The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I have a spare tundra OEM headlight which was new and only on the truck a few months. It had some water intrusion so I replaced it. I can donate it to the cause but I don’t have any intention of purchasing a mini led projector so someone else will have to provide that piece.

 

Very well said. It really is a never ending battle. I will PM you.

Awesome!

 

Good sales right now for people who have been on the fence about purchasing the TRD pro headlights. I just picked them up, too good of a deal to pass up!

 

link?

 

I just googled the part number and there are several Canadian sites.

 

My apologies if this has been answered already, but what is the third relay is for on the ground switched HS harness? I assume it's for pulling current through the high beam indicator bulb so it lights up when the high beams are on. Is the coil just in parallel with the high beam relay coil?

I'm considering doing this upgrade on my next vehicle and I'd like to make my own harness with the relays in an RTMR.

 

Yes, that is correct. Some other manufactures use resistors in their ground switched harness for the purpose, which is cheaper but also failure prone.

 

put philips 5x7 LEDs on my mr2. happy enough with them. but now i have the koito h4s that came off it for my 95 with the 100w when i get some free time i'll be swapping them on.

fog light wonkiness needs to be dealt with (just going to get 12v ignition source from somewhere other than the high beam circuit like factory.)

high beam light comes on with the polarity reversing i had to do. but its dim. so probably just going to toss an LED in that bulb for the cluster.

(i would of done 100w. but trying to slowly remove weight from this car. so extra harnesses with heavier wires are a no no. might even fully rewire the frunk harness with smaller wires eventually.. its a mindset)

 

Wheels/tires/rotational mass returns the highest ROI for weight reduction as rotational weight reduction has ~4x effect vs static weight reduction. Ultra-light wheels, lighter tires, 2pc aluminum hat brake rotors, titanium lugs. Following that recipe I removed 36.4lbs of rotating mass off my performance Tesla, good for 4x the effect of static weight. I'd not consider the negligible weight of a wiring harness as a decision making factor especially when supporting better lighting. I understand the mindset, it is prevalent in the Miata communities too.

 

Oh I know. I’ve got the plans for much lighter wilwood setup, billet aluminum knuckles. Removed a lot of unneeded things from the old engine stuff. The goals a full interior without compromising comfort. But keeping weight down. Only reason the wirings even being considered is…


Well a 30 year old Toyota harness has not aged well and I’m getting tired of fixing the godawful splicing they did back then. And the fusing is honestly concerning lol.

 

Also curious - care to share the deal?

 

Cochrane Toyota had them for $269 a side this morning. It’s jumped up to $312 now.

 

Question - I just installed a ground switched harness on my wife’s 97 4runner and it’s working no problem. It got me wondering if I could install another one to activate a set of street legal fog lights off of the passenger side headlight connector (I’d have to modify it in this case so all of the wires to the battery can reach). If so that would be super convenient as I have been wanting to add the lights when the headlights are turned on and has been looking for an easy and easily removable way to do it.

 

What fogs are you looking at? I have a similar project in-mind on my 1st gen. If you’re looking at LED fogs, depending on the model, you may be able to power them directly off the headlight plug, no need to run a harness directly to the battery. The plug is designed for 60w nominal output and can support more. Small voltage drop does not affect LEDs like halogens, so a return to the battery does not provide a performance benefit unless requiring a lot of power. You will want to install a switch in the system though, as fogs should only be run when needed, not on all the time with the low beams. I can provide a bit more info on the wiring if interested.

 

SAE Baja Designs Squadron Sports. That would be amazing. Thank you!

 

Just got them for $322 USD ($441 CAD) shipped from Lewis Toyota in the states. If you have a mailbox on the border, that's a crazy price!

 

Nice score!

I do have a mailbox on the border, but I have to take a ferry to get to there and half the time the border agents make me pay the tax and duty. So I’m happy with my deal delivered to my door.

 

Are the Osram Super White Premium 100w/90w still the best choice on the market for the OEM housings? I tried a different set recently and the output was to be expected, less than the Osrams. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something before I order another set.

 

Any knowledge of these @crashnburn80?

Floesser 145W/100W H4 12v
https://www.memotronics.com/h4-130-90w-halogen-bulb-offroad-use-only/

CEC Industries 130W/90W H4 12v
https://www.memotronics.com/h4-130-90w-halogen-bulb-offroad-use-only/

I think I saw Narva on your list too.

Narva 100W/90W H4 12v
https://www.memotronics.com/narva-48901-halogen-bulb-h4-100-90w-12v-p43t-for-offroad-use-only/

How do you feel about getting into a higher wattage bulb like the 130W+ or is it safer to stay at 100W?

 

Flosser has continually underperformed. In every matchup against Osram, Osram has come out on top. The Narvas are covered in the original post, Osram performs better. I've not tried CEC, but they look to have migrated production to China over the years and I'd not bet on a cheap $5 Chinese off-brand bulb against an OEM supplier German made one at 3x the price. Keep in mind that as wattage goes up, so does filament size to handle the extra current. Larger filaments reduce focus and reduce performance, so even though the bulb may be higher power it may be lower in performance as demonstrated with Hellas high wattage bulbs in the original post. Higher wattage bulbs also have shorter bulb life. The Osram Superbrights have an impressive 200 hour life span (impressive for their power level). Other bulbs in that segment have 100-150 hour life spans. Step up to even higher wattages and you may drop down to a 50-100 hour life span, for no gain in output intensity due to loss of focus for a poorer built bulb. I'd recommend sticking with the Osram Superbrights for high wattage bulbs.

I still owe you this.