3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights

Upgraded to H9's in my 3rd gen and 5th gen 4runner.

What are you all upgrading hi beams to?

 

Still using H9 bulbs in the high beams.

 

2 Hella 700FF driving lights with 100w bulbs on an N-Fab bumper bar.

 

Clearly there's a bit of an engineering design issue/challenge with current LED technology. In my field, one of the vendors has a mutlidiode device that has two boards sandwiched together. The diodes are offset (depth and laterality) on each board so that they are effectively on the same plane. When the two boards are brought together, they integrate to provide a common plane. But we're not dealing with the heat production we have here, so that might present a problem.

 

Welcome!

I use a Lighting Navigator digital spectrometer, the brand was formally Asensetek but recently purchased by Allied Scientific Pro. The unit is $750 with a mandatory $50+ delivery charges when I bought mine, so your looking at about $800 and change. If you are in Canada there will likely be additional taxes.
https://alliedscientificpro.com/sho...ing-navigator-21881?search=lighting+navigator

If you are hard core into lighting, like willing to spend $800 on a hobby tool crazy like me, this tool is beyond amazing. Not only is a full spectrum tool far more accurate and versatile than a lux meter, with it being a smart device it has data logging abilities and the ability to compare two light sources side-by-side in a table or spectrum plot view. Meaning you can compare any two measurements you ever took in great detail at any time, in your pocket. They charge an astronomical price for the Pro models ability to share data online, but a simple screen shot of the Lighting Navigator models output is just as effective for communicating data if not making a professional presentation.

When I first purchased the Lighting Navigator there was only one app for it the 'Lighting Navigator' app, and it is the more simplistic one you see me post with in here often with the pastel green background. But I was an early adopter and pretty sure I was the first 'commercial sale' they had, which was somewhat ironic when they found out I wasn't actually commercial. Recently they made the Lighting Passport Essence app compatible to the Lighting Navigator tool, and this app is far more powerful, you can see some features such as CIE plots in my review of the Diode Dynamics SS3. However I am now splitting my tests across two separate databases with the new app which results in data not being directly comparable across apps in a single screen if measured on a different app. So if you get it, start with the newer Lighting Passport Essence app and don't look back.

While the smart spectrometer is exceptionally powerful, it isn't without some risk if using it on a personal device receiving upgrades. An iOS upgrade took my device offline for months. Unfortunately the timing was poor as the device manufacture was acquired by Allied Scientific Pro and the failure happened mid-transition, leaving no support help and all I had was an $800 brick and an astronomical amount of frustration. The purposed solution was to get another device, but that would mean losing the database history. They did eventually fix it though.

You are correct on HIDs and lux meters, an LED calibrated lux meter or an incandescent lux meter will not accurately measure HID output on because the spectrum slope is not predictably consistent based on a few sample points. If you want more info on meters or measuring feel free to shoot me a PM.

Here are a couple posts of mine you might find interesting on meters and readings:

The problem is really distills down to trying to mimic a halogen with an LED. Agreed though on the width issue. Keep in mind though that while projectors eliminate LED glare concerns, projectors are also more sensitive to focus issues caused by wider LEDs compared to reflectors. The thermal path is certainly an issue in narrower LEDs. If you look at the Hikaris the design is quite clever, there is far more mass around the emitters than competing products with the emitters sunk into the body rather than being surface mounted. And the heat sink is larger on the bottom of the LED where the light matters much less in a low beam application.

I measured the Hikaris at about a 20% improvement in the high beam. With the stock German Philips H9 being the highest performing bulb available, actual upgrade options are limited. Instead you might consider aux SAE J581 high beam lights. A pair of Pro6s offer 166% improvement over stock, aka an 8x gain over the Hikaris.

 

If going the H9 route, I would just modify the bulbs and not use the adapter harness. More wire = more resistance = lower output. Trimming the tab takes 30 seconds with a small knife. If worried about spares carry a modified set in the glove box. You won't melt the OEM connectors, keep in mind the OEM connectors are used for the exact same bulb on the high beam.

The small projector is a challenging platform. They did manage to put down the 2nd highest peak lux reading while doing so from a passively cooled platform, which is impressive. But ultimately the product is too large for proper focus in a projector. I do follow some European regulations, but I cannot speak to Japanese ones.

 

just installed these tonight. Thanks Crashnburn80 for going through all of this work for us. I installed the German made Phillips H9 bulbs from the Amazon link on page one for about 22 bucks for the pair.

 

Easy, wasn't it?

 

It is simple. I did my truck and the wife's new 4R. The 4R was more difficult.

 

WOW! 2 months back they were $6.50 each.

 

So. My right headlight has quite a bit of moisture. Dealer says it's just condensation. Bullshit. It's water. Not just condensation. They don't think they are gonna warranty it. So is there any other headlights for my SR5 , or just the Morrimotos. I think they should warranty it

 

OEM LED. But the most cost effective solution would be to buy a used OEM halogen assembly and just replace the one side. You might try drying it out first and see if the problem reoccurs.

 

It's not going away. I have dried it out 5 times. Water comes back. I want BHLM. But Kevin Doesent do Non TRD lights unless you send him yours. Are these a viable option ? Maybe
https://www.protuninglab.com/hl-oh-...is6VDtTLA3-yP09CK78R0Y8cD98lX6SxoCryUQAvD_BwE

 

Aftermarket projectors like that will be a significant downgrade in output performance from stock.

 

Any other option other than the Morrimotos?

 

OEM LED. AlphaRex released a quad projector LED headlight, I haven’t tried it out yet though.

 

I was also tempted by some of the current aftermarket headlights but since I didn't want to sacrifice on output I took @crashnburn80 's advice and just picked up some OEM TRD (LED DRL) headlights (+ the German Philips H9 bulbs), had Kevin (@no vtec 4me ) do the BHLM and purchased the harness from @Taco-Man18 to make them work on my SR5.

Very happy with the outcome.

 

You mean OEM halogen headlights?

 

So what headlights did you buy? The TRD ones ?

 

So anyone have a set of LED DRL lights they want to sell ? I can send those to Kevin and get the BHLM done. Or even s set of Nice SR5 headlights that I can get done. That way I don't have any down time