run H4 Osram Hypers in my 2nd Gen. Performance halogens shrink the filament coil even smaller than a standard bulb to create enhanced focus and greater luminosity, resulting in significantly boosted output. Once you understand the science of enhancing performance in a halogen assembly, you realize what a joke these drop in LED products are. The Hyper series are one of 2 bulbs that employ this technology to an H9. The other being Philips Vision series H9s, which are approx 6-10% brighter than the Hellas, but also 2.5x the price and much harder to come by, you need to order them out of Europe.

 

So is Amazon yanking my chain (I know there's knockoff stuff sold through amazon), or does this look genuine?

$18 HELLA H9TB Standard Halogen Bulbs, 12 V, 65W

https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H9TB-Standard-65W-Standard-Halogen/dp/B078SGSMDS

 

Why not run the GE +130s which are H11 in the H11