The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)

I did this upgrade on my daughter’s Xterra but with 9007 bulbs and harness. Night and day difference. That thing had very poor lighting. I’m sure you can find a good high wattage bulb in H11 base.

 

I've read a good bit here but still don't fully understand the positive vs grounded relay switching harnesses. I performed the test posted on page 1 by the OP and my 2011 is conventional wiring. The internet is filled with these relay harnesses but most reference older tacomas, if i were to get the wrong harness can it be converted by adjusting the pin out on the connectors? The harnesses linked to this thread are pricey.

 

Our conventionally wired trucks have a constant ground, 12v high beam, and 12v low beam pin out and that's it? Any switching of amber dtrl and fog light high beam cut out is controlled separately. Some 12g wire, h4 pigtails, and two spst 4 pin relays and I'm there

 

I did the harness and bulb mode exactly two years ago this week. Still love it.

Question, I bought three sets of bulbs and am still running the first set. Does anyone notice these bulbs dimming over time or just going out period? If mine are dimming, I can't tell as it would be a gradual affect over two years.

 

This is correct.

I tested the original Hyper bulbs and did an EOL vs new comparison IIRC, and the delta was over 20%. There is a post somewhere in here with the actual data. But yes, they do dim over time, even over the course of a year it isn't noticeable since it is a gradual process.

 

Is there any way to do a headlight alignment directly aiming at the wall? Only level surface in my yard is the 2 car garage...

 

At super close range it will not be accurate. I do have this idea though for that scenario. Park in the garage facing outward. Get some kind of portable flat surface, a cheap projection screen held up by PVC pipe would work great and place that 25’ from the front of your truck. Then get a laser level, the kind often used in home construction/improvement, and set it at the front of your truck equal to the low beam cut off on your headlight housings. Irregardless of the terrain being level, the laser projected onto the screen 25’ away will be. Measure the 2” drop on the screen from the laser and adjust your lights to there. I have all the stuff to try this, just never got around to it.

 

My driveway is on a hill. I just used the side of a building at a strip mall close to me. Good luck!

 

@crashnburn80 Do I need the wiring harness for the Philips Racing Vision GT 200 H4 bulbs? TIA

 

No. The harness is only needed for the high wattage bulbs. I used the GT200’s on stock wiring without issue.

 

thank you

 

Installed the wiring harness and Phillips GT200 bulbs a few years ago. Been running great, today my right headlight burnt out on low, HI still works. Just ordered some but will be a couple days. Does anybody know, Can I just remove the remaining Phillips bulb and reinstall the original stock oem bulbs with the upgraded wiring harness. I kept the stock ones when I did this upgrade a few years ago, expecting sooner or later one or both would burn out. I just don't want to undo the wiring for a couple days while I wait on the replacement Phillips bulbs.
Thanks

 

Yes. And the added benefit is that you get to enjoy removal and installation of the passenger side bulb twice! You will notice a bit of a downgrade in performance though.

 

After watching a couple video's, I forgot how little access they're is to these, including taking the wash resevoir out, I may just wait til the new bulbs come in. I'll be "That Guy" driving down the road with headlight. I won't be stopping for mexican food with a margarita looks like this week.

 

I’m sure this has been asked, but I’m lazy today so here goes. I did this upgrade on my 2010 Tacoma back in 2016. I’d like to finally move on to something a bit more custom. Does the upgraded wiring harness I installed for this (ultimate headlight upgrade) work with any of the fancier Morimota or Alpha Rex headlights? Hate to have to wire and and buy another but I will. Any help appreciated. When purchasing lights it gives me two options (see pic) - not sure which to pic. I have also done the all the time DRL mod so not sure that makes any difference in my two choices. Thoughts?

Side note: got nothing bad to say about this mod. Totally practical, and I’ll probably switch back cause the lights are so much butter. I’m eventually giving it to my 13 year old son.

 

I think you may have missed an important point about the Ultimate Headlight Upgrade. The secret to its success is not just the bulbs and harness, but those two components in addition to the OEM housings. Adding "brighter" bulbs to a sub-par housing - and that includes all of the aftermarket housings - defeats the whole purpose of the upgrade.

On a related note, the specific housings that you mentioned both use LEDs for their light source. That means the whole Ultimate Headlight Upgrade currently in your truck would have to go. Are those housings an upgrade from what you currently have? Nope. Save your money.

 

Oh, I understand how the upgrade works. I absolutely love the output I get with it. I was just wondering if the upgraded harness, I have, would work in connecting to the AlphaRex lights. Just looking for a little change. I can always go back. And if I don’t need a new harness, it makes my decision so much easier. If I do, then I’ll probably just stick with what I got. Thanks for any help.

 

The alpha Rex might use the stock wiring which is still installed in your truck. If that’s the case the additional voltage from the upgraded harness can’t hurt.

 

@crashnburn80 maybe this was covered somewhere and I missed it but what part of the light do you look at for reference when pointing the lights? The hot spot at 25’ on the wall is around 3 inches tall or so. Do I need to line up the top of the hotspot or the bottom with my reference marks?

I really struggled to see a defined line to make my measurements, I sort of used the cutoff line/top of the hotspot. When I drove home from where I did the adjustment, I noticed that the cutoff might be just a tad low. It’s fine on flat road but any hills and it gets hard to see very far with the low beams. However I still have up light to illuminate signs and stuff.

I will say I did the adjustment with the stock osram bulbs that the new oem lenses came with while I’m waiting for the 90w osrams and harness to come in the mail. Should I have waited for the upgraded lights before adjusting? I imagine having more light on my current aim will make quite a difference. Also i have astigmatism so I think this might be part of my problem…

Edit: So I see a couple pages back where Crash says to pull all the way up to the wall and mark where the cut off is and just go two or three inches below that at 25’ think I’m good now. My issue now will be finding a good place to measure again.

 

Most (but not all) aftermarket headlights plug into your factory harness, so they should also plug into your upgraded harness. The problem with aftermarket halogen housings though is the crap optics. No upgraded harness and / or bulb is going to make up for optics that don't optimize light source output.

If you go with aftermarket LED or HID housings, you can plug them into your upgraded harness. But you're still going to have the problem of crap optics. If you do some searching around here. @crashnburn80 has tested some of the more popular aftermarket housings and concluded that they're scientifically a downgrade. Yes, some of them flood the foreground with light - which gives the impression of improved lighting - but they do this at the expense of distance lighting. Translation: You'll be able to illuminate the deer you're about to hit very nicely - when it's too late to do anything about it.