The SAE J581 Aux High Beam Thread

If you’re cracking it open then outer strip for DRL sounds good to me. I’d leave the high beam alone, 9011 HIR is fantastic in that spot.

I guess the harness in theory should then disable the high beam bulb for DRL use and piggyback it off the shutter trigger. Lots of work vs just replacing the bulbs frequently, but they aren’t cheap bulbs either.

 

For whatever reason (maybe because the PWM is tuned for halogen bulbs), swapping the 9005 bulbs for aftermarket LED counterparts always resulted in full blast high-beams (with a slight flicker).

The only bulbs I've had personal experience with that address this are the Xenon Depot Xtreme LED Pro (cool name huh?). They can be optioned with drivers that effectively dim the bulbs for real DRL use (instead of just blasting everyone with your high-beams full time).

I moved away from LED bulb replacements after finding Crash's threads and asking for his advice- with very rare exceptions, halogen bulbs are more performant than any goofball LED drop-ins. Still, since you have the 22+ headlights with bi-LED projectors(taking care of your high-beam needs), you might look into LED replacements if you insist on the cooler color temperature.

 

Buy the Opple Light Master Pro (or Light Master 3, same thing) off Aliexpress

Its $40 and works great for measuring light intensity.

 

Ouch. Know the audience. The Aliexpress cheap China meters are known for being wildly inaccurate, so yes, great if you want to measure for cheap but don't care about the actual measurement. Could be fine, but also could be complete trash. If you want to take a measurement, presumably you care, and therefore should buy something that is known to give accurate results. Invest in a quality tool and do it right. If looking at just incandescent sources, there are many affordable meters by major name brands. You can pick up a basic Extech LT10 which is an extremely well respected brand for the same price in a very simple form. Personally I run an

$268 Extech LT300 Light Meter

Extech LT300 only good for incandescent (same as TRS/Morimoto/Lightwerks and may other TRS affiliates), an

$428 Extech LT45 LED Light Meter

Extech LT45 good for incandescent and LED light sources, and

Introducing The New Lighting Navigator, The World's First Smart Handheld Spectrometer - Light Measurement Tool - Lightweight and Portable - One Year Warranty

a Lighting Navigator which is a full digital spectrometer. Often my tools are better than professional companies, and certainly not saying you need the best or this same caliber, but if you care about taking a measurement, make sure the measurement actually means something by using quality equipment.

 

The opple has been tested against many very high quality meters and in every case I have seen comes out quite well.

https://budgetlightforum.com/node/79094

There are also a few reviews on YouTube comparing it against meters with purchase prices in the thousands of dollars. Even anecdotally the light guys are calculating duv with it and the results track with observable effects (green hue above bbl, rosy below, etc)

I'm not saying it's perfect but light snobs have been pretty impressed with the results so far.

As far as YouTube goes this one seemed like a decent review. The individual does not appear to generally do product placement and he compares against high quality meters. Certainly could be fake but at least it isn't some place like Headlight Revolution...
https://youtu.be/onara4C-hQc

 

If I were to purchase a light meter, it would only be for a quick comparison between the halogen high-beam reflectors on the 14-21 4Runner vs the 22+ DRL only version. This information would be useful to a very small subset of people and I wouldn't have the expertise or equipment to determine road-legal compliance or any other particulars. It would be a quick and dirty comparison, I don't think I'm ready to go down a new hobby rabbit hole

 

I linked one of your threads to another forum and one of the guys says you’re not that objective…

 

Let me guess. Mr. Blah?

 

I figured as much. He and I have had words.

 

That thread is discussing ditch lights specifically, which have a lot more subjective criteria for judgement than road-legal lighting. Not worth going into the weeds over. I did find it funny that the OP kept repeating that he wasn't getting compensated, while also keeping the free lights he received in exchange for the review.

 

Has crash stated he receives the lights for free or in exchange for a review? I don't follow this thread regularly.

 

This guy does not seem to understand what some of those words mean.

 

Lol. Lmao.

I'm actually here on this forum -because- of the lighting threads. And I now happen to have bought a tacoma to replace my 4runner. As has happened frequently, you fail to make the point you want.

 

I am looking at adding the SSC2 driving light to an SUV since the best spot is going to be behind the grill, but it doesn't look like excessive cooling air intake area.
SSC2 Pro appears to have about as much intensity (candela) as the SSC3 per DD spec sheet, as @crashnburn80 pointed out they can drive it harder because the better surface area to volume ratio for cooling. Over in the SAE fog thread, he also confirmed DD is using a different emitter for the 3k selective yellow vs 6k white SSC3, allowing a lens swap to get a 4k SSC3 from the selective yellow version.

Question for the hive -
Based on the DD spec data for the driving lens version it appears the SSC2 has a lot more loss for the 3k version. It's not as severe of a loss as the stage series bar going from 6k to 2k, but certainly doesn't look like the minimal SSC3 loss. That makes me suspect the SSC2 might not be using the same 4k emitter as selective yellow SSC3?

 

Never noticed this, but this is what I could find on the LEDs, DD lists SS3 as XP-L HI and SSC2 as XP-L.


From Cree:
"The XLamp XP-L HI LED is the first of Cree LED’s new class of high-intensity LEDs optimized to deliver maximum candela through secondary optics. Built on Cree LED’s breakthrough SC5 Technology® Platform, the XP-L HI LED delivers 120 percent more candela than the XP-L HD LED through the same optic. The XP-L HI LED leverages the industry’s highest singledie performance and a new innovative primary optic design that radically reduces the optical source size to deliver both lumens and intensity."

Sources: https://assets.cree-led.com/a/ds/x/XLamp-XPL.pdf

 

The (usually) silicone dome over an LED chip enhances the efficiency of it, in terms of lumen output v input power, because it helps pull and redirect light that would otherwise be "lost" inside the flat lens due to internal refraction. The downsides are that the dome also effectively "magnifies" the apparent die size, reducing its apparent intensity (cd/mm^2) at a rate that exceeds the gains in total output made by redirecting low angle light output up and out of the chip. The same die under an xm-L/xp-L dome would be "more efficient" than when measured under the flat lens of the -HI variant. But the -HI does not increase the apparent die size/decrease the intensity, meaning it can be more effectively focused (which is increasingly important the smaller the optics package is).

I'd be surprised if the SSC1/SS2 uses the xp-l in a domed variant. The optics are effectively the same size as the SS3, correct?

 

You do know that Toy_Runner is well known in other, non-vehicle, lightings forums right? An not just for participating, for designing, building, programming, and a whole lot of other things. Sure makes sense his comments would be on lighting related topics...

Also, he is not the OP, just saying...

 

I am? You may also have mistaken me for someone else.

I am not crashnburn80, although I have sent him some things (ok, maybe just the one) to test. I do try to contribute to lightong threads specifically, because 1- that's what drew me to this forum in the first place (specifically the 2nd gen h4/9003 testing), and 2- while I can appreciate the necessity of standards/rules/laws regarding lighting, I can also appreciate the occassional need to work outside of those in certain situations, usually where oncoming traffic is not a concern.

My tacoma purchase came down to the practical need for a short bed truck, rather than a current gen 4runner. My 3rd gen 4runner will forever hold a place in my heart, regardless of whatever my current wheels are.

As far as Hayrdier is concerned, he has once again sent me a poorly written and rude dm about something occurring in this forum, which I did not do. So if a mod wants to clarify the sequence of events with him regarding this, please feel free to let him know I respond with my original response: "Lol. Lmao."