PROBLEM SOLVED - The LED Headlights "Glare-Guard MOD"

I am willing to make these for those that need them. I'm thinking $10 plus shipping.

 

I added this mod to my bulbs as well and have not been beamed yet.

 

Haha I believe you're either in the wrong thread or misread it.

 

@Wile great idea & write up. I've got a set of OPT7's in an old Dodge 2500 work truck. I purchased new halogen bulbs and housings but the lights were still horrible. Swapped halogens out for the OPT7's, but the glare was bad. Had to aim the lights so low that the high beams were useless. This mod seems to have done the trick. Thanks for sharing!

 

Happy Gov't Shutdown! Haven't been beamed yet!

 

Glad it's working for you!

 

Just made and installed a set of these glare guards today, and am totally pleased with the outcome. Gives a good cut-off line on low beam in my '04 DC. Highly recommend to anyone trying to run the OPT7 bulbs.

 

Hey all, I'm not a Tacoma owner, Nissan Titan actually. But this is the best thread I've read regarding led headlights.
I made some shields for my truck a few years ago. Not sure if it really worked, I think I may have the shields a little to low. The original video recomended not going to far up the sides as they were just trying to block the light reflected up.
Great thread by the way

 

Welcome to the Forum!

Yes, your glare guard mod is way too low. The shield should come 1/2 way up the low beam diode, yours are far below it. Also note how in the pictures the lower 1/2 the headlight is not illuminated after the mod, yours should look the same. The lower half the headlight reflector should only be illuminated on high beam.

You can tell how effective your mod is by pulling up 20ft from a wall and doing a beam pattern wall test. Take a look at the photos in this thread below, there is an example of what your beam should not look like, compared to what it should look like. It may be helpful to throw a halogen bulb in one headlight to compare to your modded build to give you a beam pattern baseline for comparison.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors.454371/

 

I was wondering when you would pop in here. I actually was thinking of tagging you at some point

 

I've followed it, pretty ingenious garage job solution to the glare issue.

 

I was given these over christmas and I havent brought myself to do anything with them cause I feel like they still need to be modified like on here. Best intentions and all, but I don't want to be a lifted asshole blinding people....

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/9...a+Tacoma&preselect=47390&preselect_restrict=1

 

That is a bit of a different animal. The principle works on LEDs with the LED diodes located in the same position as the halogen filament. There are other shortcomings to using LEDs in the halogen reflector, but with the diodes in the same position and adequate glare protection you are at least not blinding others. HIDs have the light source moved further forward in the housing due to the geometry of the bulb, this throws off all the optics designed for it to be at a specific position, so even with a glare guard mod your optics will likely be poor. It would be an interesting experiment.

 

Yeah, These have some shielding on them already, but I don't think they fully reduce the glare above the cutoff. I have been looking around to see pics of it already installed. best I got was the shielded part is face down. Not much else

 

I'm gonna try it again tomorrow, might be much easier with copper as well. Only issue is mine have a dumb clear cover on it but thinking if anything the copper will get as hot as the cover and that hasn't melted yet

 

Taking a closer look, those do seem to have a lot of shielding. I’d speculate the sliding shields high beam opening will still allow illumination into the lower housing (though minimized) which will result in glare. The lower housing is used for high beam, which is not what is wanted on low beam.

Also note in the sliding sheild design, your high beam filament location is too far forward compared to the optics design of the assembly. Your low beam is already too far forward, and the high beam is supposed to be behind the low beam filament, meaning your high beam is way too far forward, which is going to result in poor beam pattern and poor distance projection.

Throw one in on the passenger side (easier) and try some low beam wall shorts at 20-25ft.

What did you use? The LEDs are not hot, they run very cool. It is the base with the driver that gets hot, which is why it has a cooling fan. If you attach your shield off the nose like the OP vs base, heat transfer is minimized.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00VJM1B0Q#Ask
Anyone have any experience with these?

Edit: here is a video on them, as you know videos don't really do justice.

https://youtu.be/yKQGMuoZ_1o

 

You'll be dissappointed by the output of the above example.

These work well. You want the Cree XPH50 SMD, as their performance is the best i've seen so far.

 

I used conduit for mine. Gonna head out in a few and go to HD to check out some copper.
I think I'll get a few blanks and do a few different types. I really want to go back to using my leds as where we live is so dark at night with no lights and non reflective lines but feel like an ass blinding people.