Headlight Wiring Harness and Bulb Upgrade with Before/After Pictures

After reading this headlight thread I upgraded the headlight wiring harness and bulbs in my 2014 Off Road. My main goal is to increase my ability to see deer at night.

I took pictures at three different stages: stock wiring and bulbs, upgraded wiring harness with stock bulbs, and upgraded harness with Osram Rallye 70/65 bulbs (CP64205).

The pictures are at the same location each time, with the truck at idle, with identical manually-controlled exposure settings on the camera: ISO 1600, f2, 1/13 second. I included the histograms (graph showing light and dark pixel levels) next to some of the pictures, these are screenshots from my picture editing software. There was no editing done to any photos, they are "out of the camera" jpg images. The light levels did increase at each stage.

I installed the "Premium-Plus Headlamp Wiring Harness for conventionally switched power vehicles with two H4 lamps" from Headlight Services. It has ceramic headlight sockets to handle higher heat levels, and was easy to install. It reduced voltage drop from 0.65V to 0.25V, so I gained 0.4V at the headlight bulbs.

More details about the harness and its results are in this post.

The voltage drop was measured at idle with the lights on and all bulbs installed, subtracting voltage at the passenger side bulb from voltage at the battery terminals. I removed the bulb from the headlight and re-installed it on the wiring socket, leaving a bit of the connectors exposed to allow contact with my multimeter probes. I also measured voltage drop as specifed on the Daniel Stern website and got the same results.

The full-size pictures are available in the online gallery.

Here are some pictures, followed by cropped versions showing distant detail (where the differences are most visible).

Low Beams:



High Beams:



Left-of-Center Crop of Low Beams, with Histograms - note increasing detail in pavement turning left beyond the grass:



Center Crop of High Beams, with Histograms - note increasing visible detail in tree trunks:



For seeing deer, having fog lights on helps detect deer running out of the ditch fairly near your truck (that's what happened the only time I hit one - it was running full speed and was never in my headlights until 2 feet away). Awhile ago, I did one of the mods to allow fog lights to be on with high beams. Here are low and high beams with fogs on, same spot.

Low Beams with Fog lights:



High Beams with Fog lights:

 

Good controlled pics. In your first stock low beam photo you can barely tell there is a left turn, whereas the upgrade it is more visible.

In the histogram it lists your bulb as the Osram 70/65s, why did you not go with the higher power 85/80s?

The lumen output is much higher from the 85s, I believe the 70s are rated at 1350/2000 lumens whereas the 85s are rated at 1750/2400 lumens.

 

Thanks. I researched all the bulb options and knew about the 85/80s. I avoided higher wattage bulbs primarily to increase reliability. I also wanted to avoid possible issues with heat, but that was secondary.

Dave

 

I've been thinking of doing this exact mod vs doing a projector retrofit and I am pleased to see your thorough review with the detailed analysis and fixed exposure settings. I have to say though, the difference in the stock vs upgraded lighting seems a little underwhelming (possibly due to the washed out before and after cell phone pics we usually see during lighting demo). Are you happy with the results of the upgrade? Do the upgraded lights perform better in the real world than the pictures show? Thanks again for the attention to detail during your review

 

I don't know yet. I put the new bulbs in last night, and tonight is a icy-rain and snow winter storm (SE Minnesota) so I am at home.

The new wiring harness went in a few weeks ago and when driving I think the stock light bulbs were brighter. They ARE a bit brighter (.4 Volts more) but of course I have a bias knowing they SHOULD be brighter (.4 Volts more, again). That's why I used the histogram on the photos.

I'm considering driving lights on my brush guard, aimed very slightly off center to increase ditch lighting in high-beam mode. If I do those, the extra headlight redundancy (4 bulbs now instead of 2) will allow me to comfortably use higher wattage H4 bulbs in the headlights too.

Dave

 

If you look at my thread that was linked to in the top of the post, I have a side-by-side pic running stock on one side of the truck vs upgrade on the other. The results are significant. The OP chose to run the lower wattage bulb for longevity. I'm running the higher wattage bulb for greater light output, but they still last me over a year. Ive had several members message me they were pleased with the results. The OP did an excellent job in providing greater detail in voltage drop ect, than I did in the other thread.

 

Thanks, yes your thread I've been following, it's what first got me interested. The OP and I share the concern of heat issues, I've already baked my current housings with HIDS and don't want a repeat on the new housings so I may not go the 85 route. Great idea guys, I'll be doing this or retrofit come spring and still have plenty to research.

