3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Hey crash, have you done similar for stock high beams? I’m guessing you have a list of posts and links that’ll be quicker for me to ask rather than hunt for a single post.

 

awesome. thank you crash! eagerly awaiting your xb gen 2 review also

 

No no Thank you sir!!
I believe you push in before turning to disengage the cogs. Not too clear in their description

 

Right now I have DD SL1s as low beam backups and I have replaced them with the Hikari's. For the high beams I was using the OEM H9 but when I replaced them again with the SL1s, the SL1 H9s seem brighter in real world driving.

The SL1s I was able to adjust the LEDs to be at the 3 & 9 position for the low and highs. When I put the Hikaris in, they turn into place to lock but do not seam to be adjustable to the 3 & 9 like the DD SL1 bulbs. I'm I doing it wrong? The Hikari's design seems like it only allows the heat sink portion to be rotated and not the LEDs.

Thank you for your excellent review. I'm happy to know the $55 Hikari's are not completely dumped on by the new Morimoto 3.0s.

(I've just installed the DD 30" light bar that makes all of these drop in bulbs irrelevant anyhow, lol)

 

cant use a bar on the road. I mean, you can, but better not be anyone in front of you. That’s why this matters to me. I am planning a lower grille section light bar sometime soon though. MAYBE ditch lights but TBD on those. The light bar is mostly a toy anyway, hardly ever wheeling at night.

 

no worries, not using the bar on the road unless I'm all alone. I thought I should have added that. I'm also installing DD SS3 Max pods in my fogs to replace my Morimoto's. I never have those on either unless the conditions are right.

 

High beam testing is a real challenge. You might think they are a flood type light, but they do have a focused hot spot just above the low beam cut off to project maximum distance down road. I think it is best captured in the original XB review posted here. The 18' test is really inadequate for measuring output intensity with a replacement LED in a halogen assembly and seems to return artificially high numbers by concealing focus issues, which is why for replacement LEDs I always focus no the 42' test. However in attempting a high beam test outdoors at 42' I end up blasting multiple neighbors homes windows with the high beam output, and add time to reach stable output and evaluate the pattern is not a short endeavor. Not trying to be a Griswold. So I don't have a great way to test the high beams accurately with measured data that I am confident in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inWKw8nqQlI

Note the SL1 is rated at 1630 lumens, and the H9 high beam you removed was 2100 lumens, at 12.8v but you are running it higher, meaning greater output. While the SL1 may light whiter or scatter light more, it is not as bright or as focused as the stock German Philips H9.

 

oh, no that’s fine - wasn’t saying you were. I figured as much. But for me at least the low beam stuff here is important because that’s with other drivers in mind and using it with others on the road (and fog lights stuff too). All this high beam light bar stuff is cool but ultimately I don’t care about how it affects drivers in front of me or oncoming, because there won’t be any. It’s mostly just a toy, so that’s why I’m debating about the need for it at all. Unless I can get one that does amber strobes, would be helpful if I ever stop on the road but 100$ Or so for the 4 minutes that will be useful seems steep.

 

Thanks for the clarification. That's the reason I went back to the Stock H9's before. For some reason on back roads around here the SL1s looked brighter. might be time to go back....again.... haha

 

cool beans! Science is cool but some stuff means you can’t test it. Cant microwave a poodle and you can’t be a griswold

I’ll probably just leave the stock H9s in there until they burn out and then just grab any decent H9s. Won’t be doing the amber like my lows and fogs though.

 

I hear you on that. I learn towards the "rather have and not need" type of thinking on some things. I like the lower grille bar because it still looks like a stock truck. Not a fan of ditch lights or roof mounted bars for that reason.

I thought about going the cheap Chinese route for a light bar, but since Hotshot Offroad had the DD on sale and I know it's quality I went that route. Too many horror stories of poorly made bars. I also don't wish to do the install ever again in my life, lol.

Sorry for OT. Thanks again Crash! Cant wait for the new headlight review. Gives me something to buy when my Hikaris burn out in 2 years.

 

Color can be deceptive, especially with LEDs on reflective surfaces like signs where the short wavelength light scatters to an extreme extent and almost makes the signs glow like they are radioactive. But likely the lower output LED is going to create more foreground scatter which when combined with the higher color temp just seem brighter.

