3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

No bounce here either. I like them, though. I've had HID headlights for the last decade and going with the Tacoma, I missed the white light. I don't night drive often, and if I do, it's usually within city limits. The Hikaris have been excellent on the occasions I have hit the highway at night.

 

Just got the new Tungsram LEDs in. They are wider than Diode Dynamics (barely), Sylvania and Hikari. TBD on how they perform, but was disappointed they were not thinner. Will need to finish the OEM LED high beam testing before moving onto these. And I have other brand new products arriving in shortly, so I had better get a move on.

 

Setting a reminder to read tomorrow and figure out what bulbs to order. Thanks OP for your work

 

Hey crash, I’ve been reading this and this is by far the most intriguing thread I’ve ever read here on the forums. I have one question as I can’t seem to find it while reading through these posts...

Are H11 GE Megalight +130’s still being manufactured? I’ve noticed they’ve been out of stock on Amazon, so I’m not sure where else to go to order these.

I would like to maintain the stock H11 for the longevity of the bulb over swapping to the H9 as you have mentioned.

Thank you for this incredible thread again, you are very dedicated!

 

Sold under the name Tungsram, now. Same product, different name.

 

Linky

 

OEM LED High Beam Testing

This is an imperfect test. The OEM LED high beam is very different than the high beams of the OEM halogen headlights or the Morimoto LED headlights. The OEM LED high beam focus is much lower and significantly overlaps the low beam pattern at the cut off horizon. Both the OEM halogen and Morimoto high beam hot spot is cleanly above the low beam pattern.

In the photo below, showing both low and high beam from the OEM halogens with an H9 swap and the OEM LEDs, both lights have the low beam cut off set right to the top of the 2nd door panel. You can see how the halogen high beam hot spot is much higher, while the LED high beam is much more of a super low beam with uplight.



To give an idea of overlap, this is the right OEM LED high beam only, low beam disabled. The low beam cut off is set to the top of the 2nd panel, but disabled, showing the amount of overlap below the panel which is not present in the OEM halogens or Morimoto assemblies. Note the outstanding uniform spread and smooth uniform transition in the vertical light.



Compared to the Morimoto high beam, shown with low beam enabled. Not a uniform spread or smooth pattern high beam.



Here is where things get a little murky and why I say the test is imperfect. In my pattern testing I find the peak intensity in the pattern and if it is not in the correct location I note it in the review. With the OEM high beam having such a low aim overlapping the low beam, it is extremely difficult to determine the high beam peak intensity without bleeding into the low beam. So I decided the best way to do this was disable the low beam and measure the high beam independently, but that does pay a tax against the OEM LED high beam as it then does not benefit from the low beam uplight that the halogen high beam units benefit from. So it makes the OEM LEDs look slightly worse than they actually are. The Morimotos use projector cut offs, so they are not affected in measured numbers.

But regardless, the OEM LEDs have the highest intensity output compared to stock or Morimoto.



I think the raw numbers are a little misleading though. They would have you think the OEM LED high beams are just slightly better than the halogen high beam. But because of the lower beam orientation and the overlap with upper cut off of the low beam, the LED high beams should offer exceptional down road visibility, prioritizing light intensity output where it is most important and most useful.

 

So the OEM LED headlights are a Major Major, Go!

Everyone's initial impression of the OEM led seem to be "it's okay" "decent". But did not expect them to be that much than the Morimoto's, since those get a lot more praise for "OMG that output".

 

The OEM units are definitely superior. Getting the aiming right with the low aim of the OEM high beam will be very important. If your headlights are aimed just a little too low, the OEM LED high beam performance will be quite poor. The OEM LED reflector cut off provides a softer line of contrast transition vs the the Morimotos projector cut off, especially since the Morimotos have no uplight in their projector unlike the OEM halogen projectors. Having that hard cut off line of a projector with no uplight, with such extreme contrast from light to very dark in a small distance, can make the output seem more intense than it actually is.

 

Any opinions on the color temperature and resistance to weather/sticking snow?

 

I didn't take any temps on the Morimotos to compare but the OEM LED headlights draw 60% more power draw and the LEDs are closer to the outer lens meaning they should fare better in snow conditions than the Morimoto. My FLIR measurement on the OEM showed +10 degrees over ambient on the lens, so it isn't nothing but also unlikely to be enough to defrost in a significant snow event. If snow was a significant concern, staying with the halogens will be best.

As for color temp, I'm personally not a fan of 6000k. The contrast levels are lower and it is a more fatiguing color to drive with than warmer color temps. Both Morimoto and OEM LED use 6000k, which is basically the automotive industry standard, as the highest output quality automotive grade LEDs that OEMs would use in headlights are typically 6000k. The Morimotos are just slightly better in color than OEM based on my measurements, but the difference is so small you wouldn't notice in person.

As measured at 18', Morimoto vs OEM:

 

@crashnburn80

What's best policy to extend the length of any LED headlight? I know halogens are susceptible to power cycling and draw during start up. As a matter of policy I'd shut my auto-headlights off when I pulled into my garage to prevent the lights from turning on when I turned the key when I had higher performance halogens. I've been trying to do the same when it comes to my LED assemblies (avoiding the start up voltage spike) but is that good practice or not necessary?

It's interesting that LED Is 6,000K since I always believe rule of thumb for HID was 4,100K for best output, 5,000-6,000K for style points and anything above that was "look at me, I don't know how the Kelvin scale works in relation to output".

 

Really really

Fogs only for garage navigation since at slow speed?

 

Unnecessary for the most part, as I typically back in, but in the morning on a dark day I'd turn the key and the lights would pop on. I was trying to limit on/off cycles, as well as voltage spike incidents. I know that's a concern for halogen bulbs, but I don't know if it's the same for LED.

 

higher strength garage door light which stays on 5m after opening?

 

If they're OEM headlights, I'd doubt that you'd ever burn them out in the next twenty years no matter what you do to them.

If they're Amazon LED Frankenstein bulbs, the quality is a crapshoot anyway.

 

I don’t need lights for my garage, I’m simply referencing a time where my lights turn on when I otherwise don’t need them, like mornings where it’s dark enough in my garage for the auto sensor to turn them on before I crank the truck but it’s light enough outside I don’t need them.

 

I've set the auto headlights to the lowest sensitivity and my headlights always come on in my garage and under long underpasses during the day. My wife's Forester seems to have a delay where they headlights won't come on unless the darkness lasts 15+ seconds. Unfortunately, there isn't a "headlight off" option on my Canadian OR.

 

I think it’s one of those things that feels like an issue but isn’t. I make 10-20 stops 5 days a week every week for my sales route and usually have my headlights on all winter without worrying about turning off the lights each time. My H9’s still lasted a good long time.

 

Has anyone checked settings to confirm there is no way to adjust the headlight auto on delay via techstream or the mmu?

One off topic but semi related thing I read in a different thread, someone hooked up a relay to reverse lights as a trigger which turns off license plate lights so the rear camera is more usable at night. I kinda want to do that too but would prefer a plug and play option.