Led Headlight Bulbs in winter

I have people that have said no problems and others have said bad idea because they dont melt the snow off your headlight lens because LEDS dont generate the same heat a Halogen bulb does.

Anyone have LED Bulbs in their 3rd gen Taco that live in snowy Northeastern ( or anywhere it snows) that can give me some feedback? Im on the road a lot and want a a bit brighter headlights . Nothing crazy but a bit brighter and whiter light would be nice.

 

No LEDs will emit enough heat forward to melt snow on anything but the warmest of snow days. Most of the heat is radiated around the base of the bulb where the driver circuitry is. Another, maybe more important reason not to use an LED bulb in a halogen housing is light performance. They might look brighter to the driver, because light is scattered all over the place, but less of that light is focused down the road forward of the vehicle. No LED bulb will out perform a quality H9 halogen bulb as far as forward light performance until there is an LED that can match the filament location and dimensions of a halogen with the LED emitters.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-hid-vs-led-vs-halogen-h11-projector-headlights.589465/

 

Everything GrundleJuice (lol) said is true. LEDs in Halogen housings look brighter, but aren't. Scattered useless light that blinds other drivers.

If you wanted to do it the right way, pick up the OEM LED lights off a newer truck. I think you can retrofit those in, but mucho more expensive.

As for your actual question about the winter... I have the OEM LED lights in PA and they don't melt snow and ice, but it hasn't been an issue.

 

I have posted pics here of my LED headlights totally covered and frozen by ice and slush.
On my new Tacoma, I have halogens.
Your choice.

 

If you're main goal is whiter light (and a little brighter), I'd recommend trying halogen Philips CrystalVision Utra bulbs. They're noticeably whiter and still DOT approved. As far as brightness, I would say they're a little brighter than OEM, but not crazy bright. I only put them in the low beams to save some $$. I avoided LED bulbs due to the heat issues you mentioned. I live in the snow belt and appreciate the halogens melting off the slush.

 

Snow/ice and Led headlights are a huge problem. In a snow storm in the Sierras, I had to stop and clean the headlights on my Lexus ES (OEM LED's) every few minutes. A trick I use since is to spray the headlights with WD40 at sign of first snow. It significantly reduces the accumulation.

Regarding LED bulbs in a halogen headlight - I have a different (and more positive experience) than most. Yes, I read the test by@Crashburn80 in detail. Yet, I believe the industry developed significantly in the 3 years since the test. LED's are now mounted on a much thinner substrate, much closer to filament dimension. Further, current high power LED chips allows for fewer chips in a single line, again, closer to a filament design. I use DDM Tuning bulbs (Saber 55W ProX Accu-V2) and the cut off in low beams is extremely sharp, with very, very little light scattered. On the other hand, when I used anything less than the top rated bulbs (e.g. Alla or Hikari), the results were poor and not (or just barely) justifying the upgrade.

I suggest reading the tests and review the beam pattern pictures that this web site publishes. Note they test for both projector (our low beams) and reflector (our high beams), so make sure you refer to the right sections: https://www.bulbfacts.com

 

What he said! Totally agree, LEDs are getting better. I have been running DD SL1s and they have out performed every yellow bulb like the GE megas I have tried. Never been flashed, never a problem in the last 3 years of having them. Quality LEDs matter as cheap ones scatter light poorly.

 

I’ve driven in conditions where even the halogen bulbs did not keep up with the weather. Last time was in Lake Tahoe at about 6,250 elevation and about 2 feet of snow in a little over four hours. With the lack of directed heat from LED’s, I can only imagine the hell some people were going through. As stated above, buy the best replacement bulbs you can afford. You’ll get more performance out of them and keep the side benefit of cleaner head light housings.

 

and the "whiter light (6000K)" reflects/refracts back at you more then the 3000K halogen in rain and snow that pernitrates through he water droplets

 

Living in Alaska, I can count on two hands the number of drives I’ve been on where snow accumulation would have been a problem for me if I had led headlights over the past 20 years.
Having said that, I live in town and don’t have a commute where I am forced to drive long distances no matter the weather.
The issue is obviously heat reaching the lens, but if the TSS sensor, grille or bumper isn’t covered in snow/ice when you park after your drive, then it wouldn’t have accumulated on your headlights and it wouldn’t have been an issue on that drive.
You said that you drive a lot and if you live somewhere that gets a lot of snow, it will definitely be an issue and is absolutely something you should consider before you swap to (OEM) leds.