 

Buy quality lighting products. The DD Driving bar is a good choice. Had another member come by my place fully decked out in cheap China lights. LED headlights, 32” LED light bar, LED pods in the fogs, ditch lights facing forward. We backed the trucks up as far away as possible from the garages and ran a peak intensity test. My headlights alone outperformed all his lights on at once. Not really apples to apples, but it was a priceless moment. Afterward he scrapped all the cheap China lights and went with a retrofit and converted all his pods and bars to Rigid products, and now has a significantly higher performing setup. Would have cost less to do it right the first time.

 

Thanks to Crash I get to walk around all snobby because I followed his advice and got good quality aux lighting products that I will used 10 times a year.

Also thanks to Crash, I get to walk around knowing my Chinese drop in LED low beams I use all year are inferior to a set of $40 bulbs and only beaten by $1,200 OEM LED headlights.

I know you've heard it before but you should really try something on Youtube. I wouldn't be as informed as I am today if I hadn't bought a Tacoma and joined the forum. Better than what Headlight Revolution and Tacoma Beast are dumping on there for the casuals to consume.

 

Are the Hikari Ultras still the best overall LED replacement for LBs (2018 taco)? Sorry if this was covered recently.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ctor-headlights.589465/page-195#post-24728699

It's between the Hikaris and the new 3.0 Moromoto bulbs.

Hikaris are slightly brighter and cheaper. ($90 full price, $55 on sale)

The new Moromoto 3.0 LED bulbs are better designed, focus light better, will potentially last longer, and cost much more. ($175 full price, on sale $???)

 

Appreciate the reply Trajiiic and thank you Crash for all the knowledge and research you've done. Been creeping on and off here when I want to do something to my truck haha.

 

How much lower the hotspot of the morimotos is to the halogen? What about the height compared to hikari?

 

Follow up questions here.

Is it reasonable to expect a $175 USD product to make any sort of impact on retrofitting halogen assemblies with LED bulbs either in Europe or the US? Given that halogen bulbs with poor but adequate output and good to excellent lifetime are 10% of that cost? It seems much more plausible to consider this product is purely aimed at the enthusiast market. Which is why I find it a head scratcher.

Are there any German made LED bulbs for retrofitting halogen assemblies? If not, any idea why?

My first dynamo powered LED bicycle light was a German made supernova which I bought in 2007 and still works well today. At the time it outperformed the Schmidt halogen bulbs and the shorter wavelength light helped with road markers. Also the bulb came on at lower speed and the design had an integrated capacitor for staying on at intersections and a wired taillight option. I thought that was revolutionary because it was better than halogen in every way except price and while HID lights offered superior output, they required batteries and charging and were significantly more delicate. But even then it was a complete replacement housing vs a bulb for the Schmidt E6 lamp.

Building a better LED bulb for a halogen assembly appears to be potentially reaching a point of diminishing returns. Meanwhile the cost of LED assemblies is still rather high. It seems to me like the remaining breakthrough would be lowered price tags on LED assemblies themselves. Perhaps this can be done adequately with a mass produced LED module coupled to a vehicle specific housing to minimize costs and R&D for legacy vehicles. Since LED emitters have different physical characteristics than a halogen filament it only seems natural to leverage those strengths rather than fighting their weaknesses.

I see some parallels with California and diesels. At one point I was really frustrated that I could not purchase a new diesel vehicle for use in my state when all of Europe was all in on diesel. In retrospect I think CA had it right, after the VW EPA stuff and the slow but steady path forward on hybrids and now electric vehicles. Short term losses for long term gains.

Even in emerging markets I don’t think a halogen bulb-only retrofit makes much sense, with cheap labor the extra time to swap a full assembly is negligible.

crash, help me understand the wisdom of the LED bulb designed for a halogen. Am I missing something obvious?

 

I would agree with your post. To sum up what I have learned in this thread is to use halogen in halogen designed housings. Once LEDs become the defacto standard, I see no reason to jump on an LED bulb replacement. I would only worry if halogen is being phased out, primarily the Philips H9. For the foreseeable future I'll keep my H9s.