NEW 16-23 Morimoto XB Evo Headlights are here!

Take care with those connectors inside! The black ones. They're super tight. I used a flat head screwdriver to carefully pry up on the edge of the lip on the conector to get it loose. I couldn't pull one of them out with my fingers. I actually broke the tab that holds it in on that one fighting it. But they're so tight I ain't worried about it coming loose.
Edit: and take note of the driver orientation when pulling them out (if you're installing them upside down with the assemblies still mounted to the truck like I did.) I was trying to put one in and it wouldn't go, I guess I turned it around 180° and didn't realize it. Doh.

 

il install drivers before installation. currently on other side of country so be a few days before installing

 

Again I'm no expert, but tried to capture the difference in output between the dot drivers and supercharged drivers as best I could. Light output is tricky to capture and im not all that knowledgeable (or patient) with camera settings to do it properly.. But you should be able to get an idea. I'd say they're about the claimed 30% brighter. High beam increase seems like it may be higher than that. Proper way would be to use a lux meter. I'm sure someone (maybe headlight revolution) will do a proper comparison and come out with raw data...
I also disabled my DD fogs. So this is purely xb evo low beam/high beam shots. And if you're on a mobile device, I find it better to rotate phone to horizontal and go full screen in browser then zoom in to fill screen to better see these.


Dot Left/Supercharged Right





webp(gif) images:
Dot Left/Supercharged Right






Both superchargers;

 

SC driver gives about +35% of output volume over standard DOT driver. To the right, this is road projection mapping in corresponding landing point of test tested point in lux per lamp. ( at 30min stable phase value)



Here is XB Evo vs OE LED performance reference.


OE LED gives really good near field wide fill impression and volume to mid distance road center, but pretty modest distance zone comfort.

 

Dude nice photo documentation, now I don't feel bad about just slapping mine in yesterday. I could definitely tell a difference on my garage wall, but your photos really show the additional throw distance and brighter beam down the road, which really does matter.

My recommendation is to just take the housings out, those clips on the wire harness are super tiny and very difficult to reach (not even enough clearance to get your fingers in there) which I can imagine would really suck with the housings in the truck.

Also side note if anyone needs those bumper brackets on the side where they meet the fender (my passenger one exploded yesterday lol): https://amzn.to/4h6XPG4

 

I have a Canadian truck. I’m in Toronto. No hyperflash issue. My DRL was always on anyways. My stalk actually doesn’t have the “DRL OFF” function you guys have in the states.

 

You have an Off-Road, right? I don’t think it will be an issue with any of the TRD trims, just the SRs that have the combined turn/DRL. I am not sure what exactly is causing it internally on the headlight, but from experience on converting the SRs, I do know that if they do not see a load immediately, they hyperflash. So I suspect there is something internal driving the switchback and it doesn’t react quick enough if the DRL is still on, so they hyperflash. I got around this on my conversion harnesses by putting the resistor load before the switchback, so it is always present. This unfortunately makes it so the resistor is always active when the DRL is on as well, but I use a pretty small load of 25 Ohms, so that helps. My suspicion is Morimoto put that resistor parallel to the turn signal after the switchback mechanism. On paper, this is a lot better way of doing it. But since the truck wants to see the load immediately, it doesn’t work that way. While I am wildly speculating, I would bet that if you had an SR and could not disable the DRL, you could probably get around it by putting a resistor before the headlights. I would start with a really small load if I were testing this theory, like 50 Ohms (2 25s in series) and see what it does. Is where this gets tricky is you don’t want to overload the circuit by putting too much on it, so finding that minimum is going to be trial and error. I know my truck gets by with 50 Ohms on the front (plus whatever load a relay coil has, but I use diode type, not resistor types there, so pretty minimal) and no added resistors on the back with VLED Triton V6 bulbs in a “total turn” set up (so a white/amber switchback for the turn signal). So at least in my case, very little resistance is needed not to hyperflash. But these trucks are really touch about hyperflash, at least the SRs are.

I would also be curious if anyone running these has additional resistance in the taillights (added resistors, “error free” LEDs, or aftermarket lights with built in resistors). I am wondering how the trucks will handle the added load in the front in addition to the rear as well. I’m not sure what size resistor Morimoto is using. If it’s 6 Ohms or if they went smaller. Just curious. I guess time will tell…

 

i have the meso customs total tails stage 1 harness in my tail lights that have the reverse and signal switchback leds with the added resistor.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

The superchargers are pretty much high beams.

 

Didn't even think of this. I forgot the SR's have the combined DRL. I might not need one of your harnesses then as I'm on an OR. Still waiting for my confirmation on what they're sending and if I can upgrade to the fancier ones, if it's not the default.

I have the Total tail conversion and have never got hyperflashes with the Gen2's up front - but I did get hyperflash with the GTR front turn signal bulbs that were supposed to be error free. FWIW (and semi-unrelated), I just run the Lasfit bulbs now in my vehicles that don't need a switchback for turn signals and they never hyperflash.

