3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

To be fair. The Nighthawks aren't the same as the Tungsram Megalight Ultra. I don't understand why we get shafted by crappy bulb quality in the US forcing us (nerds like us who research everything to death to find the best products we can) to purchase quality bulbs from another country.

 

Is there a new thread from Meso about taking these apart / the project? I couldn't find one by searching or checking their Instagram.

 

i think he said he is modding oem led assemblies, not alpharex

 

Just put in my DD ss sports for the fogs and they look great. It was a pain in the ass to put in. Idk how much better they are than stock but they are def brighter that's for sure.

 

@TravisMD (from fog thread)

You want Philips H9 as referenced in post 1 links for purchase, some have done Rock Auto which has the best pricing but higher shipping so buying 4 is cheaper that way, or one pair off Amazon which I think is slightly less than Rock Auto after shipping?

Then tab trimming (discussed maybe a dozen pages back in fine detail) using a knife for the plastic tab and cutters or knife for the metal tab if you so choose, shouldn't be needed, some wimps like me prefer to just do it to make life easy while we have the knives out.

 

I'm not sure it make a difference but the Rock Auto H9s appear to be Chinese made while the Amazon H9s are German.

I ordered Wagner 9011s for my high beams and after shipping from Rock Auto the price difference from Amazon was minor.

 

@klavender1

I bought two sets of Phillips H9 at Rockauto, both sets were German made. The cost last pair, $15.77 tax and shipping included.

Check it out, Robert

 

Good to know! Their pictures show Chinese so that's awesome.

 

I bought my first set of Philips German made H9s from Amazon, just picked up a spare set from Rock auto, also German Made. Rock Auto I think was roughly 3 to 4 bucks cheaper.

 

I remember seeing AlphaRex boxes in the background of his original story on IG. I think he’s modding the Luxx lights.

edit: I just noticed in the picture posted, Meso tags AlphaRex.

 

I reached out to Meso about it and they suspected it was temperature related, as well. Hopefully once this polar vortex lifts, I’ll be able to see if they’re back to regular operation or if they’re pooched for good.

 

Interesting. I'd be open to put it in the queue if someone wanted to lend me one. I'm aware of his S1 retros, would certainly improve the horrible AlphaRex high beam performance.

Philips doesn't distinguish country of manufacture in the bulb part number, meaning any reseller can end up with either when placing an order. Doesn't matter if it is Amazon or RockAuto, however the difference between the two in terms of output seems to be minimal.

 

He tagged Alpharex in the story.
The OEM LEDs have 5 low beam emitters and 2 high beam emitters per side, Alpharex only have 4 low and 1 high emitters.

 

He hasn't posted about it on his feed, saw this one on his Instagram story.

 

Interesting, the XB v2 now use all 3 for low, and the inside 2 for high. They're also still using @MESO's truck as one of their demo shots.

 

@crashnburn80 I think I remember you from the Mercedes Benz forums/lists 20 years ago. Based on your recommendations, I switched to Euro code headlights on my W124 instead of overdriving U.S.-spec housings. Time flies!

I recently ordered a TRD Sport but omitted the LED headlights. The glare from late model cars, Toyotas included, is horrendous, and no one in the industry seems to be pushing back on this trend. I thought the "bluish" (4300k) OEM HIDs were bad when they first appeared on high-end cars, but they were mild compared to today's LEDs that mimic daylight on Venus.

I find the blue emission spike in white LEDs not useful, but rather a hindrance, to night driving due to pupil contraction and scattering/refraction artifacts. I have no issues whatsoever with halogens. I see little justification for 6000k+ CCT other than vanity and cost savings (since high CCT == less phosphor required). I wish the industry would standardize (or be regulated) toward emissions spectra (in turn, CCTs) that improve night driving both for the operator and others on the road.

Night driving (mesopic) vision is not exactly helped by high-energy 400-450nm light, yet high CCT LED light contains a large portion in this range. In fact, sensitivity peaks above 500 nm (green/cyan), smack in the spectral gap of a white LED! In other words, white LEDs are most deficient where night driving vision is most sensitive, then add a dose of injurious short-wavelength light that halogens lack.

I think that, when comparing headlamp performance, we need another measure similar to lux but calibrated for mesopic vision (as would be encountered in night driving) with added negative weighting in the high-energy spectrum to account for physiological effects.

What do you think?

 

Da fuq

 

He's stating (correctly) that not all light has the same "quality" or effectiveness. While intensity is probably the most significant thing needed for sight/perception, the spectrum of light is clearly important.

The human eye has three sets of receptors, for blue wavelengths, green and red wavelengths. The blue receptors are hypersensitive, and can negatively effect (downregulate) the red and green receptors, causing even high intensity light to be "less useful" for effective sight. That's some of the basis for selective yellow lighting research and regulation in France-the French wanted to be able to easily identify French registered vehicles, but did not want to negatively effect safety for the driver of the vehicle or other traffic/pedestrians. They found that removing a significant portion if the Blue-Indigi-Violet wavelengths of light from an incandescent lightsource resulted in an insignificant decrease in intensity, cutting only about 15% of the total light output. However removing those wavelengths left the red and green spectrum, resulting in yellow light. Yellow still allows you to distinguish between natural colors, greys, blacks, browns, greens, reds, etc because there is very little bright blue in nature. Without the B-I-V wavelengths, the red and green receptors dont get diwnregulated, allowing you to see more effectively without causing eye strain.

Which is funny, because the blue-heavy spectrums of HID and LED headlights is touted as being safer and causing less eye strain, specifically because it Is so stimulating. The down regulation of other receptors doesn't seem to get talked about these days.

Subjectively, based on my past several years of trying many different yellow and selective yellow bulbs, slip on selective yellow filters and lens tint between strings of tickets for illegal headlight color, I greatly prefer selective yellow for headlight color than even incandescent white. There's really only so much you can do in extremely heavy fog, and the key with fog seems to be more about control of any up-light than particular spectrum (although yellow does help). But in heavy rain/sleet and even snow selective yellow SHINES (pardon the pun) and drastically beats the competition. I keep contacting my legislators to allow yellow as a headlight color, but no luck as of yet. The French didn't get much right (I kid, I kid) but they got selective yellow headlights for a long time.

 

Great post @Toy_Runner

I definitely see and appreciate the value of selective yellow for inclement weather.

For low beams in clear weather, I honestly find myself preferring my truck (OEM LED now) to the minivan (H9 in Honda projector.). And even preferring having the MAX fog lights on when driving slowly in the van for their color contribution despite the fact that fog lights in clear weather aren’t appropriate.

Does anyone have any scientific data about this eye strain from blue light while driving? I’ve asked about it before and only came up with one study which was ten years old and pre dates a lot of the recent LED headlights.

I would personally describe H9 light color as dirty and almost dull vs the sharper contrast of 6000k on a dark asphalt road in clear weather in the absence of ambient light. I greatly prefer the higher reflectivity as well, driving safely at night for me involves being keenly aware of road markers, stripes and signs.

I may well be fooling myself though? It wouldn’t be the first time.

 

I hate anything 5000k and up coming at me from the other direction. I feel blinded afterwards.
But I am a light sensitive idiot