 

Thanks for posting all of these pics. Honestly, I was thinking about upgrading but now I've decided not to. There's obviously an improvement between the before and after pics but nothing that really impressed me. The benefit is the centre of your beam being lit up a little brighter (whiter and more focused light) and very marginal improvements around the periphery. I've never found myself saying, "self, what's that which is in the centre of my headlight focus just 30 feet ahead of me?" I actually prefer a lower K light in my headlights anyway. Maybe I'm alone here, but I like that contrast you get with a warm light rather than the white/blue light. Especially in snow.

I guess the light upgrades I would spend money on are the ones that improve my field of vision (both distance and peripheral). I had some KC Slimlights on my 2001 4runner with the mixed driving pattern (flood/spot) and I LOVED them. Those things did a nice job of lighting up animals in the ditches and saved my front end a couple times.

Anyway... nice write up. Really appreciated the pics.

 

Look at my side by side pics in the headlight thread the OP linked to in the top of the thread. The OP is using the low power bulb version. If you use the high power 85w version the difference is both impressive and drastic.

 

Yeah I read your thread first. I like his pics more though. Like I said, I'm not as concerned about the ridiculous amount of light being focused on the area right in front of the truck. I'm not trying to start a fire with a magnifying glass. I'm more interested in light spread evenly, and improving range and the peripheral to increase my effective field of vision - not to shine so much light on something that it just glows white.

I'm not in the school of thought that more light is always better. You can't even tell that's a tree trunk on the left- where the light's hitting it, it looks like an upside down white plastic pail. I'd much rather be staring into the trees on the right than on the left. I find you lose a lot of visual texture and contrast when you over-light things; especially with the higher k light. That's just my opinion through. Maybe I only make sense in my own mind.

When I'm working and using a spotlight to search for someone though trees or across a field I want all the light I can get to penetrate trees and get some distance - but driving I want a nice soft light that's easy on the eyes and doesn't kill all the contrast and depth.

 

My photo is admittedly not great. The difference in light from the upgrade was too much for the camera to compensate for side by side with the original light, resulting in some wash out of the picture.

The light from this upgrade is spread evenly and does improve vision range and peripheral and increases effective field of vision. That is exactly what it does.

Here are much better lighting pics before and after from the upgrade:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/proper-headlight-upgrade.407879/

 

Thanks. Yeah that is a pretty huge difference.

 

neverstuck, regarding your comments in post #8...

When I'm driving, I see a much greater "real world" improvement than is shown in my pictures. I may have under-exposed those pictures.

I also like the warmer tones of a lower color temperature light, that is why I stayed with halogen bulbs. They may be whiter (higher K value) than the stock ones, but not by much.

I'm glad you found the pictures useful.

Dave

 

I haven't tried different bulb options on my Taco, as yet, but have been installing aftermarket H4 headlights for decades. IMO, I found using 100/55 bulbs to be the best upgrade because when switching between low and high, your eyes did not have to adjust to a very bright spot directly in front of the vehicle. Switching to the 100w high beam makes it seem more like it the periphery and distance just becomes uniformly illuminated like the near low beam areas. Plus, you still get the longer life of the 55W low beam which is what usually burns out first with any H4 bulb, especially the hotter wattages like 85/80 or 100/80. The 55W low beam also doesn't annoy or blind oncoming drivers and you can always use the fogs when necessary. The low beams have a little reflector next to the filament that blocks the light which would be directed upward like the high beams. This also folds the light back downward and doubles the low beam intensity. I've known people who use 100/80 lamps to complain that illumination seems to decrease close by when they switch to high beams. It does. Definitely do upgrade your wiring with load shedding relays.

 

When running a warmer kelvin temperature bulb especially in rain and snow you will always be able to see better due to the light hitting the rain or snow and reflecting off of it. Same goes with Fog Lights in Yellow Color. Higher Kelvin Temps in the 6k color spectrum will cause more light refractions and will not allow you to see as well.
On the opposite end, my personal preference is around 5500-6000K living out here in the desert where we have sections where it’s really dark and especially driving from Vegas to Bullhead City. I find the whiter to slightly blueish light is easier on my eyes at night driving for longer periods in really dark areas. The warmer tone light makes me strain my eyes more to see further ahead. But when there are lots of street lights and on-coming traffic the warmer tone lights are much easier on the eyes