 

Already booked for a set w/ superchargers, but would love a future hybrid option that boosts high beam while keeping lows street legal, heh

 

It's very much upper most borderline for some of test points, but low beam still within LB2V regulation limit with SC driver. High beam is the one exceed HV test point value due to conservatives DOT 75,000Cd limit.
If high beam exceed regulation limit, as system, still not compliance, and can't define " adoptable" driver as system, so must be labeled as none-compliance driver.
Low beam within regulation limit does not make headlamp Compliance(no such thing Street legal low beam only) due to high beam exceed maximum allowance. Plz keep that in mind SC driver is NOT compliant to FMVSS standard.
But SC driver isn't barbaric retina burner. Aim correctly and use responsibly.
Unless otherwise won't have any load on truck bed, or passenger in backseat, 2" down at 25' is essential If fitted with larger tires, wheel, lift, then 3" down @25'

 

Been a while since I've looked at anything lighting related (used to look at all kinds of different retrofits and oem+ setups people had in the past, back when I dabbled in retrofits a little myself). But there are probly tons of people running brighter setups (ie. proper/professional retrofits or oem+ setups, not going to mention those improper setups ) while not being compliant. Some of those hid retrofits are just, insane. I'm curious how they compare to the Evo's. But I'd wager that some definitely exceed these and they still run them on road.. I feel like my hid and bi-led retrofits I've had in my 1st gen might be as bright as these low beams, if not brighter(not saying those were compliant, because they weren't lol), I might be wrong on that tho, I'd have to compare. But high beams, definitely not... I will be keeping the supercharged drivers in at all times myself, being responsible with them of course.

Now, take all that with a grain of salt though. Because I don't have to worry about inspections or anything, AND I live in a rural area. So I'm not worried about any kind of regulations myself. But some may be more limited to the mercy of those regulations than I am. And that's why the optional drivers are a great option imo. Not to mention the quality and output these provide with the dot drivers and remaining compliant. Some truly amazing thought and development that went into these.

 

Duly noted! I try to be very mindful of where my light goes, I think even to my detriment with current setup (I feel like I should be casting another 10-20 ft down the road at least, but that puts my bumper-to-bumper-traffic cut-off right in sedans' side mirrors). Glad to hear that I *probably* won't be an awful nuisance with SC-Lows! Thanks for the extra details!

If it's not terribly cold out when I get mine in, I'll see about comparing my retrofit RX350/D2S XB35 setup against them, because I'm curious, myself. All else aside, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the ease of installation/lack of external/remote bits and bobs wasn't a driving factor in my purchase, heh.

 

That sounds like a fair comparison. And yeah, that's exactly where I was going with that. Not a comparison of who's brighter. But a comparison of how the Evo's stack up to a diy Retrofit or similar. Which requires knowledge (and learning it if it's your 1st) sourcing all the parts, building it, your time, testing, potentially re-doing it if messing it up, etc. Verus the amount of quality, ease of installation being fully plug and play, features and performance you get with the Evo's. I'm sure this has been argued about with previous xb models too (or even the evos for the 4runner as they had em first) but I haven't been around to see it. I typically dont unless im involved with those products.. I wouldn't even begin to compare them to other brands that are similarly plug and play on the market.. Always been a fan of morimoto products as well as The Retrofit Source. They continue taking things to a whole new level. That's why I was super excited when these were announced.

 

Definitely paying attention to these. Used to be into retrofits years ago and loved my Mini D2S 55W set up. Amazing spread, consistent pattern, and sharp cut off.

Didn't want to hassle with a retrofit on my 3rd gen so I settled for the Elite HID kit, it's good for what it is but the width of the beam isn't as good, no sharp cut off, and the intensity of the beam isn't as consistent. That's all mainly due to the factory projectors though. I will say the "Squirrel finders" are nice for lighting up street signs as much as I like a sharp cut off.

Seeing the output shots of the supercharged versions has me wondering how they stack up to the retrofit. I'll have to dig up some pictures and maybe even compare against what I currently have.

 

Below is XB Evo SC vs NHK G5 Bi-xenon Osram Night Breaker Laser (66240XNL) D2S bulb powered by a Denso 35W ballast
G5 data is observed WITHOUT headlamp front lens, typically shave off 15% of optical energy applied x0.85 parameter to calibrate to XB Evo which has front lens ON Considering retrofit is done to existing headlamp housing with used condition, 15% loss is minimum optical loss must be considered even with very good condition lens.
Data point 2H is average assumption of nearby value
(Data source credit: )








This evaluation models does not consider upper illumination and glare, simplified ground and object illumination mapping based assessment
but G5 projector lack of upper illumination and 3.5L 0.86D ( where dip test points for wet road surface bounce based glare assessment point) glare point exceed allowance maximum limit (371% of allowance)

 

Wow! Was not expecting that. Is the 'Cd' row candella?

 

not sure what raw Cd mean. But this is measured photometric intensity at stable phase of each sample Score system is my own evaluation model, but important to note Cd value itself does not define how good the lamp performance is. Balance really is important Optics used in XB Evo, I designed from scratch in the way I wanted. So I was able to packed all preferences in. It really is only aftermarket high potency projector that is actually designed to fill photometric compliance