3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Is this also true for the hid projector? An led into an hid projector has the same problems as the halogen projector?

 

There is zero reason to run a pnp LED in an HID projector, as HIDs are vastly higher performing in terms of output quantity and being an omnidirectional light source. Never would one decide to massively downgrade an HID light source in an HID projector to a subpar bi-directional pnp LED.

 

Also! Fun to point out this thread has superseded 1 million views, for a technical headlights thread.

 

It has same general tendency, yes. I design all kind of optics, halogen, HID or LED in both reflector or projector. So far, no PnP LED bulbs ever achieved beneficial output in halogen/HID projector. Don't mistake marketer's 200% lux kind of non-sense. Showing random point of beam lux increase compare to halogen means absolutely zero value.
Only meaningful if such intensity increase is found at identical coordination point as original light source (Halogen) and the rest of the beam also retain same proportion WITHIN acceptable glare limit.

In projector, PnP LED bulb will result in
Larger chip, emission surface intervals than filament = Poor hotspot focus, moderate to stronger increase at foreground, moderate accidental beam coverage
Tight tolerance chips = Poor to moderate hotspot focus, lean and streaky beam spread.
And either case, mostly fail to create upper illumination.
This is because most of the projector uses 12 and 6 oclock filament emission group to create upper illumination.

ONLY IF LED bulbs carry extremely tight tolerance in both 2D filament image size and 3D volume(intervals), there is possibility in positive preferable result in reflector housing.
As my study note I made earlier explained, Bi-directional LED bulb can use hotspot creating reflector segment selectively stronger while naturally missing ability to illuminate foreground flood handling segments.
result in higher intensity at hot spot, less scatter at foreground, most of the case, retain decent beam spread.

However, this still depends on reflector design, some does very well, some immediately exceed in glare value.
There is NO universally acceptable performing LED bulb ever had made. Case by case assessment ( positive list) method is only possible way to judge if it's ok or beneficial to use LED bulb in place of halogen bulb.

HID bulbs in halogen optics generally retain similar enough beam distribution, but this case, higher available lumen directly influence glare region value proportional to lumen increase.
It is very important to remember, just because it look like has visually distinct bright and dark border ( max gradient=cutoff) does NOT mean there is no glare.
Also foreground value proportionally increase to start affecting night drive view comfort issue.


Long story short in probably boring way to say this, but when optics are designed for certain light source, it is simply best to use intended bulb.

Check some study material attached I have bunch of headlamp related subject study docs created. If anyone interested, feel free to reach me

 

Is this still an acceptable harness to run?

$8 iJDMTOY H11 H8 H9 Extension Wiring Harness Sockets Wires Compatible with High/Low Beam or Fog Lights Use

Amazon.com: iJDMTOY H11 H8 H9 Extension Wiring Harness Sockets Wires Compatible with High/Low Beam or Fog Lights Use : Automotive

The ebay link is dead. Just wanna make swapping bulbs out easier. Went to go do it the other day and forgot I had to trim the H9 bulbs to fit...was like damnit!

I just tried to pull out the green tab in the OEM wiring connector and it didnt want to come out without ripping the prongs out with it.

 

You'd be amazed to know how many did that allready. I also have a friend who did that because he bought brand new oem bixenon headlights to replace the old factory ones which had the projectors burnt by the hid bulb and wanted to prevent the projector from getting hid burn again.

 

Personally I’d like a solution without the jumper harness. Just more wire and connections for voltage drop and issues, but that does list 16awg so it should be decent wire-wise. Others can chime in on the green tab removal, without that I’d personally just trim the plastic tab on the bulb.

Likely from running cheap Chinese HID bulbs without UV filters instead of high quality name brand OEM grade bulbs from the likes of Philips and Osram that have superior UV filtration which prevents bowl burn. In this case buying LEDs isn’t the solution, buying quality lighting components from respectable manufactures is.

 

just pull the green tab, quick and easy.

 

my H9 bulb burned out, ordered this one from Amz, it came in today, it is a repacked OSRAM made in Germany.
https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-H9-Original-Equipment-Headlight/dp/B000C9VZGW/

 

No. Osram original that came from the factory for the first years and after that high performance bulbs from osram (night breaker). The car is a mk6 golf with over 200k (~340k km) miles on the clock.

 

Didn't want to spring the extra two dollars for the philip H9s?

 

That is a decent amount of miles but still somewhat surprising if the bulbs were authentic and not counterfeit. Regardless using the correct bulbs for the assemblies is the correct path for best performance, a PnP LED will not remotely match a proper HID capsule in an HID assembly. I’d suspect (but have no data) that UV filters have improved over time. If he needed to replace the lamps again in 200k miles, that is still better than running an incompatible sub par light source in the assemblies reducing your ability to see at night to save your headlights assemblies from having to be replaced again in 200k miles. The point of headlights is to see at night obviously. Even halogen and LED units wear out due to sun UV. Trying to extend the life of the lamp by making compromises to seeing at night really defeats the purpose of the lamp.

 

@crashnburn80 - I have read through a lot of the pages on this as well as searched but have not found a definitive answer. If you had to recommend an H9 LED bulb to swap into the factory projector housings, for best light output and projection, from all you have tested what kit/brand would you recommend? Without having to modify or add to wiring, sockets, relays or anything. Just best plug-n-play system.

I do understand the H11 and H9 swap as well as the halogen vs. LED vs. HID in projector housing issues, i'm just wondering what your opinion on best option H9 LED is? I appreciate it.

 

Phillips h9s. They are usually less than $30 a set. I can get them locally for $9 a piece

 

From what I understand from all this incredible research, is that there is no adequate H9 LED bulb for the factory halogen lens.

 

Lol… wat? Any H9 is recommended by crashnburn80 over every drop in LED and h11s as far as I know…
Illiterate

 

We’re saying the same thing.

 

H9s aren’t adequate is a funny way to describe their superiority. Sorry for my confusion
Dumb

 

C’mon man. H9 LED bulb is what I said.

 

Yup says it right there… Completely missed the LED because I can’t read! Again, sorry for being dumb and combative.
Edit: wow… I even missed that the guy I replied to was asking about LED …